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A Day in the Life of an Upper West Side Writer on Strike

August 26, 2023 | 7:29 PM - Updated on August 31, 2023 | 2:42 PM
in ART, NEWS
17
Upper West Sider Gina Gionfriddo, carrying the second sign. Photographs by Bobby Panza.

By Bobby Panza

Chants of “Who makes the TV? We make the TV,” and “Get up, get down, New York is a union town,” filled the air last Wednesday, August 16, as members of the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) were joined by those of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), and the Dramatists Guild of America on the picket line outside the offices of Netflix on 888 Broadway at East 19th Street.

It was day 105 of the WGA strike over an ongoing dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Shows and films ranging from “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” on HBO, to “Dune: Part Two” have now been long paused or delayed due to the strike. SAG-AFTRA joined the strike in July.

For the first time since 1960, both guilds are aligned in protest, calling for better pay and job security, with greater transparency in network streaming numbers and compensation disparities in TV and film. On Tuesday night, talks to get back to work between the WGA and the AMPTP broke down after just 20 minutes, signaling no end in sight.

Gina Gionfriddo.

While union members made signs, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who couldn’t be there, sent a taco truck so everyone could eat for free. Amid the commotion, we met up with our Upper West Side contact, Gina Gionfriddo, 54, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for drama, to hear her thoughts about the strike. Currently living in the West 90s after graduating from Barnard, she started by saying “I don’t believe it’s going to be quick. I just hope the members understand that. You know, we’re not going back to work next week.” She was right.

Gionfriddo is a single mother who moved to the Upper West Side with her 12-year-old daughter Ava in 2007. She says her daughter really began feeling the gravity of the writer’s strike when Saturday Night Live stopped airing on April 15, and while their extended family expresses worry about their current state of life amid the strike, she tells them it’s going to be okay. “But yeah, they express concern.”

This isn’t Gionfriddo’s first strike with the WGA. A member since 2005, she is a playwright and television writer. She cited the need to make changes in streaming residuals as a core component of what they’re fighting for.

When Gionfriddo first went on strike with the WGA in 2008, she said the streaming model didn’t really exist yet, and the big studios touted it as “experimental,” saying it might not work out. “We were striking for a piece of streaming. But it was still a little bit unknown how big streaming was going to be. This time around it feels very different because we’ve been working under these really unfair conditions for years now. Streaming is major, there’s nothing speculative about it anymore so there’s no argument not to strike.”

Susan Sarandon.

Gionfriddo, who received her Pulitzer Prize nominations for “Becky Shaw” (2009) and “Rapture, Blister, Burn” (2013), which premiered off-Broadway, explained how the industry has changed over the years. “When I got into it around 2005, I would get jobs on network shows, and there would be 22 episodes a year. So, I’d be employed year-round and then the show I was on would get renewed, so I went back.” With TV credits including House of Cards, Law & Order, and The Alienist, she joked, “It was like having a government job. I knew exactly when I was working and for how long.” Gionfirddo says streaming is a whole different world.

“They want to employ you for 20 weeks, eight weeks, 10 weeks. It becomes a situation where you’re always hustling for the next job. A writer friend of mine said, it’s like looking for a parking space in Manhattan. You have to be in the right place at the right time…you’re always looking…you know, hoping you get lucky. It’s not sustainable.”

Gionfriddo is glad to see her colleagues.

One positive amid the labor dispute, Gionfriddo noted, has been reconnecting with people she hasn’t seen in a while, and meeting new people. “Writing can be a very lonely profession. So, the social piece of this is nice. And I think that’s been a weird PR thing, too, because there have been all these pictures of people picketing, looking happy. And it’s not that we’re happy to be on strike. But we are happy to see each other.”

We asked Gionfriddo if she had a message she wanted to get out. To our surprise, she mentioned the long-closed Metro Theater, on 100th Street and Broadway. “I dream of the Metro Theater reopening. I went there in college. I just dream and I wish. Hopefully, hopefully someday.”

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17 Comments
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Mandy W
Mandy W
1 month ago

Great story! Thank you WSR for this voice from the trenches. So clear. (A good communicator talking to good communicator, go figure!) How can readers support the strikers?

9
Reply
Mark D Friedman
Mark D Friedman
1 month ago
Reply to  Mandy W

You can go to https://www.sagaftra.org/get-involved/solidarity-wga

2
Reply
Mandy W
Mandy W
1 month ago
Reply to  Mark D Friedman

Thanks!

0
Reply
Sarah
Sarah
1 month ago

Solidarity forever!

12
Reply
Carmella Ombrella
Carmella Ombrella
1 month ago
Reply to  Sarah

“,,,for the union makes us stong.”
I hope so, for the sake of the writers who have been so disrespected for so long, and are now under threat of having content “written” by AI.

1
Reply
Lisa
Lisa
1 month ago

Excellent article. Greatly appreciated.

3
Reply
Irwin
Irwin
1 month ago

Very moving piece on an issue that must be resolved quickly for these talented, dedicated artists who have been and are being exploited by unfettered greed. I hope they can hang in until they get the concessions they deserve. What more can consumers do to support/ help the cause?

6
Reply
Ken
Ken
1 month ago
Reply to  Irwin

Well, if you really want to “help the cause” as a consumer, you can start by cancelling your streaming services and go back to watching ad-supported TV. Neither you, nor any other consumer, is really going to do that of course, but the consumer shift to streaming – with its lower revenue base spread across many more shows – is what lies at the core of this labor dispute.

0
Reply
Bruce E. Bernstein
Bruce E. Bernstein
1 month ago
Reply to  Ken

reply to Ken:

sure, the shift to streaming has unsettled this industry. but the fight is over how the revenue from streaming will be divided between labor (writers, actors, other) and capital (the companies). The companies have taken many steps to impoverish the writers and others on streaming and AI-generated shows.

The general public (“consumers”) can contribute to strike funds, join picket lines, write letters, and take other steps to support a living wage for creative workers.

3
Reply
Jean Patrick
Jean Patrick
1 month ago
Reply to  Bruce E. Bernstein

Why would any revenue be distributed to labor? Are they shareholders? Why would they be entitled to the profits? Bruce, are you a socialist?

2
Reply
Bruce E. Bernstein
Bruce E. Bernstein
23 days ago
Reply to  Jean Patrick

reply to Jean Patrick:

Yes, I am a socialist, but what i am describing is how capitalism works.

“revenue” is a different category than “profits”. Revenue is the gross sales of the company. after substracting for fixed costs (rent, machinery, etc) and cost of good sold, the remaining revenue is split between labor and capital. Workers fight for as high a share as they can get — as do the owners / shareholders and executives.

Just Capitalism 101…

0
Reply
Mary Frosch
Mary Frosch
1 month ago

Practically no one is writing about the “peripheral” workers who are out of work because of the strike–like the make-up artists or the scene designer and dresser crews to name just a few. They are not encouraged (nor should they be) to cross picket lines by their own unions.. Without them. new productions cannot go forward-so it’s not just the writers and actors, it’s also all the”little” people who make a production happen who are undergoing significant hardship. So sell a couple of yachts, you sudio bosses–come to the bargaining table with a fair deal that takes into consideration the great financial gains brought about by streaming which are only reflected in YOUR incomes!

3
Reply
Boris
Boris
30 days ago
Reply to  Mary Frosch

The studio bosses and the shareholders are the ones who create and make the business possible. All the ‘peripheral’ workers you refer to are not invested in the business the same way. And they’re certainly never offer to share in any losses should they occur.

0
Reply
Bruce E. Bernstein
Bruce E. Bernstein
23 days ago
Reply to  Boris

reply to Boris: You don’t think it’s the workers who “make the business possible”? i’ve got news for you. Trying making a movie or tv show without writers, actors, directors, and — yes — so called “peripheral workers.”

Isn’t it time we started respecting workers a little more in the USA?

0
Reply
Ethan
Ethan
1 month ago

LM Miranda “couldn’t be there.” Hmmm . . . Why do the most prominent WGA and SAG-AFTRA members get a pass, while the ordinary, workaday members, who have to scuffle to make a living, are on the picket line every day? It’s the prominent ones who need to take the lead, show their support, and set the example.

3
Reply
caly
caly
1 month ago
Reply to  Ethan

You know this didn’t start this week don’t you? He’s been on the picket lines since May and supporting the striking writers as well the actors. : )

3
Reply
Sam
Sam
1 month ago

Entertainment workers need better salaries. All the jobs are in New York and LA.

2
Reply

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