HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — A large portion of the entertainment industry in Hollywood is on hold as thousands of TV and screenwriters go on strike.
Evan Romansky, a Sycamore High School graduate, is one of the 11,500 people on the picket line.
Romansky made a big splash in the industry when he created the 2020 Netflix show "Ratched."
"We're always told the hardest thing is getting your foot in the door and we always joke that I sort of busted the door open with that being my first show," he said.
Now, he's part of the The Writers Guild of America's strike, the first writers’ strike and the first Hollywood strike of any kind in 15 years, according to the Associated Press.
"The studios' responses to our leadership so far has honestly been insulting, especially about AI. Their counter was that we'll hold meetings about the advancing of technology," Romansky said. "What does that mean?"
According to Romansky, artificial intelligence is just one of the concerns.
One of the biggest concerns is pay. Right now, streaming services pay what are called residuals, which are checks that come in when an episode of your show airs.
"I saw that with 'Ratched' specifically because the first time I got residual checks for it, I even had to call the WGA and was like 'hey there should be more here.' And they're like 'No, streamers, like Netflix, they don't pay creators residuals, they pay you as the writer.' So I only got paid for 2 and a half episodes instead of 8 episodes of the show I created," he said.
Romansky said this would not be the case if his show aired on cable or broadcast.
Comedy writer and adjunct professor at The University of Cincinnati Hugh Fink said writing is a good career field but it comes with many challenges.
"Here's what people don't understand, writers can make a good living when they're working but most writers at any given time are unemployed because when a TV show ends, they're out of a job," said Fink. "They could be out of a job for a month, they could be out of a job for five years."
Both Romansky and Fink agree that this is a long game. They're playing it so that in the future, another Cincinnati kid who wants to grow up to be a writer is in a better position.
"The goal with this is that it is going to give them more opportunity because what has happened the last few years is that the lower level writers are getting squeezed out," Romansky said.
The last writers strike was in 2007. It lasted around 100 days.
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