The goal of a strike is to dry up the pipeline to the studios.
As the WGA strike stretches into its third week, a lot of people have been talking about solidarity, or what they can do to stand with the WGA, even if they’re not in the WGA.
There is a lot going on, and I’ve been using this substack to stay informed, as well as reading the WGA material as well.
First, of course, we’d love to see you out on the picket lines. But something you can do from home is to not apply for fellowships like the Sundance Labs, WB Writers Workshop, or any other industry or studio-run fellowships or labs this year.
That means passing on things from Disney, Sony, Universal, Netflix, Amazon, MGM, Lionsgate, etc. Visit the WGA website for a list of struck companies.
So, let’s dive in.
Support the WGA By Not Applying for Fellowships
The purpose of a strike is to dry up the pipeline for the studios, so they understand what life is like without writers and material that makes them money. Things like the Sundance Labs or a studio-endorsed fellowship are highways the studios use to gather material.
If you applied, would that be considered scabbing?
Well, if you’re a WGA member applying, yes.
But if you’re pre-WGA, yeah, it’s still scabbing.
We’re asking you to not apply to these because if you get in and we’re striking, you’re providing industry players with material for the pipelines.
Language from that WGA legal in that tweet is as follows:
“We are asking non-members who wish to join the Guild in the future to not submit material to these kinds of programs during a strike. Essentially it is a form of providing literary material for struck companies and would be considered scab-writing. While we can’t prevent these non-members from submitting material, they would not be able to join WGA in the future in all likelihood.”
If you have other questions like this, check out the strike rules
Remember, the strike is going to make the future better even if the present feels painful.
