WGA Confirms Shocking Job Cuts for TV Writers – Find Out Why!

The past few years have been challenging for those writing for television.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has reported a significant 42% decrease in TV writing positions for the 2023/24 season. According to their latest findings, there were only 1,319 television writing positions available this season, a sharp drop from the 2,138 positions in the 2022/23 season.

This decline follows prolonged negotiations between the WGA and film studios over new contracts, a battle that the guild partly blames for these dismal numbers. Additionally, a reduction in original shows from cable networks and the scaling back of productions by streaming services in response to financial pressures from Wall Street have contributed to the downturn.

Moreover, the industry has seen numerous show cancellations and conclusions.

Notably, the hardest hit have been positions for showrunners and co-executive producers, which have decreased by 642 this year alone. Additionally, there are 378 fewer roles for staff writers, story editors, and executive story editors, and 299 fewer positions at the mid-level, which includes roles like co-producers and supervising producers.

Since the 2018/19 season, there has been a significant decline in available positions, with only 952 showrunners and co-exec producers last season, compared to 1,508 in earlier years.

This information was distributed to its members by the board of directors of WGA West and the council of WGA East.

Representing over 10,000 writers, the WGA engaged in a strike from May 2 to September 27, 2023. This 148-day strike was the second-longest in the guild’s history, equal to the 1960 strike and just shy of the 153-day strike in 1988. This strike coincided with the SAG-AFTRA strike, which lasted from July 14 to November 9, 2023.