The WGA strike is in full swing. Writers are once again fighting for better pay and treatment across the industry. Streaming has significantly changed the employment landscape for writers, and not for the better. The slap-dash factory-churning of series’ for streaming platforms has ruined how writers get paid, network, and advance. George RR Martin, who is supremely disappointed in how writers are being treated, finds the current process of show writing extremely harmful.
Posting on his NotABlog, GRRM wrote at length about his personal experience writing for television in the 80s. A very different world than today. But what he bemoans most is the existence of “mini-rooms”: tiny teams of writers and show-runners that disband after a series is greenlit. The experienced writers stay on to continue the series, while junior writers are sent back out into the ether. There’s a complete lack of experience pipeline for present-day writers to pursue and it breaks Martin’s heart.
Writer’s Navigate a Desolate Landscape Now
“I wrote five scripts during my season and a half on TZ, and I was deeply involved in every aspect of every one of them,” Martin writes. “I did not just write my script, turn it in, and go away. I sat in on the casting sessions. I worked with the directors. I was present at the table reads. ‘The Last Defender of Camelot’ was the first of my scripts to go into production, and I was on set every day.” Writers of Martin’s time were treated as essential members of the cast and crew, with the ability to make connections with staff and actors. Gaining experience and learning the ins and out of the industry.
That’s no longer even a possibility for junior writers. Who are often laid off after a show has been greenlit, leaving only the experienced writers on staff. Despite being writers, they’re treated as guests if they come on set. Not an essential part of the crew, but someone who needs permission. Past that, all they can do is observe, not offer critique or notes. It’s practically impossible to climb the ladder. It’s impossible to learn anything new.
“Streamers and shortened seasons have blown the ladder to splinters…Mini-rooms are abominations, and the refusal of the AMPTP to pay writers to stay with their shows through production — as part of the JOB, for which they need to be paid, not as a tourist — is not only wrong, it is incredibly short sighted. If the Story Editors of 2023 are not allowed to get any production experience, where do the studios think the Showrunners of 2033 are going to come from?”
