Current:Home > NewsInternational screenwriters organize 'Day of Solidarity' supporting Hollywood writers -Golden Summit Finance
International screenwriters organize 'Day of Solidarity' supporting Hollywood writers
View
Date:2025-04-15 05:20:53
Screenwriters in 35 countries across the globe are staging a public show of support for their counterparts involved in the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike.
"Screenwriters Everywhere: International Day of Solidarity," a global event scheduled to take place on June 14 in nations as diverse as Bulgaria and South Korea, includes rallies, social media campaigns and picketing outside local Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) member offices.
The Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE), International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG), and UNI Global Union (UNI-MEI) worked together to organize the actions. Combined, these organizations represent around 67,000 film and TV writers worldwide.
"The members of the IAWG, made up of Guilds from Europe, America, Canada, India, Africa, Korea, New Zealand and Israel, stand in solidarity with our sister Guilds in America," said IAWG Chair, Thomas McLaughlin, in a statement shared with NPR. "The companies that seek to exploit and diminish writers are global, our response is global, and the victory gained in America will be a victory for screenwriters everywhere."
It's not the first time writers in other parts of the world have stepped out in solidarity with WGA writers since early May, when the strike started. For example, on May 11, some European writers staged a small protest outside the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) European headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
With companies like Netflix, Amazon and Disney operating in many countries around the globe, the "International Day of Solidarity" comes amid fears that writers outside the U.S., where production continues, could potentially steal jobs from striking WGA members over here.
But many international writers guilds have issued guidelines to their members over the past few weeks about steering clear of jobs that ordinarily would go to WGA members.
"We've put the message out to our members that if an American producer knocks on your door and says, 'We need a European writer,' while it's incredibly tempting, we are really strongly recommending that our members do not do that because they will get blacklisted by the WGA and it would be viewed very much as breaking the strike," said Jennifer Davidson, chair of the Writers Guild of Ireland (WGI), in an interview with NPR.
The WGI's guidelines, available on the organization's website, state: "WGI has committed to ensuring that our members shall in no casework within the jurisdiction of a Member Guild for any engager who has not adhered to the relevant collective bargaining agreement of that Guild (or who is on the unfair or strike list of that Guild)."
"I think it's a little bit unlikely," said FSE Executive Officer David Kavanagh, of the possibility of non-WGA writers in countries outside the U.S. taking work from their WGA counterparts during the strike. "They're our friends and colleagues. We share skills and talents with them and we share our concerns about the impact that streaming is going to have on our profession. So we're absolutely on their side."
But Kavanagh said despite the show of solidarity among the global screenwriting community, technically, there's nothing to stop global streamers from contracting writers in Europe and elsewhere, as long as they're not members of the WGA.
The WGA and AMPTP did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
veryGood! (15618)
Related
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Masters Par 3 Contest coverage: Leaderboard, highlights from Rickie Fowler’s win
- ISIS stadium threat puts UEFA Champions League soccer teams on alert for quarterfinals
- NBA legend John Stockton details reasons for his medical 'beliefs' in court filing
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- Judge in Trump’s election interference case rejects ‘hostages’ label for jailed Jan. 6 defendants
- New sonar images show remnants of Baltimore bridge collapse amid challenging recovery plan
- New sonar images show remnants of Baltimore bridge collapse amid challenging recovery plan
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- Runaway goat that scaled bridge 'like a four-legged Spider-Man' rescued in Kansas City
Ranking
- Spooky or not? Some Choa Chu Kang residents say community garden resembles cemetery
- Ice Spice to Make Acting Debut in Spike Lee Movie
- 'Sound of Freedom' success boosts Angel Studios' confidence: 'We're flipping the script'
- Scientists are grasping at straws while trying to protect infant corals from hungry fish
- Spooky or not? Some Choa Chu Kang residents say community garden resembles cemetery
- Gas prices are going back up: These states have seen the biggest increases lately
- A brief history of the Green Jacket at Augusta National
- As his trans daughter struggles, a father pushes past his prejudice. ‘It was like a wake-up’
Recommendation
Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
New Jersey officials say they are probing hate crime after Islamic center is vandalized at Rutgers
City of Marshall getting $1.7M infrastructure grant to boost Arkansas manufacturing jobs
Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul: Promoter in talks to determine what is 'possible' for fight rules
Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
North Dakota woman who ran unlicensed day care gets nearly 19 years in prison after baby's death ruled a homicide
City of Marshall getting $1.7M infrastructure grant to boost Arkansas manufacturing jobs
One killed, five wounded when shooters open fire on crowd in DC neighborhood