BLACKSBURG, Va. – The countdown is on until Hollywood writers could go on strike, potentially shutting down production on most TV shows.
The industry is hoping to avoid a rerun of the last strike in 2007 that went on for 100 days.
Members of the Writers Guild of America are pushing for more pay and copyright protections, now that artificial intelligence is becoming more popular.
Dr. James Ivory, a professor at Virginia Tech’s School of Communication, said this strike could have wider implications than you might think, including the rise of reality TV shows that don’t require writers.
“Your talk show hosts won’t have the people that were writing their comedy bits for them to deliver. And you’ll also see shows in development right now not being written, maybe canceled. So there will be immediate and long-term effects for the audience. And again, more emphasis on producing shows that rely less on writers, which I’m not sure is a good thing,” said Ivory.
The strike will begin if an agreement isn’t reached by midnight.