Late-night shows are dark, and television show productions are on hold.
It’s just the beginning as the Writers’ Guild of America strike gets underway.
Union members are on strike after failed negotiations with top production studios like Disney, Discovery-Warner, Netflix, Amazon, and more.
Among their demands are better wages, upgrades to compensate for the increase in streaming and regulation of artificial intelligence.
Rebeca Gomez is a lecturer in screenwriting with the Film and Media Studies at University of Texas at San Antonio.
According to Gomez, San Antonio is one of many cities in Texas known as a production hub.
In fact, for the 5th consecutive year, San Antonio topped the list for U.S. Film-Friendly City, according to a MovieMaker report.
“We are constantly trying to incentivize people to come make their movies here. We’re trying to get them top produce their television shows here,” Gomez said.
The 2007-2008 WGA Writers’ Strike lasted 100 days.
If this one goes longer, Gomez said there could be major consequences.
“We have a number of really solid burgeoning film programs,” Gomez said. “Ours at UTSA, the one at UIW {University of Incarnate Word}, the ones at the community colleges. It impacts our students for sure, and it impacts the community at large.”