Portside

A common refrain in Hollywood after the upheaval of the writers and actors strikes was “Survive ’til 25.” But according to a new report from the Writers Guild of America, a lot of television writer positions haven’t survived the ongoing contraction of the entertainment industry. Per The Hollywood Reporter, there were 1,819 television writing jobs in the 2023-24 television season, a 42 percent decline from the 2022-23 season.

There were 37 percent fewer WGA-covered episodic series aired in the shortened 2023-24 TV season, which the WGA blamed on “studios’ prolonged unwillingness to negotiate a fair deal.” (In film, the number of screenwriters working is also down 15 percent, per THR.) Positions at the level of co-executive producer and higher declined 40 percent from the 2022-23; mid-level jobs (co-producer through consulting/supervising producer) declined 42 percent; and low-level jobs (staff writer, story editor, executive story editor) declined 46 percent. In total, there were 1,319 fewer jobs in TV writing compared to the previous season.

That the highest level of TV writing (EP/showrunners) saw the biggest job losses of that number (642) speaks to an ongoing issue in the industry, wherein lower level writers don’t get the same amount of mentorship and training to rise up to that highest level themselves. This was an issue raised during the strikes, because the streaming model disrupted how showrunners used to work their way up the ladder. With smaller writers rooms that begin and end before shooting starts, newer writers get fewer chances to write episodes and go to set to see them into production under the wing of a showrunner or EP. And with fewer showrunners and EPs, who is going to be doing the teaching?

“With an industry in transition — cable TV subscriptions and cable programming declining, a massive run-up and then pullback in streaming series as Wall Street demands quicker streaming platform profits— the number of TV jobs has declined,” the WGA report reads. “Writing careers have always been difficult to access and sustain, but the contraction has made it especially challenging. We are all subject to the decisions of the companies that control this industry, who have pulled back spending on content based on the demands of Wall Street. Compounding that, the current administration seems intent on causing economic chaos and undermining our democracy.”

The writing has been on the wall for a while: We’re past the peak of Peak TV (a term that originally referred to the quantity, not the quality of programming). The past three years have seen fewer shows on the air and more concerns about how difficult it is to get a job in the industry. While concessions gained in the strikes were meant to alleviate some of the stress, there’s only so much the WGA can do about the bubble bursting.