Why did it take five months?
That’s the vexing question that entertainment industry insiders are wrestling with even as they cheer the end of the Writers Guild of America strike. Union leaders said it again and again all summer — that Hollywood’s system for collective bargaining was “broken.” Turns out they were right.
The economic pain spread across the entertainment industry and beyond by showbiz’s summer of labor strife has been devastating. The situation demands both urgent action and long-term study because the industry dynamics that spurred the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are likely to persist in the near term. For the sake of avoiding more debilitating work stoppages, leaders from labor and management need to undertake a thoughtful and methodical review of decades-old contract terms and options for updating the underlying economic constructs of complicated compensation formulas. It’s a process that will also demand the most precious of resources in business — good faith, buy-in and trust — from stakeholders on all sides of the bargaining table.
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