Screenwriting careers in film and television have been uneven. A profitable year can be followed by a year with no work at all, or at least no paid work.
Residue is one of the ways writers sustain themselves. And since 2000, the Writers Guild of America has also implemented a “points” system that allows people to maintain health insurance while not employed.
“It doesn’t necessarily bring in current funding, but if you’re producing potential new programming, you can afford to take a year or two and not have to take a lower-quality job during that time,” said Daniel Petry Jr., WGA West president when the benefits were first negotiated. “If everyone has to take a job that year in order to properly take care of their family, it will be very difficult to get promoted.”
But in the face of rising medical costs and a shrinking industry, that system is being slashed. On April 4, the WGA agreed to an agreement that will slow the rate at which writers earn points and increase the cost of each point to maintain their current coverage.
“It would essentially eliminate the points system,” said Marc Guggenheim, an author and frequent critic of unions. “It’s not just that the points system has shrunk to the point where it almost doesn’t exist. It’s the fact that points deposited in banks are being retroactively devalued. It’s like paying into Social Security but not being able to write a Social Security check.”
The deal must be approved in a vote starting Thursday and ending on April 24. A private Facebook group of writers has been complaining about the changes to the medical plan. The WGA Bargaining Committee has been holding Zoom sessions with members to explain the scope changes and answer questions.
“Change is always difficult,” WGA West President Michelle Mulroney said in an interview. “Our members need time to absorb these changes and be educated about them, and that is what we are working on now.”
According to the guild, about 400 writers use their points to receive medical care each year. But during the streaming boom, many writers have accumulated large amounts of points and found themselves needing to use them when they get stuck. Currently, approximately 1,200 writers are interviewed at Point.
The system’s costs have ballooned from single-digit millions to nearly $40 million, and are rising even more as the health fund faces a $50 million deficit.
“None of these changes were taken lightly,” Mulroney said. “But simply put, we cannot afford to continue with the current system.”
Writers who have been working steadily for 10 years now will likely continue long-term coverage of Anthem for one to three years. Under the new system, people who earn more than $200,000 will have to bank about half of that. People with low incomes have nothing.
Writers who already have points can continue to use them. But if they want to remain in Anthem, the coverage won’t last as long as they expected. Writers who were previously eligible for 24 months can now get 15 months. To retain 24 months, you must switch to Centivo, which is a narrow network plan.
Mulroney said the Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance wants to see even bigger changes. “We fought it off,” she said.
Writers who earn enough to qualify for health insurance currently pay no monthly premiums, as little as $50 for a family. These premiums increase to $75 and $200, respectively, for Anthem and $25 and $75 for Centivo. The agreement also includes higher deductibles and higher out-of-pocket limits. In return, the companies agreed to contribute $321 million to keep the health fund solvent.
The WGA also reluctantly agreed to a four-year contract instead of the usual three-year contract. Daniel Sánchez-Witzel, co-chair of the negotiating committee, said the studio wants to go to five locations.
“Getting our health plan on a sustainable trajectory was our top priority,” she said. “A longer-term deal was theirs. This time, by agreeing to a four-year deal, we get more new medical funding than we’ve had in the past.”
Longer term means an extra year without the threat of an industry shutdown, something studios are willing to pay for stability after a major strike in 2023. But the threat is also the main source of influence for the writers, and they are not going to make a habit of spending more than three years without it.
“This in no way means we’re satisfied with staying at four years forever,” Mulroney said. “Then, it is undecided what the next contract period will be.”
The extended period also means the WGA will have to wait another year to work on the development of artificial intelligence, one of the main drivers of the strike. John August, another co-chair of the bargaining committee, said the companies are not seeking to roll back the AI protections won in the strike and will continue to meet with unions to discuss the issue over the next four years.
WGA wants to pay writers if their scripts are used to train AI models. But the licensing market for that doesn’t yet exist, and AI companies typically get what they need for free. If the situation changes, the studio and WGA will discuss what compensation the screenwriters could receive.
“Do we expect this to be a windfall for the writers in the next contract term? Probably not,” August said. “But it’s important for us to have transparency about what these transactions are so that we know how this market is shaping up.”
The studio’s offer to hold an AI conference during the strike was seen by the writers as a poor substitute for meaningful protections. But those meetings actually went well, August said, showing that the studio and screenwriter’s interests may be more aligned than they initially appeared.
“This was very informative and constructive,” August said. “So I hope that during the next contract period we can continue the dialogue and really figure out what’s going on here.”
