What changes do you hope to see as a result of the strike?
Jones: Generally, we hope that screenwriting becomes a sustainable career again. Right now, it's a gig economy, and people who don't come from wealth and privilege can't afford to live gig to gig. So I hope that it becomes lucrative enough for us to be middle class again, at least. Maybe think about buying a house at some point.
I think it's going take these studios losing as much money as possible for them to come back to the table. I don't know what that point is or that threshold, but I do know that the studios do not all agree. They're not all on the same page as far as what things they're willing to negotiate on, so I do see a possibility of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers starting to splinter off and maybe some studios negotiating with us and signing a deal versus some others folding out.
"I think [studios] think we might peter out but we're not going to, we're just going to get angry."
Do you think the strike will last longer than the last one?
Jones: I don't know. Everybody that I know who was present for the 2007 strike does think this will last longer. I'm not quite sure why they think that. I think partially because we're fighting for more things, whereas the strike in 2007 was mainly about residuals. The streamers are not going to be, obviously, impacted on the consumer side as quickly because they already have things that are in the vault that they haven't released yet. It's going to be broadcast that suffers the quickest.
But it does seem like the studios are kind of shook already. The first week, they were already suspending people's deals and normally they don't do that that fast. We're shutting down productions and that's going to cost them a lot of money. So I could see it going faster than people expect, especially because there is so much solidarity between the unions.
Wake: There have been various talks about how long it's going to go but I don't know. It really depends on the willingness of the opposing party to really come and talk with everyone. . . . Right now it's all a toss-up. The common refrain is: it could be a week from now, it could be like six months now — nobody knows.
Fontana: Our last strike was a hundred days long and that was the shortest strike, so I think 100 days is the one to beat. Personally, I would love it to be resolved sooner. It's just getting hotter out there on the picket lines. We're showing up, we're shutting down productions in New York and LA and elsewhere. We're not going to stop doing any of that. I think [studios] think we might peter out but we're not going to, we're just going to get angry. We're going to be more desirous of seeing an end to this thing the longer this goes on. I hope it's not 100 days but we're ready for it to be 100 days if it has to be.
Editor's note: These interviews were conducted before the Directors Guild of America and AMPTP struck up their new tentative three-year labour contract on June 3, per The Hollywood Reporter.
These interviews have been condensed for length and clarity.