I’ve internet-known Todd Alcott for a number of years now. He’s got two posts worth reading about the current WGA strike, one on how the WGA ensured he got credit for a film he worked on (but wasn’t able to ensure he got a cut of the ongoing profits that film has made), and one on the absolutely grotesque system used to exploit screenwriters. I don’t know of a single other industry where, as a matter of standard working procedure — not a hazing ritual newbies go through; a normal state of affairs for experienced professionals — you’re expected to spend months or even years working for other people for free, because that’s the only way to get into the room with one of the tiny number of people who might, might, give the green light to you getting paid. And if they don’t give that green light, you’re SOL for all that labor. Novel-writing comes the closest, but at least there you’re not beholden to a whole parade of other people who get to demand you change the story to suit their vision even though they’re not the ones who can pay you, and if you fail to sell your novel to a traditional publisher you at least have the option of self-publishing and earning money that way.

What the WGA is fighting for is necessary, even before you get to the part where they want to make sure Hollywood doesn’t replace screenwriters with chatbots that will “generate content” for free.