WORD

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

—John 1:1

As the Writers’ Strike continued toward the 100-day mark, I thought, “If the industry cannot afford to compensate writers adequately and provide new rules regarding work requirements and the industry’s use of AI in the future, they should just shut down.”

I understood the need to withhold the goods—the talent—if those who use the talent do not compensate in what the writers think is a fair and just exchange.

It’s not just the strikers and their kindred supporters, we consumers have a role in this tug-of-war between the talent and the industry. As the box office revenue from summer 2023 demonstrates, we love the movies. If we can’t go to the movies, what’s the use of having time off work or being retired?

Our big screen televisions bring us a cornucopia of entertainment choices. Now that we have brought these streaming services and networks into our homes and on our portable devices as essential parts of our lives, we imagine ourselves yoked to them. Whether we are consciously aware of it or not, the television has become as necessary and normal in our homes as a bathroom. We just take both for granted until the toilet is stopped up and the writers stop writing.

As the Strike dragged on and there were stories about the hardship writers and attendant talent were experiencing, it may have appeared that the writers were at a disadvantage in the negotiation struggles. But you and I knew it would be just a matter of time before the tug-of-war would end.

Because “…in a culture where words are all that is left as weapons, it’s words that make the universe.” (How the Authors of the Bible Spun Triumph from Defeat. Book Review of “Why the Bible Began: An Alternative History of Scripture and its Origins” in The New Yorker, August 28, 2023, by Adam Gopnik)