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Disney Happy to Let Striking Writers “Lose Their Houses” Rather Than Negotiate

wga writers guild of america writers strike sag-aftra screen actors protest disney studios lose houses
Credit: SAG-AFTRA/ Twitter

The Writers Guild writers strike has plagued entertainment since the union went on strike on May 2. It has gone on for just over 70 days now, and the Screen Actors Guild is poised to take their own halting labor action any minute in solidarity with the Writers Guild. But it seems major studios are not terribly worried about it. Here’s the cynical update on Disney and the writers strike.

In a new report from Deadline, Disney is among the major studios that are happy to watch the creators of their content suffer before even thinking of starting negotiations – which they aren’t even considering until late fall!

wga writers guild of america writers strike sag-aftra screen actors protest disney studios lose houses

Credit: SAG-AFTRA/ Twitter

It’s going to be several months before Disney and other studios like Warner Bros Discovery, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, and Paramount sit down with the WGA and potentially SAG. This is a specific and unified tactic meant to “bleed out” the striking writers themselves as well as their cause. The goal is to leave the out-of-work writers “financially strapped” and depleted by the time the studios are ready to negotiate.

A studio executive literally admitted to Deadline that “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” another insider calling it “a cruel but necessary evil.”

wga writers guild of america writers strike sag-aftra screen actors protest disney studios lose houses

Credit: sushiesque/ Flickr

This sentiment is just shocking, especially for the Walt Disney Company, which blatantly goes against its curated, wholesome and caring brand image. If this were a Disney movie, Disney would be the villain. It really does just come down to money.

Deadline reports that the studios planned, even before the strike was official, to hold out until just before the holiday season when striking writers will be most vulnerable – therefore allowing the studios to have the upper hand in negotiations.

wga writers guild of america writers strike sag-aftra screen actors protest disney studios lose houses

Credit: Paul Hudson/ Flickr

Whether striking writers have planned for this possibility is still unclear. However, spectators guess that Disney and its peers will be strapped for content by the holiday season, which may lead to even more difficult negotiations.

Disney Dining will present more information on Disney and the writers strike as it unfold.

About Lana Porter

Lana has never lost a Disney Trivia night. Maybe it’s the hundreds of times she’s been to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, her love for Disney’s ’90’s era hand-animated musicals, or the fact that she’s often likened to cartoon characters, but Disney and its magic have a special place in her heart. Her favorite Disney experiences include the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival, eating Mickey Bars on the PeopleMover, and crying during the Magic Kingdom fireworks show. One day she hopes to be chosen as the rebel spy on Star Tours. When Lana isn’t Park Hopping, she’s at home reading books of all topics, watching her favs on Disney+, or snuggling her two cats, which she swears are not named after Disney characters. She loves surprising people with her knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but admits she is still catching up with Star Wars. She is happy to combine her excitement for writing with her love for Disney-style storytelling and share what she can with the world!