Striking Hollywood Writers Accuse Streaming Giants of Treating Them Like Uber Drivers: ‘Cancel Your Subscriptions’

Striking Hollywood writers are accusing the major streamers of treating them like disposable gig workers and are encouraging consumers everywhere to “cancel your subscriptions.”

Marjorie David, the vice president of the Writers Guild of America, West, told The Daily Beast that streamers like Amazon are mistreating their armies of writers, calling it a “terrible thing to do.”

“The streamers don’t care about anything, they think we’re Uber drivers: ‘Come in, do your job, go home, that’s great. You’re free,’” she said.

I went to the front lines of the WGA strike today at Amazon Studios in LA, where writers picketed for livable wage. My report on why they're striking, the energy on day one, and how you can support: https://t.co/9JcViin1kY

— Fletcher Peters (@fIetcherpeters) May 3, 2023

“Not good. We don’t want to be free from health and pension. We don’t want to be free from paying our rent. We don’t want to be free from buying a house or sending our kids to school or anything like that.”

Movie writer Ed Horowitz is encouraging consumers everywhere to show their support for striking writers by sticking it to the streamers.

“Cancel your subscriptions,” he told The Daily Beast. “If people out there started canceling their subscriptions and not watching stuff that is on streamers, that would have a huge impact, if people were to do that in numbers. If enough people cancel their subscriptions—even in the short run in solidarity—that will actually make a statement.”

As Breitbart News reported, Hollywood writers walked off the job late Monday after the WGA failed to reach a new contract with the studios. Among the many points of contention is compensation in the age of streaming media, with the union arguing that writers are getting the shaft despite the bounty of new shows on services including Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Max.

The first casualties of the strike were the late-night network comedy shows, including the ones hosted by left-wing comedians Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert. NBC’s Saturday Night Live is also going on hiatus starting this week.

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