To the cry of "No pages without fair wages" – no page written without fair pay – US screenwriters declare war on Netflix, Primevideo, Disney+, Paramountplus and Apple, just to name a few.

There is a long list of producers and online streaming platforms that will face many problems since writers for television and cinema have declared their first strike in fifteen years.

The first signs had already appeared in mid-April when, in an online referendum, almost 98% of screenwriters declared themselves in favor of a protest to see their right to an increase in compensation recognized.

According to the Writers Guild of America, in fact, the large revenues of the studios have not transformed, at the same time, into a redistribution of earnings even for those who create the body and soul of any film and television production.

An industry where streaming has changed the rules of Hollywood's economy

"Writers are going through an existential crisis," the union said. "All scripts must cease immediately. The behavior of the companies and their immovable position in this negotiation has further devalued the writing profession," the WGA said in a statement.

The union accuses the big majors and platforms of exasperating freelance work without guaranteeing the wage and minimum protection coverage for screenwriters: "From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly television occupancy episode, to the creation of a 'daily rate', to their obstructionism on free labor for screenwriters, big companies have slammed the door in the face of the workforce".

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade association that contracts on behalf of studios and production companies, said it had submitted an offer with "generous increases for writers" and would be willing to improve it "but not to the point of accepting everything required by the WGAE".

But the writers are not going to be intimidated: "The labor dispute could have a cascading effect on television and film productions depending on how long the strike lasts."

The arms, as the negotiations are being put in, warn that they could remain crossed, in fact "for months" and remember that a month ago almost one hundred percent of the members had voted in favor of the strike.

The economic risk feared is not trivial: fifteen years ago the same protest, according to an estimate by National Public Radio presented on February 12, 2008, cost the economy of the entertainment industry about 1.5 billion dollars, while a study by the UCLA Anderson School of Management estimated the loss at 380 million dollars.