The monumental impact of the ongoing WGA strike is not only rocking the ground underneath almost every production set across the U.S., but the shockwaves from it are also reaching all across the globe to the international film industries and the communities within them. It’s all but created a new worldwide discourse on modern filmmaking, how fundamental the human factor is to the entire creative process, and subsequently how important it is to provide fair compensation for their work. One country that’s especially paying attention to it all is the U.K., which has since started to echo similar protests among its unions. Per an on-site report from Deadline, Doctor Who showrunner Russell Davies is one of the growing dissidents that has been showing up to the pickets popping up in London, and he had plenty to say on the entire situation.
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If it weren’t clearer that the world is definitely listening to the plight of the thousands upon thousands of writers who have managed to pump the brakes a majority of the industry, it’s all but manifested in new protest demonstrations taking place today around the globe, including one in London called Screenwriters Everywhere. At least 200 people showed up not only in solidarity with U.S. writers of the WGA, but with those of the WGGB who are facing very similar problems. Among the crowd was the writer and creator of Black Mirror Charlie Brooker, Enola Holmes writer Jack Thorne, and Doctor Who’s showrunner Russell T. Davies. In an on-site interview with Deadline, he remarked how the issue falls at the feet of ignorant, higher-up executives “who I’m not even sure are listening”, rather than producers, and that “we need to get rid of them”. He further added that to bring the strike to an end, the terms voiced by writers need to be met, and the outcome needs to be “humane.” Of today’s demonstration, he said:

“I know that what happens in America happens here. These problems will be coming this way. It’s literally about solidarity with the people over there…Some of them are starving and are having to take second jobs to just work on shows. It’s wrong, it’s a fight, and I’m behind it.”

While they echo solidarity, due to U.K. laws they’re actually not allowed to protest on behalf of the WGA, from one union to another. However, that certainly doesn’t stop them from making the issues being faced in the U.K. known to the world as well. Alice Nutter and Simon Beaufoy who both helped reboot Disney+’s Full Monty series, emphasized that the situation on their side of the pond is “worse”.

“They have large writers rooms [in the U.S.]…Over here it’s a gig economy and writers make so much less. We can’t strike in same way here but we should be demanding more.”

Demonstrations Happening Across the World Today

London isn’t the only international hotspot where protests are being held in unity with the world’s writers. Several other demonstrations have been announced in various major cities around the world, including:

Netflix, Buenos Aires, Argentina

European Parliament, Brussels

Apple and Amazon, Canada

National Assembly, Bulgaria

FoxTelecolombia, Colombia

Eiffel Tower, France

Cologne Cathedral, Germany

Tel Aviv Central Library, Israel

Estudios Churubusco, Mexico

EYE Film Museum, Netherlands

Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Poland

Netflix, Seoul, South Korea

Filmoteca de Catalunya and Valenciana, Spain

The Riksdag, Sweden

Leicester Square, London, United Kingdom

The Writer’s Guild Strike in the U.S. is ongoing with no signs yet of any amicable consensus. The pickets started at the beginning of May and have now since entered their sixth week, shutting down multiple film and television productions everywhere until fair wage stipulations are met.