The Content Consumed Guide to the SAG & WGA Strikes

Hey, hey! Welcome to a special edition of Content Consumed. Today, we’re talking about something very important: the first time that actors and writers have walked out simultaneously since 1960.

Questions you may have had over the past month or two:

• What’s the SAG? What’s the WGA?
• Don’t actors get paid enough?
• What’s wrong with using AI for scripts?
• Will that one movie be released on time this fall?

I’m here to give you the best answers I can, based on what I know, with plenty of extra reading to supplement your own research.

Let’s dive in!

What are the SAG-AFRA and WGA groups all about?

They’re the two largest unions in the entertainment industry.

SAG-AFRA: Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. SAG has been around since 1933, and merged with AFRA in 2012. There are about 160,000 members.

WGA: Writers Guild of America. WGA was established in 1954 and is divided into West Coast and East Coast. There are about 20,000 members.