Rae Benjamin Shares What Writers Really Want

Rae Benjamin is a Hollywood screenwriter and the founder of In The Cut LA.

The WGA (Writers Guild Association) Union Strike is still happening right now, and it doesn’t look like it’s ending anytime soon.

Poor Pay, unfair working conditions with streaming networks, and fair adjustments to ever changing times are just a few reasons why the strike is alive and well. Rae Benjamin, creator and founder of the film organization In The Cut LA, and a screenwriter herself, is a captain in the WGA Union. When she agreed to speak about what writer’s hope to see in the future, you know True Star was all ears. While taking a few minutes from the picket line, Benjamin told us about some of their major concerns. “The most pressing issue right now, is how the nature of how writing has changed. Before Netflix and other streamers, writing was a very stable career. Because of streaming, it’s become more of a freelance gig job, where you might only have job security for a couple weeks.”

Writers are the reason we get to go home every day and watch our favorite shows, but if they aren’t getting the pay they deserve, who’s going to keep writing these shows? The things the writers are asking for, such as a proper amount of time to create each episode, to allow writers on set of productions, having stricter rules towards the use of AI, and better pay, which all seem like necessities for a writer, but the streaming networks think otherwise.

After nearly a month of striking (at the time of our interview), Benjamin stated, “There’s been no progress because we haven’t talked to the studios since the strike was issued on May 1st.” One thing that stuck with me throughout this interview was Benjamin’s mention of how she’s never been on set for her own show “The Witcher.” Benjamin spoke on how the writing of her show stopped due to the strike, and it won’t start back up again until the WGA Union’s demands are met.

Episodes of “The Witcher,” the series that Benjamin writes for, are now streaming on Netflix.

“We’re on strike, so we’re not writing the show anymore,” Benjamin said. “We were in the middle of writing it and we stopped. I’ve never been to set, because that’s an issue that we’re fighting for. Our show shoots in London, we write it in LA, and they basically don’t want to pay for us to produce our own episode. So what happens is the show runner goes by themselves and has one writer as a helper, but that’s really putting a lot of work on those two people because writing does not stop in the room. There are constantly re-writes of a show. There are at least 10, if not 15, 20, 30 versions of a script.”

You would think going on set is a dream come true for a writer, but it has in fact never been a reality for most because of these type of conditions they’ve been put through.

This is the sixth WGA strike in history. According to vanityfair.com, the last writers strike in 2007 lasted 100 days. In 1988 the strike stretched out to 158 whole days, which was a reported record for the WGA. Hopefully this time around all the issues on the table can be resolved in a much shorter time frame.

LA strikers / WLNR Photo: Franchesca Ramsey

Benjamin expressed her hope of writers finally getting the pay and respect they deserve, and she will continue striking to maintain it. “In the past 10 years, show budgets have increased over 50 percent, but in that same period writers’ pay has gone down over 20 percent. …We’re just fighting to get our fair share of pay as creators. If they’re spending the money to make these shows, then they can spend the money to compensate the people that are creating these shows,” she said.

As sad as this may be, these strikes are necessary for the betterment of creatives in this line of work, because if they don’t speak up for the improper treatment they are receiving, who will? Benjamin is going to continue striking for the demands of the WGA and will be speaking all about it on her social media page @IntheCutLa, so be sure to follow and check it out.

To see the complete interview with Benjamin and learn more about the WGA demands, click on the arrow below.