The Writers Guild of America West’s annual financial report for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2024, shows the impact of the 2023 strikes.
Writer employment and earnings in calendar year 2023 showed writers in all fields reporting declines in employment and earnings.
A total of 5,501 writers reported employment in all work areas in 2023, a 19.5% decline from 2022. Total writer earnings reported for dues purposes declined 31.8%, to $1.29 billion.
Earnings of television and digital platform writers reported to the WGAW for 2023 declined 35.0%, to $916.6 million. Total employment was down 22.1% from 2022, with 4,441 writers reporting income from television and digital platforms.
Screenwriter earnings declined 22.4% in 2023 to $373 million. Screenwriter employment declined by 15.8%, with 1,918 writers reporting screen earnings in 2023.
In 2023, the WGA collected $598.50 million in residuals, a 3.5% increase from the previous year. Television residuals reached $396.37 million, which accounted for 66.2% of the total, and saw a 15.9% increase year-over-year.
Television new media residuals continued their predominance with $134.33 million collected, up by 14.8% from the previous year and making up 33.9% of the total collected television residuals.
High Budget SVOD residuals emerged as the second largest category at $57.37 million, experiencing a 45.6% increase driven by a growth in the volume of projects as well as an increase in writers receiving residuals under the improved terms of the 2020 MBA.
Foreign television residuals followed closely at $56.45 million, marking a 31.3% increase. However, domestic syndication continued its decline, dropping by 12.1%, to $17.63 million, continuing a five-year decrease of 52.8%.
Feature film residuals declined by 14.5%, to $202.13 million. New media residuals remained the highest earning category within the film segment at $133.56 million, although this represented a 14.9% decrease from 2022, when Netflix paid $62.5 million as a result of the decision in the Bird Box arbitration.
Worldwide TV residuals also saw a decline of 13.2%, totaling $31.45 million, while pay TV residuals decreased by 6.4%, to $28.04 million, continuing a five-year drop of 43.7% as licensing and viewership continues to shift to streaming platforms
Home video residuals continued their steep decline, dropping 34.8% to $4.74 million in 2023, with a cumulative five-year decrease of 68.4%, the largest among all categories.
The Guild ended the year with total net assets of more than $100 million. The Guild had an operating deficit for the fiscal year of $1.5 million based on total revenues of just under $34 million.
The Membership and Finance Committee is made up of five members appointed by the Board of Directors. The Committee oversees the annual audit conducted by the independent accounting firm of Miller Kaplan Arase LLP.
The Membership and Finance Committee Betsy Thomas (chair), Travis Donnelly, Carleton Eastlake, Peter Murrieta, and Molly Nussbaum