An Industry in Freefall—and No One Wants to Admit It
By CineDrones
Hollywood used to be the global beacon of entertainment — a place where artists, creators, and technicians came together to build worlds from scratch. Today? It’s more like a smoldering crater of what once was. The latest blow? A gut-punch report revealing that WGA-covered writing jobs are now at their lowest levels in history. Yes, history. And no, that’s not a typo.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Did the WGA strike shoot its own members in the foot?
Before the internet explodes — let’s be clear. Writers deserve to be paid fairly. Residuals matter. AI shouldn’t be allowed to ghostwrite our cultural canon. But what played out over the last two years wasn’t a clean battle for labor rights — it was a full-blown industry collapse disguised as a moral victory.
The Numbers Don’t Lie. The Spin Does.
According to recent data, writing jobs are down over 42% from the previous season. Over 1,300 positions vanished — and no, they’re not coming back next quarter. These aren’t theoretical losses. These are real people. Talented writers. Staffers. Assistants. Freelancers. Veterans. Newcomers. All sidelined because an entire industry refused to see the iceberg right in front of them.
During the strike, the rallying cry was that better contracts would ensure long-term survival. And yet here we are, post-deal, with fewer jobs, fewer shows, and less money floating around than ever before. What exactly did we win again?
A Slow-Motion Trainwreck
Let’s rewind. The pandemic strained the system. Then streaming disrupted the model beyond recognition. And finally, the strikes — both WGA and SAG — brought the last two years to a screeching halt. What was needed was precision. Strategy. Leadership. What we got instead was a disorganized PR war, performative finger-pointing, and a total lack of future planning.
There was no contingency for the shutdown. No real public accountability for the studios OR the unions. Just two sides playing a high-stakes game of chicken while thousands of livelihoods got wrecked in the crossfire. Meanwhile, the audience — you know, the ones who actually pay for all of this — moved on. TikTok kept growing. YouTube exploded. AI made leaps. Indie creators filled the void.
Hollywood? Still patting itself on the back for “holding the line” while the building burns down.
Let’s Call It What It Is: A Leadership Failure
This isn’t just bad luck. This is a complete failure of leadership from the top down. From bloated studio execs playing hot potato with bad streaming decisions, to union reps making moves for headlines instead of survival, the industry became the poster child for how NOT to handle a crisis.
And now? The collateral damage is everywhere.
- Vendors out of business.
- Crew members moving to construction or trucking just to pay rent.
- Post houses shuttered.
- Production services left holding the bag.
Small business owners, like us at CineDrones, saw years of relationship-building flushed down the drain because the industry decided to take a two-year sabbatical from reality.
What Happens Next?
The hardest pill to swallow is this: There is no cavalry coming. Studios aren’t suddenly going to greenlight a thousand projects. Streamers aren’t handing out development deals like it’s 2017. And if you’re a writer or director or drone operator sitting around waiting for things to go “back to normal,” I’ve got news — this is the new normal.
Adapt or die. Reinvent or get buried. Collaborate smart or collapse alone.
The only way forward is by being brutally honest about where we are — and who got us here. If Hollywood wants to survive, it needs less hype and more humility. Less posturing, more performance. Fewer slogans, more solutions.
Because right now, this business isn’t just broken — it’s bleeding out.
