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'Pay Your Writers': Boston University Crowd Disrupts CEO's Graduation Speech Amid Strike
Writers Guild of America members and local allies picketed outside while the crowd in the stadium booed David Zaslav and made clear to the industry executive that "we don't want you here."
May 21, 2023
As unionized film and television writers across the United States continue to strike, Warner Bros. Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav was met with critical chants both inside and outside of Boston University's Sunday commencement ceremony, during which he spoke and received an honorary degree.
After weeks of negotiating with Zaslav's company as well as Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, and Sony under the the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the Writers Guild of America (WGA) launched the strike in early May, saying that "the studios' responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing."
That same week, BU announced Zaslav as a commencement speaker, sparking backlash from students, alumni, community members, and the WGA, East director of communications, Jason Gordon, who expressed "deep disappointment with the university over its poor decision" to provide the industry CEO with a platform.
"Boston University should not give voice to someone who wants to destroy their students' ability to build a career in the film and television industry," Gordon told
The Boston Globe. "The university should expect students, Writers Guild members, as well as other unions and community groups to picket Zaslav's commencement address."
WGA members delivered the promised picket with support from local allies, including members of BU Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) and Boston DSA, who made signs that said: "F*!# Zaslav! Solidarity With the Writers."
\u201cSolidarity with the Writers Guild on strike! Out here with @Boston_DSA and @BU_YDSA comrades picketing Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav\u2019s commencement speech at BU.\u201d— Mike Connolly (@Mike Connolly) 1684692373
\u201cAfter getting booed by BU students David Zaslav had to cross the WGA picket line and Scabby the rat on his way out of the VIP exit. Sorry not sorry.\u201d— Annie Stamell (@Annie Stamell) 1684698472
Within Nickerson Field, "boos and expletives rained down" on Zaslav, who graduated from the BU School of Law in 1985.
During his speech, the CEO did not address the ongoing strike, "or the several dozen students who turned their backs to him, and instead shared the strategies that helped him become one of Hollywood's most powerful figures," reported BU Today.
\u201cWarner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was met by a huge WGA-DSA picket at BU's commencement today \u2014 with hundreds outside, plus Scabby and a plane, as BU grads turned their backs and drowned him in boos and chants\n\nPay your writers, David, and get the fuck out of Massachusetts\u201d— \ud835\uddea\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddf2\ud835\ude00\ud835\ude01\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddff \ud835\uddd7\ud835\udde6\ud835\uddd4 \ud83c\udf39 (@\ud835\uddea\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddff\ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddf2\ud835\ude00\ud835\ude01\ud835\uddf2\ud835\uddff \ud835\uddd7\ud835\udde6\ud835\uddd4 \ud83c\udf39) 1684709485
As The A.V. Club's Sam Barasanti wrote Sunday:
It seems like, for those of us who weren't there, that Zaslav's speech was as stunningly out-of-touch with reality as the decision to host him was in the first place, which speaks to a general contempt he seems to have for... oh, let's say everyone.
This is a man who was put in charge of a massive media empire, and the most notable things he has done with that power are burn money, dismantle one of the most prestigious brands in entertainment, double-dip on promoting J.K. Rowling, kick off the now-common trend of studios deleting content from their streaming services and making it completely inaccessible in some cases, and—how can we forget?—driving the writers who make his shows and movies to go on a strike that may soon lead to similar strikes from the DGA and SAG-AFTRA that would render Hollywood completely motionless.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "'We don't want you here,' 'Pay your writers,' and 'Shut up, Zaslav' could be heard emanating from the crowd, messages similar to the prepared chants for the picket, including some created by the school's YDSA chapter members and school students who were inspired by BU hockey chants."
\u201cEnjoy a free serotonin boost every time he\u2019s forced to pause!\u201d— DSA-LA's Hollywood Labor (@DSA-LA's Hollywood Labor) 1684696957
\u201cThe WGA is thankful to all the B.U. graduates for chanting "Pay your writers" at Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav while he delivered the #BU2023 commencement address. #WGAStrike\u201d— Writers Guild of America, East (@Writers Guild of America, East) 1684698396
As The Hollywood Reporter detailed:
Students from BU's College of Communications, which houses its film and TV program, as well as the College of Fine Arts and some enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences, were among those who had expressed interest or were expected to take part in the ceremony protest, according to Vanessa Barlett, a graduating senior who helped lead the student-led writers strike solidarity event inside Nickerson Field.
"I'm in the same college as a bunch of film and TV kids," Barlett, who studied political science and journalism and was among those who created the day's official chants, told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the event. "I'm friends with a lot of people in the College of Fine Arts, people who are in the theater arts program, so having a sense of solidarity is very important to me."
Some progressive lawmakers also weighed in—including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who tweeted that "if Warner Bros Discovery can afford to pay its CEO David Zaslav $286 million in compensation over the past two years, it can afford to pay its writers much better wages and benefits. Mr. Zaslav: Listen to the Boston University students and the Writers Guild. Pay your writers."
\u201c\ud83d\udc68\ud83c\udffc\u200d\ud83d\udcbc \u201cYou have to listen to people you disagree with\u201d\n\n\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f \u201cPay your writers!\u201d\n\n\ud83d\udc68\ud83c\udffc\u200d\ud83d\udcbc \u201cNo, not me. Not like that\u201d\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1684707030
Striking workers' demands from studios, which include pay increases and limits on artificial intelligence, "would gain writers approximately $429 million per year," according to WGA. "AMPTP's offer is approximately $86 million per year, 48% of which is from the minimums increase."
This article has been updated with tweets from Worcester DSA, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
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'No Other Choice': TV & Film Writers Strike to Fight Hollywood Greed
"The companies have broken this business. They have taken so much from the very people, the writers, who have made them wealthy."
May 02, 2023
Unionized film and television writers are on strike Tuesday after a midnight deadline came without a deal with executives of the major producers and streaming giants in Hollywood.
The negotiating committee representing both the East and West Coast branches of the Writers Guild of America said in a statement that the strike would be in effect as of 12:01 am and that members—who voted last month to authorize a strike if one became necessary—would be on the picket line beginning Tuesday afternoon in both Los Angeles and New York.
"Though we negotiated intent on making a fair deal—and though your strike vote gave us the leverage to make some gains—the studios' responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing," the WGA said in a statement. "The companies' behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing."
"We had hoped to do this through reasonable conversation. Now we will do it through struggle." —Writers Guild of America
At issue are pay scales, residual fees, and base employment guarantees from producers for writers working in the era of online streaming and the new distribution models created by giants like Disney, Netflix, Apple, Amazon, NBC Universal, Paramount, Sony, and Discover-Warner—some of the largest and most profitable companies in the entertainment industry—under the umbrella of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
"If they could do without us, they would," said television writer David Slack, in support of the union. "If they could break us, they would. They can't. They won't."
According to the Los Angeles Times:
Although streaming has been a boon for television, it has upended how writers are compensated. Writers say that they work longer hours for less pay and that they no longer can rely on a steady stream of residual income they used to get in the days of broadcast TV, when successful shows lived on for years in syndicated reruns or the once-lucrative home video market.
The median weekly pay for writer-producers declined 23% over the last decade when adjusting for inflation, according to a WGA survey. When accounting for inflation, screenwriter pay declined 14% in the last five years, the report said.
The WGA said because of the producers' unwillingness to budge on key demands, "We must now exert the maximum leverage possible to get a fair contract by withholding our labor."
\u201cThis is why Hollywood is officially ON strike. Hold the line @WGAEast @WGAWest! \ud83d\udc4f #WGAStrong #WGAStrike\u201d— AFL-CIO \u270a (@AFL-CIO \u270a) 1683001597
David Goodman, co-chair of the negotiating committee, told the LA Times that the need for a strike became increasingly evident over recent days of bargaining.
"It was really very clear that the companies were unwilling to move on many of the very important issues we raised," Goodman said. "They kept wanting us to give up things that we just wanted to talk about and so as a result, we realized that they didn't want to make a deal."
The union said the exploitation they suffer as writers is clear to see, but that it will not be tolerated any longer by an industry that disregards the key role they play in creating the shows and movies that audiences pay to enjoy.
"Here is what all writers know: the companies have broken this business," the WGA committee said. "They have taken so much from the very people, the writers, who have made them wealthy. But what they cannot take from us is each other, our solidarity, our mutual commitment to save ourselves and this profession that we love."
"We had hoped to do this through reasonable conversation," the statement continued. "Now we will do it through struggle. For the sake of our present and our future, we have been given no other choice."
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