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The recent WGA win made me realize people think all writers are Audi-driving Nobu-devouring maniacs. The pay disparity between TV writers can be quite a lot and working conditions aren't exactly the way that, ironically, TV shows make them out to be.
I'm currently middle class. I've never made 6 figures. I drive an '08 Civic Hybrid & live in an incredibly ok apartment. I've acted (very small parts lol) in a couple of Emmy-nominated shows & written for an Emmy-nominated show. When my pilot was produced, I took the bus to set.
Before I got into my first room, I was making 8-20k a year. This was not being supplemented by rich parents as the tale sometimes goes (though I'm sure my dad would have given me *something* had I asked), I was just broke.
I got in my first room in '15. It was non-union tho of course it shouldn't have been. I had a 2hr public trans commute each way. I became an associate member in '17. While I benefited from union protections, I didn't qualify for insurance & more importantly, didn't get screeners.
After reps & taxes, I took home $1,125/wk. That shakes out to 58.5k/yr. I was guaranteed 4 weeks of work but it ended up being 10. So when I finished the job, I was still on and off LA's various social service programs (and still had 20k of debt).
What's important to note here is... there's no next job waiting for you all the time. Especially early in your career. Writer pay, like pretty much every kind of pay, has stagnated while cost-of-living soared and rooms keep getting shorter.
So that 6, 8, or 10 wk room could fuck around and be your only job that year. Rather than living paycheck to paycheck, you're spending only what you have to because you don't know how long you'll have to make it stretch. Watching your money dwindle, hoping something comes along.
I'm now a full member but still have little to no power at my jobs. As a worker, I'm really not... let's say... incentivized to speak up about the BS my bosses pull. Yes, I've let the cannons go on people because of who I am as a person but most people don't.
There's a lot of just putting your head down and getting through it because your ability to get work is based mostly on word of mouth.
I once had surgery on a Friday and had to be back at work on Monday. That Monday, still on painkillers, I was at work until 2am. Because regardless of the "rules," in practice I don't get sick days and we don't have concrete hours where at some time you are guaranteed you can go.
There is no overtime. You stay for as long as they want as often as they want and that's considered normal. And when you have to stay late, they act like feeding you during your 16 hour day is a treat.
I know people that have had family members die and the showrunner got pissed they wanted to go to the funeral. In one case, they made the person do extra work while gone. I've seen showrunners hold lunch hostage, not let people go to the bathroom, and not give lunch breaks.
In theory, our union offers an astounding amount of class mobility. Something I have already benefited from and possibly will again. But it will also always house incredible class disparity within its own ranks.
So please don't dismiss this win against straight up fucking evil because some of our most powerful members are snot wagons. No one is more acutely aware of how much they suck than the people in the room making 10 times less than them.
It's easy to see us as a monolith of rich babies but that's not the case. This win helps broke folks, folks that didn't go to college, our most vulnerable members, & me--a regular degular ass writer that tries to move through this industry w/what little morals capitalism affords.
