WGA West Financial Report Shows Jobs, Earnings Down, TV Residuals Up, Feature Film Down

The Writers Guild of America West annual financial report for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024 shows the impact of the 2023 strikes.

Employment and earnings of writers in calendar year 2023 showed that writers in all fields saw declines in employment and earnings.

A total of 5,501 writers reported employment across all lines of business in 2023, down 19.5% from 2022. Total writer earnings reported for contributions fell 31.8% to $1.29 billion.

Television and digital writer revenues reported to WGAW for 2023 decreased 35.0% to $916.6 million. Total employment decreased 22.1% compared to 2022, with 4,441 writers reporting income from television and digital platforms.

Screenwriter earnings fell 22.4% in 2023 to $373 million. Screenwriter employment fell 15.8%, with 1,918 screenwriters reporting screen earnings in 2023.

In 2023, the WGA collected $598.50 million in residuals, up 3.5% from the previous year. Television residuals reached $396.37 million, which was 66.2% of the total and up 15.9% year-over-year.

Residual revenues from new television media continued to maintain a dominant position at $134.33 million, up 14.8% year-on-year and accounting for 33.9% of total residual television revenues.

Big-budget SVOD royalties became the second largest category at $57.37 million, up 45.6% on an increase in the number of projects, as well as an increase in the number of authors receiving royalties under the improved terms of the 2020 MBA.

Residual foreign television revenues followed closely at $56.45 million, up 31.3%. However, domestic syndication continued its decline, falling 12.1% to $17.63 million, continuing a five-year decline of 52.8%.

Residual revenue from feature films fell 14.5% to $202.13 million. Residual revenue from new media remained the top earnings category in the film segment, at $133.56 million, although this represented a 14.9% decline from 2022, when Netflix paid $62.5 million in the Bird Box arbitration decision.

Global TV revenue also fell 13.2% to $31.45 million, while pay-TV revenue fell 6.4% to $28.04 million, continuing a five-year decline of 43.7%, as licensing and viewership continue to shift to streaming platforms

Residual home video revenues continued to decline sharply, declining 34.8% to $4.74 million in 2023, with a five-year cumulative decline of 68.4%, the largest decline of any category.

Guild ended the year with total net assets exceeding $100 million. Guild had an operating deficit for the fiscal year of $1.5 million on total revenues of just under $34 million.

The Membership and Finance Committee is composed 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.

Membership and Finance Committee: Betsy Thomas (Chair), Travis Donnelly, Carleton Eastlake, Peter Murrieta, and Molly Nussbaum