These days, there are some massive twists and turns that have caught General Hospital fans off-guard! However, there is one twist in the tale that no one saw coming. It could be a big deciding factor for the fate of the ABC soap! General Hospital, or any show for that matter, depends heavily on the script and dialogue to put a motion picture on the screen for the viewers to watch. So imagine what would happen if suddenly everyone was on the set to tape, but there was no script to go by or dialogues to deliver!
Everything would come to a screeching halt, right? That’s exactly what could happen next for many of your beloved soaps, including General Hospital! According to the latest reports, members of the Writers Guild of America announced a strike on May 2, 2023. This is the body that represents north of 10,000 television and film writers. The union announced a strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers after reaching a disagreement over fair compensation.
According to a report published by IndieWire, the WGA feels that the current production environment has reduced the value of writers’ contributions. Furthermore, they have degraded their working conditions. In a statement that announced the WGA’s strike, the union pointed out that the producers have shut the doors on their labor force. And opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. They are not guaranteeing any level of weekly employment in episodic television. Moreover, they have gone on to create a ‘day rate’ in comedy variety.
Could The Ongoing Strike Interfere With General Hospital?
If the Union and the producers don’t reach an understanding, the WGA may continue to remain on strike. This would, of course, result in the lack of any new writing for the shows at are currently on air. While, it’s true that most shows have a stock of episodes ready, but how long would that stockpile really last? Moreover, considering that soaps like General Hospital, Y&R, B&B, etc, air fresh episodes five times a week, the stock would start to run thin soon.
While that would certainly be a cause for concern, it may not cut short the lives of these Daytime giants. Back in 2007, the producers faced a similar strike from the writers
. They tackled the situation by hiring non-union writers to pen new scripts and dialogues. Following which, many experienced writers left the union to continue working on soaps. Perhaps, if the two bodies fail to reach a new agreement soon, the producers might resort to similar means again. Hence, it’s doubtful that General Hospital or any other soap would go off-air as a result of the WGA strike.
