Bad Sisters co-creator Sharon Horgan expresses support for the WGA Strike in BAFTA TV acceptance speech

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike in the United States has been ongoing since May 1st, when the WGA and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) failed to come to an agreement over their contract for the next three years.

The contract in question is the Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) which is exactly what it sounds like: a basic starting agreement for contracts hiring WGA writers. The last time the WGA went on strike was over a decade ago, from late 2007 to early 2008, where they advocated for increased pay for writers in correlation with the revenue made from larger studios' projects.

Responsible for the negotiation and administration of "contracts that protect the creative and economic rights" of members, the WGA's main focus in current negotiations concerns fair wages, streaming residuals, and the use of AI (like ChatGPT) in screenwriting.

It is not a fight fought alone. As a part of her BAFTA TV Awards acceptance speech last night in London, award-winning Bad Sisters co-creator Sharon Horgan has announced her solidarity with the Writers Guild of America.

As a part of the speech, she thanked all of the show's writers, "because it all begins and ends with the writers," using it as a segue into declaring their support for their fellow film and television industry "brothers and sisters" a part of the WGA.

The actress and co-creator later confirmed that she is currently holding off on U.S. based or affiliated projects as a part of maintaining solidarity: "all of my U.S. projects are just like in a pile now."

Other supporters of the WGA's strike include the Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), who has encouraged their members to halt work on projects within WGA jurisdiction.

Watch Sharon Horgan's acceptance speech for Bad Sister's win of BAFTA TV's Drama Series category here: