評論
打印
One hundred years ago, the hills above Los Angeles got a facelift.
一百年前，洛杉磯上方的山巒煥然一新。
A giant sign was erected to advertise a new property development.
那里豎起了一個巨大的招牌，為一個新的房地產開發項目做廣告。
Its 13 letters, each 43 feet tall, spelled “Hollywoodland” (“land” was later dropped).
它的13個字母，每個都有43英尺高，拼作“Hollywoodland”(“land”后來掉下來了)。
The modern movie business was forming at around the same time, as Warner Brothers consolidated power and Walt Disney left Kansas City for Los Angeles.
與此同時，隨著華納兄弟鞏固了地位，沃爾特·迪斯尼離開堪薩斯城前往洛杉磯，現代電影業正在形成。
Yet instead of celebrating its centenary, Hollywood faces upheaval: screenwriters are striking for the first time in 15 years.
然而，好萊塢并沒有慶祝其百年誕辰，而是面臨了劇變：編劇們進行了15年來的首次罷工。
Every three years the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade group for the studios, negotiates a new contract with the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the writers’ union.
每隔三年，電影和電視制作人聯盟(電影公司的貿易組織)就會與美國作家協會談判一份新合同。
This year talks soured as studios and writers grappled with how streaming has upended their business models and working conditions.
今年，隨著電影公司和作家們努力應對顛覆了他們商業模式和工作條件的流媒體，談判變得糟糕起來。
The WGA voted to strike if negotiations failed.
美國作家協會投票決定如果談判失敗就罷工。
On May 2nd, hours after their contract expired, they downed pens.
5月2日，在他們的合同到期幾小時后，他們放下了筆。
Writers wearing matching blue t-shirts and carrying signs with snarky messages (“My pronouns are pay/me”) picketed in front of studios across LA and in New York City.
作家們穿著藍色T恤，舉著寫有諷刺意味的標語(“我的代名詞是付錢”)，在洛杉磯和紐約的工作室前進行糾查。
Writers’ complaints boil down to two issues.
作家們的抱怨可以歸結為兩個問題。
First is the amount of work on offer.
首先是提供的工作量。
There were nearly 600 original scripted television shows in 2022, more than ever before.
2022年有近600部原創電視節目，比以往任何時候都多。
But in the age of streaming, more content does not necessarily mean more work.
但在流媒體時代，更多的內容并不一定意味著更多的工作。
Many writers’ rooms—where scribes try to wrangle ideas into scripts—last for fewer weeks and employ fewer writers than in the past.
與過去相比，許多作家的工作室持續的時間更短，雇傭的作家也更少。
Inspiring particular ire are “mini rooms”, where a few writers map out several episodes before a show even gets the green light.
特別讓人憤怒的是“迷你房間”，在那里，一些編劇甚至在節目獲得批準之前就計劃好了幾集。
“I do think it’s a cost-cutting measure,” says Sean Collins-Smith, a writer on NBC’s cop drama “Chicago PD”.
“我確實認為這是一種削減成本的措施，”全國廣播公司的警察劇《芝加哥警察》編劇肖恩·柯林斯-史密斯說。
