As the SAG-AFTRA strike gets underway, documentary filmmakers are still at work. But despite the fact that the dual strike by actors and their writer counterparts in the WGA could lead to gaps in narrative content for broadcast networks and streaming companies, the doc industry isn’t holding out much hope that studios will start flooding money into documentaries.,” says Bryn Mooser, founder of nonfiction film and television studio XTR.
So far the writers strike, which began on May 2 has not resulted in broadcast networks or streaming companies turning to docus to fill any voids in their narrative content lineups. Unlike the 2007 writers strike, when networks cut seasons short and aired reruns, streamers have years worth of content in the pipeline along with international shows written by scribes outside the WGA.
Paul Scanlan, co-founder of Legion M, the industry’s first fan-owned media start-up, which produces narratives, unscripted and docus, also thinks that the strike could help documentaries. For Ryan Harrington, a curator at Jacob Burns Center in Pleasantville, N.Y., this strike will result in a significant shift in programming.