Matt Goldman and the History of Writers Strikes
A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Matt Goldman began his illustrious career in stand up before segueing into writing full time. Moving to Los Angeles in his early 20s, his first writing gigs included writing on a sketch show for kids and punching up game show pilots. These early assignments led to stints on Love and War, Ellen, and The New Adventures of Old Christine (we still laugh about the expressions of his brilliant writing through re-runs I continue to enjoy watching!)
Matt was also executive producer on such varied comedies as Working (with Fred Savage), DiResta (a show he created for comedian John DiResta) and Wizards of Waverly Place (Selena Gomez, anyone?), the latter earning him an Emmy.
Matt is a staunch supporter of his guild, The Writers Guild of America, and was even nominated for a Writers Guild Award for his work on Seinfeld. Matt Goldman has had the unique experience of being a part of all three of the last significant writers’ strikes that transpired over several decades: 1988, 2007-08, and the current one. The first one was obviously vastly different than the two that followed and not just because it took place in another century! Matt was only 26 at the time and in the guild for less than a year before the walk out. This didn’t deter Matt from picketing five days a week in solidarity with his fellow scribes over issues that affected their futures. He has no regrets about the decisions his guild felt forced to make to champion the cause and he’s proud that their voices were finally heard after relying on tactics such as shutting down productions with protests that inspired people to refuse to cross the picket line to work to making people aware of the issues when it wasn’t that easy to highlight the grievances. Keep in mind, in 1988, the writers had to rely on phone calls and snail mail to get the word out then!
Ultimately, for the next strike commencing in 2007, The Internet was advantageous for highlighting the issues that plagued the guild. While there was a helpful tool that social media brought in 2007-008 to highlight the concerns that caused a walk out, the reach wasn’t nearly as far or as well reported as it is now in the age of TikTok and society’s reliance on their cell’s camera to capture every moment. Some of the most pertinent issues have remained the same, but this time around, Matt and our fellow writers have to contend with the use of mini rooms (which is a concept where writers are temporarily hired to develop television shows and then let go so that the show runner can complete the script without further and long term compensation , leaving the writer out of the process and hindering any ability to support themselves financially) and the use of AI.Matt was an active participant in the large rally The Writers Guild of America held on June 21 in the Fairfax District as this grueling strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers stretched into its eighth week. In the thirty years Matt has been a member of the guild, he has supported it with a full commitment as it has served him well professionally and personally. He’s made lasting friendships with other scribes and felt a strong sense of solidarity this time around. Moving forward, he hopes for the same benefits of healthcare and pension for all writers and has sincere advice for those not so seasoned or experiencing the insecurity and discomforts of their first strike. There is strength in coming together to support one another, so he encourages writers to get jobs to sustain themselves through these hard times as he remains realistically hopeful that the outcome will insure a sense of equity and compensation that is commensurate with the writer’s invaluable creative contributions.
And, to that, I say write and right on!