The Writers’ Strike is Revealing the Cracks in the Emmys Season Status Quo

The start of summer in Los Angeles is not that first 80-degree day. It’s not when the massive tourist wave comes in. And it has absolutely nothing to do with the solstice or any celestial bodies. No, summer in Los Angeles starts when that first “For Your Consideration” billboard springs up for Emmy voters.

If you live outside of an entertainment industry hub, you may be unaware of the ubiquity of award season culture across certain cities. For Your Consideration (or FYC) campaigns are advertising initiatives that are geared toward prospective award season voters. There are two cycles: the Oscars campaign that begins in the winter, and the Emmys campaign in the summer. Each one is accompanied by relentless billboards and newspaper ads. Free screenings with the cast and crews of many major shows are advertised and sometimes open to the public.

Over the past few years, the digital age has accelerated the FYC ecosystem. FYC is ultimately an elaborate bribery campaign. Voters are mailed free stuff. Interactive pop-ups—or “activations”—appear across town with free stuff in tow for anyone who dares to venture to West Hollywood on a Saturday. The studios who fund these campaigns hope that something might stick in a voter’s brain, whether it’s a billboard along their path to work, or seeing people carry around tote bags bearing the name of a show vying for Emmy gold. 

All this money and merchandise is in pursuit of the unstoppable force that is “buzz.” Good performances and well crafted shows do not win Emmys in marketing departments’ eyes. “Buzz” does. “Buzz” trickles up from the tourists to the executives. It turns a show you’ve never heard of into one that you “know someone who watches it, I think.” The true figure that is missing from every award acceptance speech is that undefinable, twisting, algorithm-fueled beast that is “buzz.”

But this year, FYC Emmys season is faced with a new obstacle. The inescapable topic in the entertainment industry: the ongoing writers’ strike. For over two months, the WGA, the union that represents entertainment writers, has been on strike over a multitude of issues. Among them include diminished residuals, securing protection of writing against AI, and the issues with “mini writers rooms” that limit that amount of time and people that can be employed by a show. But if you speak to anyone in the WGA, the problems are actually distilled into one battle: fighting for the future of writing as a viable career for many, not just a select few.

The last writers’ strike from 2007-8 lasted 100 days, and had a host of consequences for the entertainment landscape. But that strike took place in the later part of the year from November-February. This is a notoriously dead period in Hollywood, when most people go on holiday break and production slows down. That means the ‘07 strike mostly affected the writing and scheduling of shows. It led to shortened seasons, canceled shows, or incomplete rewrites.

But this time the strike is hitting the TV industry during its peak. The summer should be in the middle of production schedules. Pilots should be decided upon and greenlit for more episodes. Filming should be happening every day. The studios are dead; the writers’ rooms are empty. And most unexpectedly, the “buzz” factory of Emmys season has been put to a halt.

In its guidelines for writers, the WGA told union members to not participate in FYC events. While the exact specifics of what would be allowed wasn’t always clear (press interviews being a major gray area), writers largely chose to bow out of Emmys season all together. These marketing campaigns are funded by the studios, the very people the WGA are striking against. This led to a host of events getting canceled. John Mulaney canceled his Netflix event for Baby J. Several Apple TV+ panels and screenings with cast and crew were removed from their schedules. The Other Two had an FYC screening with no cast and crew; Amazon still held an event for Swarm with star Dominique Fishback, but creator Janine Nabors did not attend. While the solidarity of actors may differ, the participation of creators/writers is universally absent during FYC events this summer.

These abrupt changes sent the FYC machine into chaos. These events can often take months to plan. Some studio marketing departments hinge their entire years on award season-specific promotions. There are dozens of staff members at every occasion, from event coordinators to the valets and chefs that make screenings and other special occasions so alluring to Emmy voters. This mounting pressure is reminiscent of the ‘07 strike that ended just in time for the Academy Awards after a horrible Golden Globes that saw the ceremony replaced with a press conference. Writers wanted to be better safe than sorry, actors didn’t want to draw the public’s ire, and the end result was a very different Emmys season.

The absence of writers and the canceling of many FYC events has revealed the mechanisms of how these marketing campaigns have been functioning the past few years. When studios can’t tout their cast and crews alongside their shows, the hollowness creeps in. What is an activation on its own? It’s just another marketing event. It’s a logo on a piece of merchandise. It’s not promoting a show, it’s promoting a name. Something a voter may remember just enough to check it on their ballot. 

The writers are the reason these shows exist. It’s why these studios even have content they can put marketing dollars behind. When creators step away from promoting their projects, the division between art and product becomes much harsher in FYC campaigns. Writers often work for years to get their shows sold, let alone produced. And then when it’s time to stand behind their work and advocate for its merit, they have to step away. So the studios are left with art in their hands, and they turn it into a “buzz” that rings in voters’ ears.

This year’s Emmy nominations may be a departure from the usual crop. In past years, buzzy marketing campaigns have led shows like Ozark, Ted Lasso, and whatever prestige nonsense Ryan Murphy is cooking up to over-perform with nominations. These compare against word-of-mouth success stories like Fleabag and Schitt’s Creek that were promoted heavily through genuine excitement and popularity.

But without its usual events and support, this year’s Emmys may rely more heavily on genuine recommendations and interest than we’ve seen in years. That’s going to be a huge benefit to popular shows like The Last of Us, Wednesday, and Abbott Elementary. Those hidden gem recommendations are going to be much harder to come across. Investments in billboards and newspaper ads are going to be the biggest marketing assets. 

Another possible side effect is a vindictive voting pattern. While no studio is in good spirits with the striking writers, Netflix has drawn the anger of industry people more than most. Netflix helped pioneer many of the major issues the strike is about, namely the creation of mini rooms and the move toward algorithmic streaming models. It’s possible voters who support the writers (which is most of them) will vote against the streamer in an act of revenge.

The Emmys nomination results will either change FYC in two ways. If the activation-heavy streamers get their way, it will teach them that creators are unnecessary to their marketing campaigns. That they can sell the idea of a show completely separate from a TV show as a piece of art. If we get funky nominations or complete streamer shutouts, it will show the power of creators and writers as essential parts of the TV ecosystem.

No matter how Emmy nominations come out, the writers’ strike has exposed the devolution of the FYC system. Award shows were invented to uplift the craftspeople who make the entertainment industry run. One reason the Academy Awards were founded was to help promote the idea that movies were an art form and not just a gimmick. But the second reason was to prevent unionization; the force of creative people to stand up for their rights and works. 

The history of the entertainment industry is the story of artists fighting for respect against those who will devalue them any chance they get. Now studios are putting millions of dollars behind shows to advertise their own names. The amount of Emmy wins becomes an internal metric. TV shows simply become billboards that signify the return of summer. The studios found another way to pretend writers don’t exist. 

As much as studios may try, AI can never grasp an award in their hands with swelling tears. It can never shake when thanking their family. It can never look back on years of hard work. It can never inspire that feeling in a young kid at home that their ideas are worth working hard on. That’s why I love award shows; that’s why I’ve never missed an Emmy ceremony in my life. FYC campaigns and the elusive beast that is “buzz” may push people onto that stage, but it still has to be a person. Not an algorithm or a studio or even a well placed billboard along Sunset Blvd. That is what the writers are fighting for. If we lose sight of that, we might as well abandon the whole industry entirely, award shows and all. 

Leila Jordan is a writer and former jigsaw puzzle world record holder. Her work has appeared in Paste Magazine, Gold Derby, TheWrap, FOX Digital, The Spool, and Awards Radar. To talk about all things movies, TV, and useless trivia you can find her @galaxyleila

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