AI

Writer Neil Gaiman cites AI during TikTok video at WGAE strike

Photo of Writers Guild strike sign in Los Angeles during demonstration in 2023. Courtesy of Adobe Stock.

August 7, 2023

Neil Gaiman, author and screenwriter behind global hits like "The Sandman" (Netflix) and "Good Omens" (Amazon Prime) has joined a Writer's Guild of America strike and cited AI as a factor in the conflict over contract negotiations, according to a TikTok video posted by the WGA East.

"Hi, I'm Neil Gaiman," the author says in the video. He is holding a WGA strike sign with what appears to be a personalized message written in Sharpie at the top of the sign saying "That's your counter offer? Really?" above the "Writer's Guild on strike" text. The author wears a red T-shirt with the words "Pencils the f*ck down — WGA on strike 2023."

"I'm wearing the first red T-shirt I've worn since 1987, because I'm a member of the WGA," Gaiman continued. "I'm on strike. I care so much for the things that I've written, but I'm out here right now not working, and I'm here until we get a good contract because I care about the future of the WGA, the future of young writers. I want a world in which no AI writes scripts or attempts to. I want a world in which young writers get to learn how to make television. And I want a world in which we are fairly compensated for the things that we put up on streaming."

The author has separately cited the strike as a potential reason for problems with caption quality in the second season of Good Omens, which just released on Amazon Prime, in a Tumblr post that was picked up by media outlets including comicbook.com.

A query was posted by user gaytoddanderson's asking, "Do you know anything about why the subtitles for Good Omens 2 were so poorly done/inaccurate?"

"I don't know. Probably I won't know, at least as long as I'm on strike," Gaiman replied. "This probably happened because I'm on strike. On S1 I checked the closed captions that the BBC made and I checked the scripts that went out to foreign countries to be dubbed or subbed. For S2, Amazon did that stuff directly, and I was on strike and unable to do a final check and correct it.

"Having said that, whoever does the captions is meant to refer to the scripts, so I don't understand why they were so off. I feel guilty, because it shouldn't have happened: it's not fair on the hard of hearing or anyone relying on the closed captions for aid. Nobody relying on the closed captions knows about Mrs. Sandwich's hatpin, for example, or knows that Shax brought Crowley's mail to the bookshop, or that the first Doctor Who Annual was cover-dated 1966.

"I very much hope it will be corrected soon," Gaiman concluded.