Cobra Kai creator Jon Hurwitz addresses the recent season 6 writers room shutdown, which comes as a result of the onset of the WGA strike. Serving as a sequel to the original The Karate Kid movies, Cobra Kai first aired as a YouTube original in 2018 before moving to Netflix in 2021. Season 5 of the popular show hit the streamer in September last year and it has since been confirmed that season 6 will be the show's last.
Now, with the Writers Guild of America strike officially happening after negotiations between the guild and AMPTP fell apart, Hurwitz takes to Twitter to address exactly what this means for Cobra Kai season 6.
Hurwitz confirms that the season 6 writers room will be put on an indefinite hold during the strike, but that the group will continue their work on the show after a "fair deal" has been made. Cobra Kai season 6 was originally thought to enter production this month, but it's likely that date will be pushed back until a resolution is reached.
Why A Writers Strike Is Happening
The rise of streaming has impacted far more than how audiences consume content. It's also affected how this content is created and, more specifically, how creators and writers are paid for their work in the creation of this content. Previously, in the heyday of cable TV, writers made a living not just from their physical time in writers room, but in the residuals they were paid if their show was a success. These residual payments were crucial in keeping many writers afloat during times when they weren't actively staffed on a show.
Now, however, this has totally changed. Writers can also no longer rely on residuals as a source of income from streaming projects, meaning that working on a hit show like Netflix's Wednesday, for example, doesn't result in any meaningful financial benefits compared to how things worked in the previous cable TV era. Streaming services like Netflix are also notoriously cagey about revealing viewership information, meaning it's harder than ever to define what "success" actually means for streaming shows and movies.
The streaming landscape has also led to the rise of "mini rooms," a writers room that employs fewer writers as a cost-cutting measure as part of the rise of script-to-series orders for shows. These rooms generate scripts for a potential first season of a show, with the idea being to give executives an idea of what to expect beyond the pilot. It remains to be seen when Cobra Kai season 6 will end up being released, but the WGA strike will evidently have a major effect on all of Hollywood.
Source: Jon Hurwitz/ Twitter