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Opio is a ranking member of the WGA East which covers New York and other eastern states. He is an Emmy-nominated writer on The Daily Show where he has written 1,143 episodes of the show.
Over the past weeks, he and other colleagues have organized protests outside the offices of media companies amid the raging standoff between WGA and the The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers
The protests have already disrupted a number of movie and TV projects including Paramount’s popular show “Evil” whose 4th season filming was shut down on May 5th.
Several late night shows including NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” ABC’s “ Jimmy Kimmel Live” and CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” have all gone into hiatus and have been airing reruns.
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The guild members are angry that as movies and series budgets have increased, writers’ share of that money has consistently shrunk. According to Opio, writers have seen their wages nosedive while budgets skyrocket.
“So, they are now asking for just 3% of the obscene profits producers reap from their labor,” he says.
Addressing the protesters outside NBC offices on Tuesday, May 23rd, Opio explained why he’s been at the forefront of the strike, including at one time staging a picket line going up to 1am in the morning.
“I am a writer from Africa and this is literally called the Writer’s Guild of America; for me being in the WGA is a kind of privilege I cannot take for granted,” he said.
“The reason we are not leaving is because the stakes are high and as writers we cannot afford to take a break; the billionaire producers who are trying to erase us out of existence are not taking any breaks themselves.”
As the guild leaders prepare to return to the negotiation table, Opio says it is crucial that the members provide them with as much leverage as possible.
“I know that these pickets can be draining emotionally and financially, but it is the least we can do.” he said.
Staff writers on a television series like Opio are earning $4,546 a week according to the Guild. They work an average of 29 weeks on a network show for $131,834 annually, or an average of 20 weeks on a streaming show for $90,920.
Writers of comedy-variety shows for streaming have no minimum protections at all, the guild says.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents Hollywood’s studios, streamers and production companies, says the writers’ demands would require that they be kept on staff and paid when there is no work for them.