FEBRUARY 14, 2022 - The Animation Guild, Local 839 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), represents animation and visual effects artists. The Guild is expressing concern over what it sees as compensation disparities between animation writers and their live-action counterparts, and some Star Trek producers are showing their support.

According to the Guild’s website, they are “going into negotiations this year determined to increase animation writer minimums and educate the industry on challenges faced by animation writers.” Under the hashtags #PayAnimationWriters and #NewDeal4Animation, Star Trek: Prodigy executive producer and co-creator (with his brother, Dan) Kevin Hageman, and Prodigy screenwriter and executive producer Aaron Waltke are adding their voices to the cause.

Hageman noted in a tweet on the Animation Guild Writers account over the weekend, “My brother and I have written for film and TV, for live action and animation, and there is no difference.”

Waltke also took to Twitter to say, “As demands have grown and stories have only become more complex, wages have fallen behind.”

And last month, Star Trek: Lower Decks creator Mike McMahan also tweeted under #NewDeal4Animation a GIF in support of animation writers, in which T’Lyn, the Vulcan from the season two episode, “wej Duj,” is saying, “It is illogical to ignore something of statistical significance.”

Negotiations for a new master agreement between the Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) began last year and are expected to pick up again this year.

You can experience the efforts of these and other animation writers on Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy, streaming now on Paramount+ in the US and other selected countries and on Crave/CTV Sci-Fi in Canada.