Writers Guild of America
Striking Writers Respond to DGA’s Tentative Deal With Studios, Streamers
As the Writers Guild enters its second calendar month of a strike, a key alliance in its fight for increased residuals, wages and AI protections has struck a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. In a tentative deal that is poised to be submitted for approval Tuesday to its National Board, […]
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Writers Guild Members Get Candid About What Makes This Writers Strike Different Than Previous Ones: “We’re Mad”
Zoanne Clack, Greg Iwinski and Julie Plec sat down with their fellow writer Beau Willimon for an ATX Television Festival panel to discuss this year’s writers strike and how it’s different than previous ones. “Back then, we were nervous about what was ahead,” said Plec, who created Vampire Diaries and its spinoffs The Originals and […]
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Writers’ Shut-It-Down Strategy Has Been Effective, Executives Privately Concede
Right now, Warren Leight — the veteran showrunner of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Writers Guild strike captain — is losing sleep to make sure a TV program doesn’t make it to air. He’s a key figure in his union’s pivot to embrace a more targeted picketing strategy, which seeks to shut down […]
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Former Writers Guild Chief: Why Writers Rooms Matter, and Can Save Lives
My father, Howard Rodman Sr., worked in one-hour episodic network drama in the 1960s, notably on Route 66 and Naked City. There were no writers rooms then in one-hour drama. Only two people, called “story editors,” and a pool of freelancers. That was it. The two of them — my father and Stirling Silliphant — […]
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Producers Guild Presidents to Writers: Why We’re With You in This Fight
On May 19 at a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, Sean Penn railed against the Producers Guild of America and called us the “Bankers’ Guild,” which is hilarious, because we’re anything but the Bankers’ Guild. Sean admittedly confused us with the AMPTP, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, a group that negotiates […]
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Writers Guild Targets Executive Pay in Letters to Netflix, Comcast Shareholders
The Writers Guild of America is taking its attack on over-the-top corporate executive pay from the picket lines to the board rooms. On Tuesday, WGA West president Meredith Stiehm sent letters to major shareholders of Netflix and NBCUniversal owner Comcast, urging them to vote against each company’s “Say on Pay” proposal, which asks shareholders to […]
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WGA Asks Tony-Nominated Guild Members Not to Attend Tony Awards
The Writers Guild of America has asked Tony nominees who are WGA members not to attend the Tony Awards on June 11, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The WGA recently sent out an email to Tony nominees, who are also guild members, saying that instead of attending, they may pretape acceptance speeches, in case of […]
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Cine Gear Expo to Open June 2 on Paramount Lot Amid Writers Strike Uncertainty
Cine Gear Expo — the annual exhibition which this year is slated to return to the Paramount Studios backlot on Friday, June 2, and Saturday, June 3 — is ready to welcome Hollywood’s production community with 260 exhibitors as well as panels and screenings, but there’s also been uncertainty about how the writers strike might […]
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Anonymous Strike Diary, Week 3: ‘The Eastside Warrior’ on the “Killer Robot Elephant in the Room”
This is part of a series of frank accounts of the strike from Hollywood writers at different levels in their careers. The diarists have been granted anonymity to encourage candor. You can read previous entries by ‘Eastside Warrior’ and others here. Week Three. Bull horns. Whistles. Personal speaker systems. We’re starting to get the hang of this strike […]
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David Zaslav Gets Booed at Boston University Graduation Amid the Writers Strike
David Zaslav was met with boos and angry chants from students after taking the stage at Boston University on Sunday to accept his honorary degree and give the 2023 commencement speech. Those cries began as early as the Warner Bros. Discovery CEO’s introduction by BU President Robert A. Brown during the 150th commencement exercises at […]
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Force Majeure: Why the Phrase on Hollywood’s Mind Isn’t in Most Writers’ Suspension Letters
When it comes to work stoppages in Hollywood, what exactly is an act of God? It’s a question that sent studios scrambling amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but even now there’s not much clarity around so-called force majeure events. Shortly after the WGA strike went into effect, writers’ reps began receiving calls and emails notifying them […]
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As Late Night Goes Dark During the Writers Strike, Marketers Scramble
Pete Davidson was set to host Saturday Night Live for the first time on May 6, but the gig was scrubbed when the long-running NBC sketch-comedy show decided to air reruns for the time being because of the writers strike. Had Davidson gone ahead and hosted, he no doubt would have mentioned his upcoming summer tentpole, […]
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