Daily Digest: (50) Days of Hot Labor Summer
If this were 2008, we'd be halfway through the strike by now
We’re in Week 8 of the Writers Guild of America strike and exactly at the Day 50 mark of the work stoppage — a number that holds any significance at all because the 2007-08 writers strike lasted 100 days exactly.
So where are we now? Let’s review.
The AMPTP, the group representing Hollywood’s major studios, has not yet come back to the negotiating table with the Writers Guild. After putting to bed a deal with the Directors Guild, it is instead in the midst of talks with SAG-AFTRA, no doubt hoping to avert an actors strike, which would bring the current production slowdown to a screeching halt.
Writers are still taking to the pickets every day — at Netflix and Disney and Warner Bros. and Amazon and Fox and CBS and even Apple — though recent visits to the lines and anecdotal evidence point to smaller, sometimes more subdued crowds than the first week of the labor action. Multigenerational WGA families are committed to the pickets. Themed days abound in attempts to keep spirits high and strike lines robust. Some writers are hoping to find love on the picket lines. And sometimes things have gotten ugly and violent. The work stoppage has garnered global attention from film and TV writers across more than two dozen countries and at congregations of industry folk outside the U.S.
And non-entertainment unions have been marching in solidarity with the writers on both coasts, from the L.A. teachers union to CUNY students to the only currently unionized strippers in the nation.
The industry is feeling the impact of the dispute between the studios and the writers. Agencies have made cuts to their rosters, support staffers are scrambling to find side hustles, and local restaurants that once fed writers’ rooms are under pressure. Celebs from Drew Carey to Jennifer Garner have stepped up to help feed striking writers — Carey is spending upwards of $10,000 a week at Big Boy’s diner alone on comped meals.
So where do we go from here?
For starters, there’s another big rally happening tomorrow, this time at Pan Pacific Park near Television City at 10 a.m., where writers and their supporters will march to the La Brea Tar Pits to watch speakers rev up the troops. Aloe Blacc and Boots Riley will be performing.
And on main, The Ankler himself Richard Rushfield says Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav — possibly the most reviled mogul in Hollywood right now — could “be the hero of this moment,” if he really wanted to:
Want to change the narrative? Get out there and become the hero of this shutdown. Be the man that brings both sides together and hammers out an agreement that makes everyone happy. As the writers themselves have pointed out, they aren't that far apart on the money issues and the other ones — well that's what negotiations are for, and if you have to get on the wrong side of some of your fellow titans to bring them along, fixing things doesn't always come easy, as you well know.
Dedicate the same amount of time you spent on resolving the strike as you did your party at Cannes.
Read on for more at The Ankler, with a subscription.
If there’s anything else you think should be on my radar, talk to me: elaine@theankler.com. I’ve appreciated the incoming tips and good-to-knows you’ve all sent my way.
Today in Strike News
Sam Esmail’s Metropolis adaptation for Apple TV+ has been permanently suspended amid the writers strike and a ballooning budget. (Deadline)
Next month, Marvel will not be in attendance in Hall H at Comic-Con — where the studio normally makes big announcements about its upcoming slate — due to the effects of the writers' work stoppage and a potential actors strike. (The Wrap)
Picketing has reached the shores of Cape Cod, as WGA members and supporters protested outside filming of Netflix series The Perfect Couple, starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber. (Cape Cod Times)
James Farrell, VP of international originals at Amazon Studios, feels comfortable with his company’s slate, regardless of the strike: “If there are some months in the future — six, 12 or 18 months in the future — that are somehow impacted in the programming schedule by the U.S. writers strike, hey, we got some good content from around the world and we can use it to fill in those holes and keep customers happy.” (Variety)
Should SAG-AFTRA go on strike, some actors may still be able to work due to an interim agreement that would allow indie productions to continue. (Deadline)
Picket Sign of the Day
Tweeted comedian London Hughes, whose standup special To Catch a Dick is on Netflix: “Still cute. Still on strike. #WGAStrong”
Additional reporting by Matthew Frank.