Drew Brouhaha: Barrymore Talk Show Restarts Amid Strike
➕ 'One person leaving the CBS building offhand yelled, 'We got mouths to feed,'' says one picketer
No negotiation updates today, save for a Friday night response from the studios to the Writers Guild of America’s letter to membership, adding to the public back-and-forth between the two entities.
I’ve updated the web version of Friday’s newsletter with the response from the Alliance for Motion Picture and Television Producers. The tl;dr version is essentially: The studios are not divided and here is a timeline that shows that we were the last to offer a counterproposal. Both the WGA and AMPTP insist they were the last to counter. The state of contract talks now is, as best as I can describe, The Ball Is In Your Court.
Meanwhile, all attention Monday turned to Drew Barrymore, who decided to restart production of her feel-good daytime talk show and is “making the choice to come back for the first time in this strike for our show, that may have my name on it but this is bigger than just me.”
The show, a WGA signatory, returns with original episodes starting on Monday, Sept. 18, following a summer hiatus. But a spokesperson for CBS Media Ventures, which produces the show, tells us that it “will not be performing any writing work covered by the WGA strike.” The show will be produced without literary material, akin to The View during the strike, according to a source close to the production.
“I own this choice,” Barrymore wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday. “We are in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind. We launched live in a global pandemic. Our show was built for sensitive times and has only functioned through what the real world is going through in real time. I want to be there to provide what writers do so well, which is a way to bring us together or help us make sense of the human experience. I hope for a resolve for everyone as soon as possible.”
The WGA did not quite see it the same way.
“The Drew Barrymore Show is a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers,” said the guild in a statement. “The Guild has, and will continue to, picket struck shows that are in production during the strike. Any writing on The Drew Barrymore Show is in violation of WGA strike rules.”
Writers assistant and script coordinator Will Landman, a member of IATSE Local 871, was part of a group that picketed the Drew Barrymore Show on Monday. Here’s what he had to say about the scene outside CBS Broadcast Center in New York:
The energy was definitely charged. It was great to walk with the head writers of the show, we were at the main CBS entrances and then the back of the building on 56th. It’s a shame to see folks wearing DREW BARRYMORE Show badges as the head writers walk directly in their peripheral. One person leaving the CBS building offhand yelled we got mouths to feed which got a strong response from one of the writers walking the picket. We’re all struggling and as a member of IATSE 871, I sympathize and empathize with folks needing to support their families. But they want to divide us. This is about breaking labor. And however many days we need to picket Drew’s show to make them understand the severity of this moment…we will be there.
The scene at the studio apparently got pretty contentious. Two audience members who walked into the studio wearing WGA strike pins say they were asked to leave. A Drew Barrymore Show spokesperson tells us that due to “heightened security concerns,” two audience members were denied access and will be offered new tickets; Barrymore herself was “completely unaware of the incident.”
Online, Barrymore is taking a lot of heat for her decision.
Today in Strike News
TikTok users were greeted with a screen saying the phrase they were searching for “may be associated with behavior or content that violates our guidelines” when trying to find content with the term WGA in it. It turns out, though, that the screen popped up because of viral QAnon conspiracy theories surrounding the strike, not because of a TikTok plot to prevent the spread of information about the labor movement. (The Verge)
Following Warner Bros. Discovery suspending many of their top showrunner overall deals, NBCUniversal and CBS Studios have done the same, suspending contracts with the likes of Lorne Michaels and Dr. Phil. (Variety)
SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher easily won reelection on Friday, besting challenger Maya Gilbert-Dunbar by a 23,080 to 5,276 vote margin. (Deadline)
Over in Canada, script and story coordinators are joining IATSE and the Writers Guild as the result of a new agreement. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Maybe if the production says his name three times, the extra day and a half of footage will appear: Beetlejuice 2 director Tim Burton reveals that filming on the horror comedy sequel was “99 percent done,” with just a day and a half to go before the actors strike hit. (The Independent)
Picket Sign of the Day
Drew-ly noted.
Additional reporting by Matthew Frank.
Disclosure: Elaine Low is an inactive member of SAG-AFTRA.
It's not "x.com" - it's Xitter.com - that's pronounced "Shitter." And a post on Xitter is a Xit - I'll leave it up to you how to pronounce that. Finally, that @#$#@#@@#!!! place got the name it always deserved.
While ACTRA (The Canadian Actor's guild) was locked out by commercial agencies, Drew Barrymore was shooting a commercial in Canada. So she has a track record of being a scab.