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Thread Writers' Strike

WHAT SHOWS ARE AFFECTED BY THE WRITERS’ STRIKE? ‘SNL’ AND LATE-NIGHT ARE AMONG
THE FIRST

“Late Night With Seth Meyers” will be among the television shows immediately
affected by the writers’ strike.
(Chris Barton)
By Yvonne Villarreal,
Anousha Sakoui, Meg James
May 2, 2023 Updated 2:02 PM PT
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It won’t be a late night with Seth Meyers or Stephen Colbert or either of the
Jimmys for a while.

Movie and television writers moved ahead with a costly industrywide walkout for
the first time in 15 years. The Writers Guild of America, which represents
11,500 television writers and screenwriters, announced late Monday that a strike
would begin early Tuesday, with picketing commencing in the afternoon, after
negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which
represents Hollywood studios, failed to yield a new deal before the current
guild contract expired.

For TV fans, it means that the writers behind your favorite shows, like ABC’s
“Abbott Elementary,” Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” and Netflix’s “Stranger Things,”
are headed for the picket lines. And depending on the duration of the strike,
the move either will have a swift or delayed effect on TV production.

Late-night talk shows are the first to be affected, including “The Late Show
With Stephen Colbert,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy
Fallon” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” as well as those on cable networks
like “Real Time With Bill Maher” and “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.” All
rely on guild writers to pump out topical monologues and skits.

Company Town

FALLON, MORE REACT TO WGA STRIKE: ‘I WOULDN’T HAVE A SHOW IF IT WASN’T FOR MY
WRITERS’

TV hosts Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert, whose shows are among the first to be
affected by the writers’ strike, voice support for the Writers Guild of America.

May 3, 2023

Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel and Meyers have already openly agreed to pause
production on their shows, which will revert to reruns on Tuesday until further
notice. Maher and Oliver’s shows will go dark immediately, with no reruns
scheduled.

Meyers addressed the strike with viewers on Monday night on his show, saying it
would be interrupted if the strike happened. He voiced support for the writers,
telling the audience that the show was built on strong writing.

“Look, no one is entitled to a job in show business. But for those people who
have a job in show business, they are entitled to fair compensation. They are
entitled to make a living,” he said. “I think it’s a very reasonable demand that
is being set out by the guild, and I support those demands. But I also believe
that everybody at the table right now, be it from the writer side or the studio
side, knows that the future of this business is dependent on storytellers.”

After going dark for a few weeks during the last strike, some of TV’s late-night
hosts returned to work without their writing staffs in order to keep other
employees working and attempted to pull off their shows as usual; however,
others leaned into the bit. Conan O’Brien, then the host of “Late Night With
Conan O’Brien,” filled airtime by spinning his wedding ring on his desk and
zip-lining over the studio audience.

Company Town

WRITERS’ STRIKE: WHAT’S AT STAKE AND HOW IT COULD DISRUPT HOLLYWOOD

As the contract between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion
Picture and Television Producers expires, a strike has been called.

May 4, 2023

Meanwhile, “Saturday Night Live” will air repeats until further notice, NBC
confirmed. The show originally had three episodes scheduled to air this month,
including one this week with former cast member Pete Davidson as host.

If a strike stretches out for a prolonged period, viewers could next see soap
operas, TV series and movie productions affected as the reserve of completed
scripts runs low.

“Ghosts” on CBS is among the shows that will finish out their season. From left,
Rose McIver as Samantha and Utkarsh Ambudkar as Jay.
(Bertrand Calmeau / CBS)

There’s now a seemingly never-ending supply of content made year-round — in
contrast to the traditional broadcast model of the past, where pilot episodes
were commissioned in the spring and new shows were launched in the fall — as the
rise of cable and streaming platforms have flooded the landscape. Most broadcast
shows, such as ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and CBS’ “Ghosts,” will finish their
current seasons, as their finale episodes have already been written and filmed.
But a prolonged strike could hold up work on new episodes, which typically
happens over the summer, and delay their return in the fall. And shows on cable
and streaming tend to have a longer lead time, making it difficult to assess any
immediate impact. It would take a prolonged walkout before any critical signs of
a slowdown in new TV shows and episodes are felt by viewers.

In recent weeks, programs such as “Hacks,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Lone
Star” have been shooting in Los Angeles, according to data from FilmLA, which
organizes permitting for the county. However, “Hacks,” which was in production
for Season 3, has now shut down, according to sources. “Loot,” “Quantum Leap”
and “Station 19” were among the TV shows FilmLA listed as requesting permits for
filming in Los Angeles just this week, although it is unclear whether they would
proceed with filming. The data does not account for TV shows currently in
production outside of Los Angeles.

Company Town

‘IT’S JUST PURE CHAOS’: TOP HOLLYWOOD SHOWRUNNERS EXPLAIN THE WRITERS’ STRIKE

In the days before the Writers Guild of America called on members to strike, the
creators of hit shows, including ‘Shrinking,’ ‘The Last of Us’ and more,
gathered to discuss the state of the industry.

May 2, 2023

Meanwhile, the scripts for the fourth season of Disney+’s “The Mandalorian” have
been written, the show’s creator, Jon Favreau, recently confirmed to the French
news channel BFM TV. HBO’s “House of the Dragon” began production on Season 2
last month, and the scripts for all episodes have been completed, according to
sources. Writing on the fifth season of “Stranger Things” began last August, but
Netflix would not comment on whether the scripts have been completed.

Writers have begun holding demonstrations outside all of the major studios, as
well as productions, on both coasts. On the East Coast, guild members are
picketing at Netflix’s Manhattan headquarters, Warner Bros. Discovery offices
and NBCUniversal’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza. They will also picket outside of Radio
City Music Hall later this month, when NBC will host its upfront presentation,
in which it boasts its fall slate to advertisers. On the West Coast, writers are
convening at the major studios, including the Culver City offices of Amazon and
Sony Pictures, and at Radford Studio Center, formerly CBS Radford, where CBS
still films some shows.

On what may be the last new episode of “The Late Show” for a while, host Stephen
Colbert told viewers Monday night that a walkout by WGA was imminent. “The union
could go on strike tomorrow, which means that writers might have to do something
totally against their nature — go outside,” Colbert said.

Felipe Torres Medina, a writer on “The Late Show,” was among the approximately
200 WGA members and supporters who formed a picket line that ran for a block
along Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. They marched outside of the venue where
NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service was booked for an advertiser
presentation.

“It’s really important that we protect and have minimums for late-night writers
for streaming because we don’t have them right now,” Medina said. “Currently our
shows are on TV networks, but that can change at any moment.”

While traditional late-night TV audiences are shrinking, networks often boast
about the staggering number of views comedy segments from the shows attract on
social media platforms.

As an immigrant to the U.S. from Colombia and a person of color, Medina believes
a better deal for the union is the route to improving diversity in writers
rooms. “This is about protecting everyone who looks like me who might be joining
the union,” he said.

Company Town

HOLLYWOOD WRITERS STRIKE OVER STREAMING PAY AFTER TALKS FAIL

Hollywood’s writers prepare to picket studios after they failed to reach a deal
with studios to replace a contract that expired Monday night.

May 2, 2023

One TV writer-producer taking part in the strike, who requested anonymity
because of the nature of their role, said that a writer’s job goes beyond
putting words on a page. They explained the effect the strike would have on
productions.

“Shows that are still in production will not have writers on set, shows that are
still in post will not have showrunners in the editing room or on the
soundstage,” they said. “Make no mistake, the editing room and the soundstage
are the final rewrites of any episode of television. A writers’ strike will have
a very large impact on the quality of the material produced. And shows that are
in the middle of their seasons will not have scripts to shoot, which will
necessitate a shutdown.”

It’s in keeping with the WGA’s long list of instructions to members about what
work they can or cannot do during a walkout. Prohibited conduct includes
revising existing work, starting a new project or delivering work to a struck
company, regardless of whether they work from home or an office. Writers can’t
even discuss work with studios, and they must save a digital date-stamped copy
of all unproduced literary material within 24 hours of when the strike begins.
Even writer-producers or writer-directors are heavily limited in the work they
can do during production and post-production as showrunners. For example, they
can’t make cuts for time, make minor changes to dialogue or change stage
directions.

Although the WGA can’t stop members from doing purely production work, it is
encouraging members not to participate as a way to show support. During the
2007-08 strike, many showrunners refused to do any work for struck companies,
according to the WGA.

For another TV writer-producer who spoke on the condition of anonymity, it was
business as usual on the production of their show on Monday, with a visit to set
and, later, the writers room. They said that the strike would be “really
stressful for everybody” as workers waited to see how it would affect their
roles.

“Obviously, we all want to work, we all love what we do. And writers are a
fraction of the giant family it takes to make television,” they said. “On a show
like ours, we have more than 100 people working there every day. And so I think
it’s weighing on everybody that this isn’t just about us; it’s gonna affect
everybody.”

Whether filming will continue on their show — and other shows currently in
production — is unclear now that the strike has begun and many writers are
picketing. However, there is a lot of support for the strike from fellow unions,
the writer-producer said.

“A show like ours could possibly keep shooting; there are certainly scripts
written that they could continue to film, at least a couple more,” they said.
“But it’s just a question of who’s going to cross the picket line and who won’t.
No one really knows the answer to that.”

Staff writer Stephen Battaglio contributed to this report.

Company TownCompany TownTelevisionEntertainment & Arts
Yvonne Villarreal

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Yvonne Villarreal is a senior television writer for the Calendar section and
co-host of “The Envelope” podcast.

Anousha Sakoui

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Anousha Sakoui is an entertainment industry writer for the Los Angeles Times,
covering topics such as labor and litigation in Hollywood. She has been a
journalist for over 20 years, having joined the Times in 2019 and reported for
the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, and Bloomberg
News and Businessweek Magazine.

Meg James

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Meg James is a senior entertainment industry writer for the Los Angeles Times.
She was the lead reporter for The Times’ coverage of the deadly “Rust” shooting
on a New Mexico film set in 2021, work recognized by the Pulitzer Prize board as
a finalist in breaking news. A member of the Company Town team for two decades,
James specializes in covering television, corporate media and investigative
projects. She previously wrote for the Miami Herald and the Palm Beach Post. A
native of Wyoming, she is a graduate of the University of Colorado and Columbia
University.

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