writers strike

#PayUpHollywood, the organization founded in 2019 to promote pay equity for Hollywood’s assistants, said Wednesday that it has relaunched its Hollywood Support Staff Relief Fund as a permanent emergency fund to aid film and TV support staff impacted by the ongoing Writers Guild strike and any other industry work stoppages in the future.

Two of the program categories most immediately impacted by the Writers Guild of America strike registered advertising-revenue growth in the first quarter before the picket lines went up and production stopped. According to MediaRadar, ad spending on TV talk shows was $221.4 million in the first quarter, up 11% from a year ago. Spending on soap operas was $59.4 million in the first quarter, up 23%.

Workers from other unions have shown solidarity with the strikers, catching entertainment companies off guard.

The 2023 Television Academy Honors have been canceled due to the ongoing writers strike. “After discussions with the WGA and out of deference to those impacted by the ongoing labor dispute, the Television Academy is canceling the Television Academy Honors reception which was scheduled for the evening of May 31. We appreciate everyone’s understanding,” an email sent to TV Academy members reads.

The competition’s 25th season is part of a backloaded summer schedule at the network.

David Zaslav was met with boos and jeers while delivering a commencement address Sunday at Boston University amid the Hollywood writers’ strike. In videos circulating on social media, graduating students and protesters can be heard chanting, “pay your writers,” and heckling the president of Warner Bros. Discovery as he speaks about lessons he learned throughout his career. A photo of an airplane flying over the ceremony with a banner that read, “David Zaslav — Pay your writers,” was also circulating online.

For decades, the week in May when television executives revealed what new shows were coming and which old ones were going spoke to the power and influence that ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox had over popular culture. This past week offered more evidence of how that is diminishing, draped in confusion about the future wrought by the Hollywood writers strike.

CBS waves away the labor action, ABC works around it, and NBC tries something in between.

SAG-AFTRA announced Wednesday that it will hold a strike authorization vote as it seeks to get its “ducks in a row” ahead of June 7 negotiations with the major studios. The vote does not mean that the performers’ union will necessarily join the Writers Guild of America on the picket lines after its contract expires on June 30. In a press release, the union said its negotiating committee decided that a strike authorization would provide “maximum bargaining leverage” for the talks.

The Writers Guild of America strike is clearly taking a toll on production, as the Los Angeles permitting agency reported a 69.5% decline in on-location permits last week. FilmLA, which handles permitting for many jurisdictions around L.A. County, reported that there were 111 permits last week for TV and feature films. That includes reality TV, which is not covered by the WGA strike. That figure was down 69.5% from the same week in 2022, when there were 364 permits.

Just as with the previous writers strike, the longer this one goes on, the more likely its effects will be permanent and significant. Nor is that only a problem for writers; in the era of TikTok and YouTube, producers also have a lot on the line.

The 50th Annual Daytime Emmys will be postponed due to the WGA strike, Adam Sharp, president and CEO of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced on Tuesday. The ceremony was planned for Friday, June 16, on CBS. The Creative Arts & Lifestyle ceremony, which was scheduled for June 17, will also be postoned. “We look forward to our community gathering together as one to celebrate our Golden Anniversary and all of the talented nominees and honorees at a later date,” Sharp said in a statement.

The union last week denied a request by Tony organizers to have a waiver for their June 11 glitzy live telecast. It reiterated that in a statement late Monday, saying the guild “will not negotiate an interim agreement or a waiver for the Tony Awards.” But the guild gave some hope that some sort of Tony show might go on, saying organizers “are altering this year’s show to conform with specific requests from the WGA, and therefore the WGA will not be picketing the show.” What is being altered was not clear, but it may be to allow a non-scripted version of the Tonys to go on.

The impact of the Hollywood writers strike was felt as major television networks began their annual week of sales presentations to advertisers on Monday, with news personalities like Willie Geist and Stephanie Ruhle left to hawk comedies and dramas for NBCUniversal.

Dozens of protesters greeted marketers as they entered the first major event of the upfronts, an annual showcase for advertisers in which media companies stage lavish gatherings to promote their lineups.

Production on the Fox syndicated game show You Bet Your Life has halted amid the ongoing writers strike. Series host Jay Leno, who has been seen at multiple picket lines delivering donuts, supports the move. “As a member of the Writers Guild for almost 40 years, I truly understand and stand in solidarity with my fellow union members,” Leno said in a statement. “For that reason, we are suspending production of our game show, You Bet Your Life until such time when an agreement can be reached.”

Media companies, including NBCUniversal, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, will make their annual pitches to advertisers during their Upfront presentations this week. This year’s events come in the midst of a soft advertising market and the Hollywood writers’ strike, as well as accelerated cost-cutting by media companies. Advertisers will likely increase spending on ad-supported and so-called FAST options this year as cord-cutting accelerates. Franchise-related content will continue to take a big role.

Set designers, chefs and prop masters are out of work and growing anxious. Since the Writers Guild of America announced its strike last week, the work stoppage has had a sudden, profound impact on the entertainment industry. But overlooked in the dispute between the union’s 11,500 screenwriters and the major studios is the toll it could take on the wider economy — especially in Los Angeles, which remains, in part, a company town.

Password, the game show from Jimmy Fallon and hosted by Keke Palmer, is returning to NBC for a second season. However, filming of season two of the series has been postponed as a result of the writers strike with The Tonight Show host Fallon among those not wanting to cross the picket line.

The impact included promising shows that lost their audiences, films rushed into production with flimsy scripts and turbocharging reality programming. Pictured: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles saw its ratings plunge after an extended break during the 2007 writers’ strike.

The ongoing writers’ strike has interrupted quite a few industry shindigs since it began on May 2, and the latest is one that hadn’t even been formally announced. On Tuesday night, the Critics Choice Association told members that a planned Celebration of LGBTQ+ movies and TV has been postponed indefinitely.

The creator of the Disney+ series, singled out on social media for performing non-writing duties, tells The Hollywood Reporter that he has stopped all such functions.

The president made his first public comments on the writers strike, which hits the one-week mark Tuesday, in remarks ahead of a screening of Disney+ series American Born Chinese. He was joined by an overflow crowd of hundreds of community leaders, elected officials and cast members and producers from the show in the East Room and the State Dining Room. “Nights like these are a reminder of stories and the importance of treating storytellers with the dignity, respect and the value they deserve,” Biden said. “I sincerely hope the writers strike in Hollywood gets resolved and the writers are given a fair deal they deserve as soon as possible.” Pictured: Actor Ke Huy Quan hugs President Joe Biden after he introduced Biden to speak before a White House screening of the American Born Chinese. The screening was held in celebration of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Monday. (Susan Walsh/AP)

The writers strike is now impacting overall deals. Just days into the work stoppage, major TV studios have started sending out letters to writer/producers under overall agreements, telling them that their deals are being suspended.

Drew Barrymore is stepping down as host of this year’s MTV Movie & TV Awards, in a show of support and solidarity to the striking Writers Guild members. But as a sign of good faith to MTV, Barrymore has also agreed to return and host next year’s edition of the kudocast instead.

Since the Writers Guild of America went on strike Tuesday after failing to hammer out a deal with the major studios, all of which are represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the two sides have been at an absolute standstill. There have been no negotiations since the strike commenced and that there are no negotiating sessions currently on the books. When a studio executive was asked on Wednesday evening when they expect talks to resume, the person replied, “No idea, no idea.”

NBC, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers intend to pay staffers of the network’s Tonight and Late Night shows three weeks’ of wages while the programs are sidelined due to the writers strike, according to two people familiar with the matter. NBC plans to pay two weeks of salary to staffers while each late-night host will pay a third week out of their own pockets, according to these people. Health care for the shows’ employees will be paid through September.

The first Hollywood strike in 15 years commenced Tuesday as the 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America stopped working when their contract expired. The union is seeking higher minimum pay, more writers per show and less exclusivity on single projects, among other demands — all conditions it says have been diminished in the content boom of the streaming era. (Chris Pizzello/AP)