A writer scrambling to complete a script. Rival late-night show hosts and producers convene a group call to discuss contingency plans. Union officers and screenwriters gathered in a conference room, design a picket sign It has slogans like “The Future of Writing Is at Stake!”
With the Hollywood strike looming, there has been a desperate run in the entertainment world before 11,500 TV and film writers may retire early next week.
A potential strike for TV and film writers — how could they? — has been the hottest topic in the industry for weeks. And recently there have been noticeable changes. People stopped asking each other if there would be a strike and started talking about the duration. how long was the last one? (100 days in 2007-8.) How many days was the longest? (153 days in 1988)
“It’s the first topic brought up at every meeting, every phone call, claiming everyone has their own inside source as to how long the strike will last and whether directors and actors will also be out. This is going to be a real disaster,” said founder Laura Lewis. rebel mediathe production and funding companies behind shows likeTell Me Rise” and “Mr. Malcolm’s List.”
A union representing screenwriters is negotiating new contracts with Hollywood’s biggest studios to replace those expiring on Monday.
“I support writers,” said Ms. Lewis. “But it’s challenging. We could go on strike just as we start to recover from the pandemic.”
Over the past few weeks, TV writers have been racing to meet studios’ pushed deadlines. Worried about the possibility of no income for several months, some TV writers are looking to move forward with new projects. So it’s Hollywood slang for “starting” a signed writing contract, usually paid upfront.
One prominent talent agent, like others in this article, spoke on condition of anonymity because the situation was sensitive. started to bring out
Similarly, studio executives began calling producers last week, telling them to act as if a strike was certain and to make sure any last-minute tweaks were built into the script. Executives postponed production on other series until the fall when they determined the scripts weren’t fully prepared.
A production company president said this week he was “terrified” of a television project that was in danger of collapsing because its stars were only available for a limited time and the scripts weren’t ready.
The writer’s room for the hit ABC sitcom “Abbott Elementary” is set to convene on Monday when his contract expires.
“I’m making plans to get back to work when I have to,” said Britani Nichols, the show’s producer and writer. will be.”
If the strike could start as early as Tuesday, late-night shows, including those hosted by Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, are likely to go dark. As during the pandemic, we held a conference call to discuss a coordinated response in the event of a strike.
Late night shows were suspended for two months during the 2007 strike before they began to gradually resume in early 2008. Jimmy Kimmel paid staff out of his own pocket during his strike. almost annihilated.
Kimmel and other hosts like Conan O’Brien tried to game the show without writers or standard monologues. The process enraged the Writers Guild.
There’s a lot of uncertainty in the television world, but there are segments in Hollywood that are doing business as usual.
The streaming service’s management appeared to display what a senior investigator at William Morris Endeavor called “a terrifying, eerie coolness.”Most streaming services are under pressure to cut costs — even cash-rich Amazon Studios laid off 100 people Strikes are one quick way to do that.
Rich Greenfield, founder of research firm LightShed Partners, wrote in a letter to investors earlier this month that “streaming profitability could be significantly higher than expected.”
For some studios, there is little alarm, partly because the strike will have little impact on release schedules through next spring. (The movie business has been running for almost a year before her.) One film agent says everyone in her orbit is gearing up for the Cannes Film Festival, which starts May 16. I was. “Killers of the Flower Moon” by Martin Scorsese. Many moviegoers were also smitten this week at CinemaCon, a convention for movie theater operators in Las Vegas.
“The scriptwriter’s production process typically takes anywhere from 18 months to two years before a film hits the screens, so we won’t see any impact for a while,” said the owner. “There’s already a lot of writing in the tin or on the computer for the project the studio is working on.”
More pressing concerns are in focus at The Walt Disney Company, the largest supplier of union-covered television dramas and comedies (890 episodes in the 2021-22 season). It began distributing thousands of pink slips Monday as part of an unrelated plan to cut 7,000 jobs in the country.The company said Wednesday again when it sued Florida Gov. announced the news.
During previous union strikes, television networks ordered more reality shows, but this is outside the jurisdiction of the Writers Guild. A lengthy ‘Cops’ was ordered during the 1988 strike, and his 2007-2008 strike helped supercharge shows like ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ and ‘Biggest Losers’ .
Paul Neinstein, co-CEO of the Project X production company that produced the latest “Scream” movie and Netflix’s “The Night Agent,” said reality TV pitches have increased significantly in the last month. The production company was not known for making unscripted television.
“Suddenly everyone has a reality show,” he said. “And it feels very strike-related to me.”
