It was a magnificent movie weekend. Barbie, Oppenheimer, Sound of Freedom. All hits, a blow-out! So what else have you got? The question sounds obnoxious, like its near-cousin, the always infuriating: “What have you done for me lately?” But it’s an honest query, and an important one for a strike-bound, streaming-bent, pandemic-emergent industry that is
Labor
It’s Day 11 of the SAG-AFTRA strike and Day 84 of the WGA strike. On a Monday that saw Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez join the picket lines in front of Warner Bros Discovery in New York, a mother and son became strike demonstrators Monday as both actors and writers picketed in front of Paramount in Los Angeles. The pair —
SAG-AFTRA will hold a mass rally in Times Square on Tuesday morning. It’s expected to be the biggest rally in NYC since the strike began on July 14. Celebs scheduled to attend the “Rock the City for a Fair Contract” rally include Bryan Cranston, Steve Buscemi, Christian Slater, Lauren Ambrose, Christine Baranski, Matt Bomer, Tituss Burgess, Liza Colón-Zayas, Gregory Diaz, Jennifer Ehle, Nancy Giles, Danai Gurrira, Jill
Writers Guild of America West members paid more dues than ever before on record earnings in the year before the ongoing strike, although a good part of that may be due to a speed-up in pre-strike production. Exact figures aren’t available because the guild did not include earnings and employment data in its latest financial
Treegate just became a thing. City Controller Kenneth Mejia has vowed to look into the newly pruned Ficus trees outside of Universal’s Gate 8, after picketers drew attention to their thinned branches while marching in 90-degree-plus heat. Pine trees on the opposite side of Barham weren’t touched, and neither were a row of pepper trees
Expressing solidarity with Hollywood actors on Day 1 of the SAG-AFTRA strike, specialty distributors polled were anxiously juggling opening weekend Q&As and movie premieres without talent. They were trying to clarify which actors on what international productions are SAG-AFTRA, bound by the guild, or neither. And, for those involved in production, trying to pin down
What was it W. B. Yeats wrote, that line Joan Didion lifted and twisted in her essay “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” about West Coast chaos in 1967? Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. That’s how it felt on Thursday, a few minutes before lunch with some seasoned film executive-friends at the Academy Museum (Salad Niçoise
After getting flamed by writers on social media for posting about being on the set of American Horror Story while striking WGA writers were outside picketing, Kim Kardashian’s at it again. While all Hollywood has been hanging on with worry about the potential SAG-AFTRA strike, Kardashian posted a pic with the guild’s president Fran Drescher
EXCLUSIVE: As talks between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP continue this week, actors are getting a head start on picket planning should negotiations end in a stalemate at midnight on July 12 and lead to a double strike alongside the Writers Guild. It comes after SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP agreed Friday to extend their current film
SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers agreed Friday to extend their current film and TV contract until July 12 to allow bargaining on a new deal to continue, both sides said this evening. The current contract had been set to expire tonight at midnight PT, after which it would have likely
More than 300 actors including many big names have signed a letter to SAG-AFTRA leadership urging them to take a hard line in the negotiations for a new film and TV contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. “A strike brings incredible hardships to so many, and no one wants it,” reads
The Writers Guild of America West is holding officer and board elections in the middle of its ongoing strike, which is now in its 51st day. Incumbent president Meredith Stiehm is seeking reelection and will face off against Rich Talarico – both of whom were selected by the guild’s nominating committee. In the race for
It feels like Covid all over again, but it’s not. Disney has just made a slew of release-date changes, many due to the impact of the WGA strike and screenplays not being ready and productions paused. We already know that Thunderbolts and Blade are waiting the strike out before rolling cameras. Scripts aren’t fully ready
It’s safe to say that today’s picket line at Warner Bros in Burbank drew a little more attention than some other days. That’s because newly unionized strippers from North Hollywood turned out to support striking WGA writers — and they brought a pole along. Have a look at some images and video from Strippers Day
What was it that Homer once said? “Lisa, if you don’t like your job you don’t strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That’s the American way.” But that’s not the WGA way. So Friday, the creative team behind The Simpsons (present and past!) hit the picket line at Fox
Six weeks into the writers strike, the early returns on summer studio films have been some of the best since Covid brought the exhibition business to a screeching halt. But if SAG-AFTRA members trade lines of dialogue for picket lines beginning July 1, the business might well look like pandemic redux. The domestic box office
The day after New York-based pickets were canceled for the week because of smoke, the gathering at Warner Bros. in Los Angeles was a bit smaller on Thursday, with less than 50 people gathering in support of the WGA strike. One bright spot was the so-called “Bike Strike” protest that rolled through. That strike action
The voice of the WGA was represented loudly in Austin at the ATX TV Festival with various panels informing attendees about the issues of most importance to writers in the stalled negotiations with studios, like AI and staffing minimums—a set minimum number of writers that a series has to employ—as well as why production shutdowns
It was Pride and Drag Queen picket day in Los Angeles, where around 300 people hit up Warner Bros. Discovery to highlight their issues as the strike marches into its second month. The hundreds of writers attending the picket were provided glitter and stickers for their signs on the first day of Pride month. The
EXCLUSIVE: The Motion Picture & Television Fund has seen a “significant spike” in requests for financial assistance from industry members impacted by the month-old Writers Guild strike. Jennifer Jorge, MPTF’s Director of Community Social Services, tells Deadline that since the start of the strike on May 2, “We have experienced a significant spike in
EXCLUSIVE: J.J. Abrams-exec produced drama series Duster has had its production suspended. We hear that the Max period drama, which comes from LaToya Morgan and Abrams, had its production shut down in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Monday morning. IATSE and teamsters refused to cross the picket lines in support of WGA members, who have now
There was come old-school writer cred on the picket line outside the Fox lot in Century City today. David E. Kelley, he of the 11 Emmys and 30 nominations, is a veteran of multiple WGA strikes going back to 1988. Introducing himself as “David E. Kelley, old writer,” the Love & Death creator — whose
It was a tale of two coasts today, as WGA picketers and their allies targeted Disney’s upfront presentation in New York and also the company’s Burbank lot in Los Angeles. And the two scenes were very different. This morning at the Disney upfront, pickets were being kept a solid two blocks away from the venue on
“So today, I stand here before you very, very unemployed,” admitted Harlem creator Tracy Oliver today in her speech USC School of Cinematic Arts graduates. “ “Yup, I’m this year’s Mary Pickford recipient and I ain’t got no jobs, my Apple deal was just suspended, I can’t make money as a writer for however long
Students at Boston University will have to cross a Writers Guild picket line to attend their May 21 graduation ceremony, where Warner Bros. Discovery President & CEO David Zaslav, an alumnus of the school, will be making the commencement address. The guild previously had warned the school that its members would picket there if he
Tom Hanks has weighed in on the Writers Guild strike, saying that “like minds” are going to have to come together for the “common good” of the industry. Promoting his new book on CBS Mornings, Hanks was asked by co-host Gayle King about the strike, which is now in its second week. “The entire industry
Day 3 of the Writers Guild of America strike against Hollywood studios dealt with a few L.A. rain showers but continued strong turnout at 10 Los Angeles locations as well as at Silvercup Studios and Seret Studios in New York City. Much of the conversation in L.A. was about Wednesday night’s WGA West meeting at
EXCLUSIVE: Jon Stewart is the latest star to cancel promotional duties as part of the writers strike. The comedian has pulled an FYC event for his Apple series The Problem with Jon Stewart next week as the fallout from the strike continues. Stewart was set to take part in a conversation about the second season
The WGA, in a message to members accompanying its new set of “Strike Rules,” is answering frequently asked questions about a possible strike that could happen as soon as May 2. And the answer to many of the questions is “No.” The list ranges from unemployment insurance for strikers (you don’t get it in California,
Negotiations for a new WGA contract have made “a little bit of progress” on feature films, but otherwise the two sides remain “far away” from a deal. That’s the word coming out of tonight’s WGA strike authorization meeting, which was “very persuasive if you needed persuading,” said a member who attended. “But I don’t see