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A group of top showrunners met today to discuss the WGA strike; a day after it surfaced, studios said writer/producers weren’t exempt from producing during industrial action.
The reunion took place at the WGA Theater in Beverly Hills with Damon Lindelof, Shawn Ryan and David Steinberg in attendance.
It comes after most studios including Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney and Paramount sent letters to showrunners telling them to keep producing.
“These studio emails have had the opposite effect now intended,” a showrunner who attended today’s meeting told Deadline. “Now we are more united, more convinced than ever that there is no non-writing in what we do.”
Showrunners have warned that everything they do is scripted and many have said they won’t be producing during the strike, which began Tuesday.
Glen Mazzara, who was the showrunner of The Walking Dead, told Deadline yesterday that he has stopped working on the production of his latest series, AMC’s beacon 23, which is currently in post-production, in solidarity. “I don’t have my weekly anymore, I probably could have said, ‘I’m still going to produce.’ No, I support the guild. I do not produce. I am not in contact with the people who work on my show, ”she said.
He also urged the other showrunners not to either. “I would ask all show runners to completely stop working on their shows. We want the strike to be as painful as possible for companies so that it is as short as possible so that we can get back to work.
WGA bargaining committee co-chair Chris Keyser spoke at the meeting, which also included chief bargainer Ellen Stutzman, bargaining committee co-chair David Goodman and union secretary-treasurer Betsy Thomas and president Meredith Stiehm.
The emails began earlier this week.
“If you are a member of the WGA, HBO/HBO Max respects your WGA membership and we will do nothing to put you in jeopardy regarding the WGA rules,” a May 2 letter from the Warner Discovery-owned division read. Bros. “However, we believe that certain services, such as participating in the distribution process and/or contributing to non-writing production, and post-production work are clear examples of services not required by the WGA that must continue to be provided during this period. he continued.
Disney sent a similar note. “We want to specifically reiterate to you as a showrunner or other writer-producer that you are not exempt from serving as showrunner and/or producer of your series as a result of the WGA strike,” an email from May 3 read. “Studio intends to remain in production during the WGA strike and we are legally allowed to do so.”
2023-05-07 23:23:38
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