Welcome to Vulture’s Strike Recap, or Strike-cap, if you will, a regular rundown of all the biggest news from the WGA picket lines.
We’re rounding out the strike’s first 50 days, and the scheduling difficulties have officially begun. Disney pushed back a ton of movies, which it didn’t directly connect to the strike, but … c’mon. It’s yet another obstacle in the path of Marvel’s new Blade film, starring Mahershala Ali. Michael Starrbury was recently given the re-scripting gig alongside Lovecraft Country’s Yann Demange as director. Most insanely, Avatar 5 got pushed back to 2031. When a sequel’s release date is closer to a robotic neo-noir future than it is to the release date of the franchise’s first movie, things are looking grim. Let’s hope the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers sivakos (Na’vi for “rise to the challengeâ€) and return to the bargaining table before we get Avatar: 2049.
What’s Going on With the DGA?
The Directors Guild of America’s negotiating committee made a deal with the AMPTP on June 3, and now its ratification is in the members’ hands. The guild’s Twitter cohort isn’t too happy with certain details. Starz’ Spartacus czar Steven S. DeKnight explained in great detail why the language surrounding “generative AI†in the contract leaves plenty of loopholes for non-generative AI to (potentially, allegedly) screw assistant directors out of work. “That’s cool. We’ll just create a non-generative artificial intelligence program which doesn’t learn patterns from data and then we will make the 1st AD operate that program. See? We didn’t assign those duties to a GAI,†DeKnight wrote in the voice of a studio. “but rather we -helped- a DGA member perform more duties easier! No contract violations! Especially since what that 2nd AD created wasn’t content, just work product.†Key & Peele alum Peter Atencio also released a statement on why he’s voting no. But two posters do not a voting bloc make. We won’t know what the rank and file of the DGA think for a while, as members have until June 23 to make their voices heard.
The Strike Went Simpsonic
No doubt coasting off their glowing write-up in Vulture, Simpsons writers hosted a picket on Friday, June 9, at the Fox lot. The Simpsons hasn’t always had the most glowing depiction of unions (see: “Simpson Safari†and some comments in “Last Exit to Springfield†about the Japanese eating America alive). The show didn’t actually become WGA affiliated until 1998, when Mike Scully became showrunner and joined with Futurama, Family Guy, and King of the Hill. Yellow Family writers new and old (including Matt Groening, Conan O’Brien, Matt Selman, and Megan Amram) came to Century City with more Simpsons memes than you could shake a rag-on-a-stick at.
Little Strikes Everywhere
Speaking of Simpsons references, do you remember in “The PTA Disbands†when the teachers’ union is joined by Piano Tuners Local 412? Well, that’s kind of happening in entertainment. Besides the dissenting voices in the DGA and last week’s SAG-AFTRA strike authorization, there’s a pro-labor movement happening right now in video games and comics. IATSE launched a video-game-industry study on June 8 that the union hopes will be a “crucial step towards leveling up the working conditions for game workers.†Meanwhile, comics creators have been sharing industry horror stories under the hashtag #ComicsBrokeMe on Twitter.
Spotted: Celebs, Musicals on the Line
Who Brought Food
Stephen Colbert (with a bonus Strike Beardwatch development)!
The Strike Main Character Award (Bad)
The guy who allegedly drove at a picket line in Atlanta. According to The Hollywood Reporter, BMF producer Ian Woolf was seen rushing toward a picket in his SUV, then suddenly braked. Writer Brian Egeston called it an “intimidation tactic†that had distinct racial overtones. “I would implore you, in hindsight, to consider the ramifications of killing an African-American man in the streets of the city too busy to hate, while being the producer of an African-American TV show, created by an African American man, run by an African-American Man,†he wrote.
The Strike Main Character Award (Good)
Feeny! Oh, Mr. Feeny! Feeeheeheeeheee-nay!
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More From This Series
- The Last WGA Strike Recap
- Did You Bid on the Union Solidarity Coalition’s Insane Auction?
- AMPTP Denies Rumors of Dissent in Its Ranks