The Writers Guild of America strike is only on its first day, but its impact upon the entertainment industry can already be felt. Anyone tuning into their favorite late night chat show will find a rerun (unless their favorite chat show is Fox News’ Gutfeld!, whose writing staff isn’t in the guild). It will take a bit longer for viewers to notice the impact the strike will have on sitcoms and dramas and the like, but one in-production show swears it will be fine.
As per Variety, the slightly shorter second season of House of the Dragon is currently in production in the U.K., but they aren’t going on hiatus until the strike ends. That doesn’t mean WGA members working in the U.K. will still report to work, which would be in violation of guild rules. Instead, a source close to the show says they think they’re good because their scripts are already finished. They even raced to complete them, knowing that the strike was likely:
Some U.K. writers who are also WGA members told Variety that they worked furiously across the weekend to submit scripts to their U.S. employers before the midnight PST deadline. Now that strike action has been called, these scribes are on strike alongside their American counterparts.
But, as caught by The AV Club, one writer questioned if shooting without a working writer on set is even possible.
“Whose the writer producer on set? Whose showrunning? Hmmm?” tweeted Caroline Renard. “Scripts are done. Okay. But rewrites literally happen. Line changes. Alt line changes. Whose gonna watch dailies and cuts? Approval on costumes. Tone meeting. Once again proving you guys have no idea what we do!”
Whose the writer producer on set? Whose showrunning? Hmmm? Scripts are done. Okay. But rewrites literally happen. Line changes. Alt line changes. Whose gonna watch dailies and cuts? Approval on costumes. Tone meeting. Once again proving you guys have no idea what we do!
— Caroline “WGA Captain” Renard (@carolinerenard_) May 2, 2023
In other words, the shows and movies that still go into production during the WGA strike may wind up seeming a bit…off.
(Via Variety and The AV Club)