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Jan 2, 2019

A couple years ago, when I was writing for American Dad!, I needed an Arabic speaker for a small part. Our casting director recommended a Saudi comedian, who happened to be in LA for a couple months shooting a tv show. His name is Fahad Albutairi.

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“Writing does not stop when filming begins…” 👏👏👏

@Stranger_Things

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DiscussingFilm

@DiscussingFilm

The Duffer Brothers say filming on ‘STRANGER THINGS’ Season 5 will not begin until the writers’ strike concludes with a fair deal. “Writing does not stop when filming begins... We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work.”

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“It is not evident to us yet that streaming will be profitable but we are willing to schedule an annual Zoom with the WGA to discuss.”

Inspiring. How many kids out there will see this photo and dream of one day being born into a family of absurdly wealthy former slavers then waiting 74 years for their mother to die?

17h

Good luck having a #Coronation without writers. Picket outside Gate 2 of the Palace and the big door at the Cathedral. #WGAStrong

22h

“A strike is supposed to hurt.” Great 🧵 from

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In 2017, WGA negotiations with the AMPTP got to a point where a strike authorization vote was called. It was an extremely strong turn-out. We were in the midst of writing the final season of Halt and Catch Fire.

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May 6

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, LORD OF THE RINGS, etc. are either choosing to make shittier versions of themselves, or they're hoping to get away with low key rewrites. Stopping production like HACKS did is not just amazing solidarity--it's creative integrity.

May 6

"Writing happens at every stage of the process...It's what makes shows and movies good." Every show and movie that rushed to finish scripts so they could be in production right now--and deliver timely content to studios who refuse to negotiate with us--should think about that.

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Jen Statsky

@jenstatsky

We are devastated to not be with our incredible crew and cast right now, but there was no other option here. Writing happens at every stage of the process - production and post included. It’s what makes shows and movies good. It’s what makes them possible. #wgastrong twitter.com/DEADLINE/statu…

(As we were getting to the end of production an old friend stopped by while I was editing. He’d gotten a show picked up, needed an animation studio, and was being given a tour by the guy who made our schedule. “You can do better,” I told him. And he did. Don’t fuck with writers.)

@krudell@mastodon.online Retweeted

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EXCLUSIVE: Filming on Season 3 of HBO Max/Universal TV hit comedy series Hacks, starring Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, has been halted, Deadline has learned. According to sources, production will be on pause for the duration of the work stoppage deadline.com/2023/05/writer

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Our agents shrugged. Our couple of months’ free work and health insurance wasn’t a big item on their bottom line. Ultimately writers have to take care of ourselves. Protect ourselves. I have a hundred reasons why. #WGAStrong

We went to work *knowing* we couldn’t make the show in the time allotted for the money they were paying. So the studio just…stretched the time without paying the people writing/producing it anything more (extra money was found for animators and other staff on weekly rates.)

How’d we know we’d go over schedule? Bc the streamer wanted a show with low budget New Media rates, so our producing partner/studio built a production calendar that was ridiculously short (so offices could be vacated/staff cut to make the #’s work). It was a Potemkin schedule.

Those of us who have been doing this a while have a hundred reasons why the WGA had no choice but to strike. Here’s (another) one of mine: #WGAStrong

SCHOOL: “Your kid’s tuition is due.” WRITER: “Great! I’ll just Venmo you my love for working.”

Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

It’s so hard to break in and even harder to be on a show as good as

@TheBearFX

A writer like Alex, on the staff of that show, should at least be able to make his year. But short orders, low pay, and crap residuals mean success ≠ security. #WGAStrong

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@LeBatardShow

"Maybe we'll be broke during this strike but honestly I was broke working on the television show..." Help out TV writer @AlexOKeefe1994 (he wrote for FX's The Bear) during the #WritersStrike so he doesn't have to work at Taco Bell. #WGAstrong account.venmo.com/u/alexokeefe

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I know he’s now a cuddly pal to a lot of popular media people but I wonder how much Kellyanne’s then-husband knew about this.

These people are consistently, relentlessly vile.

Love

@ChrisGorham

#WGA🤝#SAG

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Deadline Hollywood

@DEADLINE

Why I’m Striking: “Writing as a career needs to be protected… these people are the foundation of all of the TV shows and movies we love” - ‘Accused’ actor Christopher Gorham tells Deadline outside of Disney in LA today #WritersStrike

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People who don't make anything themselves acquire people who do--and exploit them. It's an old story, and it's the WGA's story now. They want to turn writers into data entry temps on content farms. We have the power to not make stuff for these people...until we get a fair deal.

It's the same rapacious mentality that buys, say, a nice company that makes car parts and says, "The stock will go up if you fire 20% of your staff." Then, "How about another 5%?" Then, when they've squeezed it dry, they sell off the building and move on to the next company.

The endgame for studios owned by tech companies and hedge funds is to have AI create stories, then hire writers on day rates to "humanize" them and CGI "actors" to star in them. The AMPTP is a cartel that peddles creative product but hates creative people. #WGAStrong

Would it be easiest to list Clarence Thomas’s stuff that Harlan Crow *didn’t* pay for?

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Eric Umansky

@ericuman

NEW: Clarence Thomas had a kid in private school. Harlan Crow paid the tuition. "Harlan picked up the tab," a frmr school admin told us. Thomas didn’t disclose it. $6,200/month Here’s the wire transfer propublica.org/article/claren By @js_kaplan @JustinElliott @Amierjeski

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Hey

@DEADLINE

, Leno’s strike “tradition” is a donut photo op before firing his staff and writing his own material. You know who was cool last strike? Drew Carey, who anonymously covered lunches at Swingers and Bob’s Big Boy for anyone with a WGA card.

May 3

A great public show of solidarity today. Numbers will go down the longer this goes on. That’s just human nature. The most important thing is we stick together privately too. Don’t panic; don’t scab. The studios will wait to see if we crack. We won’t. We’ll get a deal. #WGAStrong

#WGAStrong

No season of scripts is “finished” in preproduction. With Zoom and shared media silos it’s easier to do rewrites off-set. Hopefully no one does that. And hopefully the DGA and SAG join us soon to shut down everything until we get fair deals. #WGAStrong

Still fits! #WGAStrong

HOT SINGLES IN YOUR AREA ARE PICKETING TODAY #WGAStrong

No idea now long this strike will last; that’s up to the studios, who will eventually offer a deal they could make now, except they’re huge assholes. #WGAStrong

@krudell@mastodon.online Retweeted

#WGAStrong

Beyond thrilled that KILLING ME is one of the Washington Post’s 10 Noteworthy books for May! 🤩❤️🍾

washingtonpost.com

10 Noteworthy books for May

May's biggest books include a moving memoir about gardening and a novel about a diabolical serial killer.

10 Noteworthy books for May

May 1

That’s right ⁦

@washingtonpost

⁩ KILLING ME by Michelle Gagnon is noteworthy book for May!

washingtonpost.com

May's biggest books include a moving memoir about gardening and a novel about a diabolical serial killer.

May 1

“L.A. Phil”

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@nytimes

Edit #WGAStrong

Apr 29

2007-8 was necessary but it sucked. Three years later there was no desire to strike again for higher streaming rates or animation coverage. Studios bought themselves 15 years of disproportionate profits; now we fight for what we deserve again, since they won’t give it willingly.

Writers Guild and studios continue talks, but deal remains elusive as possible strike looms

Apr 29

Important to understand the studios could give us a fair deal TODAY but: 1. They want a strike to justify slashing deals and budgets; 2. They want whatever we get to come at a cost. They want it to hurt so we’re not encouraged to strike again. #WGAStrong

latimes.com

The WGA and the major Hollywood studios still aren't close to agreement on a new contract, increasing the odds of a strike as early as next week.

Apr 27

“We need to cast a billionaire who thinks that a twice-impeached white supremacist, tax cheat, and accused rapist, whose campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 election then tried to overthrow the 2020 election is not ‘someone really bad.’ “Yeah him. Perfect.”

Apr 26

SUNDERLAND TIL I’M DRY (2023)