The Writers Guild of America responded on Tuesday to the latest proposal from the studios, as the sides continue to try to resolve the three-month old writers’ strike. While the Alliance of M…
Look at the quote tweets for this article and you’ll find showrunner after showrunner saying that that’s exactly what they’re asking for. It’s been one of the main demands of the strike from day one.
While we can’t see the quote tweets without being on Twitter, I am not surprised.
It seems that there a case to be made to be some exceptions for some very short limited series that really are like multiple part movies.
On the whole though, the ‘Showrunners need flexibility’ argument is untenable. Without the contractual requirement for larger rooms, showrunners who are trying to build larger rooms to develop writers and producers do not have the ability to push back against the pressures of studios and production companies to minimize the rooms and effectively demand unpaid overtime from the small core of writers.
This particular demand has been singled out since the beginning of the strike - it’s interesting, because there really are very few solo “auteurs” out there running their own shows, but the media gives them (especially Taylor Sheridan) an awful lot of coverage.
It’s something more established in other countries.
So, I can see some writers not wanting projects to be developed for say the UK rather than US just to get the auteur projects.
But it is very niche, and there should be a way to create a very narrow provision for those specific situations.
Besides, even some true auteurs, adapting and extending their own works, seem to be able to work with others in the writers room and give them credit. e.g., Neil Gaiman took lead script credit for all the episodes of Good Omens season two, but had 4 other writers in the room, and gave each a ‘minisode’ credit for embedded flashbacks.
Taylor Sheridan, by contrast, seems to want the universe to be designed to fit his own model.
Look at the quote tweets for this article and you’ll find showrunner after showrunner saying that that’s exactly what they’re asking for. It’s been one of the main demands of the strike from day one.
While we can’t see the quote tweets without being on Twitter, I am not surprised.
It seems that there a case to be made to be some exceptions for some very short limited series that really are like multiple part movies.
On the whole though, the ‘Showrunners need flexibility’ argument is untenable. Without the contractual requirement for larger rooms, showrunners who are trying to build larger rooms to develop writers and producers do not have the ability to push back against the pressures of studios and production companies to minimize the rooms and effectively demand unpaid overtime from the small core of writers.
This particular demand has been singled out since the beginning of the strike - it’s interesting, because there really are very few solo “auteurs” out there running their own shows, but the media gives them (especially Taylor Sheridan) an awful lot of coverage.
It’s something more established in other countries.
So, I can see some writers not wanting projects to be developed for say the UK rather than US just to get the auteur projects.
But it is very niche, and there should be a way to create a very narrow provision for those specific situations.
Besides, even some true auteurs, adapting and extending their own works, seem to be able to work with others in the writers room and give them credit. e.g., Neil Gaiman took lead script credit for all the episodes of Good Omens season two, but had 4 other writers in the room, and gave each a ‘minisode’ credit for embedded flashbacks.
Taylor Sheridan, by contrast, seems to want the universe to be designed to fit his own model.