Breaking: Disney doesn't seem to understand how strikes work.
Disney, as usual, is "progressive" when it comes to virtue signaling, but business itself? The mask comes off.
A letter sent out by the Mouse House and leaked to THR is demanding all showrunners continue working on their respective projects. HBO and CBS have also made similar demands. This looks to be what studios will be trying to push.
For shows that aren't in the writing process, they believe The Show must go on. Some would think this makes sense since only the writers are striking but many Showrunners are card-carrying members of the WGA.
The writing process doesn’t stop at production. This is part of what the guild is striking against. The union will likely be writing a letter soon, if they haven’t already, telling the studios to f*ck off.
What Disney is basically saying here is that “if our production is interrupted in any way then we're not paying you.” The problem with their letter is that they are essentially demanding their employees not to strike.
Showrunners tend to write and re-write at all stages of production, even after scripts are locked and going into production. Want to change a line on set the day of shooting? That’s writing. Want to do pickups for an added scene? That’s writing.
All of these activities are things that would get these showrunners in serious trouble with the guild. Disney’s forcing their hands, but I can’t see them succeeding in any way with these demands.
Then again, it would probably be an improvement if Disney stopped employing their current writers and just started ad-libbing everything instead.
Lest we forget that good ol’ Walt Disney was the man who accused the leaders of the 1941 animator’s strike of being communists, without evidence, before HUAC.
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