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A poor choice
Over the weekend, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav delivered the commencement speech at his alma mater, Boston University. But instead of reverence and cheers, his presence was instead met by boos and jeers with students and protesters chanting for the multimillionaire CEO to pay his writers. The message even showing up on a small plane found circling in the air over the ceremony. “David Zaslav – Pay Your Writers” could be seen on a small banner tailing the plane.
“If you want to be successful, you’re going to have to get alone with everyone – even difficult people”, said Zaslav, who declined to directly mention the writers strike in his speech, but the message from the CEO, who reportedly made $246 million alone worth of compensation in 2021, was ill-received from the crowd.
Controversy
The controversy began with Boston University electing to choose Zaslav, who, along with Warner Bros. Discovery is a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) – the group responsible for negotiations (or lack thereof) with the WGA. This decision coming only a day after the WGA announced the current strike. Despite receiving backlash for the decision the University stood it’s ground stating that it
In other Warner Bros. news
Flava Flav was seen passing out pizza and hotdogs to striking writers at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank with the iconic and fitting Public Enemy song, “Fight the Power” playing in the background.
Flava Flav is just one of many celebrities that have come out in support for the writers with some joining picket lines and providing interviews of why they support the WGA. Even President Joe Biden issued a statement from his podium, “I sincerely hope the strike gets resolved, and writers are given a fair deal as soon as possible. This is an iconic, meaningful American industry & we need the writers—and all the workers—to tell the stories of our nation, and the stories of all of us.” he said.
As time stretches on and the WGA writer’s strike continues,
More and more people are finding their favorite shows have gone dark.
“Abbott Elementary”
“Stranger Things”
“A Knight Of the Seven kingdoms: The Hedge Knight”
“Bunk’d”
“Good Trouble”
“Pretty Little Liars: Summer School”
“Evil”
“P-Valley”
“Saturday Nighht Live”
“Late night talk shows in general”
“The Handmaid’s Tale”
“Billions”
“The Last of Us”
“Loot”
“Sinking Spring”
“Wonder Man”
“Daredevil: Born Again”
“FBI: Most Wanted”
“Power Book II: Ghost”
“Severance”
“Yellowjackets”
“Andor”
“Hhacks”
“Unstable”
“The Venery of Samantha Bird”
Are the latest shows to be affected by the strike with various issues, such as a lack of scripts or strikers picketing film sets, being cited as reasons for delays and cancellations.
Only time will tell how long the strike will last. It currently looks like a case of the immovable object vs the unstoppable force, with writers showing their endurance and grit while studio execs and producers remain, at least thus far, unwilling to negotiate better deals. The last writer’s strike ended when the Directors Guild of America was able to negotiate its own deal with the AMPTP which lead the way for better negotiations for the WGA. This year the DGA contract doesn’t expire until June 30th but they have already begun talks ahead of this date.