Hollywood Studio Execs Say ‘Endgame’ Is To Drag WGA Strike Out Until Writers ‘Start Losing Their Apartments’ Before Restarting Talks

The sole motion picture studio to brave an actor-less Comic-Con this year was Paramount which opted to show off fresh footage from its upcoming Aug. 2 Point Grey produced Nickelodeon animated feature, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem before fanboys and fangirls in a very packed Hall H. The Melrose lot is one of the dominant streamers as well, splashing outdoor wraparound building ads in the Gaslamp quarter.

TelevisaUnivision CEO Wade Davis said the dual strikes crippling Hollywood have “zero impact” on his company’s operations due to the Hispanic media giant’s programming supply chain.

As the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the American Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) fight for better wages and contracts, they’re also requesting better picketing conditions.

Netflix stands to benefit from the dual strikes underway in Hollywood while competitors like Disney and Apple will get “weaker,” in part because of the streamer’s vast international production pipeline, a top media-stocks analyst said Wednesday on the brink of earnings season.“The strike plays to their advantage,” Michael Nathanson, founding partner of SVB MoffettNathanson, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “I’ve not been a Netflix bull, but their setup for this quarter and the next 12 months is incredibly strong.”Co-host Andrew Ross-Sorkin seized on that notion, seeking to clarify whether Nathanson meant Netflix would get stronger merely relative to its competition – or if it could help the streamer overall. The answer seemed to be: a bit of both.“I think relative, clearly, right?” Nathanson said.

Look, there are a lot of angry people in Hollywood right now. That’s just a by-product of watching two of the three major guilds (the WGA and SAG) both striking at the same time.

Ron Perlman has a message for all the studio executives who wish writers will become homeless during the strike!

Ron Perlman is walking back some heated comments he made about an anonymous Hollywood executive who told a news outlet that the studios’ plan is to let the strike extend for so long that writers and actors feel real financial pain.

Ron Perlman: “The motherfucker who said we’re gonna keep this thing going until people start losing their houses and their apartments. Listen me to me motherfucker…we know who said that and where he fucking lives…be careful motherfucker.

IATSE President Matt Loeb is calling on the studios to provide health care benefits to below-the line workers who might lose them if they fall short of qualifying during the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes, as the companies did during the Covid pandemic.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher will be on the picket lines Friday on the first day of the guild’s strike against the film and television industry. She’ll be joined by Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the guild’s national executive director and chief negotiator, and members of the guild’s negotiating committee.

formally announcing an actors’ strike and officially putting Hollywood at a production standstill, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher gave a rousing opening salvo of a speech that exclaimed that “the jig is up” for Hollywood studios’ continued abuses towards its labor workers. “You people are crazy — why are you doing this?” she said while recounting the weeks of negotiations that have left many in the union feeling “insulted.”“From the time negotiations began on June 7, SAG-AFTRA staff and the members of our negotiating committee have worked overtime devoting their evenings, weekends and holidays to achieving a deal that would ensure a sustainable future for the acting profession,” chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said before handing the mic to Drescher. “But despite our team’s efforts, the AMPTP has remained steadfast in its commitment to devaluing the work of our members.”The strike will begin late Thursday at midnight.Read Drescher’s fiery speech in full below.

Hollywood Studios outlined the deal they offered SAG-AFTRA in negotiations, which gave way to a strike beginning at midnight Thursday.The elements offered included historic pay, audition protections and an AI proposal protecting actors’ digital likenesses for SAG-AFTRA members, among others.“A strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life,” the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers said in a statement.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers denied allegations it is waiting until Writer’s Guild of America  members lose “their homes” before considering renegotiations amid the ongoing writer’s strike.  

Padma Lakshmi is having an “otherworldly and amazing” morning, after pulling her latest set of three Emmy nominations for the culinary competition show Top Chef, which she’s long hosted and exec produced, and her newer Hulu series Taste the Nation, examining cuisine from coast to coast.

EXCLUSIVE: Regardless of whether SAG-AFTRA goes on strike this week, the studios have no intention of sitting down with the Writers Guild for several more months.

In a departure from the first season of The Lincoln Lawyer, Netflix just dropped five episodes of the drama that’s based on the bestselling novels by Michael Connelly, with plans to stream the remaining five on Aug. 3.

Greta Gerwig gave a shoutout to the writers amid the WGA strike during the Barbie premiere in LA at the Shrine Auditorium. Ahead of the screening, the director of the film also noted that her co-writer Noah Baumbach was not present in support of the guild.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer In a display of pink visible from outer space, Greta Gerwig’s  “Barbie” held its lush world premiere on Sunday in Los Angeles. The Shrine Auditorum, located smack in the middle of the USC campus, was hosed down in colors of blush and bashful for the anticipated Warner Bros. release (as in, the security guards wore pink polo shirts), which drew the film’s stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.  One notable absence was Noah Baumbach, the film’s co-writer and Gerwig’s partner. “My co-writer and co-creator, my partner in love and art, Noah Baumbach is not here. He is passionately supporting the fight of the Writers Guild of America,” Gerwig said. “He is a Barbie girl. Nothing in ‘Barbie’ happened without him, and nothing in Hollywood happens without writers.”

The scene outside Silvercup Studios on Thursday was the same as it has been for weeks.

“Joy Ride” star Ashley Park recently spoke about her beginnings and her big break with People.