MPTF Sees A “Significant Spike” In Requests For Financial Assistance During WGA Strike

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For the second week in a row, no scripted TV series were shooting on location in Los Angeles due to the Writers Guild strike, according to data compiled by FilmLA, the city and county film permit office.

British big-hitters Russell T. Davies, Jack Thorne and Dennis Kelly are preparing to stand with writers around the world today in support of striking scribes on a global day of solidarity and action.

Daredevil: Born Again and The Penguin finally have thrown in the towel: Deadline has learned that the Disney+ series and the Max drama will remain on pause until the end of the WGA Strike — whenever that may be.

On May 10, CBS unveiled a fall 2023 lineup that didn’t factor the potential impact from the ongoing writers strike (and a possible SAG-AFTRA work stoppage). Besides the unscripted Wednesday, comprised of supersized episodes of Survivor and The Amazing Race, and Sunday anchor 60 Minutes, the announced schedule features all scripted series Sunday-Friday, none of which has episodes in the can.

The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace will be telling fellow American writers “we are not in this alone” when he returns home from London later.

Massive release date changes were fairly commonplace over the past few years, as we watched the COVID pandemic shift entire distribution strategies for film studios. Now, it appears the WGA Strike has finally shown its impact on film releases, at least over at Disney, as the studio delays some of the biggest films on its schedule including new “Avengers,” “Star Wars,” and “Avatar” films.

Refresh for updates It feels like Covid all over again, but it’s not. Disney has just made a slew of release date changes, many due to the impact of the WGA Strike and screenplays not being ready and productions paused. We already know that Thunderbolts and Blade are waiting the strike out before rolling cameras. Scripts aren’t fully ready in regards to the new Avengers movies. Avengers: Kang Dynasty goes from May 2, 2025 to May 1, 2026. Avengers: Secret Wars is also pushed another year from May 1, 2026 to May 7, 2027.

Please note, the following interview was done outside of the FYC event series as there was no cast panel or screening. 

EXCLUSIVE: Filming on Disney+’s Daredevil: Born Again has been shut down for today, sources tell Deadline. The new season of the Marvel series was supposed to shoot at its New York home base of Silvercup East, which has been a main picketing location for striking WGA members.

Amber Dowling As the WGA strike continues, Canadian broadcasters are conducting business as usual—at least in front of the cameras. Bell Media and Corus Entertainment launched upfront presentations for advertisers and media buyers in Toronto last week, while Rogers Sports & Media opted for a virtual presentation. (Public broadcaster CBC skipped the traditional industry-facing event in favor of a series of meetings, but is planning a launch event in late fall.) Over the week, company leaders laid out 2023-24 broadcast schedules anchored by American acquisition programming. They boasted Canadian originals and specialty content. Rogers announced the buzzy new “Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent.” Bell Media upped its original library to more than 1,000 hours and revealed the upcoming launch of ad tiers to its streaming service, Crave. And Corus confirmed 25 new and returning original titles.

Ariana DeBose is working without a script for the 2023 Tony Awards, so she kicked off the show with a dance number!

Film and television writers from around the world will be picketing and rallying Wednesday in support of the Writers Guild strike, which is now in its 39th day.

The skies are cloudy over LA and thick over NYC today, but for over 1,000 studio and “struck companies” staffers their Black List membership just went dark.

IATSE’s general executive board has unanimously approved $2 million to be distributed to the union’s members who are in need of financial assistance due to the Writers Guild strike, which is in its 39th day.

Late-night comedy has been in reruns, or off the air entirely, since day one of the Writers Guild’s strike. But many of their current and former writers have banded together to put on a weekly YouTube show called Contract TK that satirizes the news, lampoons the company bosses, and promotes the goals of the strike, which is now in its 38th day.

The number of shooting permits issued by New York City fell sharply in May from previous months, and from the year earlier amid a WGA strike and uncertainty over contracts for other guilds.

#PayUpHollywood, the organization founded in 2019 to promote pay equity for Hollywood’s assistants, said Wednesday that it has relaunched its Hollywood Support Staff Relief Fund as a permanent emergency fund to aid film and TV support staff impacted by the ongoing Writers Guild strike and any other industry work stoppages in the future.

The Tribeca Festival brings its unusual brand of film, music, TV, games, reunions and talks, audio and immersive storytelling to New York City this week, a blend that draws fans out in (hopefully) sunny summer weather and is the latest stop for the film community after a short post-Cannes break.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Filming permit requests for TV and film projects in New York City were down 13% in April and 31.5% in May as the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike raged on, Variety has confirmed. According to information obtained by Variety, 760 requested shooting permits were issued to 177 projects by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment in 2022, and 801 permits were granted to 227 projects in May last year. Comparatively, only 662 shooting permits were issued to 187 projects this April and 549 permits to 181 projects in May. The writers strike began May 2, following the WGA’s inability to ink a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) before the previous agreement expired May 1. Between April and May, the filming permits requested for shoots in NYC fell 17%, while in 2022 they had increased just over 5% between the two months.