NYC Filming Permit Requests Dropped More Than 31% in May Amid WGA Strike

Muni Long took the stage at the 2023 BET Awards to acknowledge the writers strike and the members of the WGA.

In celebration of her upcoming Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) release, Taylor Swift surprised Minnesota Swifties with an acoustic rendition of “Dear John” at The Eras Tour — alongside an impassioned plea.

The Writers Guild of America West is holding officer and board elections in the middle of its ongoing strike, which is now in its 51st day. Incumbent president Meredith Stiehm is seeking reelection and will face off against Rich Talarico – both of whom were selected by the guild’s nominating committee.

Editor’s note: Part 1 of two-part series about the writers strike crossing the 50-day mark.

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.

Prior to her death in December 2016, Carrie Fisher filmed a role in the film “Wonderwell”, and fans will finally get to see it later this month.

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.

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!

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.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix’s upcoming high-profile limited series Zero Day, starring and executive produced by Robert De Niro, has become the latest project whose production has been impacted by the ongoing writers strike.

On-location production of scripted TV series has ground to a complete halt in Los Angeles due to the five-week-old Writers Guild strike, according to data compiled by FilmLA, the city and county film permit office.

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.

Megan Barton-Hanson has opened up about her emotional Marbella trip, confessing to shedding tears for most of her month-long stay after hoping it would help her overcome a “little slump”. Taking to Instagram to share her thoughts alongside a slideshow of snaps from her time away, the 29 year old Love Island star posted the caption: "I’ve always been told I have high expectations & I did for this trip… “Don’t get me wrong I had some fantastic days with the most special people but I genuinely thought I’d return home after the month and be completely happy and refreshed from the little slump I was in.” Megan said despite it not being the trip she’d hoped for, she has made “some huge realisations.” She added: “Instead I cried out there more than I ever have spent half the trip with eyes looking like I was high.

Jennifer Lopez's movie Unstoppable stopped on Friday due to the ongoing writers strike. Production on the wrestling drama flick — which stars the 53-year-old Maid In Manhattan actress — paused amid picketing by the Writers Guild of America, according to Deadline.   It is unknown when the biopic — from her husband Ben Affleck's indie production company with Matt Damon, Artists Equity — will resume filming but is expected to pick back up at the end of the strike at the very latest, the publication reported.

EXCLUSIVE: The Motion Picture & Television Fund has seen a “significant spike” in requests for financial assistance from industry members impacted by the month-old Writers Guild strike.  

1.5% of companies who asked shareholders to weigh in on executive compensation packages having rejected the pay proposals this year. The rejection comes just days after WGA West President Meredith Stiehm sent an open letter to Netflix and Comcast shareholders calling on them to reject the pay packages in the impending vote.“Netflix’s content pipeline has been blocked, with dozens of projects that were in development or ordered to series as of May 1st unable to move forward until WGA negotiations conclude,” Stiehm wrote in the letter to Netflix shareholders.

EXCLUSIVE: Viewers can’t seem to get enough of The Drew Barrymore Show.