Last week, the Writers Guild Of America went on strike, which has seen all writing work on shows and films by members of the union suspended. They are striking because the studio’s recent behaviour has created a gig economy inside a union workforce. The union want better conditions and more pay, especially from the success of streaming.

After the strike, the studios sent letters to their showrunners, stating that while they couldn’t do any writing work on their projects, but were expected to continue their other duties.

Following this, the showrunner for the second season of the Disney+ series, “Andor”, Tony Gilroy, was singled out on social media for performing his non-writing duties on the show, such as stating that he was working with casting and music-related duties. The second season of “Andor” is currently being filmed in the UK, and all of the scripts for the show were finished before the writer’s strike deadline.

This led to more feedback on social media, with Abdullah Saeed, who wrote Disney’s Onyx Collective’s “Deli Boys”, stating:

“This is scabbing. There’s no way a writer/producer can ‘finish’ writing and begin solely producing. And if the scripts truly are finished, let’s see ’em. If there’s one word different in the finished product, kick Tony Gilroy out of the WGA. One of the biggest writers in Hollywood could stand with his union and halt production on his hit show, thereby by forcing a major studio to consider WGA demands a little harder. Instead, he has chosen to be a SCAB! We all want Andor s2, but not at the cost of fairness to writers. #wgastrong”

Tony Gilroy has since told THR that he stopped all of his non-writing duties as well for the second season of “Andor”. In a statement said:

“I discontinued all writing and writing-related work on Andor prior to midnight, May 1. After being briefed on the Saturday showrunner meeting, I informed Chris Keyser at the WGA on Sunday morning that I would also be ceasing all non-writing producing functions,”

Hopefully, the studios and WGA can get together for a deal to help put an end to the strike, to provide better pay and conditions to writers.

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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