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On May 2, 2023, the Writers Guild of America went on strike due to a continuous labor disagreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The WGA represents over 11,500 authors in both movie and tv, and its function is to safeguard all individuals in the union and make sure that the authors accountable for producing shows and movies are provided a reasonable wage and rights concerning their work. The WGA and the AMPTP work out brand-new offers every 3 years, with the last offer officially checked in 2020 throughout the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. It decreased to the wire, however the offer was protected, therefore preventing a scenario such as the one presently taking place.
Now, authors are striking to support their right to a habitable wage and protecting their work versus the increased usage of AI as a company practice. The WGA sent a proposition to limitation the usage of AI innovation to compose or reword scripts or to utilize authors’ scripts to train AI, however the AMPTP declined the proposition. Instead, they counter-offered holding yearly conferences to go over developments in innovation.
The last time an authors strike happened was 16 years back, and it lasted from November 5, 2007, to February 12, 2008. They had comparable objectives then, minus the issues about AI. WGA members looked for increased financing for authors in contrast to the bigger earnings seen by studio executives. It’s crucial to keep in mind that the AMPTP is comprised of crucial studios such as Warner Brothers, NBCUniversal, CBS, Paramount Pictures, The Walt Disney Company, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, and a lot more prominent studios and business.
The authors returned and forth with studios like these for 100 days prior to lastly reaching an arrangement that relatively compensated authors for their effort. Within those 100 days, numerous television shows and movies were affected by the authors not working. Shows had actually reduced seasons or extended hiatuses while movies had uninspired or insufficient scripts. Here are 15 shows and movies that were affected by the 2007 authors’ strike:
15 Bones (2005-2017)
Bones was among Fox’s most popular shows and included the renowned couple, Bones and Booth. The reveal followed forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan and arrogant FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth as they formed a group to examine murders. The reveal took a hit in its 3rd season due to the strike. Episode 9 aired on November 27, 2007, and episode 10 did not air up until April 14, 2008, after a forced four-month hiatus. Only 13 of 23 episodes were recorded by the time the strike happened. When it ended, just 2 more episodes were recorded and aired.
14 Friday Night Lights (2006-2011)
NBC’s Friday Night Lights was influenced by the real story of the 1988 Permian Panthers high school football group in Odessa, Texas. The reveal altered the place to the imaginary town of Dillon, Texas, and ran for 5 seasons. During the program’s 2nd season, the well-known program ended on a big cliffhanger 7 episodes of the 22 that NBC had actually initially bought were not made. The cut in episode count resulted in the notoriously did not like story including Landry that has actually left an unfavorable impression on an otherwise extremely applauded program. After an eight-month break, the reveal lastly returned for its 3rd season and ultimately recuperated from the unfavorable effects of season 2.
13 Heroes (2006-2010)
Another NBC reveal hit by the authors’ strike, the sci-fi program Heroes focused around a group of routine individuals who found they had superpowers, and their lives link when a terrible occasion needs to be avoided. The program had an appealing facility and an excellent cast consisting of Milo Ventimiglia, Hayden Panettiere, and Zachary Quinto. The quality of the reveal took a significant dip throughout the 2nd season. Only 11 out of 24 episodes were aired, and none were recorded after the strike ended. The reveal returned for season 3 after 9 months off the air in September 2008, however the program had actually lost a portion of its fanbase by then due to the bad quality of the previous season.
12 Scrubs (2001-2010)
The Zack Braff-led ensemble dramedy followed intern John “J.D.” Dorian as he found out the methods of medication, relationship, and life throughout his time at the imaginary Sacred Heart Hospital in California. Scrubs remained in its seventh season at the time the authors’ strike was taking place, however developer Bill Lawrence was prepared to end the series by that point. Due to the strike, just 11 episodes aired throughout the seventh season prior to the program was then relocated to ABC where 2 episodes aired after the strike as part of the 8th season. The reveal dipped in quality after that network relocation, up until the disastrous ending, however then the reveal went on for another year.
11 Grey’s Anatomy (2005-Present)
The long-running medical drama has actually seen its reasonable share of cast modifications and composing modifications over the 18 years it has actually been on network tv. Despite the titular primary character Meredith Grey leaving the reveal last season, Grey’s Anatomy was still restored for a 20th season. Back in 2007 when the program was perhaps in its prime time, the 4th season just had 16 of its preliminary 23 episodes that were bought by ABC recorded, consisting of a two-part season ending. Luckily for the showrunners, this misstep plainly didn’t effect the reveal too dramatically considering it is still on air to this day.
10 Lost (2004-2010)
Lost has actually constantly been a dissentious program, however many individuals associate seasons 4 and 5 with the real decrease of the reveal about a group of aircraft crash survivors attempting to make it through on a relatively deserted island. During the production of the 4th season, the WGA strike happened, stopping production. Only 8 episodes had actually been recorded by that point, so the choice to air the finished episodes in early 2008 was made while production stayed postponed on the rest of the episodes. Additional episodes were recorded after the strike ended, bringing the overall episode count for the season to 14, which is the fastest season of the program.
9 30 Rock (2006-2013)
Tina Fey’s comedy 30 Rock focused on the head author of a sketch funny reveal called Liz Lemon (Fey) and how she handles a big-headed brand-new employer and disorderly brand-new star while attempting to run an effective program without losing her mind.
The authors’ strike happened throughout the production of the 2nd season of the program, which was planned to have actually 22 episodes recorded. Since a number of the cast and team were greatly included with the strike, consisting of Fey herself, production was closed down after the tenth episode of the 2nd season was aired on January 10, 2008. 30 Rock returned in April of that year after a three-month hiatus and a reduced season of just 15 episodes. Season 2 is in fact thought about to be among the program’s much better seasons, which is excellent considering what was going on.
8 Pushing Daisies (2007-2009)
When Pushing Daisies premiered its very first season, it had to do with a month prior to the WGA would state a strike. The facility of the reveal includes a pastry chef with the capability to bring dead individuals back to life who chooses to utilize his capability to resolve murders with the aid of his reanimated youth sweetie, a cynical private detective, and a lovesick waitress. The program was popular and extremely well-known, and it even won 7 Emmy Awards.
However, the strike triggered production to be postponed for nearly a year, and scores dropped. Since it was a new program, the substantial space in between the initially and 2nd seasons substantially harmed the program and any opportunities of spreading out word-of-mouth. The program was canceled suddenly throughout season 2, and the authors needed to hurry to create an open-ended ending.
7 The Office (2005-2013)
Fans of the U.S. variation of The Office will normally associate seasons 8 and 9 with the point where the reveal decreased in quality after Steve Carrell left the program, requiring his character Michael Scott to leave Scranton also. To some fans, the only saving grace for that era was the addition of James Spader’s Robert California. The strike happened during the show’s fourth season, which was cut by eleven episodes and faced a five-month break that occurred between the eighth and ninth episodes of the season. The show then faced a four-month break between seasons four and five.
6 Breaking Bad (2008-2013)
Vince Gilligan’s highly acclaimed crime drama Breaking Bad is one of the rare shows of the 2007 writers’ strike that actually benefited from production delays and a shortened season.
Initially, Dean Norris’s DEA agent character Hank Schrader was not supposed to make it past season one. Since two episodes were cut from the show’s first season, his death was never written in, and he instead went on to become one of the show’s main characters. Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman was also supposed to get axed as a way of showing that not even the main characters were safe, but due to the strike, Gilligan had more time to consider the fate of the character. Impressed with Paul’s performance, Gilligan kept Jesse on the show as well. Breaking Bad would have been radically different if not for the complex relationship between Walter and Jesse and without Hank constantly trying to identify who Heisenberg was.
5 Prison Break (2005-2017)
Prison Break had one of the best first seasons of a show in television history. Complex, intricate, compelling writing made it one of the most interesting premises for a TV show, and the execution of the titular prison break was incredibly well done. The second season didn’t quite live up to the impressive nature of the first, but it was still well-written and executed. However, the show’s direction changed drastically in the third season and massively altered the quality of the show.
The WGA strike was happening during the third season, and it was shortened to only 13 episodes. A spinoff show titled Prison Break: Cherry Hill was supposed to have its characters introduced during Prison Break‘s third season, but those were, unfortunately, the cut episodes. The episodes not airing caused the spinoff to be scrapped completely. The show had a fifth season air in 2017, eight years after it had originally ended, that improved upon the mess that season three created.
4 Quantum of Solace (2008)
While many TV shows were affected by the prolonged writers’ strike of 2007-2008, some movies were as well. The follow-up to the first Daniel Craig-led James Bond movie suffered greatly as a result of the strike.
The original script apparently arrived just two hours before the strike was called, leaving the rest of the cast and crew up to their own devices. They were unable to make script changes on the fly due to the strike, causing the script to be lackluster and uninteresting. Craig himself stated in 2012 that he was writing part of the script himself because they were left with the bare bones of a potential script, but admitted that he is not a writer. Quantum of Solace went on to be widely considered the worst film in this particular Bond series.
3 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
The Transformers franchise has undergone a lot of changes over the years, from different directors to different characters. Michael Bay’s Transformers films are often polarizing among fans of the series, and the sequel to his first film in the franchise is often regarded as the worst. Even Bay himself has criticisms of the movie and has stated that it was “crap” and that it was quite restraining to have a story ready in just three weeks without a real script. He had to fill in the gaps left by Alex Kurtzman’s and Robert Orci’s half-baked script that was derailed due to the strike.
Many of the critiques of the film are that it lacked heart and focused too much on the human characters rather than the Autobots, which Bay also agrees with. Still, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen grossed over $863.3 million globally.
2 X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
The first X-Men spinoff movie was met with a terrible fate as the studio was desperate to get the script written before the writers’ strike began. The concept of an X-Men movie centered around specifically Wolverine is not by any means a bad idea, especially when you take into consideration the success of Logan and The Wolverine. However, at the time X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released, audiences had essentially already received a backstory on the character through X2: X-Men United.
In addition to the redundant nature of the movie, it also had horrendous special effects, poor writing, and the worst iteration of Deadpool put to screen. This iteration of the Merc with the Mouth is loathed so much, that it has become a running joke in Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool movies, to the point where Wade actually visits the X-Men Origins timeline and shoots that variation of himself in the head.
1 Terminator Salvation (2009)
Production on Terminator Salvation was doomed from day one, as the script was rushed into completion ahead of the pending WGA strike. Director McG has stated that the script needed a major rewrite, but due to the strike ending in February 2008 and production being scheduled for May, there wasn’t enough time. Jonathan Nolan, brother of Christopher Nolan and co-creator of Westworld, was originally going to pen the script but departed the project.
It is regarded as one of the worst Terminator films, save for Terminator Genisys. It is criticized for not looking like any of the other films in the franchise, but also for being an underwhelming watch. A truly odd decision to have the movie rated PG-13 rather of R to appeal to a wider audience likewise did not mesh well with the rest of the franchise. The movie is also a low point for Christian Bale who otherwise has an excellent filmography, and it is also remembered for his infamous fit of rage on set where he lost his cool on a crew member. Bale has since apologized and expressed remorse, however he has also confessed that he was unhappy with the way the movie ended up.
