Late Night Shows Shutdown Due To Writers Guild Of America Striker
Popular late-night programming has been discontinued as a result of the Hollywood writers strike.
Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel and other talk show hosts will reportedly not be filming fresh episodes of their programs until a settlement with Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been reached.
The Tonight Show, The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Late Night with Seth Myers, are some of the most watched late-night talk shows in America. They will all be forced to begin screening re-runs on Tuesday, May 2nd.
In a dispute over low wages, the union for 11,500 Hollywood writers declared a strike that will begin at midnight on May 1st.
As a result of the explosion of popular streaming services like HBO, Netflix, and Hulu, show writers have been making much less money than they were prior, with a lot more added stress to their jobs.
The strike will instantly have an impact on late-night shows because these broadcast programs heavily depend on writers to produce content for them daily before they air.
This implies that numerous planned guest appearances will be postponed.
This week, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Michael J. Fox, and Shonda Rhimes were scheduled to appear on Stephen Colbert’s show, while Fallon was planning to host Elle Fanning, Jennifer Lopez, Emma Chamberlain, and Ken Jeong on his program. Melissa McCarthy, Will Poulter, Ricky Gervais, and Anthony Carrigan were supposed to appear on Kimmel, but those appearances have also been postponed.
If the strikes continue until the weekend, producers are reportedly unsure of what changes will need to be made to accommodate audiences.
Decisions regarding other weekly programs, such as Real Time with Bill Maher and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, are expected later in the week.
Late night host Seth Meyers, who is also a union member, has consistently advocated for his writers in a very outspoken manner.
“I love writing. I love writing for TV. I love writing this show… I love that we get to come in with an idea for what we want to do every day and we get to work on it all afternoon and then I have the pleasure of coming out here. No one is entitled to a job in show business,” he said on Monday.
“But for those people who have a job, they are entitled to fair compensation. They are entitled to make a living… I think it’s a very reasonable demand that’s being set out by the guild. And I support those demands.”
On April 28th, Meyers showed his support for the union by expressing that if a strike were to take place, that it would not be a decision taken “lightly.”
“If you don’t see me here next week, know that it is something that is not done lightly, and that I will be heartbroken to miss you as well,” he maintained.
Fallon also made remarks at the Met Gala in New York on Monday regarding the planned strike.
“I wouldn’t have a show if it wasn’t for my writers, and I support them all the way.”
The WGA announced the strike, which is the first time that production teams have stopped working in 15 years. The most recent strike cost Hollywood $2.1 billion and lasted 100 days.
“The Board of Directors of the @WGAWest and the Council of the @WGAEast, acting upon the authority granted to them by their memberships, have voted unanimously to call a strike, effective 12:01 AM, Tuesday, May 2,” the union posted on Twitter.
After six weeks of discussions, the union group claimed that the decision was taken up with Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, Paramount, and Sony.
They also said in a statement that writers are currently going through an “existential crisis.”
The planned airing schedule for shows that were pre-recorded and scripted before the writers strike will be unaffected. Additionally, news programming will continue with the customary schedule and structure.
“We have to think about our crew too. I absolutely support the writers, and I want the writers to get what they deserve and need, but I don’t want our crew to be out of work. We can’t make this art without each other,” said a crew member for Saturday Night Live (SNL).
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