If you’re missing rehearsed celebrity interviews, satirical news commentary or a delightfully awkward sidekick named Guillermo — an upcoming podcast may scratch that itch.
“When the WGA strike started in May of this year, this elite group of suddenly unemployed talk show hosts gathered via the miracle of Zoom,” the press release says of the podcast’s origin story. “Their idea was to meet every week to discuss the serious issues a work stoppage creates. What happened instead was a series of hilarious and compelling conversations.”
Even if discussions of the WGA strike may seem more niche than constant knocks on Donald Trump and his ilk, a simple listen could help each show’s staff out a whole lot. Proceeds from the podcast will go to staffers on each of the host’s respective shows, who are currently out of work.
Of course, there are other ways you could support the thousands of out-of-work writers and their colleagues, like joining a picket line or contributing to strike funds (believe it or not, canceling Netflix is not a recommended option). But now you can also listen to a podcast!
The podcast launches Wednesday — and if you’re interested in a little taste of what the podcast will be like, Kimmel shared an excerpt on X, formerly Twitter, below. Unfortunately, no Guillermo is included.
During the height of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, many people in the industry are looking for work. Five late-night hosts have managed to find a new short-term gig: Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver are all getting together over at Spotify with their own show. The aptly-titled Strike Force Five features these late-night hosts talking about the strike, the industry, and just sharing general banter. The series is a Spotify exclusive, running for at least 12 episodes. The show features all of the hosts for every episode, however, it’s hosted by a single individual on a rotating basis.
The initial seed of the idea began when all of the late-night hosts got together on Zoom to discuss the results of the work stoppages in their lives, as well as various other issues centered around the strike. Eventually, they realized that it could be a solid foundation for a show. Spotify says it “was a series of hilarious and compelling conversations. Now, Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, Meyers and Oliver invite you to listen in on their once-private chats on this all-new podcast.”
All of the proceeds will go to paying the out-of-work staff behind each one of their late-night talk shows. It’s also sponsored by Mint Mobile (of which Ryan Reyolds owns a sizeable portion) and the alcoholic beverage company Diageo.
Strike Force Five launches on August 30, and it’ll be available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and most other big podcast outlets. While the show promises to be at least 12 episodes, it’s supposed to run for the duration of the strike. You can listen to it here.
10 Popular TV Shows That Were Almost Cancelled Too Soon
Last week, social media erupted when the Writers Guild of America went on strike. Didn’t hear about it? Well, you will soon.
If you don’t think the WGA Strike will affect you, consider this: what will happen when none of your favorite TV shows and movies are released when you expected they would be? What will happen when you tune in for a mindless episode of late-night comedy and there’s … nothing? What will happen when shows like Abbott Elementary are forced to shoot fewer episodes for the next season? Riots.
So, I have your attention now? Good. I’m sure you have questions…and I’m here to answer them.
Why Are The Writers On Strike?
This isn’t our first writers’ strike. From November 2007 to February 2008, American TV writers went on strike for the first time this century. This resulted in a $1.5 billion impact on the Los Angeles economy and cost the U.S. entertainment industry $500 million…And someone’s telling us we don’t need writers?
Essentially, the writers need to be paid more. The East and West branches of the WGA represent the writers of 11,500 movies and television series. And the WGA negotiates writer contracts with Hollywood studios roughly every three years. This year, things didn’t go so well.
While the studios believe they made a fair appraisal of the compensation increase, the writers believe they are being undervalued. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence, studios are mulling over whether or not writers are truly essential anymore.
The studios state that this is not the best time for the writers to see a major change in compensation. Meanwhile, the writers argue that streaming platforms have increased episode counts from the standard 8-10 run to close to 20 episodes a season and this severely cuts into their work lives.
But Why Not Use AI?
Look, I get it. AI helped you write that essay you procrastinated until the very last possible moment to write (don’t worry, I won’t tell). It generated that photo of you in 1800’s garb. It can make almost anything look real (it terrifies me to no end).
But what AI can’t do is capture true human emotion in the ways that a writer can. While Chat GPT may get you 800 words, it surely won’t tell the truth about a certain brand or product. AI isn’t funny, doesn’t have a sense of humor…in other words, breaking news: robots can’t relate to us as well as humans can.
I don’t know how we got to the point of such laziness and greed that we actually entertain the notion that writers are no longer critical in the wake of Artificial Intelligence. It’s insipid. But I do know that Artificial Intelligence can’t tell you about the time they flew cross-country only to crash a rental car in Los Angeles and almost got banned from the state after a Harry Styles concert.
Who Is Affected By The Writers’ Strike?
If this madness continues, the entire planet will be affected in some way or another. And this insanity looks like it’s going to go on for a while. Late-night talk shows have all stopped shooting – which means no one’s getting paid unless the hosts are paying out of pocket, and many are. Late-night programming is the most immediate effect of the strike.
Meanwhile, films can halt production, but since movies take over a year to produce, release dates will just be pushed back. However, daily running shows like soap operas – a dying industry in itself – will run out of episodes to release within a month.
With no one writing at all right now, there are no new seasons in the works. Netflix shows like Big Mouth, Stranger Things, and Unstable have shuttered their writers’ rooms. And on May 2, Abbott Elementary scribes weren’t allowed to start working on the next. Yellowjackets and Billions among other popular shows have also paused writing due to the strike.
As you can see, we are about to face some major consequences. Celebs and the rich and famous are picketing with the writers, where you can see faces like Quinta Brunson, Dan Levy, Rob Lowe, and more boasting signs for the WGA. Late-night hosts like Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel are paying their staff out-of-pocket for the time being.
What Now?
Writers are an essential part of storytelling, so we stand with the WGA and hope they get their bag ASAP. Plus, I will never forgive the Hollywood studios if I don’t see Quinta Brunson on my screen for endless-endless episodes. Get the deal done, Hollywood.
So the answer is no, AI can’t write like a real writer does. AI can’t create your favorite show the way humans can. And without our brilliant writers, there would be no shows.
As the writer’s strike enters its second week, the effects of not having some of most important people on set around are already starting to show: two of the biggest projects currently in production—Marvel’s Blade reboot and the fifth season of Stranger Things—have been put on ice (along with loads more movies and shows I’ll get to in a minute).
This Wacky Magical Girl Anime Is Studio Trigger-Coded To Perfection
What’s the strike about?
Writers are deservedly fed up with loads of stuff, from the number of exploitative short-term contracts being offered in the age of streaming to low pay to poor residuals to the threat of machine-learning.
Posting on the official Twitter account of the Stranger Things writer’s room, the show’s creators, the Duffer brothers, wrote:
Duffers here. Writing does not stop when filming begins. While we’re excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike. We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work. Until then — over and out. #wgastrong
Without its writers or showrunners, production has ground to a halt. Hell yeah. Also downing tools is Marvel’s new Blade movie, which has been shut down and “will restart…production once the strike is over”.
And those two are far from the only shows and films affected. A ton of live TV, especially late night comedy programs, have already gone dark, with The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Late Night With Seth Meyers, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!all having stopped filming.
And while networks and studios will be fine for a while coasting on material that had already been written and filmed, if the strike continues and that dries up, they’ll be in trouble. And even when the strike is over they’ll still be in trouble, because production backlogs and rescheduling will be an absolute nightmare.
Of course not every project and studio is hitting the pause button. HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon will continue filming, just without its writers, while Amazon’s second season of Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power will do likewise. Disney and HBO are among companies who have also ordered writers back to work, with the latter asking them to perform “non-writing” tasks.
The Writers Guild of America, the union calling the strike, figures that improving their member’s contracts would cost Hollywood a collective $430 million per year. There are already estimates this strike could do $2 billion worth of damage to the entertainment economy. That might seem like some easy sums, just pay these people what they’re worth, but these strikes are never about the money, they’re about control.
Solidarity with everyone manning the picket lines, and best of luck with the coming days/weeks/months.
When Hollywood writers went on strike in 2007, the late-night shows were forced to go dark for about two months. During the hiatus, Jay Leno famously delivered doughnuts via motorcycle to the picket lines, and Jimmy Kimmel and otherhosts paid staff out of pocket. “The strike basically wiped out all my savings,” the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host told The Hollywood Reporter for a retrospective on the strike’s 10th anniversary. The late-night shows eventually returned to the air; David Letterman even made his own deal with the studios so that his writers could return to work.
Fifteen years later, writers are striking again—and the late-night shows are the first to feel the impact once more. Leno is no longer the host of The Tonight Show, but he’s back delivering doughnuts to picketers. And some hosts are supporting their crew amid the chaos. Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and Late Night’s Seth Meyers are both reportedly dipping into their pockets to help pay their crews for the missed work. According to sources and Hollywood trade reports, NBC will pay staffers’ salaries for two weeks, with Fallon and Meyers personally stepping in to help extend their pay for a third week. The network is also paying for employees’ health care through September. An NBCUniversal spokeswoman declined to comment.
Sarah Kobos, who describes herself as a senior photo research coordinator for the Tonight Show in her Twitter bio, posted to the social network that Fallon attended a Wednesday morning production meeting to let staff know that he’d helped negotiate for them to receive more pay. The previous day, she had tweeted angrily that staff wouldn’t get paid after this week. “Please support your staff,” she wrote, publicly appealing to the host. “Had fun bowling with ya last week, but a fun party won’t pay my rent.”
Seth Meyers walks the picket line during the 2007 writers strike.
Joe Kohen/Getty Images.
Paying writers is a gesture of solidarity from Fallon and Meyers, both of whom are listed as members of the Writers Guild of America East branch. In a clip from his Monday show, Meyers—who picketed in 2007 when he was working on Saturday Night Live—expressed support for the guild, saying, “I feel very strongly that what the writers are asking for is not unreasonable.” While on the red carpet for the Met Gala, Fallon said, “I wouldn’t have a show if it wasn’t for my writers. I support them all the way.” His announcer, former SNL co-head writer Steve Higgins—whose son John Higgins is currently an SNL writer—was spotted on the picket line on Tuesday.
If the current strike plays out like the last one, crew members on the late-night shows could be out of work for a lot longer than three weeks. The 2007 strike lasted for 100 days; in 1988, writers stopped working for 153 days. During the last strike, most of the late-night shows eventually chose to resume production without their writers, welcoming them back only once the work stoppage finally ended. In that Hollywood Reporter interview, Kimmel said he felt he had to go back on the air because he couldn’t afford to support his crew any longer: “I also felt if we stayed off the air, it was going to do permanent damage to our shows.”
Vanity Fair will update this story as additional information emerges about how the other late-night shows are supporting their crew during the hiatus.
Television and movie writers soured by Hollywood’s low pay in the streaming era went on strike for the first time in 15 years on Tuesday, meaning late-night and variety shows would be the first programs to go dark.
The labor dispute could have a cascading effect on TV and film productions depending on how long the strike lasts, and it comes as streaming services are under growing pressure from Wall Street to show profits.
The Writers Guild of America’s 11,500 unionized screenwriters prepared to picket after negotiations with studios, which began in March, failed by Monday’s deadline to yield a new contract. All script writing is to immediately cease, the guild informed its members.
The guild is seeking higher minimum pay, less thinly staffed writing rooms, shorter exclusive contracts and a reworking of residual pay — all conditions the WGA says have been diminished in the content boom driven by streaming.
“The companies’ behaviour has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing,” the WGA said in a statement.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade association that bargains on behalf of studios and production companies, said it presented an offer with “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals.”
In a statement, the trade association said that it was prepared to improve its offer “but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon.”
A shutdown has been widely forecast for months due to the scope of the discord. The writers last month voted overwhelming to authorize a strike, with 98% of membership in support.
At issue is how writers are compensated in an industry where streaming has changed the rules of Hollywood economics. Writers say they aren’t being paid enough, TV writer rooms have shrunk too much and the old calculus for how residuals are paid out needs to be redrawn.
“The survival of our profession is at stake,” the guild has said.
Streaming has exploded the number of series and films that are annually made, meaning more jobs for writers. But WGA members say they’re making much less money and working under more strained conditions. Showrunners on streaming series receive just 46% of the pay that showrunners on broadcast series receive, the WGA claims.
The guild is seeking more compensation on the front-end of deals. Many of the back-end payments writers have historically profited by – like syndication and international licensing – have been largely phased out by the onset of streaming. More writers — roughly half — are being paid minimum rates, an increase of 16% over the last decade. The use of so-called mini-writers rooms has soared.
Hollywood’s trade association said Monday that the primary sticking points to a deal revolved around those mini-rooms — the guild is seeking a minimum number of scribes per writer room — and duration of employment restrictions. The guild has said more flexibility for writers is needed when they’re contracted for series that have tended to be more limited and short-lived than the once-standard 20-plus episode broadcast season.
Many studios and production companies are slashing spending. The Walt Disney Co. is eliminating 7,000 jobs. Warner Bros. Discovery is cutting costs to lessen its debt. Netflix has pumped the breaks on spending growth.
When Hollywood writers have gone on strike, it’s often been lengthy. In 1988, a WGA strike lasted 153 days. The last WGA strike went for 100 days, beginning in 2007 and ending in 2008.
The most immediate effect of the strike viewers are likely to notice will be on late-night shows and “Saturday Night Live”. All are expected to immediately go dark. During the 2007 strike, late-night hosts eventually returned to the air and improvised material. Jay Leno wrote his own monologues, a move that angered union leadership.
On Friday’s episode of “Late Night”, Seth Meyers, a WGA member who said he supported the union’s demands, prepared viewers for re-runs while lamenting the hardship a strike entails.
“It doesn’t just affect the writers, it affects all the incredible non-writing staff on these shows,” Meyers said. “And it would really be a miserable thing for people to have to go through, especially considering we’re on the heels of that awful pandemic that affected, not just show business, but all of us.”
Scripted series and films will take longer to be affected. But if a strike persisted through the summer, fall schedules could be upended. And in the meantime, not having writers available for rewrites can have a dramatic effect on quality. The James Bond film “Quantum of Solace” was one of many films rushed into production during the 2007-2008 strike with what Daniel Craig called “the bare bones of a script.”
“Then there was a writers’ strike and there was nothing we could do,” Craig later recounted. “We couldn’t employ a writer to finish it. I say to myself, ‘Never again’, but who knows? There was me trying to rewrite scenes — and a writer I am not.”
With a walkout long expected, writers have rushed to get scripts in and studios have sought to prepare their pipelines to keep churning out content for at least the short term.
“We’re assuming the worst from a business perspective,” David Zaslav, chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, said last month. “We’ve got ourselves ready. We’ve had a lot of content that’s been produced.”
Overseas series could also fill some of the void. “If there is one, we have a large base of upcoming shows and films from around the world,” said Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-chief executive, on the company’s earnings call in April.
Yet the WGA strike may only be the beginning. Contracts for both the Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, expire in June. Some of the same issues around the business model of streaming will factor into those bargaining sessions. The DGA is set to begin negotiations with AMPTP on May 10.
The cost of the WGA’s last strike cost Southern California $2.1 billion, according to the Milken Institute. How painful this strike is remains to be seen. But as of late Monday evening, laptops were being closed shut all over Hollywood.
“Pencils down,” said “Halt and Catch Fire” showrunner and co-creator Christopher Cantwell on Twitter shortly after the strike announcement. “Don’t even type in the document.”
Seth Meyers on Monday talked about how former President Donald Trump is reportedly workshopping new insulting nicknames for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), his potential rival for the GOP 2024 nomination.
Ron DeEstablishment, Ron DisHonest, Ron DeSanctimonious and Meatball Ron are apparently all in the mix, noted the host of NBC’s “Late Night.”
But one reported suggestion was the “fucking winner,” he said.
“The first time Trump calls him that to his face, DeSantis is going to spontaneously combust and leave nothing behind but a pair of empty white boots,” Meyers joked.
Chris Meloni said Monday he got put in his place when he bumped into fellow actor Ann Dowd on the street one day. (Watch the video below.)
In an appearance on “Late Night,” the “Law & Order: Organized Crime” star noted that he and Dowd acted together on a “Special Victims Unit” episode back in the day and again on “The Handmaid’s Tale.” So the two had a lot of ground to cover in their impromptu reunion.
“We had this big lovefest and we’re catching up because we don’t get to see each other too much,” Meloni told host Seth Meyers. “And this woman comes up to us, she goes, ‘Oh, my God, I love you so much.’ And I turn around, I said, ‘Thank you.’ She says, ‘Not you. Her,’” pointing to Dowd.
Meloni said he laughed at himself, but the humiliation struck a nerve with Meyers. The host joked that that was the reason he never stands next to another famous person in public and avoids Meloni on the street.
Meloni appears to enjoy his fame, but he took issue recently with some people who began to appear in his social media exchanges.
“Real question: Why am I getting so many ultra Maga GOP shitbags on my feed?” he wrote on Twitter Sunday.
“Late Night” host Seth Meyers on Monday revealed his off-the-wall theory about former President Jimmy Carter. (Watch the video below.)
Biden has insisted “there’s no there there,” but the multiple discoveries at his house and a former library are proving to be an embarrassment. The doc drama follows the uproar over agents finding a larger stash of classified materials at former President Donald Trump’s home during a raid. (Though it’s worth nothing Biden willingly handed over the documents while Trump refused and fought the handover in court.)
Quipped Meyers: “I don’t get it. Do all politicians do this? Is that why Jimmy Carter’s still building houses? Just to store all his classified documents?”
“Trump has been bizarrely quiet the last few weeks, which is suspicious, given he’s supposedly running for president of the United States,” the “Late Night” host said Thursday. “But then yesterday he posted an image of himself in this Superman-style costume with laser eyes and the text: ‘America needs a superhero! I will be making a major announcement tomorrow.’”
The teaser led to widespread speculation that perhaps there had been a development in his presidential bid or that he might return to Twitter, or maybe a twist in his mounting legal woes.
“But when Trump finally posted his major announcement today,” Meyers said, “it turned out to be so much more pathetic than anyone could have possibly imagined.”
Donald Trump has reportedly been secluding himself at his Florida club in the weeks since he announced his 2024 presidential bid ― and Seth Meyers calls the timing “crazy.”
“The GOP [midterm] performance was so bad that even Donald Trump, a man who craves the spotlight more than he craves food and water ― or I guess food and Diet Coke ― has essentially been forced into isolation,” the “Late Night” host said Monday.
According to The Washington Post, the former president has rarely left his residence at the Mar-a-Lago estate in three weeks. Since announcing his intention to run for the White House again, Trump has faced a series of political blows, including backlash over a dinner meeting with white supremacist Nick Fuentes and criticism from prominent Republicans over a social media post in which he suggested the “termination” of the Constitution.
And amid finger-pointing over Republicans’ poor midterm election performance, yet another Trump-backed candidate, Herschel Walker, lost out in Georgia’s Senate runoff last week to the Democratic incumbent, Raphael Warnock.
“I want to emphasize again: Trump’s isolation started after he announced he was running for president again,” Meyers said. “It’s one thing to say ‘I just lost my reelection bid; I’m going to take some time to myself’ and then go into seclusion. But it’s crazy to do it after announcing you’re running for the most powerful office in the world.
“He probably just lies in bed all day with noise-canceling headphones on, listening to his old speeches,” he added, playing an excerpt from a Trump speech about one of his oldest nemeses.
By: AWNewYork/Shutterstock; Emily Ratajkowski, NYT Best-selling Author, Entrepreneur, and Model
I once wrote about how the world was not yet ready for Revenge Emily Ratajkowski. But that was three months ago. And I – and Emily – have changed. I’m no longer fearful of a woman-scorned Emily Ratajkowski but of Bitch Era Ratajkowski.
During the three months since I initially jested that we should keep our eyes on Pete Davidson during Rata, post-divorce, it appears that no one kept their eyes on Davidson. His undefeated, unmatched, and frankly unbelievable streak of pulling continues even after he literally branded himself for Kim Kardashian. DeuxMoi has spoken, and Pete and Rata are together.
To which I say, of course. Have we forgotten her late-night appearance with Seth Meyers from over a year ago when she gushed about the Davidson effect? Where she defends him against Seth?!
“I think you’re being a little mean! He’s got the height. Obviously, women find him very attractive.” She then continues on to say that it’s only men who simply don’t understand ‘what that guy’s got’:
“He seems super charming. He’s vulnerable. He’s lovely. His fingernail polish is awesome. He looks good. He’s great.”
The devil’s in the details and these details have Davidson all over them.
But the Bitch Era is about far more than just men and ass-less chaps. It’s about the ability to do it all without giving a f*ck.
Ratajkowski graces the November ‘22 covers of both Elle UK Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar where she discusses everything from babies to politics to sexism and racism. These explosive pieces mark the end of Ratajkowski as a one-dimensional poster-girl plastered all over boys’ bedrooms. Here is a multi-faceted businesswoman and writer with something to say.
Her conversations continue in her recently released podcast, High Low, with a lineup – so far – including Alex Cooper from Call Her Daddy and Josh Safdie’s muse, Julia Fox.
I hate to be that person that says I told you so, but I was right to be fearful of Revenge Rata – she just calls it her Bitch Era.
WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris used her first late-night network TV appearance since becoming vice president to reflect on how her life has changed since she got the job — including a shortage of emojis — and to talk up the need to vote in the midterm elections.
Harris, appearing early Tuesday on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” in a taped appearance, promoted Biden administration efforts to fight climate change, restore abortion rights and pardon people with federal convictions for marijuana possession as she urged people to “speak with your vote” in the midterms.
“Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed, right?” she said, adding that governors and states should follow the president’s lead in offering pardons for state convictions.
Asked by Meyers how life had changed for her since she became vice president, Harris referenced “high-class problems” like security restrictions that alter day-to-day dynamics. She said taking a walk with her husband, Doug Emhoff, is no longer a one-on-one affair and that family chats via group text are “no longer a thing.”
As for her digital conversations, Harris said: “I have not received directly an emoji in a year and a half.”
