Update 11/05: Tony Gilroy’s representation sent us a statement on his involvement in Andor season two, which has been added to this article.
By now, you’re likely aware that the Writer’s Guild of America is on strike for the first time since 2008. I, like many writers across different industries, am watching and rooting for them. The WGA is a union protecting writers across film and television, an industry that is notoriously cruel to its writers and leaves them vulnerable to unemployment regardless of how many years into their careers they are. Our Editor-in-Chief Stacey Henley wrote an excellent piece about 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:why you should support the strikers and the consequences of the last strike on entertainment media, but the long and🔴 short of it is thaไt streaming studios are intentionally disenfranchising their writers from a decent work environment and stable employment.
Because of the strikes, many shows and movies have halted production, including Severance, Stranger Things, and most late-night talk shows. Showrunners have come out and said that they will not be working on their shows at all beca𓄧use of the strike. Surprisingly, one show that hasn’t stopped is , which is working on putting out its second season in August 2024. Tony Gilroy, Andor creator and a WGA member, said at an Emmy FYC event panel that he had finished the scripts a few days before the strike started. According to , Gilroy is not on set but is still producing elements of the show.
What puts this in dodgy territory is that it’s incredibly difficult to separate a showrunner’s writing duties from the rest of what making a show comprises. Showrunning, even if you aren’t writing the scripts right there and then, will inevitably require rewriting on set, condensing or cutting scenes, and working around production issues by altering the script. All of these fall under the purview of a writer. For this reason, WGA leadership has requested that showrunners don’t go on set. In fact, Lowell Peterson, executive director of WGA East, told Variety that “the rules are very clear that virtually nothing that a showrunner does is permitted,” and that “almost everything a showrunner does involves writing, and that’s clearly prohibited.” The Duffer brothers, show🌱runners of Stranger Things, have said on Twitter that “writing does not stop when filming begins” and that they will not be starting production until after the strike.
Allegedly, Gilroy is staying off set and therefore keeping to the rules of the WGA, but reported that two days after the strike started, and Warner Bros. Discovery sent a letter to all their showrunners to remind writer-producers that they are expected to perform their contractually obligated non-writing services𝐆, “even if the WGA attempts to fine you for performing such services during the strike”. The memo states specifically that showrunners may be required to perform services such as cutting for time, changing dialogue and narration, and changing technical or stage directions - all of which WGA union members are explicitly prohibited from doing during the strikes. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, the WGA said, “It is shameful that Disney, which has grown its business on unionized labor, is resorting to familiar union-busting tactics”.
Andor is not the only show still in production during the strike, but it’s a particularly disappointing one. If you’ve watched it, you know it’s surprisingly radical for a Disney IP - there are direct discussions of fighting fascism, the cost of revolution, and battling hopelessness. It is one of th✨e most unfli♏nchingly political products of the Star Wars universe, which is in itself based in political allegory. It’s laughably ironic that a show so deeply rooted in leftist ideals is c👍ontinuing production at a time when so many of Gilroy’s colleagues have halted work altogether, but I am hesitant to put blame on Gilroy right now. He hasn’t released a statement, and it could be true that he really won’t violate WGA’s rules during production - after all, Andor season two has already been shooting since November 2022 and🌸 it’s highly likely that cast and crew have obligations after shooting wraps in August It would be easier for the team if they got all their footage now. (On 9 May, Tony Gilroy released a statement saying "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.")
But strikes aren’t meant to be easy, they are meant to be painful. Many shows, most famously Heroes season two, have been pushed forward despite the writers strikes, and an excellent first season was followed by an absolutely miserable second. I still remember watching the first season at the age of ten and being obsessed, but even my undiscerning child self couldn’t bring myself to watch anything past season two. Writers strikes are meant to have consequences for the studios that refuse to concede. Gilroy could truly not write or ed💖it another word on Andor, but I do wonder how that will affect the final quality on the show considering how important writers are to have on set. Gilroy could scab, which would be bad for everyone and the reputation of his show. Or he could use the prodigious amount of leverage that he has as the showrunner to stall Disney even more and pressure them to pay their writers fairly.
We don’t know what Gilroy will do, or his motivations for doing so. He hasn’t said anything about it yet, and we don’t know if he even will. What’s important to remember here is that Disney, and every other studio that refuses to share a tiny fraction of their profits with their writers, is the enemy. It may happen to own IP with a revolutionary aesthetic, but make no mistake, this corporation will never be revolution꧟ary. It profits off the aesthetic of struggle, but it will bust unions with impunity. Its shows might explore hopelessness and disenfranchisement, but it would rather its writers actively suffer than pay a little bit more from its bꦐillions of dollars of profits. Andor might have been the frankest depiction of anti-fascism on television in recent times, but it’s just a show made to make money. Don’t forget it.