The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman joined striking writers in the Writers Guild of America (WGA) picket lines in New York City.
According to Deadline, Gaiman and over 200 hundred WGA members and protestors occupied the sidewalk outside of Radio City Music Hall, where NBCUniversal was hosting the first of its fall preview presentations. Other protesters were located at the Fox Television upfront location as well. Gaiman was joined by Jordan Klepper, David Simon and Dave Foley.
“I’ve spent my life as a writer,” Gaiman told Deadline. “Right now, I’m showrunning three shows, and we need contracts. These people need contracts.” Along with his work on Netflix’s The Sandman, Gaiman also serves as the showrunner on Prime Video’s Good Omens. He confirmed that scripts for Season 2 of Good Omens were finished before the strike. “We handed it in at the end of March and it’ll be out July 28th,” he said.
Will the WGA Strike Affect The Sandman Season 2?
As of April, the author confirmed that scripts for Season 2 of The Sandman had been written, but he noted to Deadline that he would not be continuing to work on The Sandman or on Prime Video’s Anansi Boys. “But the other stuff — I’m not doing anything on them,” he said. As of April, the author confirmed that scripts for Season 2 of The Sandman had been written.
Gaiman added that a major reason behind his support of the strike was the treatment of younger writers in the entertainment industry. The author and showrunner criticized not only the “flawed system,” but the “phenomenon that they call the mini-room, where you get six or seven writers in a room for six or seven weeks and that is their involvement in a show.” He added that these mini-rooms were creating “a generation of writers who are not on set, who don’t know how to make TV.”
Starting on May 2, this is the WGA’s first strike in nearly 15 years following unsuccessful contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The previous strike lasted for 100 days between 2007 and 2008. Among the WGA’s current concerns are the use of AI-generated content and a raise in compensation and residuals, which has become increasingly complicated due to the nature of streaming.
Along with The Sandman, the strike will affect another Netflix show as Stranger Things co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer opted to delay production on the show’s fifth and final season instead of continuing without writers on set. However, other shows chose differently. Disney+’s Andor remains unaffected as scripts for Season 2 were completed before the strike. Season 2 of Prime Video’s Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power is also pushing forward with production without co-showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay.
Shortly after, production on Mahershala Ali’s Blade reboot was effectively shut down, becoming the first Marvel Cinematic Universe project to be affected by the strike.
Source: Deadline
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