WGA slams ‘union busting’ Deadline article as ‘studio propaganda’ amid writers strike

The Writers Guild of America is taking Deadline to task for publishing a “union busting” article amid the months-long writers strike that’s stalled much of Hollywood.

Many members of the Guild took to social media to alert strikers not to lose morale in the wake of the entertainment news source’s Tuesday piece, “Hollywood Studios’ WGA Strike Endgame Is To Let Writers Go Broke Before Resuming Talks In Fall.”

The article cites multiple studio insiders, with one referring to the “cruel but necessary evil” approach of studios’ willingness “to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.”

“As a former labor organizer, this article reeks of a desperate attempt by these corporate insiders to break our morale and scare us. We don’t have to let it happen. We as writers and workers who create the value that drives your corporate profits. We will not break,” said comedian, actor and writer Jenny Yang.

“This does not scare us. Because we will double down on strike efforts. If you are a writer reading this article, I hope you take any ounce of fear you might have inside you and turn it into anger, white hot electrifying anger,” Yang added.

Writer and editor Shawn Wines slammed Deadline’s article as “desperate fearmongering from the side that’s losing” and alerted strikers to be wary of upcoming “hit pieces on WGA leadership ... rumors of secret meetings, letters from individual writers criticizing the guild.

“This is typical strikebreaking PR bulls--- and Deadline will be happy to publish all of it,” said Wines.

Other writers similarly reminded strikers that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, “are the ones who live or die on quarterly earnings,” not writers, as Sara Schaefer noted.

“And right on cue, here’s the inevitable Deadline article claiming that the AMPTP and their CEO bosses are ready to wait us out and let us ‘go broke.’ They’re not. They can’t. This studio propaganda,” tweeted “MacGyver” writer-executive producer David Slack.

“The truth is our little strike has cost them billions,” tweeted writer-actress Dani Fernandez. “They are the ones bleeding, millions, every day.”

The strike, which has temporarily shut down a multitude of productions, was formally announced on May 2.

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