WGA Strike: Disney Using “Union-Busting Tactics,” Guild Says; Mouse House, HBO, CBS Demand Showrunners Work Despite Labor Action – Update

Dominic Patten
·4 min read

(Updated with more studios information & WGA response) Hollywood is in the throes of its biggest labor action in 15 years as the Writers Guild of America is on strike after the collapse of talks with the studios earlier this week. However, for WGA members who are active showrunners, some of the studios want to make damn sure they show up for work.

“If you are a WGA member, HBO/HBO Max respects your membership in the WGA, and we will not do anything to place you in jeopardy of WGA rules,” a May 2 letter from the Warner Bros Discovery-owned division this week to showrunners and executive producers said. “However, we believe certain services, such as participating in the cast process and/or contributing to non-writing production, and post-production work are clear examples of non-WGA required services that should continue to be rendered during this time,” it continued.

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“Under the National Labor Relations Act, the WGA is not permitted to interfere with an employer’s right to designate employees to perform certain supervisory functions,” the correspondence, with accompanying dos and dont’s, added. “If you fail to provide contracted services due to the strike, HBO/HBO Max will not be obliged to continue your salary,” it went on to say in the FAQ portion of the letter.

And then, perhaps even more so that calling guild contract interpretations “misleading,” there was the kicker: “Further, if production is interrupted by the strike, even if you offer to continue to work, HBO/HBO Max will not be obliged to continue your salary, nor the salary of the cast and crew.”

Disney shot out a similar letter with the same iron fist in a velvet-glove tone.

“We want specifically to reiterate to you as a showrunner or other writer-producer that you are not excused from performing your duties as a showrunner and/or producer on your series as a result of the WGA strike,” said a May 3 email from Disney that was sent to showrunners. “Studio intends to stay in production during the WGA strike and we are legally entitled to do so,” adds the correspondence and attached Q&A from Bob McPhail, assistant chief counsel at ABC Signature.

A letter also went out this week from Disney’s other primary small screen division 20th Television. In that correspondence, as with the ABC Signature letter, Disney made a point of citing the non-writing “A through H” duties and “services” showrunners are expected to execute in post-production and more.

Outside the Disney empire, Paramount-owned CBS Studios sent out its own letter to showrunners this week making it crystal that they are expecting non-writing producing obligations to be fulfilled too.

“Everyone but Netflix has sent one it seems,” an insider told Deadline today. However, in fact NBCUniversal did not send out a so-called “breach letter,” sources say.

Still, an exec insisted: “All the studios are planning on sending these letters out.”

The WGA were pretty unceremonious Friday in their response to the studio letters to showrunners and EPs.

“The so-called ‘A through H’ duties are specifically defined in the Guild contract as writing services and therefore constitute struck work that Guild members are prohibited from doing during a work stoppage,” a spokesperson said this afternoon. “It is shameful that Disney, which has grown its business on unionized labor, is resorting to familiar union-busting tactics.”

While mainly within the letter of the contracts and agreements covering showrunners and other WGA members in non-WGA roles, the notes from the studios also felt heavy-handed to some scribes. “We are professionals, we know our obligations and rights and we don’t need to be spoken to like children, like this does,” a showrunner who is working on a studio series asserted today.

The showrunner confirmed that he had received an email from his employer telling him to show up for work – even though his writing team are on the picket lines.

Getty Images
Getty Images

This May 3 letter from Disney unit follows a previous correspondence from the House of Mouse from this week on overall “guidelines” for those working at the company to follow during the WGA strike. “If you are engaged to provide non-WGA services but happen to be a WGA member – for example, as a Director, Actor or Producer – Disney will defend and indemnify you from any fines levied against you,” the note stated in a section focusing on the hyphenated crowd.

THR first reported the news of the ABC Signature letter.

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