Posted in: Max, streaming, TV | Tagged: warner bros discovery, WBTV, wga, writers' strike

WBTV Suspends Overall Deals: Berlanti, Kaling, Lorre, JJ Abrams & More

Warner Bros. Television (WBTV) suspended several overall deals: Greg Berlanti, Bill Lawrence, Mindy Kaling, JJ Abrams, Chuck Lorre & others.

Published Wed, 06 Sep 2023 19:59:11 -0500

by Ray Flook

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"Great writers, directors, actors, they want their content to be seen. They want to have a chance to have an impact on the culture. They want to have a chance to have an impact on how people see themselves and see the world, and that's what we get to do in this business. But only if we do it together," shared Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav earlier today at a Goldman Sachs conference regarding the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. The irony of that statement coming only hours before Warner Bros. Television (WBTV) suspended the remaining overall deals with a number of creators shouldn't be lost. Deadline Hollywood is reporting that – three months into the writers' strike – Greg Berlanti Productions, Bill Lawrence's Doozer Productions, John Wells' Productions, and Mindy Kaling's Kaling International are the production deals impacted. sources said. In addition, DH reports that JJ Abrams's Bad Robot is also being notified and that Chuck Lorre's pact has reportedly already been suspended. The move comes months after a number of studios began notifying writer-producers under overall or first-look deals without series in production or post-production that those deals had been suspended.

Striking members of the The Writers Guild of America (WGA) picket outside the Warner Bros. Studios on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in Burbank, California. (Shutterstock.com/Ringo Chiu) WBTV

"If we can get a result soon, then the longer-term impacts will be minimized, but there are real industry challenges here," Zaslav also shared at the conference on Wednesday, only a day after Warner Bros. Discovery revealed that it's expected to take a $300M-$500M hit due to the strikes. "We're a content company. We're a storytelling company. We need to do everything we can to get people back to work. But more importantly, it's true of creative people, but it's true for all of us: People need to be compensated fairly, and they need to feel valued." As of this writing, there has been no official word on negotiations resuming between the AMPTP and either SAG-AFTRA or the WGA.

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