Imminent Hollywood Strike Leading To Many More TV Cancelations?
Insiders say that a Hollywood strike could be imminent based on the huge amount of shows being canceled.
The new normal seems to be that many media companies are downsizing their programs by canceling many shows all at once. Peacock, Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, and AMC have let go of many of their shows, which means that many fewer jobs are available to production crews and writers. Deadline has covered the exodus of these shows, and how it could lead to a Hollywood strike, as there could be more disgruntled workers than the industry can handle.
Hollywood has not had a writer’s strike in quite some time, but the current landscape of companies downsizing sure could lead to drastic measures taking place. An unnamed showrunner stated, “There are too many shows so it’s inevitable that if platforms can get a tax write-off or any money back from a show that they don’t love, they’ll absolutely cancel it.” The issue is the last writer’s strike in 2007-2008 made it easier for studios to cancel shows they don’t immediately love.
Despite studios being able to cancel shows they see fit, it is still causing a ripple effect that could lead to another Hollywood writer’s strike. One of the biggest perpetrators of canceling shows has been the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav. An unnamed TV agent stated, “It’s more about him [Zaslav] in particular since he’s taken over and what the hell’s going on over there.”
Everyone has certainly been questioning Zaslav’s moves since he took over WBD, especially when it came to canceling Batgirl even though it was completed. Despite the current DC Films CEO Peter Safran backing the move to cancel the film, it made the company look as though they were willing to cancel anything at a moment’s notice. That has certainly been the case with the myriad of cancelations that followed, which could lead to another Hollywood writer’s strike.
We would imagine that Warner Bros. Discovery’s moves made it harder for networks like AMC, Netflix, and Peacock to have casually trimmed the programs that weren’t keeping up with the success of others. Now, a Hollywood writer’s strike could be imminent, as many jobs have been lost in the past few months alone. The strike could then lead to many more shows being canceled.
A Hollywood writer’s strike right now would cause many more issues, as more shows could be canceled if that were to happen. There cannot be scripted TV shows without the writers needed to keep said programs going. Should a strike occur, it would put a standstill on many media companies’ release slates.
The biggest issue is that many of these media companies can cancel shows to turn them into tax write-offs, which is something that WBD has enacted more than others. Should a show not be performing to the highest caliber, that show could just be done away with so the studio behind it wouldn’t have to shell out more money. It could then be turned into a write-off to ensure the studio receives some sort of profit back for the show’s underperforming, but this fact could lead to the next Hollywood strike.
To be honest, there are a ton of programs in the world, so it makes sense that many of them aren’t going to be as popular as say House of the Dragon or The Last of Us. However, if a Hollywood strike occurs, the longevity of amazing shows like the two previously stated could lead to both being halted as well. We truly hope that a strike is not imminent and better deals for writers can be established before some of our favorite programs are canceled too.
