According to The Hollywood Reporter, two days of protesting rallies have been canceled by SAG-AFTRA. The rallies originally scheduled for July 27 and 28 have been axed due to the forecast of extreme heat in the New York area. With temperatures expected to peak at 108 degrees, a heat warning was issued from Thursday at 11 a.m. ET until Friday at 9 p.m. ET.
The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has been focusing its efforts at four prime locations consistently since July 14: both HBO and Amazon’s buildings located in Hudson Yards; Midtown’s NBCUniversal offices; Paramount in Times Square; and, Netflix’s Union Square headquarters.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Writer’s Guild of America East will also adjust their schedule to avoid the extreme temperatures. It announced the cancellation of rally on Friday and shortened the planned rally for tomorrow. Thursday’s action organized by comedy writers will end at 11 a.m. WGA East has been demonstrating since May 2 albeit for three days when smoke from the Canadian wildfires forced them to cancel.
Yesterday, a rally was held in Times Square where SAG-AFTRA Chief Operating Officer and counsel, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, and Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston, spoke to a robust crowd, shaming the studios for their stance in the negotiations. Crabtree-Ireland detailed how the members of the AMPTP emphatically told him and SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher (The Nanny, Happily Divorced) “No” when they requested a “fair deal” to prevent a strike.
Variety captured Cranston’s speech targeting Disney CEO Bob Iger following his comments that their demands were “unrealistic.”
The current double strike by both SAG-AFTRA and the WGA is the first of its kind in 60 years, and its effects have been felt throughout the industry. All film and TV production has been halted in Los Angeles, with only four series currently filming in New York. Three of those productions are led by Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story, American Crime Story).
A variety of popular shows have been forced to halt production including the second season of Andor, Jeopardy’s Tournament of Champions, AMC’s Interview With The Vampire, season three of HBO’s Hacks, and the third season of ABC’s Abbott Elementary As many shows have been hit with the delay, few have received waivers including the second seasons of HBO’s House of the Dragon and Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power as well as niche biblical drama, The Chosen.
Many networks have surrendered scripted series for their fall schedule with unscripted fodder and repeats. CBS will now air reruns of Yellowstone and the U.K. original series, Ghosts, as replacements for any new series. And ABC announced it will broadcast the Disney+ series, Ms. Marvel, for two weekends in August.