Deadline reports that the Writers Guild of America closed down production of Showtime’s Wall Street drama Billions for several hours on the third day of its strike. Production was halted in New York City on Thursday morning when a tow truck hauling a prop Jeep for the series was stopped when pulling up to a parking lot by a WGA picket line near the Brooklyn waterfront.
According to Deadline, an entryway to the Billions studio was blocked picketers chanting “day or night/rain or shine/you don’t cross/a picket line”. The protestors were supported by New York City police officers outside Seret Studios, one of the productions hangars in a warehouse district by the East River.
Billions cast and crew members decided not to cross the WGA picket lines, causing the roughly four-hour shutdown.
Sources connected to Billions reported that the decision to not cross the WGA picket line was respected by the production and Showtime’s parent company, Paramount Global, according to Deadline. The cast and crew will face no repercussions. Deadline was unable to reach representatives for Paramount for comment on the temporary shutdown.
There were no arrests during the three hours of protest in Brooklyn and the demonstrators turned away at least two production trucks, though it is unclear if the drivers were able to find another other ways of entry.
Production of Billions resumed later in the day however there were no writers on set; a WGA representative told Deadline, “I don’t know how you run a production without writers on set.”
Billions is currently in production of its seventh and final season. The series premiered on January 17, 2016 and is created by Andrew Ross Sorkin (Too Big To Fail, The Newsroom), Brian Koppelman (Rounders, Solitary Man), and David Levien (Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, Founders).