Categories Billions News Print Media

The Biggest Shows Affected by the 2023 Writers Strike

From Billions to Severance: Some of Your Favorite Shows are Already Seeing Significant Delays Due to the WGA Strike

by Grant Rindner | GQ Magazine | May 12, 2023

The ongoing writers strike may seem, at first glance, like a much bigger deal to the writers affected than to the average TV watcher. The longer it goes on, however, the greater the chances that one of your favorite shows could be among those disrupted. That’s how a strike works, after all, meant to show that “business as usual” is impossible without the contributions of the striking workers. Some of television’s biggest shows have already been affected. Since the Writers Guild of America’s strike was officially authorized on May 2, with Severance, Stranger Things, and the latest Game of Thrones spinoff among the shows being halted or otherwise directly impacted.

Issues motivating the strike are complex, but hinge in part on the industry’s move into streaming, and writers’ ensuing demands for contracts that reflect the new television paradigm. As GQ has covered, streaming doesn’t provide the same continuing residuals that have represented a writer’s “gold ring” for decades. The last writers strike took place in 2007, a time before streaming became the dominant method of distribution, and the WGA is also working to get protections related to the nascent use of AI in television writing.

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Categories Interviews Life Media Print Media

Interview: Life Star Damian Lewis & Creator Rand Ravich – Sept 29, 2008

Vengeance is Very Un-Zen Like

by Jim Halterman | The Futon Critic | September 29, 2008

Tonight marks the season two launch of of “Life,” the crime drama starring Damian Lewis as Charlie Crews, the quirky detective who spent 12 years of his life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. And as an extra boost for its sophomore run, “Life” will follow “Heroes” this Monday and next in addition to its regular time period of Fridays at 10:00/9:00c. Jim Halterman talked to Lewis, co-star Sarah Shahi and executive producer/co-creator Rand Ravich about the new season.

Ravich wanted to give some advice to viewers who didn’t get a chance to check out “Life” during its first season, which was shortened by the WGA strike. Viewers, he said, should not “be afraid [and] although ‘Life’ has a reputation for being slightly serialized, this year starts all over again. I mean, if you had never seen this show before you can come to the first episode this year and be caught up by the end of the recap, which is only 21 seconds long.” He also encouraged new viewers by saying, “We’ve constructed the first episode to act as kind of a booster pilot. So you will not be left behind if you come fresh.”

Lewis, a Brit who masterfully uses an American accent with the Crews character, joked that in the new season “Crews will continue to bounce back between the kind of pick and mix candy store girls that keep falling in his lap metaphorically and literally.” However, speaking more seriously, he offered, that Crews would continue to feel “the ongoing heartache with his ex-wife (Jennifer Siebel).” As for his partner in crime fighting, he said, “His relationship with Dani Reese (Shahi) improves steadily, weekly. They seem to have a good, solid respect for each other and accept one another’s differences.”

Continue reading Interview: Life Star Damian Lewis & Creator Rand Ravich – Sept 29, 2008

Categories Media Print Media The Baker

Damian Lewis: Slow Cooking, The Independent, February 26, 2008

Damian Lewis: Slow Cooking

Seven years after Tom Hanks told him he’d be the first red-haired movie star, Damian Lewis is making his mark in ‘The Baker’.

 By James Rampton – The Independent – 26 February 2008

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Damian Lewis is deep in conversation with his brother Gareth, who has just directed the actor in his latest film, The Baker. So how was it for the actor working with his younger sibling? “We’ve actually had a ball working together,” Lewis declares, as Gareth bids us farewell. “Maybe at the end of each working day, the Coen brothers throw knives at pictures of each other when they get home, but Gareth and I had such fun. It was like being kids again, only more sophisticated.” He stops and grins. “Perhaps I should say, ‘only marginally more sophisticated’! We certainly have more expensive toys now.”

Continue reading Damian Lewis: Slow Cooking, The Independent, February 26, 2008

Categories Life Media Personal and Family Life Print Media

Breakfast with Damian Lewis – Jan 14, 2008

Kojak, Colombo, Starsky and Hutch, Rockford Files and Magnum

by Patricia Sheridan | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | January 14, 2008

He plays Detective Charlie Crews, who was falsely imprisoned and is back solving crimes on NBC’s acclaimed series “Life,” but the British actor with the flawless American accent was first seen on HBO’s “Band of Brothers.” Damian Lewis talks about acquiring the accent, growing up in London and repressing his repressive side. The writers strike has shut down production of “Life,” but past episodes can be seen at nbc.com/life.

Continue reading Breakfast with Damian Lewis – Jan 14, 2008