matchphoenix

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/2450622

"I have listened to everyone, and I am making the decision to pause the show's premiere until the strike is over."

Drew Barrymore is officially hitting "pause" on production of her daytime talk show.

After days of enduring backlash surrounding her decision to resume The Drew Barrymore Show amid the writers' and actors' strikes, the host announced that she will no longer move forward with new episodes until the strikes end.

"I have listened to everyone, and I am making the decision to pause the show's premiere until the strike is over," Barrymore wrote on social media Sunday. "I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today."

She added, "We really tried to find our way forward. And I truly hope for a resolution for the entire industry very soon."

Barrymore announced plans last week for her Daytime Emmy–winning show to resume production without its three Writers Guild of America writers who, along with the rest of their union, have been on strike since May, demanding higher wages, clearer contract provisions, and more.

The star quickly became the center of controversy, earning criticism from striking members of the WGA and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), in addition to others of the industry. Following her decision, the National Book Foundation also rescinded its invitation for Barrymore to host its annual awards event.

Her show resumed filming last week as picketers protested the choice outside the CBS Broadcast Center in New York. Some audience members said they were escorted out of tapings for wearing WGA-branded pins. A spokesperson for the show told EW in a statement that Barrymore was "completely unaware of the incident" and that their team is "in the process of reaching out to the affected audience members to offer them new tickets."

Barrymore initially defended her decision in a now-removed video she posted on Friday, explaining, "This is bigger than me and there other peoples' jobs on the line."

She continued, "I weighed the scales and I thought if we could go on during a global pandemic and everything that the world experienced through 2020, why would this sideline us? I just wanted to just put one foot in front of the other and make a show that's there for people regardless of anything else that's happening in the world."

Barrymore, a member of SAG-AFTRA, insisted that the show's return was "in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind," according to strike rules. When season 4 was first announced, a CBS spokesperson confirmed to EW that the series would "not be performing any writing work covered by the WGA strike."

While Barrymore herself was not in violation as the series' host — daytime talk shows fall under a separate contract, the Network Television Code contract — resuming production meant that it left its writers behind. As the WGA-East announced on social media, "The [Drew Barrymore Show] is a WGA-covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers… Any writing on The Drew Barrymore Show is in violation of WGA strike rules."

Cristina Kinon, a writer for the show, told The Daily Beast that she was disappointed to see Barrymore resume production on the series without its writing team. "It is frustrating," she said, "because it will prolong the strike, and we just want it to end."

When news broke that the series was coming back for a fourth season, CBS issued a statement to EW. "While our show has been largely an unscripted talk show from the beginning, the new shows we are producing this season will be completely unscripted until the strike ends," it read in part. "No one on our staff will fill a writing position. If you watch the show, it is obvious that Drew has always brought raw, unfiltered, spontaneous, open, and honest conversations to her viewers, and that will continue. The show also moves forward with important consideration to our staff and crew comprised of over 150 people, as well as our loyal viewers. We fully support Drew and her entire team 100 percent."

The show was set to return with new episodes on Monday, Sept. 18.

Apple has become the latest entertainment company to suspend additional overall and first-look deals this month as the WGA strike is getting past the four-and-a-half-month mark.

As has been the case with the other recent suspensions at Disney, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. TV and CBS Studios, impacted are non-writing producers who are not currently rendering services due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. I hear the handful of pacts that are being suspended include those for Natalie Portman’s MountainA, the company she formed with producer Sophie Mas, and Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries. A rep for Apple declined comment.

A number of the streamer’s high-profile deals with non-writing producers are still ongoing as they are working on projects, including Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone, which is behind the upcoming Apple series Masters of the Air. Martin Scorsese, who signed a film and TV deal with the streamer in 2020, also has been busy finishing and promoting his upcoming Apple feature Killers of the Flower Moon.

Disney’s suspensions, enacted earlier this week, included deals with Gina Rodriguez and ThIs Is Us alums Justin Hartley, Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore at 20th Television, Yara Shahidi and Marc Webb at ABC Signature as well as Hiro Murai, Billy Porter and Stacey Sher at FX Productions. The studios will provide salaries for the impacted assistants through the end of 2023 and development executives through the first week of October.

WBTV’s list of suspensions included marquee names such as Greg Berlanti, Bill Lawrence and Mindy Kaling. The NBCUniversal studios — both film and TV — suspended the pacts for Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video and Dwayne Johnson’s Seven Bucks Prods, among others. CBS Studios put on pause deals with such companies as Phil McGraw’s Stage 29 and DeVon Franklin’s Franklin Entertainment. The studio also will continue to pay salaries to assistants associated with the suspended term deals through the end of 2023.

TV studios initiated the first wave of suspending overall and first-look deals –- primarily with writers — in early May, just days into the WGA strike. There have been more rolling suspensions over the past couple of months as more producers wrapped work on shows amid an industry production shutdown.

The new round comes as the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are stretching into the fall. In the first piece of good news in weeks, the WGA and AMPTP said yesterday that they have agreed to meet next week.