Latest news with #GregHessinger
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
TV Writers Hit By Drastic Reduction In Number Of Jobs, Says WGA
It's been a tough couple of years for the television writers' community. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) revealed that the number of TV writing jobs fell by 42% for the 2023/24 season. In a new report, the guild said that there were 1,819 television writing jobs during this season with 1,319 jobs compared to the 2022/23 season. More from Deadline AMPTP Names Greg Hessinger As Carol Lombardini's Successor; Lawyer & Ex-SAG CEO Faces Guild Contract Talks Next Year WGA Zeroes In On AI Protections In CBS News Contract Negotiations To "Safeguard Journalism As A Profession" Independent Writers' Caucus Adds 7 Board Members, Including 'Inside Out' Scribe Meg LeFauve & Former WGAW President Howard Rodman This comes after the WGA spent months fighting the studios for a new contract, something that the guild said was partly to blame for the new statistics. Other reasons included the decline in original programming across the cable networks and streamers pulling back from the number of shows 'as Wall Street demands quicker streaming platform profits'. There have also been a slew of cancelations and ending of shows. Most stark was the number of jobs lost for showrunners and co-exec producers, which saw 642 fewer jobs across the year. There were 378 fewer staff writer, story editor and executive story editor positions compared to the previous season as well as 299 fewer mid-level jobs, which include co-producers, consulting and supervising producers. There has been a pretty precipitous fall since the 2018/19 season with 15,08 showrunners and co-exec producers compared to the 952 there were last season. The report was sent to members by the WGA West board of directors and WGA East council. The WGA, which represents over 10,000 writers, went on strike between May 2 and September 27 2023. The strike was the second longest strike in the guild's history at 148 days, tied with the strike in 1960 but below the 153 days that the 1988 strike lasted. It coincided with the SAG-AFTRA strike, which ran from July 14 to November 9 2023. Best of Deadline 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More A Full Timeline Of Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Feud In Court, Online & In The Media 'Hacks' Season 4 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
TV Writers Hit By Drastic Reduction In Number Of Jobs, Says WGA
It's been a tough couple of years for the television writers' community. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) revealed that the number of TV writing jobs fell by 42% for the 2023/24 season. In a new report, the guild said that there were 1,819 television writing jobs during this season with 1,319 jobs compared to the 2022/23 season. More from Deadline AMPTP Names Greg Hessinger As Carol Lombardini's Successor; Lawyer & Ex-SAG CEO Faces Guild Contract Talks Next Year WGA Zeroes In On AI Protections In CBS News Contract Negotiations To "Safeguard Journalism As A Profession" Independent Writers' Caucus Adds 7 Board Members, Including 'Inside Out' Scribe Meg LeFauve & Former WGAW President Howard Rodman This comes after the WGA spent months fighting the studios for a new contract, something that the guild said was partly to blame for the new statistics. Other reasons included the decline in original programming across the cable networks and streamers pulling back from the number of shows 'as Wall Street demands quicker streaming platform profits'. There have also been a slew of cancelations and ending of shows. Most stark was the number of jobs lost for showrunners and co-exec producers, which saw 642 fewer jobs across the year. There were 378 fewer staff writer, story editor and executive story editor positions compared to the previous season as well as 299 fewer mid-level jobs, which include co-producers, consulting and supervising producers. There has been a pretty precipitous fall since the 2018/19 season with 15,08 showrunners and co-exec producers compared to the 952 there were last season. The report was sent to members by the WGA West board of directors and WGA East council. The WGA, which represents over 10,000 writers, went on strike between May 2 and September 27 2023. The strike was the second longest strike in the guild's history at 148 days, tied with the strike in 1960 but below the 153 days that the 1988 strike lasted. It coincided with the SAG-AFTRA strike, which ran from July 14 to November 9 2023. Best of Deadline 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More A Full Timeline Of Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Feud In Court, Online & In The Media 'Hacks' Season 4 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rob Lowe Claims California Leadership's Handling Of Domestic Film & TV Production Exodus Is 'Criminal' As State Seeks Solutions
Rob Lowe lamented the state of film and television production in California on a recent episode of his podcast, insisting that state leadership's handling of the massive domestic production exodus over the last several years has been 'criminal.' 'It's cheaper to bring 100 American people to Ireland than to walk across the lot at Fox, past the sound stages, and do it there,' Lowe told former Parks & Recreation co-star Adam Scott, during the episode of the 'Literally!' podcast, about his game show The Floor, explaining why the production is based at Ardmore Studios outside of Dublin. More from Deadline SAG-AFTRA's Duncan Crabtree-Ireland Hopes For "Productive Bargaining" With New AMPTP President Greg Hessinger Ahead Of 2026 Negotiations Stay In LA To Hold Sun Valley Rally In April AMPTP Names Greg Hessinger As Carol Lombardini's Successor; Lawyer & Ex-SAG CEO Faces Guild Contract Talks Next Year Incredulous at the revelation that Lowe's U.S. game show shoots internationally, Scott also remarked that 'nothing shoots in Los Angeles' anymore, wondering if Parks & Recreation would be filming in the city if it were made today. 'Do you think if we shot 'Parks' right now, we'd be in Budapest?' he asked, to which Lowe answered: 'One-hundred percent we would be. We'd be in Budapest.' Lowe certainly isn't alone in his frustrations about the decline in domestic production and, more specifically, how that has impacted California. Per a recent report from FilmLA, 2024 was the second-least-productive year for L.A. production (after only pandemic-stricken 2020), down more than 30% over five-year averages. There are multiple compounding reasons why California production is no longer booming the way that it once was, and state leadership has recently turned its attention to finding solutions. During the podcast episode, Lowe claims 'there are no tax credits [in California], so like, all those other places are offering 40% — 40%. And then on top of that, there's other stuff that they do. And then, that's not even talking about union stuff. It's just tax, economics of it all, so it's criminal what California and L.A. have let happen — it's criminal. Everybody should be fired.' In fact, California does have a tax incentive program, currently offering $330M annually. Last week, the state actually handed out a total of around $114M in incentives to 51 projects — a record for any single round of production tax credit approvals ever in the history of California's TV and film incentives program. That being said, television productions in particular have long complained that the amount of money there for small screen projects is decreasing as the vast majority of past successful applicants are grandfathered in year after year as long as they remain on the air or online, leading to application periods when just a couple of new shows see any credits. In February, an impact report from the Entertainment Union Coalition revealed that, from 2015 to 2020, about 50% of the 312 productions that did not qualify for California's tax credit incentive relocated to another area, resulting in an approximate loss of 28,000 jobs and $7.7 billion in economic activity. California has increasingly had to compete with enticing tax incentives offered by other states and territories. Domestically, Louisiana and Georgia still remain among the top rivals to California, though New Jersey, Nevada, and Utah have been putting more tax credit money on the table recently as well. As Lowe and Scott mentioned, international production has also become more alluring as Canadian provinces, the UK, and more competitive than ever European nations up their own incentives. In October, California Governor Gavin Newsom proposed expanding the tax credit to $750M annually to revitalize the program. Newsom's proposed expansion of the tax credit is also not yet set in stone, given California's 2025-26 budget is still being negotiated, though it still seems likely to be approved. The Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee is set to hear testimony regarding that proposal on Wednesday morning, including from the leaders of two prominent initiatives that are aimed at bringing production back to the state. That comes as California lawmakers have finally updated a pair of bills introduced in February to 'amend, update, and modernize' the current tax incentive program beyond Newsom's proposal. With the amended language as of March 25, the bills offer a number of solutions, including increasing the available credit for an individual production to 35% for all expenses incurred in Los Angeles. The production community itself has also been committed to solving this issue. Following the devastating wildfires that brought even more financial strife to Los Angeles after years of back-to-back blows, the Entertainment Union Coalition launched Keep California Rolling around the same time that some of the industry's biggest stars as well as top film and TV writers and producers started a similar movement called Stay in LA. Both are aimed at not only calling attention to the issue but lobbying lawmakers to engage meaningfully in finding solutions. Best of Deadline How Jon Gries' Return To 'The White Lotus' Could Shape Season 3 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery How To Watch 'Wicked: Part One': Is The Film Streaming Yet?
