Luke Bryan said a few days ago that the two artists who’d be filling in for Lionel Richie and Katy Perry on American Idol while they’re performing at King Charles‘ coronation this weekend are “big time,” and he wasn’t kidding.
Ed Sheeran and Alanis Morissette will be filling in for Lionel and Katy during Sunday night’s installment of the show. While Ed will be a guest judge, Alanis will both judge and mentor the remaining contestants, who’ll be performing her songs live. The contestants will also team up to sing duets of Ed’s songs.
Both Ed and Alanis will also perform themselves: Alanis will sing one of her hits, while Ed will perform a new single from his album Subtract, which drops on Friday.
Meanwhile, Katy and Lionel will be checking in with the show live from Windsor Castle, where the coronation concert is taking place. The show airs live coast to coast Sunday, May 7 at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT on ABC.
In other Ed news, his intimate documentary Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All starts streaming Wednesday on Disney+.
On Monday’s The Tonight Show, John Fogerty joined host Jimmy Fallon and his house band The Roots in the Tonight Show Music Room for a rendition of the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” — performed with classroom instruments.
In the recurring segment, Fallon and The Roots back music artists for a version of one of their popular songs, using instruments you would find in a classroom.
In this case, it was Fogerty, rocking a toy guitar, while Fallon blew into a jug and Roots members played a toy xylophone, a melodica and kazoos.
Past music room guests have included Ringo Starr, The Who and Aerosmith.
Fogerty just kicked off his Celebration Tour, which pulls into the BeachLife Festival 2023 in Redondo Beach, California May 5-7.
(NEW YORK) — On the one-year anniversary of a student’s death, an elite boarding school in New Jersey released a statement publicly admitting its failure.
The Lawrenceville School released a statement acknowledging that it failed to protect student Jack Reid, who died by suicide in 2022, from bullying, saying it “fell tragically short” in Jack’s case. Jack was 17 at the time.
Elizabeth and Bill Reid, Jack’s parents, spoke to ABC News’ Good Morning America about their son’s suicide after bullying at The Lawrenceville School.
“We were well aware of what was going on and we were encouraging him. He advocated for himself. He talked to the school. He talked to his friends. We were meant to see him the next morning and the last words we spoke to him about were, ‘Dad, I’m doing better. I love you,'” Bill Reid recalled.
The school said in its statement that it had been made aware of the bullying and “cruel behavior” toward Jack and “there were steps that the school should have taken in hindsight and did not.” It promised to make changes and do better.
“Bullying and unkind behavior, and actions taken or not taken by the school, likely contributed to Jack’s death,” read part of the statement posted by The Lawrenceville School on April 30.
The statement was required as part of a settlement deal with the family of Jack Reid, who had filed a lawsuit against the school.
In the spring of 2021, an untrue rumor spread across The Lawrenceville School campus that Jack, who was a junior in high school at the time, had committed sexual assault by kissing a girl. Then, in September 2021, a false claim that Jack was a rapist was posted anonymously to a nationwide student app, in a letter from the school obtained by ABC.
The school reportedly investigated the rumors and found them false, but never publicly shared the results or told Jack, in the letter.
On April 30, 2022, a student, who was disciplined for bullying Jack, was expelled from the school for other reasons, however, the school admitted that the student was allowed to return “largely unsupervised” to the dorm where Jack lived, according to the statement. Students gathered with the expelled student and reportedly began bullying Jack, according to the statement released by the school. Later that night, he died by suicide, according to the statement from the school.
The school announced that it will create policies around spotting and stopping bullying and has since agreed to contribute to multiple nonprofits focused on bullying and suicide prevention per the school’s latest statement.
“Jack was universally regarded as an extremely kind and good-hearted young man, with an unwavering sense of social and civic responsibility and a bright future. We continue to mourn this loss,” the school said in part of the statement.
It added, “We acknowledge that more should have been done to protect Jack.”
If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises, please call or text 988. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org or dial the current toll free number 800-273-8255 [TALK].
Netflix has announced that the next installment of Ryan Murphy‘s Monsters anthology will be titled Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. Lyle and Erik Menéndez were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menéndez. The story of the Menéndez brothers has been the focus of several docs and scripted projects over the years, most recently the 2017’s Law & Order: True Crime — The Menéndez Murders, starring Edie Falco as defense attorney Leslie Abramson, and the Lifetime TV movie Menendez: Blood Brothers, starring Courtney Love as Abramson. Monsters: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story reached 1 billion view hours in its first 60 days, according to Netflix, making it only one of four series to achieve this milestone…
Ahead of its second season, Amazon Freevee has picked up Bosch: Legacy for a third season. The series, per the streamer, follows “Harry Bosch — played by Titus Welliver — a retired homicide detective turned private investigator, as he embarks on the next chapter of his career; attorney Honey “Money” Chandler — portrayed by Mimi Rogers — who struggles to maintain her faith in the justice system after surviving an attempted murder; and Maddie Bosch — played by Madison Lintz — as she discovers the possibilities and challenges of being a rookie patrol cop on the streets of Los Angeles.” Earlier this year, it was reported that Amazon Studios is looking to expand its Bosch universe with a pair of as yet untitled spinoffs — one centered on Hector’s character, Detective Jerry Edgar, and another on Renee Ballard…
Ghostbusters: Afterlife helmer Jason Reitman is working on a yet-to-be-titled film that will take a behind-the-scenes look at the opening night of Saturday Night Live, according to Deadline. The screenplay, based on interviews conducted by Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan with all the living cast, writers and crew, will purportedly tell “the true story of what happened that night behind the scenes in the moments leading up to the first SNL broadcast, retelling chaos and magic of a revolution that almost wasn’t, counting down the minutes in real time to the infamous words, ‘Live From New York, it’s Saturday Night,’” per the outlet…
The union representing thousands of Hollywood movie and television writers has called for a strike effective 12:01 a.m. PT on Tuesday.
It is the first such Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike since 2007; the latter action began November 5, 2007 and lasted until February 12, 2008.
Picketing for the current strike is scheduled to begin Tuesday afternoon.
WGA representatives have been negotiating unsuccessfully with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over how writers are paid in the streaming era, which has dramatically changed the way shows are made and monetized. That in turn has effected how writers are hired, for how long, and how they’re compensated.
In its statement, the WGA noted, in part, “The decision was made following six weeks of negotiations with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony…”
The statement continues, “From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a ‘day rate’ in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers, they have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession…”
How will a writers’ strike affect what we watch? You may not see the effect immediately in streaming and film, since many studios now have much more content in the pipeline for distribution across multiple platforms, meaning there would not be such an immediate drought of scripted TV.
Late-night TV, on the other hand, will once again be the quickest area to be impacted. Reruns of late-nights shows begin Tuesday night, and production on Saturday Night Live also will likely grind to a halt.
(NEW YORK) — The collapse of First Republic Bank on Monday left it under control of the U.S. government, which quickly sold the bank to JPMorgan Chase. The move aimed to shore up the financial system after a cascade of major bank failures.
JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, retained the majority of First Republic’s assets and all of its deposits, JPMorgan Chase said on Monday. In turn, the deal fully protects depositors at First Republic, who immediately became customers of JPMorgan Chase.
To achieve the rescue, however, a federal agency provided $50 billion in financing to JPMorgan Chase, setting off questions about whether the government had orchestrated a bank bailout.
Speaking at the White House on Monday, President Joe Biden applauded the government effort and assured that the move would not require taxpayer support.
“Regulators have taken action to facilitate the sale of First Republic Bank and ensure that all depositors are protected and the taxpayers are not on the hook,” Biden said.
“These actions are going to make sure that the banking system is safe and sound,” he added.
Here’s what to know about the rescue of First Republic and whether it’s a bailout:
Is the First Republic rescue a bailout?
First Republic, the nation’s 14th-largest bank, fell into financial turmoil because it specialized in long-term mortgage loans to affluent clients.
As interest rates rose rapidly over the past year, the mortgage loans and other investments lost value, leaving the bank with losses on a sizable portion of its balance sheet.
After the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month, panicked depositors withdrew a significant share of the bank’s funds in part because many of the customers held deposits that exceeded the limit covered by federal insurance.
If the bank had failed without a buyer, the remaining uninsured depositors may have lost their funds.
JPMorgan Chase on Monday agreed to acquire all of the bank’s $103.9 billion in deposits as well as the majority of its $229.1 billion in assets, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a federal agency.
As part of the deal, the FDIC provided $50 billion in financing to JPMorgan Chase, the bank said on Monday. Ultimately, the final cost to the FDIC will be approximately $13 billion, the agency said.
The financing from the FDIC qualifies as a bailout since it marks the transfer of funds from the U.S. government to JPMorgan Chase as a condition of the sale of First Republic, some experts told ABC News.
“The biggest fear is banking runs and lost confidence — that is why the FDIC had to act quickly,” said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at broker OANDA. “I would consider that a bailout.”
“The focus is to make sure the bank failure doesn’t significantly lead to a crisis,” he added.
Anat Admati, a professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, echoed the sentiment, noting that the FDIC appears to have helped ease the acquisition of First Republic.
“This seems to be more that guaranteeing deposits, and then it becomes something that I would consider a bailout,” Admati told ABC News.
In backstopping First Republic customers, however, the FDIC ultimately carried out its mandate of guaranteeing depositors, even if by indirect means, Morris Pearl, a former managing director at asset manager BlackRock, told ABC News.
“It depends on your definition of the word ‘bailout,'” Pearl said. “It’s kind of like if you damage your car, the insurance company might pay to repair the car or they might say this car is beyond hope and we’ll give you money to buy a new car.”
JPMorgan Chase said the government chose it as a buyer because the bank’s bid gave the FDIC more favorable terms than rival offers.
“Our financial strength, capabilities and business model allowed us to develop a bid to execute the transaction in a way to minimize costs to the Deposit Insurance Fund,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement.
Will the sale of First Republic cost U.S. taxpayers?
The government funds required for the sale of First Republic will come out of the Deposit Insurance Fund, a pool of billions of dollars kept in case the government needs to cover insured depositors after a bank failure, the FDIC said.
The Deposit Insurance Fund receives funding from banks, which pay insurance premiums in order to receive protection from the U.S. government and offer that guarantee for customers. The agency also derives income from investments made with the insurance revenue.
In turn, the bailout of First Republic will not draw on individual taxpayers, since the funds do not come from taxes levied on everyday Americans.
If the banking panic continues to spread, the federal government may have to take further action that draws on the Deposit Insurance Fund, potentially exhausting the fund and calling on taxpayers to supplement it with additional money.
For now, however, such an outcome appears remote. At the end of last year, the Deposit Insurance Fund held $128.2 billion, according to a quarterly report.
(NEW YORK) — Kelly Shannon was excited when she found out she was pregnant. With a daughter under the age of 2, Shannon and her husband had been actively trying for a second child.
The Alabama couple’s happiness quickly turned to heartbreak when testing revealed just three days before Christmas there was an 87% chance the baby had Down syndrome.
Shannon had asked for genetic testing because the couple wanted to tell family the baby’s gender at Christmas. She was pregnant with a girl.
“I spent the next few weeks trying not to get too attached, but it’s hard not to love a baby you have prayed for,” Shannon told ABC News.
At an appointment with a maternal fetal medicine specialist in January, Shannon was counseled on resources available for parents of children with the disorder. However, more scans and test results showed there was evidence of swelling in the baby’s head and body wall, a heart defect and a tumor on the baby’s abdomen that was about one-third the size of the baby and growing.
While none of the baby’s conditions on its own would warrant a termination under the guidelines of the one hospital in the state still providing abortions, Shannon’s specialist strongly believed this combination of symptoms made it extremely unlikely the pregnancy would survive to term or through labor and delivery. Her physician believed the hospital would be able to provide her with abortion care despite Alabama law prohibiting abortions at all stages of pregnancy.
“The likelihood of the baby surviving was negligible,” Shannon said. “Even if she did survive to term, it would be unlikely she’d survived through labor. And if she did survive through labor, then we’d be looking at multiple corrective surgeries immediately after birth.”
A report from her physician that was shared with ABC News confirmed the doctor had “conveyed the high likelihood that the findings may lead to an intrauterine demise [of the fetus] due to heart failure or neonatal demise.”
Dr. Carrie Rouse, a maternal fetal medicine specialist in Indiana who did not treat Shannon but reviewed some of her records, said that if she would have seen Shannon she would have counseled her on the same options: continuing her pregnancy and providing her the best care available, including potentially delivering early, or terminating the pregnancy.
These are the same options Shannon’s specialist in Alabama gave her, according to physician reports shared with ABC News.
“It is truly a tragedy that someone’s options for what to do with their pregnancy and their own body is dependent on their zip code,” Rouse told ABC News. “I just feel so sad for her and for her family and her physicians that are put in this position to where she can’t access — and they can’t provide — the care that she has been counseled about and has opted for in her own home. It’s so hard. It’s devastating.”
Alabama is one of 15 states that has ceased nearly all abortion services since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June, ending federal protections for abortion rights.
Shannon and her husband decided to pursue termination and she filled out the necessary paperwork. An abortion would need to be approved by several hospital committees made up of doctors.
On Jan. 20, Shannon’s specialist called her and informed her that while one committee had approved the abortion, a higher-level committee denied permission, telling Shannon this was the hardest phone call she had to make in her professional career, Shannon said.
“That was probably the lowest, maybe the lowest or second lowest point of the whole traumatic experience,” Shannon said. “I was sitting in my car talking to her and I couldn’t form words. I just sat there and sobbed. I was in a parking lot and I pulled out my phone, and I texted my husband, I was like, ‘I need you to come see me and I need you to bring our daughter.'”
“I didn’t even feel like I had the ability to get out of the car until I saw her and had a reason. I didn’t have any motivation to move until I could see my daughter again,” Shannon added.
Shannon said the committee — made up of 13 physicians in the University of Alabama, Birmingham’s Maternal Fetal Medicine Department — said its decision was final unless the fetus developed a complication called hydrops fetalis, in which large amounts of fluid build up in a baby’s tissues and organs causing extensive swelling.
“The committee felt that since each condition was by itself potentially survivable — not that they would lead to any kind of quality of life, just that they could potentially lead to life — that under Alabama law they did not think that my case met the criteria for termination,” Shannon said.
Shannon’s fetus did not develop hydrops, so she was left unable to access abortion care, she said.
“The other thing that was happening was the state district attorney in Alabama was also going on the news and actively talking about pursuing convictions for anybody in performing abortions in Alabama,” Shannon said.
“UAB is the only place in the state that provides that service, so they were also trying really hard to make sure that they could protect their ability to do that for other women,” Shannon said.
ABC News requested comment from Shannon’s doctor, but they declined. Instead, UAB Hospital said in a statement to ABC News: “UAB does not perform elective abortions. We provide care to women who present to us in need of pregnancy-related care within the law.”
Shannon had to drive to Richmond, Virginia, to access abortion care. She left at 11 a.m. and arrived in Richmond at 2 a.m., after stopping several times along the way, she said.
The hospital arranged housing for Shannon at no cost through a hotel partner. While her insurance was employer-based and covered the procedure, Shannon said she received a $2,089 bill from Virginia Commonwealth University. She said she had already paid about $600 for the procedure.
The couple said it still hopes to grow their family when they are ready.
“This has been the single most painful and traumatic experience of my life and our lives, and anybody who wants to stand up and say that abortions are wrong or that people shouldn’t be able to make their own decisions about abortion care just need to recognize that it’s not a black and white issue,” Shannon said. “It is complicated and I wouldn’t wish this on anybody.”
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory on Tuesday calling attention to the public health crisis of loneliness, isolation and lack of connection in the United States.
“Lacking connection increases the risk for premature death to more than 60%. Put simply, this social disconnection increases the risk for premature death to the same levels as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day,” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a statement.
The report cites recent research showing that approximately half of U.S. adults experienced loneliness daily, even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It highlights that a lack of social connection can present significant health risks, as loneliness can increase risk of premature death by 26% and social isolation by 29%, according to a meta-analysis cited in the advisory.
According to the report, insufficient social connection has also been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, anxiety, depression and dementia.
Additionally, loneliness was reported among the primary motivations for self-harm, according to a systematic review cited in the advisory.
“Given the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation, we have an opportunity, an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity and the addiction crisis,” Murthy said.
Social connection can reduce the health risks associated with isolation and loneliness. One study found that frequently confiding in others is associated with up to 15% reduced odds of developing depression among people who are at higher risk due to a history of traumatic or adverse life experiences.
The advisory lays out a framework for a National Strategy to Advance Social Connection, which provides recommendations for individuals, governments, workplaces, health systems and community organizations that aim to increase social connection and improve overall health. This type of strategy has never been implemented before in the United States.
These recommendations include infrastructure changes, such as developing parks and libraries that enhance social connection, policy changes allowing for paid family leave and accessible public transportation, and more research to efficiently address social isolation.
The framework also includes training for healthcare providers to allow for intervention if a patient is at risk for loneliness and its significant health consequences. It also notes that digital environments should be further evaluated, particularly how online interactions can potentially hinder meaningful connections.
Lastly, the recommendations call for the cultivation of a culture of connection, stating that the informal interactions of everyday life can significantly influence social connection.
“By taking small steps every day to strengthen our relationships, we can rise to meet this moment together… And we can ensure our country and the world are better posed than ever to take on the challenges that lay ahead,” Murthy said.
There are some immediate steps you can take to reduce loneliness and increase social connection, such as reaching out to a friend or family member.
“People often incorrectly assume that disclosing painful truths or emotions with a trusted other will be a turn off or perceived as a burden. Quite the opposite typically occurs,” Justin Baker, the clinical director of the Suicide and Trauma Reduction Initiative (STRIVE), told ABC News.
“Instead of feeling like a burden, sharing a common struggle typically brings people together and strengthens the existing relationship,” Baker said.
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, substance use or other mental health crises please call or text 988. Trained crisis counselors are available for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
(WASHINGTON) — As the 2024 election cycle takes very early shape, GOP strategists are predicting that an expensive and potentially even race-deciding “proxy war” could break out in various states between two major political groups, the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) and the Club for Growth.
The crux of their conflict? They agree there’s a problem in unifying behind the best nominees, but they disagree on the solution.
Republicans across the party concede that “candidate quality” was a prime factor in their failure to flip the Senate last year, when less experienced nominees like Blake Masters and Herschel Walker suffered high-profile defeats while the party only narrowly retook the House, despite widespread apathy about President Joe Biden.
But where the SLF and the Club for Growth disagree is on who should take the lead — and how.
One strategist who is “more aligned” with Senate Republicans put it this way, with some exasperation: “If you’re the Club for Growth, why in the heck would you spend $10 or $12 million to defeat [another GOP candidate], who probably is aligned with like 100% on your issues?”
In an interview, David McIntosh, the Club for Growth’s president, offered a virtual reflection of that argument from the other side.
“My proposition to them is: Let us find and support and fund these good candidates through their primary, and then we’ll work together to try to get the majority in the fall,” McIntosh said.
The dispute is likely to play out far away from voters at the ballot box but it could help determine who the GOP nominates in key races in 2024, with control of a closely divided Congress at stake.
And with tens of millions of dollars in potential advertising and other muscle at the ready, both the SLF and the Club for Growth are set to play major roles in elevating the next class of Republican politicians.
Ultimately, primary voters pick their party’s nominee, not outside groups. But those same outside groups can be influential in helping with ads and messaging for preferred candidates as well as with attacks on their opponents.
“It’s always important to have the best candidate and one that could appeal to independent voters,” said one former National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) staffer. “Candidate quality matters. It’s the first thing you control in a race. And so, getting it right is paramount.”
Lining up early behind dueling names
In 2022, the SLF, allied with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, prized electability above all else. But groups like the Club for Growth emphasized conservative bona fides instead.
All the while, the NRSC stayed out of primaries, getting involved only in the general election — a strategy that has been abandoned heading into 2024.
Midterm losses in Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and elsewhere in 2022, which saw Republicans nominate nontraditional figures like Dr. Oz Mehmet and Don Bolduc, set off finger-pointing over what critics said were insufficient efforts to boost strong candidates.
The next cycle provides a “golden opportunity,” as the former NRSC staffer put it, with Democratic incumbents defending many Senate seats, including in red states like Montana, Ohio and Virginia.
The SLF and the NRSC are aligned in their willingness to intervene in the 2024 primaries in order to elevate candidates they view as electable, and the Club is set to do the same — but not always for the same people.
“I think in some states, it could become a major proxy war,” said one GOP strategist working on Senate races.
If so, expect major fronts in that battle to open in Montana and West Virginia.
The NRSC and SLF are focusing on wealthy potential self-funders and are eyeing either veteran and businessman Tim Sheehy or state Attorney General Austin Knudsen in Montana. They also successfully recruited West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice to run for Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s seat.
McConnell and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., the NRSC chair, have been directly involved in such recruitment talks, and the SLF released early internal polling showing Manchin losing to Justice but not West Virginia Rep. Alex Mooney, another primary contender.
That survey was something of a swipe at the Club for Growth, which is backing Mooney to the tune of $10 million.
Daines has also talked up former hedge fund manager Dave McCormick as a potential Pennsylvania Senate candidate (McCormick lost to Oz in the 2020 primary by less than 1,000 votes), and a source familiar with the matter told ABC News that national Republicans are having discussions with candidates in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin.
“We want to win primaries and generals. I think people realize that winners make policy, and losers go home,” Daines said in a brief interview.
The Club for Growth, meanwhile, is a longtime backer of Rep. Matt Rosendale, who could run against Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.
The organization put out a memo that contended the SLF had “abandoned conservatives” in 2022 and claimed, “the best path to a Republican majority is through the Club for Growth PAC endorsed candidates.”
Republicans also have an opportunity to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, though sources familiar said they anticipate a more hands-off approach to the GOP primary there.
Voters ‘don’t like to be told’ what to do
Interviews with leaders and strategists on both sides of the divide lamented the prospects of bloody primaries fueled by each camp’s beefy war chests. But it appeared that no amount of dread could force cooperation.
A source familiar with the matter said the NRSC and the Club for Growth have held discussions “trying to just get a feel for — ‘Where are you really going to go to the mat on? And where are you going to maybe spend a half a million or a million?'”
But both groups denied the talks.
“They have a different set of candidates in a couple of these states — Montana, West Virginia,” McIntosh, the Club for Growth president, told ABC News. “And the question that I would ask them to think about is: Is it worth spending your money in a primary when you can get a candidate that we’ll support, who can win, and then save your resources to win the majority in the general?”
For all the focus on the maneuvering, some politicos suggest a simpler reality.
“In my experience, Republican primary voters don’t like to be told who to vote for by people in D.C.,” said one 2022 NRSC staffer, noting the recruiting efforts around Justice and Sheehy. “They may be beloved by the Republican base. We’ll see how the primaries play out.”
This person agreed that the GOP has to “make sure that we can all come together for the general election and win” but shrugged off the primary conflict.
“I think they have different philosophical perspectives on how they go about races. And so, at a certain point, there isn’t necessarily a way to completely align those. And again, it’s not a bad thing or a good thing, necessarily. It just is,” they said. “And that’s never going to change.”
(LOS ANGELES) — Unions representing thousands of Hollywood movie and television writers voted last month to authorize a strike when their contracts run out at midnight on Tuesday.
The WGA called for a strike effective 12:01 a.m. PST on Tuesday.
Now, the time is here, with writers demanding that studios pay them accordingly as shifts in streaming have changed the way shows are made and monetized.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said in a statement on Monday night that its negotiations with the Writers Guild of America “concluded without an agreement today.”
“The AMPTP member companies remain united in their desire to reach a deal that is mutually beneficial to writers and the health and longevity of the industry, and to avoid hardship to the thousands of employees who depend upon the industry for their livelihoods,” the AMPTP statement read, in part.
The current television landscape is vastly different than it was in 2007.
Since the rise of streaming, viewers are much less tied to linear TV lineups, and that will dampen the immediate effect on scripted shows.
Mega-studios now have much more content in the pipeline for distribution across multiple platforms, meaning there would not be such an immediate drought of scripted TV.
Late-night TV, on the other hand, will once again be the quickest area to be impacted. If no agreement is reached, you can say goodbye to the remainder of the current season of Saturday Night Live, and daily late-night hosts will have to decide if they will remain in production without their writers like they did in 2007.
“It may be a long time before viewers really feel the impact of a strike if it were to go on for many weeks,” Cynthia Littleton, co-editor-in-chief at Variety, told ABC News, adding that Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services have “such vast libraries of shows.”
Helping soften the blow of this strike is the timing, as many traditional TV programs have already wrapped up shooting their seasons and broadcast networks are gearing up for a summer of game shows and reality TV.
New experimentation in programming
Media companies are already experimenting with different types of shows across linear, streaming and cable, and a writers’ strike will only hasten those companies’ plans, according to Littleton.
“Those companies will have every incentive to look across their vast array of content assets and say, ‘Well, I have a big hole to fill on ABC at nine o’clock on Thursdays. What if I tried this show?’ And I think that you could, if there is a prolonged strike, you could see that will absolutely accelerate more of that experimentation that is already happening,” she said.
How writers are compensated as TV seasons get shorter and shorter is an issue at hand
The age of television, where networks were previously giving television series’ 22 episodes a season, has changed, according to entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel.
“Streaming series are 10, eight, sometimes even six or even four episodes and that has affected cable television as well,” Handel told ABC News. “It’s affected network television as well. The number of episodes produced in aggregate per year in this business has actually declined.”
“In effect, people are — especially writers — are hired by the series, but they’re paid by the episode,” he added. “So, when you’ve got more people sharing a pie that in some ways is smaller, you have a structural pressure that is very hard to relieve, on the labor market.”
A writer strike could cost the economy billions of dollars
Of course, the broader economic impact in Los Angeles, as well as New York, Georgia and New Mexico, among other cities, will be enormous.
With productions shut down, people well beyond writers — from anyone involved in productions to restaurants near studios — will be feeling the pinch as the strike moves on.
The most recent full-fledged strike took place in 2007 and cost the California economy an estimated $2.1 billion.
“The economic impact of the last writers’ strike, 15 years ago, was about $200 million or more a day,” Handel said.
Those costs factored in a lot of people who were not able to pay their mortgages and rent, bought less food, and spent less on discretionary items, according to Handel.
“The impact today — with inflation and the degree of connectedness to the economy — would no doubt be significantly larger than that,” he said.
