Variety 9/28/2023

The night of Sunday, Sept. 24, saw major developments in a story our newsroom had been working on for 146 days — and most of our journalists were glued to phones and laptops to seek out the latest details. After nearly five months, the Writers Guild of America finally reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP on a new contract. It’s the biggest news of the year so far, but it’s not time to pop Champagne yet. In this issue, we unpack just what it will take to get the industry back up and running, as SAG-AFTRA — on the picket lines since July — prepares to resume negotiations of its own. As we wait to see what happens next, this week’s cover provides a step outside the news cycle.…

Senior music writer Steven J. Horowitz and Ice Spice bonded over their love of Nicki Minaj, especially her classic mixtape cuts “Itty Bitty Piggy” and “I Get Crazy.” Contributing theater editor Gordon Cox’s feature about the redemptive Broadway production of “Merrily We Roll Along” got him thinking about other musicals he’d like to see rehabilitated. Top of his list: “Chess.” Writing about director Todd Solondz was nostalgic for chief correspondent Daniel D’Addario — he first watched Solondz’s movies in a college class on independent cinema. Cover photographer Quil Lemons says, “In one year, Ice Spice has become the biggest poster in the world. She’s truly an example of the American dream!”…

Pencils ready. Now that the writers strike is over, Hollywood studios are gearing up to get production rolling again — once the other half of this year’s dual strike, the ongoing SAG-AFTRA walkout, is finally settled. From “Star Trek” to “Superman: Legacy” to “Abbott Elementary” to “Wednesday,” every studio, network and streamer has priority film and TV projects that they hope to fast-track back into development or production. Audiences cannot survive on reruns alone. Had the strike lasted a few weeks longer, the 2023-24 broadcast season would have become even more dependent on unscripted shows and programs imported from streaming platforms and overseas markets. Several big movie projects could see preproduction resume quickly. Paramount is hoping to have writers fine-tuning scripts for its planned reboot of “Star Trek” and its…

A lot can happen in 146 days. When the Writers Guild strike started in May, Drew Barrymore was one of its folk heroes after stepping down as host of the MTV Movie & TV Awards in solidarity. But four months later, Barrymore became one of its most reviled public figures when she tried to rationalize the decision to bring back her daytime talk show. Many winners and losers emerged from this hot labor summer, and it’s not over yet, as SAG-AFTRA looks to seal its own deal with the AMPTP. But as the WGA prepares to vote on its hard-fought new contract, here are some of the entities that made it to the other side on the rise — or a bit imperiled. WINNERS ADAM CONOVER The stand-up and host…

The new provisions that the Writers Guild of America fought so hard for in its latest contract with Hollywood studios are the dealmaking equivalent of adding a Frank Gehry-designed room to a Craftsman house. The key deal points put a modernist imprint on a highly traditional foundation. The guild’s 11,000-plus members have a lot to show for the sacrifice of being on strike for nearly five months. There are many firsts and gains in the three-year contract that writers were assured would never happen. Among them: • The TV writers room is defined, with a minimum number of writers and writer-producers to be hired for series• The role of TV showrunner is codified• Screenwriters are guaranteed a “second step” of payment for doing first-draft rewrites• Individuals who work in writing…

Rupert Murdoch’s reputation for hands-on management is legendary. Inside the walls of News Corp., in the 1980s and ’90s he kept a direct phone line to the head of advertising sales for his Fox broadcast network in order to get fast updates on how the cash was flowing. When it came time to build the network that would become the pillar of his empire in the 21st century — Fox News — Murdoch was equally hands-on. In 1996, he shocked the TV industry by paying cable operators to carry the channel just to get it off the ground. Today, cable operators pay big bucks to carry Fox News, which is the single-biggest driver of Fox Corp. earnings. Moreover, Fox News has become the driver of Murdoch’s influence in political and…