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A Hollywood Writer Strike Setback?

WGA West president Meredith Stiehm (pictured) and writer Michael Winship sent a rallying email to members on Monday after executive director and lead negotiator David Young took medical leave three weeks before studio negotiations.
WGA West president Meredith Stiehm sent a rallying email to members on Monday after executive director and lead negotiator David Young took medical leave three weeks before studio negotiations. Photo: David Buchan via Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
March 2, 2023

I hear criticism sometimes that I reduce Hollywood to a big sporting event—winners, losers, and who’s outplaying the other guy and girl. Maybe, but I can’t be alone in equating the Writers Guild losing its chief negotiator to medical leave three weeks before the start of the most important studio talks in a generation to, say, the Lakers losing LeBron James to injury amid a desperate final push for the NBA playoffs.

That’s not to minimize WGA West executive director David Young’s undisclosed personal situation, which I really hope isn’t serious, or the stakes here. LeBron and the Lakers get paid about the same and work under the same conditions regardless of the outcome. The writers? Not so much. A negotiation beginning on March 20 could determine the playing field for thousands of WGA members for years to come. But both of those setbacks happened this week, and the sudden loss of these star players could impact their respective team’s fortunes in material ways.