Saturday Night Live is indefinitely shutting down production due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike. The sketch comedy show is currently in the middle of season 48, with former cast member Pete Davidson supposed to return to host the next episode with musical guest Lil Uzi Vert. Following the start of the WGA strike on Tuesday, a number of television series and movies have already been affected as their writers have ceased working to picket the studios.
Joining most major late night shows, NBC has officially announced (per THR) that production on Saturday Night Live will be shutting down amid the WGA strike. Starting on May 6, reruns will air in lieu of new live episodes until further notice, meaning Davidson will no longer host this upcoming Saturday’s show. The Saturday Night Live season 48 finale was slated to air on May 20, but it remains to be seen if the series will resume by then.
The Writers Guild Strike Explained
Although the writers strike only officially began on Tuesday, talk of a movement to address growing dissatisfaction among television and film writers has been ongoing for weeks now. In mid-April, the WGA conducted a strike authorization vote should a negotiation with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers fall through, which saw a record-breaking 97.85% of members vote in favor of the strike. Once the WGA and AMPTP were unable to agree on a new minimum bargaining agreement by the deadline of May 1, the strike commenced just after midnight on Tuesday.
The central point of dispute between writers and studios has to do with compensation and equity structures for writers in a rapidly evolving media landscape, largely caused by the industry’s shift to streaming. In light of the rise of streaming platforms, the demands of the WGA include a higher minimum salary, viewership-based residual payments for shows on streaming services, and stronger regulations on AI scriptwriting. Meanwhile, members of the AMPTP have seemingly remained firm in their conservative financial approach, deeming the full list of proposals offered by the WGA unreasonable from studios’ perspective.
The last writers strike was in November 2007, which lasted until February 2008 and dealt with similar issues of residuals and new media. At the time, networks across the board saw a significant drop in viewership, and the Writers Guild reached precedent-setting accomplishments in their negotiations with support from many non-writers in the industry. While it is unclear just to what extent the current strike will impact Hollywood – and shows like Saturday Night Live – long-term, it is evident that the entertainment industry is set to face major disruption in the coming weeks.
Source: THR
