Kristin Newman, the 20-year-veteran showrunner known for her work on shows like That ’70s Show and Chuck, is putting a pin in her latest work with Freeform in solidarity with the ongoing writers’ strike.
WGA Strike: Freeform's 'While You Were Breeding' Shuts Down Post-Production; Creator Kristin Newman Says "Incredibly Painful" Decision Was "The … https://t.co/SEVGUkGtn3 pic.twitter.com/66raGyGmwK
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The WGA, or Writers’ Guild of America, voted to strike on the night of May 1, and the strike officially began the following morning. The movement is happening in response to the slow erosion of the employment rights of writers over the past several years, as well as studio heads’ refusal to agree never to replace their writers with AI.
The strike affects many areas of television production, not just the writing done in pre-production. Writers need to be on the set of most shows to make last-minute script changes and answer clarifying questions about their work, and showrunners are consulted during the editing process as well.
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Newman’s new show, While You Were Breeding, is based on a book she wrote titled What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding. The incredibly personal tale follows a young woman Kacey (Chelsea Frei), as she explores being newly single in her 30s, skipping out on her Los Angeles home to see the world.
The series was in post-production when the strike was called, and Newman wrote a Facebook post to express her feelings on the matter, and to extend her thanks to Freeform for choosing “the right thing to do.”
The hardest thing about being a showrunner during a strike is wondering if you’re the only schmuck furloughing all of your crew and potentially harming your career and/or show by halting work, so I wanted to say publicly that we shut down post production on the show that means more to me than anything I’ve ever made today. It uses voice over, which is generally straight from, like, my journal and/or soul, so it’s impossible to edit without writing. The air date is being pushed from this August to sometime in 2024 and it’s incredibly painful but I want this strike to be as short as humanly possible and that only happens if we really commit and all do this together.
I also want to acknowledge Freeform, who chose to do what this entire strike is about — value the voice of the writer/creator — and push pause until I can finish this thing we all care about and have worked so hard on properly. It was the right thing to do.
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At a time when writers and production teams are deeply at odds with the people who pay them and put their shows out into the world, it is heartwarming and refreshing to see any show of solidarity between writers and networks.
What are your thoughts on the writers’ strike? How do you feel about Freeform’s decision? Let us know in the comments.