Hollywood Buzz: September 2023

By Natalie Lifson, Agent Trainee at Buchwald and your co-Editor-in-Chief at THA

• Many studios, including Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, ABC Signature, Apple, Netflix, and Sony Pictures, reinstated overall deals. Despite the end of the WGA strike, Universal opted to resume all but not extend any overall deals. (Deadline, 9/27, Deadline, 9/29)
  

• Writers rooms that will re-open within a week of the strike ending include: Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, The Simpsons, Yellowjackets, NCIS, Abbot Elementary, Sex Lives of College Girls, Young Sheldon, Lab & Order (Deadline, 9/29)
  

• Actors’ Equity Association filed to recognize Broadway PAs as part of their union after The Broadway League refused to recognize them as their own union (Deadline, 9/29)
  

• Gersh is in talks to acquire A3’s Digital and Unscripted Departments (Deadline, 9/28)
  

• Late-night shows will return 10/1 and 10/2 (The Hollywood Reporter, 9/27)
  

• Studio streamers form “The Streaming Innovation Alliance,” a new trade alliance dedicated to advocating for pro-streaming federal and state policies (Deadline, 9/26)
  

• SAG-AFTRA members vote to authorize strike against video game companies, with 98.32% of members in favor of the strike (Hollywood Reporter, 9/25)
  

• The Writers Guild and studios reach a tentative agreement to end the strike (Deadline, 9/24)
  

• NBC strengthened workplace conduct guidelines for reality shows after Real Housewives star Bethenny Frankel launched a campaign to advocate for fair treatment (Deadline, 9/22)
  

• Broadcast and Cable TV have been increasing in popularity in their competition with streaming. More than 50% of viewing is linear again, months after streaming first overtook linear TV in viewers (Hollywood Reporter, 9/19)
  

• DirecTV and Nexstar Media Group (#1 local station owner in the U.S.) enter new carriage renewal agreements after months of negotiations, restoring dozens of stations to viewers (Deadline, 9/18)
  

• After receiving massive backlash for choosing to resume her show without writers, Drew Barrymore made a public statement that her show will not resume until the strike ends (Deadline, 9/17)
  

• After months of disputes, The Walt Disney Co. and Charter Spectrum close a landmark carriage deal that establishes a new model for Pay TV. As a part of this deal, Charter Spectrum may include Disney+ in their cable TV package. This deal also returns access to ESPN and ABC for Charter Spectrum Pay TV subscribers, after their month-long removal during this dispute (Hollywood Reporter, 9/11, Hollywood Reporter, 9/11)