With the meteoric rise of the TV and motion picture industry in the past couple of years thanks to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the market is flooded with new shows and films like never before. In this raging tide of content, Matt Reeves brought the world a new iteration of the vigilante of Gotham City in the form of The Batman, which became an instant hit and was hailed as a masterpiece by the audience and critics alike.
Thus, the creation of his vision into the next big thing was inevitable. Warner Bros. decided to turn this creation into a whole new franchise. But with recent developments that have surfaced with the Writer’s Guild of America, it seemed like this and other projects would have to do a raincheck for a while. But seemingly HBO knew about this and decided to act upon it by sending a message to all the staffers of the company.
HBO Max Will Not Pay Staffers If They Stop Working On Matt Reeves’ The Batman-Verse.
With the dam of TV shows and major films now opened after the competition from all the major production companies started to heat up, the race to bring something that would be loved by all was always at the forefront of making something. Thus, when Matt Reeves brought The Batman to the world, a chance to cash in on it rose as well. WB took the chance and commissioned HBO to take charge of The Batman-Verse. And even with the situation of the WGA and AMPTP now escalated, the company seeks to have a firm grip on the situation.
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After failed negotiations between the two unions, the WGA decided that it would take actions to even further heights with them going on a strike on 2nd May 2023 indefinitely or until their demands are met. This lead many to believe that the shows and films that were being worked on would halt until this situation was over. But HBO, along with other major production companies has decided to bring down their iron fists on its workers and warn them about the consequences of abandoning their services to the company. A letter was officially put out by Warner Bros. Discovery that stated:
“If you are a WGA member, HBO/HBO Max respects your membership in the WGA, and we will not do anything to place you in jeopardy of WGA rules, However, we believe certain services, such as participating in the cast process and/or contributing to non-writing production, and post-production work are clear examples of non-WGA required services that should continue to be rendered during this time, Under the National Labor Relations Act, the WGA is not permitted to interfere with an employer’s right to designate employees to perform certain supervisory functions, If you fail to provide contracted services due to the strike, HBO/HBO Max will not be obliged to continue your salary,”
Not just HBO Max, but companies like Disney have also handled this situation by replying in the same manner. Thus, WB has created a mild assurance that the situation at hand doesn’t get worse and the work goes smoothly on all of its projects.
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What Is The Reason Behind The Strike?
The Writer’s Guild of America is the union that ensures the non-exploitation of writers and other staffers in the entertainment industry, while The Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers is the union ensuring its members don’t get exploited by the staffers. Earlier this month, WGA found itself coming to no conclusion on its contract for a generous pay raise for its members and staffers in general along with other demands. This situation then escalated to the union now going on strike until their demands are fulfilled.
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The Batman, now streaming on HBO Max
Source: Deadline
