EXCLUSIVE: It Ends with Us, the Justin Baldoni-directed film that stars Blake Lively and Baldoni, has had its production shoot ended until the resolution of the WGA strike. The decision was made Thursday, with less than half of the movie completed. The reason for the film halting was an inability to persuade the WGA that the co-financing status of Wayfarer Studios was enough to consider that the production was within WGA guidelines, even though the film will be a negative pickup for signatory Sony Pictures.
As Deadline revealed earlier this week, the film’s shoot in parts of New Jersey was disrupted and a temporary halt called while the film’s producers tried to persuade the WGA. The WGA disagreed, sources said. This is inevitable shrapnel of a strike that will likely continue, as the AMPTP and WGA negotiators aren’t even meeting right now. Sources said 140 or so are now out of jobs for now on It Ends With Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestseller which Christy Hall adapted.
This has been going on since a first shut down on Monday, June 5, but crew members were delivered the news yesterday, in an e-mail delivered by Wayfarer and Justin Baldoni.
Subject: Production shutdown
“Due to the ongoing WGA strike and the lost days we have experienced due to picketing, we must make the difficult decision to temporarily shut down production.
We want to express our deepest gratitude for your incredible patience and unwavering dedication throughout this challenging period.”
Everyone is getting their gear back so this does seem pretty permanent, at least until the strike ends and writers go back to work.
Said one crew member about the mood on the set when the email dropped: “It was a mixture — people were upset because they liked working with Justin. There was already tension about some ADs who’d been fired. People were sad but also respected the WGA picket situation. The more solitarily we can have with the WGA, making the producers talk to the writers and get them back to the negotiating table, the faster everyone will get back to work.”
This game of chicken is getting tiresome as the strike begins to empty restaurants and imperil other businesses that rely on the industry. So, WGA and AMPTP, how about getting in a room and locking the door until a deal is made? There are legitimate gripes the WGA has, including residuals and the likelihood that the continued development and sophistication of AI programs might well partly automate the writing of scripts, which the writers feel will lessen their ranks and hamper the growth of young scribes. While this might holds appeal for the tech-backed signatories trying to impress Wall Street with cost-cutting maneuvers, it could be disastrous for the creative ecosystem. But nothing good can happen until the sides sit across from each other and reach a compromise.
Nellie Andreeva contributed to this report.
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