Producer Phil Lord Speaks Out on Poor Working Conditions for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse producer Phil Lord is addressing some of the questions and concerns that were raised over the making of Across the Spider-Verse. A scathing report on the work conditions that animators endured during the making of Spider-Verse 2 was recently released, and it named Lord, in particular, as a driving force behind the chaos and tension within the workplace. 

Well, in a new interview, Phil Lord was asked to speak about the current labor battles jn Hollywood right. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) are both still on strike, bringing Hollywood TV and movie productions to a near standstill. As both a writer and producer (with his own successful production company), Lord is in a unique position to see both sides of the argument – which he insists is a conflict that can be solved, to the mutual benefit of both parties: 

“I’ve always been optimistic about this labor movement, because these deals seem incredibly makeable, and the main problem is that only one party wants to negotiate,” Lord explained to Variety. “But as long as both parties will come to negotiate in good faith and address the very real problems, like writers’ pay — which is down 25% and is a concrete issue that can be addressed — and make the business healthy so people can do this job and pay their rent, we’re going to be in great shape. I’m frustrated, but I think this is an imminently solvable problem.”

Now obviously the elephant in the room was Lord – a person recently accused of not treating laborers fairly – pontificating on the subject of workers’ rights. However, the interviewer didn’t let the producer off the hook without awareness and acknowledgment, asking him to address the controversy with Across the Spider-Verse: 

“In terms of Spider-Verse, that was a really hard movie to make,” Lord admitted. “We’re really proud of how hard everybody worked, and it was very demanding. But we’re just really proud of the crew, and everything they put into it.”

When the report about troubles behind the scenes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse first broke, one artist spoke specifically to how Phil Lord’s constant revisions and 

“It’s common for executives on a production to have a big say, but usually, they’re not as heavily involved as Phil was. As a producer, Phil overrides all the directors,” said one crew member. “They are obviously in charge of directing, but if Phil has a note that contradicts their note, his note takes precedence. They have to do what Phil says. So there were constant changes and cuts. With Phil Lord, nothing is ever final or approved. Nothing was really set in stone. Nothing was ever done. Everything was just endlessly moving beneath our feet because they wanted it to be the best that it could be.”