Dwayne Johnson, Lorne Michaels Deals Suspended at NBC Universal Amid Ongoing Strikes
NBCUniversal has suspended its overall writing deals with both Dwayne Johnson and SNL creator Lorne Michaels.
Amid the ongoing strikes, NBCUniversal has suspended the overall deals with two of its biggest television producers. Monday, Universal Studio Group suspended deals for Michaels' Broadway Video, Johnson's Seven Bucks banner, and a host of others as a result of the Writers Guild of America strike, which has now run for 132 days.
According to a report by THR, Universal has invited those impacted by the latest suspensions to continue doing non-writing work for the studio though it's unclear if either Michaels or Johnson will continue doing producing duties while their writing deals are invalid. The trade reports Tina Fey, Sam Esmail, and Mike Schur are amongst those whose deals have also been suspended.
With most overall deals now in limbo, only a few writer/producers are still working. The initial reporting says Seth MacFarlane is continuing to do producing work on his Ted reboot for Peacock while Dick Wolf is working on unscripted programming for NBCUniversal.
Universal's moves come just days after Warner Bros. Discovery suspended its overall deals for most of its major writers as well, including Greg Berlanti, Chuck Lorre, Bill Lawrence, Mindy Kaling, and JJ Abrams.
There's been little in terms of updates from either the WGA or Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) regarding potential agreements to end the strike.
"We will evaluate their offer and, after deliberation, go back to them with the WGA's response next week," the guild told members last month. "Sometimes more progress can be made in negotiations when they are conducted without a blow-by-blow description of the moves on each side and a subsequent public dissection of the meaning of the moves. That will be our approach, at least for the time being, until there is something of significance to report, or unless management uses the media or industry surrogates to try to influence the narrative."
