Ryan Murphy Threatens to Sue Writers’ Guild Strike Captain as Three New Shows Remain in Production

Prolific television producer Ryan Murphy has threatened to sue Warren Leight, a former showrunner of Law & Order: SVU and recent East Coast strike captain of the Writers Guild of America. On Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of a letter from Murphy’s attorney, Craig Emanuel, which was recently sent to WGA leadership. According to the letter, Murphy is considering litigation against Leight for making allegations about the working conditions on his shows amid the ongoing WGA strike. On June 21st, Leight had tweeted that multiple crew members of American Horror Story alleged to him that they would “be blackballed in Murphy-land” if they did not cross the ongoing WGA picket line. Leight later deleted the tweet and issued a retraction and apology, calling the initial claims  “unsubstantiated” and “completely false and inaccurate.” Leight subsequently stepped back from his role as strike captain, as well as his position as the WGA’s Strike Rules Compliance Committee co-chair, according to a memo released by the union.

“Dear WGAE Captains, Thank you all for attending the captains’ meeting this week,” the memo reads in part. “As promised, WGAE General Counsel Ann Burdick spoke with Warren’s attorney to see if we can share more information with you about what happened. The attorney’s comment was as follows: “Ryan Murphy sent a letter threatening litigation against Warren Leight. Warren Leight will not be saying anything further than his last tweet related to Ryan Murphy.” In that last tweet posted on June 27, Warren acknowledged that the claims he made had not been verified, and thus should not have been posted. We can add that after receiving the letter from Murphy, we met with Warren immediately to address the situation. The Guild provided legal representation, and as part of that process it was agreed that as both co-chair of the Strike Rules Compliance Committee and as a strike captain, it made sense for Warren to step back from official duties related to the strike.” 

Is American Horror Story Still In Production During the Writers Strike?

It was previously reported that the upcoming twelfth season of American Horror Story, fully titled American Horror Story: Delicate, has continued production amid the WGA strike. The Hollywood Reporter now claims that three out of the four shows still in production on the East Coast are spearheaded by Murphy — American Horror Story, American Sports Story, and American Horror Stories. While Murphy is technically a member of WGA West, he has been able to circumvent the strike rules by operating as producer and director, and not rendering any services as a writer. This comes as recent reports indicated that Murphy is negotiating a massive overall deal with Disney.

“He is following the letter of the law and going to set as a producer/showrunner/director and says he’s not doing writing — and no guild can convict somebody of conjecture,” an East Coast captain is quoted as saying in the report. “A million of us would love to see it, but there’s no proof that he’s scabbing; he’s doing scripts that were done before strike started.” 

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