Judd Apatow Reveals When He Thinks the Writers' Strike Will End

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor In the new Apple TV+ comedy noir series “High Desert,” Patricia Arquette and Matt Dillon play an off-and-on again couple so naturally that it seems like they must have starred together in some iconic 1990s indie movie. Surprisingly, they haven’t, but the off-kilter, sun-baked menace of films like Arquette starrers “True Romance” and “Lost Highway” permeates the new series, which is peopled with what Arquette calls “wild and weird creatures” in an environment that alternates between arid beauty and strip mall desolation. In “High Desert,” Arquette’s methadone-dependent, perennial wild child Peggy Newman could not be more different than her buttoned-up “Severance” character Harmony Cobel, whether she’s piloting a dune buggy around the desert, swinging from a chandelier in a Pioneertown Old West show or getting mixed up with another half-baked scam. Peggy, who recently lost her mother, needs to raise money to stay in their house. She hatches a plan to become a private investigator, getting mixed up in cases involving art forgeries and a missing guru’s wife and more. “High Desert” premiered on May 17, with new episodes rolling out weekly.

The last time a writers strike impacted the LA Screenings in 2008, the world was in recession and studios pared back their spend on glitzy marketing and all-singing, all-dancing parties and soirees. We are not quite at that stage, but, in 2023, these conditions have an air of familiarity.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As TV Academy members toasted the stars of “Ted Lasso” on May 1, things were about to change dramatically in the Emmy campaign space. Apple TV+ was celebrating the opening of a “For Your Consideration” activation at Goya Studios, where it erected a massive tent to showcase its bevy of contenders. It’s a well-appointed and pristine space, with an almost Apple Store-meets-Emmys vibe. Displays celebrating Apple TV+ shows were front and center, along with an open bar, passed bites and a theater room for screenings and panels for celebrated shows like “Ted Lasso,” “Shrinking,” “Bad Sisters,” and more. But now here’s the problem with FYC: The writers strike has upended everything. The clouds were already forming at that “Ted Lasso” event, as the strike was called at the same moment co-creator/star Jason Sudeikis and team were celebrating the show’s Season 3 on stage. Many of the “Lasso” stars double as writers — Sudeikis, Brett Goldstein and Brendan Hunt included — so the power and importance of writers was on everyone’s minds. Sudeikis even remarked on how surreal it was to be there on stage talking about writing “Ted Lasso” just as the issues facing the town’s scribes took center stage. “Shout out to the writers,” he said. “What a day to be doing this.”

Tiffany Red Tiffany Red is a Grammy-winning songwriter and songwriter advocate who has written hits for Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia, Jason Derulo and Zendaya, among others. She is founder and executive director of the 100 Percenters, a 501 c3 organization with the stated goal of advocating “for all music creatives with a focus on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and marginalized creatives.” Variety welcomes responsible commentary — email [email protected] to submit. Dear Music Publishers, I am writing this letter as a call to action for all major and independent music publishers to support the #paysongwriters movement. As the founder and executive director of the 100 Percenters, a music non-profit, and a songwriter myself for over 15 years, I have witnessed and experienced firsthand songwriters’ insurmountable struggles in their quest for a livable wage from publishing royalties. Unfortunately, the plight has increasingly led to one percent of the industry’s elite hogging most of the rewards. But what about everyone else? As I watch the Writers Guild of America and 11,500 of their members on strike for fair pay for screenwriters, I admire those with the courage to fight for a better tomorrow for their industry. And I wonder where that spirit is for songwriter’s compensation in the music industry. 

Sarah Silverman is in mourning following the loss of her incredibly dedicated father, Donald Silverman.

Sarah Silverman is in mourning following the loss of her incredibly dedicated father, Donald Silverman.The 52-year-old actress and comedian took to Instagram on Thursday to share the sad news with a carousel of photos. In her caption, Silverman noted that her «best pal» was surrounded by family when he died Wednesday night.«My best pal, Schleppy — my dad, died last night.

Sarah Silverman has revealed her father, Donald Silverman, sadly passed away this week.

Sarah Silverman's father has died. The comedian announced on Instagram on Thursday that her father, Donald Silverman, had passed away, shortly after the death of Janice, his wife of more than 40 years. "My best pal, Schleppy - my dad, died last night.

Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Paramount, Warner Bros. and others. On the WGA side, writers are seeking better pay, streaming residuals, safeguards against AI technology that threaten to replace their work, among other issues amid the rise of streaming services.Since the strike was announced, a number of films and TV shows have shut down production in solidarity – or because they can’t move forward without the involvement of writers.

Disney won’t give a figure for the cost of the ongoing WGA strike yet, noting that the “new development” has not yet been quantified by the company.“We have not estimated that because that’s a new development and we haven’t really quantified what that is, because we don’t know how long it’s gonna last,” CFO Christine M. McCarthy said of the WGA strike during Wednesday’s earnings call.

Succession will officially to an end with its fourth season.Created by Jesse Armstrong (Peep Show), the satirical comedy-drama about the power struggle within the Roy family has been a critical success since its inception in 2018 — picking up 13 Emmys across its lifespan so far.The show’s cast include Brian Cox as the family patriarch Logan Roy, alongside Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun and Alan Ruck.Armstrong confirmed that Succession’s fourth season would also be its last in February 2023 ahead of the show’s return in March.The final episode airs on Sunday May 28 on HBO at 9pm EST in the US. In the UK, the episode will premiere simultaneously on Monday May 29 at 2am on Sky Atlantic.The episode will be available on HBO Max and NOW afterwards.Succession’s finale is titled With Open Eyes (via GQ) which, like every other season finale of the series, is taken from the poem Dream Song 29 by John Berryman, published in 1964.According to Entertainment Weekly, it will be a feature-length episode at “around 90 minutes”.Speaking to the outlet, Strong, who plays Kendall Roy, compared shooting the finale to skiing down a double black diamond slope.“Certainly, there’s an awareness on the periphery that this is it, but in a way there’s no room for that,” Strong said.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Joe Russo is sounding the alarm about artificial intelligence. Six days before the Writers Guild of America (WGA) called for a strike, I spoke to Joe Russo at the Los Angeles premiere of “Citadel” about his concerns regarding AI. The use of AI has become a major point of contention between the guild and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTA). “I think everyone should be scared of AI,” Russo said. “I don’t know if you’ve heard any of the Drake ‘songs’ that have been dropping on social media, but it’s here. It’s not going anywhere.” The “Avengers” director said in order for AI to work, it must be a “tool servicing us rather than us servicing the tool.”

Kaley Cuoco is having a renewed outlook on her charity work after welcoming her daughter, Matilda, with boyfriend Tom Pelphrey. The star sat down with ET's Cassie DiLaura alongside Courteney Cox over the weekend at the star-studded Rock4EB! fundraiser at a private residence in Malibu, California, which benefits the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation, the volunteer-only nonprofit funder of research for EB, a rare and life-threatening disease of the skin, as it seeks to find a cure. EB is characterized by blister formation after minor trauma to the skin and scarring and disfiguring of the skin and internal organs.

Well, this is a big bummer and perhaps an unfortunate sign that Universal has lost faith in the project, at least on the theatrical level. “Please Don’t Destroy,” the new upcoming comedy from the “Saturday Night Live” trio Please Don’t Destroy, produced by Judd Apatow, is no longer going to be released theatrically by Universal.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter A new buddy comedy from Please Don’t Destroy, the writing trio of “Saturday Night Live” fame, will no longer play in theaters. Instead, the untitled movie will premiere exclusively on Peacock, the streaming service owned by NBCUniversal, on Nov. 17. Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy, better known as Please Don’t Destroy, wrote the film, which was produced by Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller. The story centers on three childhood friends who live and work together. When the threesome decides they don’t like their life trajectory, they set off to find a gold treasure that is rumored to be buried in the nearby mountain. They discover that finding the treasure is actually the easiest part of the adventure.

Universal Pictures has changed its release plans for its as-yet-untitled buddy comedy from comedians Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy — the SNL writing trio collectively known as Please Don’t Destroy. While the film was previously set to hit theaters on August 18th, it will now debut exclusively on Peacock on November 17th.

ongoing Writers Guild of America strike will end.Speaking to Variety on Saturday (May 6), Apatow shared that he thinks the ongoing strike is a calculated business move on the part of Hollywood studios, who were unwilling to meet the Writers Guild of America’s (WGA) demands.“I think they probably already know what they’re going to bend on,” Apatow said. “I would assume they already know what date this is going to end. They’ve probably been planning this for years.”“I always think that whatever happens, they could have figured it out already.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Judd Apatow thinks the studios and streamers already have an idea of when the writers strike may end. “I think they probably already know what they’re going to bend on,” Apatow told Variety Saturday at the Rock4EB benefit in Malibu. “I would assume they already know what date this is going to end. They’ve probably been planning this for years.” The writer-director reflected comments heard on picket lines in Los Angeles and New York after talks cratered between the Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the writers union began to strike Tuesday. Apatow explained that he sees the strike as a calculated business move by Hollywood’s largest employers.

For Tony Award nominees, the next 37 days will be the usual long slog of interviews, parties, nerves and anticipation. But for producers of the ceremony’s June 11 broadcast on CBS, the date carries a new cause for insomnia: Who will write the thing?

You are reading an exclusive WrapPRO article for free. Want to level up your entertainment career? Subscribe to WrapPRO.David Mandel isn’t one to sugarcoat. It’s a trait that appears in his work, from the vicious insults of “Veep” to the intentionally reprehensible characters at the center of HBO’s “White House Plumbers.” It also emerged when TheWrap asked the longtime series creator his thoughts on the currently unfolding WGA strike.