• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

A Hollywood Writer Strike Setback?

The departure of the WGA’s fiery, feared chief negotiator and a key omission in the union’s demands raise questions about its leverage at an uncertain moment for the new streaming economy.

WGA West president Meredith Stiehm (pictured) and writer Michael Winship sent a rallying email to members on Monday after executive director and lead negotiator David Young took medical leave three weeks before studio negotiations.
WGA West president Meredith Stiehm sent a rallying email to members on Monday after executive director and lead negotiator David Young took medical leave three weeks before studio negotiations. Photo: David Buchan via Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
March 3, 2023

I hear criticism sometimes that I reduce Hollywood to a big sporting event—winners, losers, and who’s outplaying the other guy and girl. Maybe, but I can’t be alone in equating the Writers Guild losing its chief negotiator to medical leave three weeks before the start of the most important studio talks in a generation to, say, the Lakers losing LeBron James to injury amid a desperate final push for the NBA playoffs.