Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) who are on strike have said they won’t picket next month’s Tony Awards program. This clears up a tricky situation for the people who put on the show.
Last week, the union said no to Tony organizers’ request for a waiver for their glitzy live broadcast on June 11.
In a statement released late Monday, it said that this was still true, and that the WGA “will not negotiate an interim agreement or a waiver for the Tony Awards.”
But the WGA gave some hope that some kind of Tony show might go on by saying, “Organizers are changing this year’s show to meet specific requests from the WGA, so the WGA will not picket the show.”
It wasn’t obvious what was altered, although it might be so the Tonys can happen without a script.
The strike had already shut down late-night TV shows like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and Saturday Night Live and slowed down the production of scripted TV shows. Now, it was threatening theater’s biggest night, when millions of people watch and many Broadway shows try to get people interested.
The group, which represents 11,500 people who write for movies, TV, and other forms of entertainment, has been on strike since May 2. The main reason is that they want more money from streaming media.
Even though the WGA doesn’t represent writers on Broadway, it does represent writers who work on the Tonys broadcast.
After their request for a waiver was denied, Tony organizers had to make a hard decision: either postpone the event until the strike is over or tell the winners at a non-televised reception where nominees would have to cross picket lines.
The choice made on Monday opens the door to a third option: a show that is not written but relies heavily on performances.
This is pretty much what happened at the 1988 awards, which were shown while the WGA was on strike.
Before the WGA’s decision, there were plans for a two-part Tony event, with a pre-show of acts that would stream live on Pluto and the main awards ceremony that would air live on CBS and stream live for Peacock members with a premium plan.
During the strike, the big first awards show was the MTV Movie & TV Awards, which didn’t have a speaker and instead used old clips and a few pre-recorded victory speeches.
The strike also affected the PEN America Gala, and on Monday, the Peabody Awards, which honor radio and streaming media, canceled their awards show for June 11.
