The second season of Warner Bros. Discovery's WBD "The Last of Us," has encountered a setback as production has been put on hold due to the ongoing writers' strike in Hollywood.
According to Variety, the show, which was initially slated to commence filming in early 2024, has been stalled indefinitely. Until now, the casting team had resorted to a unique approach in the absence of scripts, and actors were asked to read scenes directly from "The Last of Us Part II," the video game that serves as the foundation for the upcoming season.
Craig Mazin, series co-creator and showrunner, has emerged as a staunch advocate for the rights of fellow writers amid the ongoing labor dispute involving the Writers Guild of America (WGA), and has been rallying alongside his fellow writers.
Neil Druckmann, the co-creator of HBO's "The Last of Us" series and the visionary writer and creative director behind the game franchise, is presently uninvolved in the production of Season 2.
What are the primary demands of the WGA strike? The first issue revolves around residuals from streaming media, with the WGA stating that the average writers' incomes have been significantly reduced compared to a decade ago due to the share taken by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
Additionally, writers are advocating for the appropriate use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT. They argue that AI should be utilized as a research aid or to facilitate script ideas, rather than being employed as a replacement for human writers.
Among the disputed issues is the Guild's request for "mandatory staffing" and "duration of employment" requirements to be included in the contract. Another significant demand from the WGA is that each member of a writing team receives their own pension and healthcare benefits, which the AMPTP has rejected without offering an alternative proposal.
Since its beginning on May 2, the ongoing Hollywood writers' strike has had a significant impact on numerous productions, forcing several high-profile shows to halt their operations. Notable casualties of the strike include The Walt Disney Company's DIS Disney+ series "Andor" and the popular Netflix Inc. NFLX show "Stranger Things."
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