The Writers Guild of America (WGA), which has been on a spree of protests leading to the delay and even cancellation of various Hollywood projects was unable to halt writer and director Ryan Murphy’s shoot for Season 12 of ‘American Horror Story’.
In retaliation, the ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ director threatened litigation against Warren Leight, an East Coast, WGA strike captain and Strike Rules Compliance Committee member who has subsequently forfeited those positions.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, “the whole issue started June 21, when Leight, a former Law & Order: SVU showrunner and playwright, alleged in a tweet that crewmembers on Murphy’s ‘American Horror Story’ had told him that “they’ll be blackballed in Murphy-land” if they don’t cross the Writers Guild’s picket lines.
At the time, a spokesperson for Murphy called Leight’s tweet “absolute nonsense” and “categorically false”.
“After Murphy’s attorney Craig Emanuel sent the letter to the WGA, union leadership met with Leight, who deleted the tweet and issued an apology and retraction in which he called his initial tweet “unsubstantiated” and “completely false and inaccurate”.
According to THR only four scripted TV series remain in production on the East Coast with three of them produced by Murphy. These include ‘American Horror Story’, ‘American Sports Story’, ‘American Horror Stories’ and ‘Power Book 2: Ghost’.
Murphy’s shows are allowed to remain in production as long as they’re using scripts written before the strike, and Murphy can continue working in his capacity as a producer.
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