Only a few hours before the deadline set in late July by hundreds of prominent women writers and dissidents miscarriage Security protocols Most of today’s biggest Hollywood studios and broadcasters have chosen to detail the side steps.
In a reply letter filled with Kettle-board notes about sharing “your concerns about the health, safety, and well-being of our dedicated employees and people who support our products” and “access to safe and effective healthcare,” DisneyAnd the NetflixAppleTV + , NBC GlobalAmazon Discover Warner Bros.And the AMC Networks He basically ignored the main points of concern and the actions he likes Shonda RhimesPamela Adlon Issa Ray Mindy KalingAnd the Natasha LyonAnd the Angela Kang, Courtney A. Kemp, Elizabeth Meriwether, Robin Thede, Marta Kaufman, Tania Saracho, Amy Schumer and others individually placed before them. On July 28.
In the wake of the political and cultural earthquake in Roe v. Wade, it was overturned by the conservative-majority Supreme Court on June 24Industry talent has asked studios and broadcasters to “review your current abortion safety plan” within 10 business days. That deadline was just before midnight Los Angeles time. anyway Lionsgate Among the companies that sent a letter by exhibitors and writers on July 28, the studio was not among those who responded Wednesday.
In the tense election atmosphere of the upcoming midterms, today’s message conveyed nothing about halting donations to anti-abortion candidates and political action committees — which should be a pretty easy call for Blue Hollywood. Despite drawing on existing union healthcare plans and “continuing to evaluate ways we can best provide for our employees and workers who support our production,” Maladroit’s letter also didn’t offer anything that would highlight privacy issues and offset liability for potential criminal or civil charges, Nor “pregnancy complications” and “protocols outlining the scope of medical care” – as requested.
What I offered was a tin ear of “We look forward to working with you to continue delivering great content to our audiences around the world” as the closing line in Wednesday’s letter.
“It’s an insult, it’s easy to see,” one signer told Deadline Wednesday after reply mails began showing up in people’s inboxes. “It is an indication of what is really important to them, which is not us, our safety or our rights,” the hyphenated design added. “I shouldn’t be surprised, I am, but I know I shouldn’t be,” another upper-tier signatory to the July 28 letter from the writers and presenters bluntly stated about the response I read today.
A number of the signatories to the original letter told Deadline tonight that they are discussing further actions that can be taken to stock the studio and support the broadcast. In addition, nearly 600 male screenwriters and writers sent their own letter on abortion rights to “employers” earlier this month “regarding the impending crisis.” The “response to the model letter,” as one of these male scribes described it, which their female colleagues received today, appears to have motivated many of them for other strategies they could try. “Hollywood needs to send an unwavering message of support to American women,” said one male content creator. Countries that ban abortion need to know that the support is not only moral, but financial if necessary. And if the industry needs it, it should move away from tax breaks and production in those states.”
Citing the national hopes that arose from the recent defeat in Kansas of a state constitutional amendment to ban abortion entirely, one producer stated that “Hollywood decided to remain on the sidelines in Georgia and with the Republicans.” The director said, “This is not over, but now we know who our allies are.”
Read the full response letter from Studios & Steamboats here:
Thank you for your letter dated July 28, 2022. We share your concerns about the health, safety and well-being of our dedicated employees and the people who support our products. We believe that they should have access to safe and effective healthcare, and their privacy should be protected.
Each individually designed corporate health plan provides comprehensive healthcare coverage for our employees. We’ve independently updated our staff — who live and work across the country — as plans and policies change and expand to provide reproductive care and other support now needed in countries that have restricted or banned abortion.
Most workers in written film and television productions are covered by industrial health plans that are jointly administered by union trustees and management within the framework of collective bargaining. In partnership with several industrial health plan employees and union trustees on those plans, the trustees of our department worked quickly to review existing health benefits, and many of these industrial health plans had already adopted amendments providing for reimbursement of travel expenses associated with providing abortion services to participants and their families who reside or work in States where such services cannot be obtained legally. We understand that other industry health plans will consider similar changes this month. Participants in the various industry plans have received direct communications from the plans about these modifications.
We are pleased that our industry partners have swiftly addressed this important issue and are committed to continuing to evaluate ways we can best provide for our employees and workers who support our productions.
We want to assure you that we are singularly focused on supporting the health, safety, welfare and privacy of our respective employees and those who support our production while we continue to monitor this evolving situation. We look forward to working with you to continue delivering great content to our audiences around the world.
Occurred,
AMC Networks, Amazon Studiosand Apple TV+, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery