‘Andor’ Creator Tony Gilroy Slams Studio Execs Who Do ‘Not Know What the F–k They Are Doing’
Following over a week of face-to-face, closed-door meetings, negotiations between leadership of the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers hit another snag as common ground was left unfound and the studios leaked their contracts proposal to the press to much ridicule and fanfare.
Speaking to riled up picketers in New York City Thursday, “Andor” creator Tony Gilroy emphasized that “we are not having it anymore” and that he’s tired of Hollywood studio execs who “do not know what the f–k they’re doing” with a “younger” and “faster” union.
“We have one problem: The AMPTP does not have their s—t together,” he said of execs like Disney’s Bob Iger, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Universal Pictures Chairman Donna Langley and AMPTP President Carol Lombardini. “They do not know what the f—k they’re doing.”
In a rousing, seven-minute speech, the prolific writer (also known for “Michael Clayton” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”) talked about how writers of his generation have weathered multiple strikes, but said that the union today is “so much different” than what he’s seen in strikes’ past.
“All of us old timers, all the nuts here now, this doesn’t look anything like what we went through before,” he said. “This guild is older and wise in many wise, but it’s younger and more passionate and it’s more connected and it’s faster on its feet. And, my god, we have a media landscape with a press that’s actually willing to report our story with interest and with accuracy for the first time in history.”
The execs named above, meanwhile, are “a group of people who have never done this before.”
“They’re doing this for the first time and they have almost nothing in common but greed,” Gilroy continued. “You know, 25 different business models and all their different agendas and all their various motivations.”
He then cited “Julia” EP Chris Keyser’s comparison of the studio heads to “alpha predators,” saying that they “hate each other, but they’ve got to come together and do this.”
Gilroy added, “One would think that with all these new tech people and all these ‘venture bros’ and all this management bulls—t that they would come and be like, ‘OK, we’re gonna get some new visionary problem solving.’
But he maintained that that’s not the case.
“No. The irony is that they’ve gone back and they’ve taken the same tired piece of s—t playbook that they’ve had for the last 40 f—king years and they’ve brought it out. So it’s like brand new wine in this ancient bottle.”
In addition to creating the Disney+ series “Andor,” Gilroy penned the scripts to the first three “Bourne” films. He also received writing and directing Oscar nods for his 2007 legal thriller “Michael Clayton.”
Deadline first covered Gilroy’s speech via a video posted to social media here.
For all of TheWrap’s strike coverage, click here.
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