‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ in Chaos: Picketing Writers and WGA Pins
As ticket-holders for The Drew Barrymore Show lined up along the CBS Broadcast Center entrance Tuesday, Writers Guild of America members and Barrymore’s three co-head writers circled the block chanting and cheering in protest. According to the WGA, the daytime talk show is “a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers,” making Barrymore’s decision to resume filming her show amid the writers’ strike “in violation of WGA strike rules.” The Drew Barrymore Show plans to debut its fourth season on Sept. 18.
Although other daytime talk shows have resumed production — The View has been airing new episodes amid the writers’ strike, and The Jennifer Hudson Show will also premiere Sept. 18 — Barrymore has found herself at the center of a PR firestorm over her decision to very publicly resume production of her show, announcing the decision to the media in a Sept. 6 press release, and defending the move on social media. Barrymore has subsequently been branded a “scab” by WGA members striking for fairer working conditions, and West Wing actor Bradley Whitford tweeted, “We’ll never forget it.”
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Tuesday’s taping featured Arthur C. Brooks, co-author of Oprah Winfrey’s new book Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier, and audience members left the studio with copies of the newly-released tome, says Greg Iwinski, a WGA negotiating committee and Writers Guild East council member. Iwinski also confirmed that actor Matthew McConaughey, comedian Samantha Bee, and comedian Leslie Jones all pulled out of their guest appearances on The Drew Barrymore Show in solidarity with the double strike. The show has yet to release its premiere week guests.
Iwinski, who has written on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, says he admires the Strike Force Five podcast, where the big five late-night hosts have donated all proceeds to their staff. He wishes Barrymore would consider a similar route. The decision to continue filming is sending a strong message to its writers that the show will go on without them, he says.
“If Drew was really in solidarity, keep the show shut down, dip into the trust fund, and pay your staff,” Iwinski tells Rolling Stone.
Chelsea White, a co-head writer on The Drew Barrymore Show, learned about the show’s on-air return through an Instagram post. She was disappointed to find out the show she’d worked on since its pilot episode had chosen to continue without her and the other co-head writers.
“When any production that is covered under WGA comes back during a strike it undermines our whole group effort to come to a fair contract with the AMPTP,” White says.
Since guild contracts for talk shows were renewed last year, Barrymore is technically permitted to film the show as a SAG-AFTRA member. Barrymore released a statement on her Instagram Sunday saying, “I own this choice. We are in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind.” In other words, Barrymore, and any actor that appears on her show, cannot discuss any struck film or television work.
Any writing on the talk show, however, is in violation of WGA strike rules. With her WGA staffers left out in the cold, the show’s writing will likely be done by Barrymore and her producers.
When Barrymore declined to host the MTV Movie & TV Awards in early May, The Drew Barrymore Show’s co-head writer Cristina Kinon, who was brought on to help write for the awards show, says she was proud of Barrymore’s choice to stand in solidarity with the strikes. As The Drew Barrymore Show films Season Four, Kinon has refrained from talking to other crew members but says she is glad they’re at least getting paid.
“I understand that the crew needs work and they need to go back to work, but I do think that bringing the show back without their WGA writers prolongs the strike,” Kinon says.
Barrymore also lost another hosting gig — only this time it wasn’t her choice. The National Book Awards announced Tuesday that it had dropped Barrymore as the host of its ceremony due to her anti-union activities.
“The National Book Awards is an evening dedicated to celebrating the power of literature, and the incomparable contributions of writers to our culture,” the organization tweeted. “In light of the announcement that ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ will resume production, the National Book Foundation has rescinded Ms. Barrymore’s invitation to host the 74th National Book Awards Ceremony.”
To make matters worse, two ticket-holders for The Drew Barrymore Show wearing WGA pins given to them by striking members were removed from the audience before the start of filming on Monday. The two New York City-based students did not initially know the strike was going on, and later donned Writers Guild of America T-shirts on the picket lines. A spokesperson for the show claimed to The Hollywood Reporter that Barrymore was “completely unaware of the incident” and alleged that the two booted people would be offered tickets for another show.
Liz Koe, a co-head writer on The Drew Barrymore Show for three years, says she was inspired by the two students, and expressed her own interest in fighting for basic fair pay and respect for workers.
“It’s good news for the world that young people have those attitudes,” Koe says.
On Tuesday, ticket-holders for The Drew Barrymore Show were forced to remove their WGA pins upon entering the building.
“The pins set off the metal detectors at CBS Broadcast Center security,” wrote a spokesperson for The Drew Barrymore Show. “Audience members were asked to remove them and then offered them back after they cleared the metal detectors.”
For Koe, who has worked on the talk show since its first season, The Drew Barrymore Show has been a positive work environment and a “fun ride.” But that hasn’t stopped her from picketing outside the show — as well as The View — the last two weeks.
“We might not have anticipated picketing our own show but here we are,” Koe says, “and honestly, I think it’s actually brought renewed energy to the cause.”
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