He’s an actor and he’s a director, but David Wain is not currently a writer. Since May 2, it’s been “pencil’s down” for the Shaker Heights native since he’s a member of the Writers Guild of America.
“Anything that feels like writing is not allowed,” he said. “If I want to say, ‘Hey, let’s cut this line for time,’ that’s not allowed.”
Wain grew up idolizing writers-turned- filmmakers like Steve Martin, Woody Allen and Cleveland’s own “Big Chuck” Schodowski. He’s followed their same path for almost 30 years, first with the legendary sketch comedy show “The State” on MTV and then films such as “Wet Hot American Summer,” “The Ten,” “Wanderlust” and “Role Models,” which was made during the last major WGA strike in 2007-08.
“It was a strange occurrence to have to continue shooting a comedy - where you're normally constantly rewriting - and have to put pencils down and just depend on the, luckily, very incredible improvisational skills of our cast in that movie,” he said.
Streaming was in its infancy then, and home video was completing its transition from videotape to DVDs. Wain said this year’s strike is different in many ways since the studios themselves are so different.
“Netflix is in a slightly different business than Amazon,” he said. “These legacy companies, Sony and ABC, are a whole other ball of wax. So, the landscape is constantly changing.”
Friends on strike
Wain said it’s difficult for writers to strike against their past, present and possibly future employers, who might also be friends.
“Every movie I've done for a studio or a production company has been better because of the notes they give you and because of the support they give you,” he said. “We are partners in a creative venture.”
Wain said he’d like to spend “as little as possible” time picketing and just get back to creating content.
The WGA represents more than 11,000 writers who are striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Variety reports that the writers are asking for more residuals from streaming with a proposal that would yield about $429 million annually. The producers' alliance is proposing only $86 million.
“If writers aren't able to make a living doing this, then we have to get out of this business and do something else,” Wain said.
Production continues
Some productions are able to go forward, using scripts finalized before the strike began. However, a WGA member is not able to be present on-set to perform rewrites – something Wain said is an essential part of the creative process.
“Every day there's something. You get to a location and it's raining or it's not what you thought - or you have a better idea - or an actor says something that doesn't sound right so you want to reword it,” he said.
