Ryan Murphy Threatened to Sue Writers Guild Strike Captain
Ryan Murphy, With 3 Shows in Production, Threatens to Sue Writers Guild Strike Captain (Exclusive) https://t.co/Noq0zYbUqr
- The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) July 6, 2023
Ryan Murphy is currently producing three of the four scripted TV series that remain in production on the East Coast (American Horror Story, American Sports Story, and episodic anthology American Horror Stories).
On June 21, Warren Leight - an East Coast strike captain and Strike Rules Compliance Committee member - tweeted that crew members on 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.
Murphy denied the allegation at the time, calling it “categorically false.” He then sent a letter, via his lawyer, to the leaders of WGA where he threatened to sue Warren Leight.
After Murphy threatened to sue, Leight deleted the tweet and issued an apology and retraction in which he called his initial tweet “unsubstantiated”.
Leight also resigned from his positions within the WGA, while at the same time imploring members:
“Our foe in this fight is not other members, it is the The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. If we turn on each other, the AMPTP wins.”
In addition to being a member of the WGA, Murphy is a producer and director and is permitted to continue working as long as he doesn't do anything a writer would do. A spokesperson for Murphy says he's not crossing the picket line, as he's not doing any writing and “doing scripts that were done before strike started.”
The WGA, meanwhile, will continue to picket outside of Murphy's shows.
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