Since we know Joel, Jonah and Emily will be in the same place in July (Phoenixville) and we know the Alternaversal offices are in PA, one wonders if they’re not working on new material even now, on the down low.
I’m wondering if they’re not tinkering around with stuff already. I keep hoping for something more tangible in terms of some kind of season 14 details announcement.
Though, I understand they probably want to address physical rewards from the last Kickstarter before moving announcing too much stuff for season 14.
Well fingers crossed my hunch is right and SOMETHING is brewing!
They were “non-union but following union rules” for Season 13, I believe, basically because they couldn’t afford the associated paperwork.
I am pretty sure Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt are in the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA; Jonah Ray may well be as well. That union is now balloting its members for strike action.
According to Marc Bernardin on the Fatman Beyond podcast, writers are still allowed to write and sell their work during the writer’s strike, just not to the big studios. As a small, indie production, theoretically MST3K can still be in production, unless Shout Factory is somehow a part of the studios being picketed for some reason, which doesn’t seem likely.
Whether they want to be is up to them, but it would be a good way to keep writers employed to keep income coming in if they did.
That might be a factor, but I believe, any material written before the strike would absolutely be ok to shoot (though technically writing changes couldn’t occur now) during this time.
I believe it’s just Writers Guild members who can’t adlib. What I was reading about Deadpool 3 said Ryan Reynolds has to stick to the script as written due to him being a WGA member. But if Hugh Jackman came up with an adlib that would presumably be fine. The problem is Reynolds then wouldn’t be able to change any of his lines in response to Jackman.
Tawny Newsome said something similar on Twitter, saying that now that she’s a member of the WGA that if she were in production on Star Trek: Lower Decks while the strike was happening, she would have to read the script straight and wouldn’t be allowed to ad lib at all.
Writers Guild or not, it does seem that a lot of non-WGA members are leaning toward working to these restrictions out of solidarity with guild members, so it’s possible the writing team at Alternaversal may choose to follow suit. And as far as I understand with the Hugh Jackman situation (great name for a band btw), any ad-libs need to be approved by a script-writer on-site to be included, which feeds into one of the issues the strike is about.
Deadpool is an interesting case, as I understand many of Reynolds’ ad-libs come during the edit (since he wears a mask and they therefore have the benefit of being able to ADR them in fairly seamlessly). So depending on whether the strike continues through the edit stage, Reynolds may still be able to loop in some last-minute spice.
Adding in last-minute jokes over silhouettes or flappy puppet mouths though? IMPOSSIBLE!
It’s very possible, but it would all be speculation on my part. It all depends on union nuances and what exactly is the show’s relation to it. The only people who know for sure are the people who make MST, and this is just my read of it based on the information I have.
For anyone curious, the Fatman Beyond podcast is below. Be warned, it’s a Kevin Smith podcast, so language and subjects are very NSFW (things like Manscape and Blue Chew are normal sponsors, so expect genitalia talk). The pod is mostly Marc explaining why the strike is happening with Kevin Smith doing his Kevin Smith thing. They discuss what entails scabbing and what work is allowed about halfway through, I think.
On the subject of Deadpool, I might be out of the loop, but it’s hard for me to picture that production going ahead right now, whether adlibbing is allowed or not. Marvel just paused production on just about everything that isn’t the new Captain America movie (which I think was too deep into filming to stop), and I don’t believe Deadpool was set to be filmed until after Thunderbolts and Blade had started shooting. And with the pending possibility of a SAG strike, it’s very difficult for me to picture it filming with the current state of things.
Don’t forget the DGA is negotiating now. Their contract and SAG-AFTRA’s expire June 30. (SAG starts their negotiations June 7). The Director’s Guild is not known for striking. Their one and only strike lasted three hours. . But with what all three guilds are demanding in terms of streaming residuals, transparency, AI protections, and the like, it is entirely possible we have a perfect storm where all three guilds walk.
The Scriptnotes podcast is also doing a great job at providing updates on things from the inside, for those interested, interviewing people on the picket line and answering listener questions.
Yeah that’s the one thing about getting Jonah, Felicia and Patton: If you didn’t realize MST3K was at the very least union before they were cast, you better believe you knew when they were. So the hurdle of an actors’ strike presenting itself will be there too
There were hints at the finale, but that was all…hints. I, actually, asked the question during the Q&A, they gave a funny answer, but nothing definitive (it was cut from the livestream). Maybe we’ll have some more information at Blobfest!
