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92-479: In May 2020, the series was renewed for a second season; which premiered on November 17, 2020. In March 2021, CBS renewed the series for a third season; which premiered on September 21, 2021. In May 2022, CBS renewed the series for a fourth and fifth season. The fourth season premiered on September 20, 2022. The fifth season premiered on February 13, 2024, a delay from September 2023 due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. For

184-699: A Peabody Award , a Writers Guild of America Award , four Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America (three for his writing for Law & Order , and a fourth for Law & Order: Criminal Intent ), a Career Award from the Reims International Television Festival, and a Career Angie Award from the International Mystery Writers Festival. In writing about legal issues, Balcer has drawn on his own experiences with law enforcement and his first-hand encounter with

276-484: A United States Army Military Intelligence vet Jess has taken under his wing; Hana Gibson, the team's intelligence analyst; and Clinton Skye, one of the most experienced field agents on the team, and the brother of Jess's deceased wife, as well as Jess's brother-in-law with Clinton, and also the team's sharpshooter or sniper. The team also operates out of an area in 26 Fed in Manhattan or in an unidentified building that

368-643: A backdoor pilot with an attached series commitment for a potential spin-off series titled FBI: Most Wanted with the episode to air in the latter part of the first season. The series will focus on the division of the FBI tasked with tracking and capturing the most notorious criminals on the FBI's Most Wanted list. According to Dick Wolf , the spin-off is set to launch a series of interconnected shows similar to that both of Wolf's Chicago and Law & Order franchises on NBC . On May 9, 2019, CBS announced that FBI: Most Wanted had been ordered to series. A few days later, it

460-955: A cash machine can conceivably be viewed as a potential crime setting, making this aesthetic both ubiquitous in our time and especially relevant to it. " Balcer's photo work has appeared in Cinema Canada , Montreal Star , and in Impressions: the Journal of the Japanese Art Society of America Vol. 32 . On June 20, 2024, Balcer's first solo photography show in New York City opened at the Hutchinson Modern & Contemporary Gallery. The show, René Balcer: Forensics , focused on his photography work in Argentina - "In Forensics , Balcer’s photos speak to

552-714: A collection of works by the Japanese woodblock artist Kawase Hasui to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The René and Carolyn Balcer Collection comprises some 800 works and includes woodblock prints, watercolors, screens, sketches and other works and writings by Hasui. A major exhibit of the collection, Hasui: Water & Shadow , opened at the VMFA in November 2014 and ran until March 2015. In 2010, through his Mattawin Company, Balcer sponsored

644-518: A continuous loop in the installation Barton Benes Period Room: 21st Century Artist Studio . In October 2009, Balcer came under attack by right-wing bloggers for an episode of Law & Order about the Bush Administration's Enhanced Interrogation policy. Writing in Breitbart , former Law & Order star Michael Moriarty accused Balcer of being a "Marxist agent provocateur." Balcer said of

736-549: A deal as soon as possible. On August 1, 2023, the WGA announced that it would meet with the AMPTP on the following Friday to discuss negotiations regarding the strike. The location of the meeting was not disclosed. A spokesman for the AMPTP, speaking in relation to the strikes of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, said, "we remain committed to finding a path to mutually beneficial deals with both unions." Both parties met on August 4, 2023, but no agreement

828-596: A deal before the mandated deadline. As a result, the leadership of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) unanimously approved a strike on the eve of May 2, the first of its kind since the 2007–2008 strike fifteen years prior. The Hollywood Reporter reported that the WGA had set some prospective rules for writers during the strike. The Writers Guild stated that "writers cannot do any writing, revising, pitching, or discussing future projects with companies that are members of

920-481: A labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). With a duration of 148 days, the strike is tied with the 1960 strike as the second-longest labor stoppage that the WGA has performed, only behind the 1988 strike (153 days). Alongside the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike , which continued until November, it was part of a series of broader Hollywood labor disputes . Both strikes contributed to

1012-548: A limited podcast called Strike Force Five to support their out-of-work staff during the strike. Several elected officials supported the strike and appeared on their picket lines: Both Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass and Governor of California Gavin Newsom offered to help mediate an end to the strikes. In a statement made on April 18, 2023, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) president, Lesli Linka Glatter told

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1104-617: A photographer and documentary film-maker. He was born in Montreal , Quebec , and attended Lower Canada College in Montreal. He studied creative writing at Concordia University under noted Canadian poet Deborah Eibel, and earned his BA magna cum laude in Communication Studies from Concordia in 1978. While a student, he took a six-month lecture-seminar with Jean-Luc Godard and worked as director John Huston 's personal assistant during

1196-537: A picket line and that in many places their contracts "expressly" allow employees to honor lawful picket lines. On April 30, SAG-AFTRA advised its members that while they should continue working on active projects to avoid breach of contract claims, it encouraged members to show solidarity by walking picket lines during non-working hours and posting on social media. The union also advised writers "You should not write anything normally written by striking WGA writers." The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), based in

1288-587: A satisfactory agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the major film and television studios in Hollywood , by May 1. The AMPTP engaged in lengthy negotiations with the WGA on behalf of Amazon Studios (as well as MGM Holdings ), Apple Studios , Lionsgate , NBCUniversal , Netflix , Paramount Global , Sony Pictures , the Walt Disney Company , and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), but failed to reach

1380-632: A stalemate until late September. On August 30, California State Treasurer Fiona Ma sent letters to Netflix , The Walt Disney Company , Comcast , Warner Bros. Discovery , Apple Inc. , Paramount Global and Amazon , telling them to return to negotiations and settle the strikes. She states that the impact of the strikes "paralyzes Hollywood and reverberates across the state, affecting countless businesses, thousands of pension fund beneficiaries, and millions of Californians." On September 6, Warner Bros. suspended deals with Mindy Kaling , J. J. Abrams, Greg Berlanti, and Bill Lawrence . It had announced

1472-538: A statement of support for the Writers Guild and their strike. Along with this statement, they produced a Question and Answer document to help Animation Guild members figure out how the Writers' Strike impacts their ability to maintain solidarity with the members of the Writers Guild. Ahead of the strike, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees president Mathew Loeb informed its members of their rights to honor

1564-516: A timeless classic about Chinese cuisine and culture and winner of a 2021 Gourmand World Cookbook Award; and the historical biographies Kuo Ping-Wen , Scholar, Reformer, Statesman (2016) and C.T. Wang : Looking Back and Looking Forward (2008). Balcer has contributed essays to Impressions: The Journal of the Japanese Art Society of America , and It Begins with Metamorphosis: Xu Bing . Balcer has lectured widely about writing, art and

1656-465: A tool that can help with research or facilitate script ideas and not as a tool to replace them. The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath saw major reductions in the workforce and cancellations of multiple film and television productions to save money on basic residuals and music licensing costs, though Apple and Amazon remained outliers. The ensuing fall of " Peak TV " created worsening conditions for writers, as well as actors. On May   2, 2020,

1748-727: A variety of film producers including Francis Coppola , Lawrence Gordon , Steve Tisch , Michael Gruskoff , Martin Poll and Mace Neufeld . In 1988, he helped adapt Miguel Pinero 's play Midnight Moon at the Greasy Spoon for KCRW radio, starring Ed Asner and Peter Falk . In 1989 he wrote his first television project, the movie of the week Out on the Edge which won the American Psychological Association Award of Excellence. This led to writing assignments on other movies of

1840-399: Is FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jess LaCroix, a seasoned, enigmatic agent at the top of his game who uses his expert profiling skills to help apprehend the most dangerous criminals. Throughout Season 1, the task force includes Special Agents Sheryll Barnes, an ex– New York Police Department detective with a degree in behavioral psych who serves as the team's second in command; Kenny Crosby,

1932-479: Is a distant cousin of actress Alana de la Garza , sharing a common relative Juan Cortina , a Mexican folk hero known as the Rio Grande Robin Hood. In November 2023, René Balcer: Seeing As , a retrospective of Balcer's street and landscape photography, was published by ACC Art Books (UK). Writing in the book's introduction, art historian Robert Hobbs wrote, "Balcer’s most distinctive images participate in

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2024-509: Is shot in the neck and killed by a fugitive, which devastates the rest of the team. He is eventually replaced by Supervisory Special Agent Remy Scott—fresh off a multi-year stint with the FBI's Las Vegas field team—as team leader. Near the end of the season, Ortiz takes time away from the task force to care for his ailing father in Los Angeles. By season 4, he has transferred back to Los Angeles permanently to continue taking care of his father and

2116-470: Is soon replaced by rookie Special Agent Ray Cannon, a New Orleans native who is also an ex– New Orleans Police Department detective whose father was part of the bureau. Between seasons 4 and 5, Gaines transfers to Denver to be near her children, and Special Agent Nina Chase from the New York Field Office takes her place on the team. On January 29, 2019, it was announced that CBS had commissioned

2208-474: Is to ensure each member of a writing team receives their own pension and their own health care funds. The AMPTP rejected this proposal and did not offer a counterproposal. At the same time, there was a tentative agreement between the WGA and AMPTP to have 0.5% of negotiated minimums for all WGA minimums shifted into pensions and health funds. On April 18, 2023, 97.85% of members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) voted to go on strike if they failed to reach

2300-460: Is under the control of the FBI. While on the road investigating cases, they also operate from a mobile command center that serves as their main base of operations. In season 2, Skye is put on special assignment to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and is eventually replaced by Special Agent Ivan Ortiz, an ex– Los Angeles Police Department gang officer with street cop instincts while Crosby replaces Skye as

2392-545: The Cannes Film Festival press conferences, with Sean Penn , Ethan Hawke , Paul Dano , and Kathleen Kennedy expressing their support. Snoop Dogg spoke in support of the strike during a panel at the Milken Institute and drew parallels with payout conflicts between music artists and music streaming platforms. Talk show hosts Stephen Colbert , Jimmy Fallon , Jimmy Kimmel , Seth Meyers, and John Oliver began

2484-745: The Guilde stopped short of discouraging members from working on American projects during the strike. On May 3, 2023, the second day of the strike, The Walt Disney Company (through its ABC Signature Studios unit) sent a letter written by the studios' Assistant Chief Counsel Bob McPhail on behalf of the executives at Disney to showrunners and all other writer-producers who work for the company, saying that they must report back to work and perform their non-writer duties. Producers are expected to do what are known as "a through h" services, like cutting for time, making small changes to dialogue or narration, and "changes in technical or stage directions." On May 4, 2023, on

2576-694: The Law & Order episode " Memo from the Dark Side ". In 2004, he was awarded the Alumnus of the Year from Concordia University . On November 17, 2008, he received an honorary Doctorate of Laws (LLD) from Concordia at their fall convocation and delivered the Commencement Address. Balcer has received additional recognitions, including being commissioned a Kentucky Colonel by Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear in 2008; in

2668-526: The Southeast Asia , then moved to FOX Asia . Every episode of past seasons is available to stream on Peacock in the United States, while the current season is available to stream on Paramount+ . 2023 Writers Guild of America strike Writers Guild of America From May 2 to September 27, 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA)—representing 11,500 screenwriters —went on strike over

2760-759: The Starz channel entitled WonderWorld . In 2016, the CBC and NBC green lighted Balcer's environmental thriller The Council set in the Canadian Arctic. In 2017, Balcer co-directed, co-wrote and produced the documentary Above the Drowning Sea , narrated by Julianna Margulies and Tony Goldwyn . The documentary tells the epic story of thousands of Austrian Jewish refugees who escaped the Holocaust and found refuge in Shanghai. The film

2852-434: The AMPTP had said studios "were not willing to engage" on other Writers Guild proposals, including success-based residual payments from streaming services. The note said guild leaders would not return to negotiations until studios were willing to engage on all proposals. Later on the same day the WGA sent a message to members saying that they had received a counterproposal and were evaluating it. On August 21, 2023, picketing

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2944-497: The AMPTP in order to negotiate independently with the WGA. A few hours later, the AMPTP released a statement refuting that claim, saying, "The AMPTP member companies are aligned and are negotiating together to reach a resolution. Any suggestion to the contrary is false." On September 11, 2023, The Drew Barrymore Show resumed episodes without writers and was picketed by guild members. Two audience members were turned away for wearing WGA pins. Barrymore would be removed as host of

3036-448: The AMPTP's offer would yield $ 86 million . One disputed issue is the Guild wanting requirements for "mandatory staffing" and "duration of employment" terms to be added to their contract, which would require all shows to be staffed with a minimum number of writers for a minimum amount of time, "whether needed or not" per the AMPTP. Another important proposal that the WGA is advocating for

3128-472: The AMPTP." The Writers Guild also stated that fiction podcasts that are produced by companies against which the Guild and its members are striking must stop production. The Guild said that they hoped that writers of animated series not covered by the Writers Guild but by the Animation Guild would seek advice from the Writers Guild on whether or not their work as a writer was counter to the activities of

3220-519: The Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series; became a Top Ten drama in the Nielsen ratings; was syndicated to TNT Network in a deal which at the time was the most expensive off-network series sale ever to cable; received an unprecedented five-season pick-up from NBC; and tied Gunsmoke for longest-running TV drama. Balcer won an Emmy in 1997 as Showrunner and Executive Producer of Law & Order . He has also won

3312-459: The MBA and therefore had to negotiate individually with the streaming company for their pay, and as a result, they were paid less than writers who wrote for The Late Show while doing the same amount of work. This pattern held true with other shows in the two categories. The MBA expired on May   1, 2023. The WGA estimated that its proposals would yield writers about US$ 429 million a year, whereas

3404-539: The Q1 earnings call for Paramount , CEO Bob Bakish addressed the strike, saying that writers were "an essential part of creating content" and that he hoped there could be "a resolution that works for everyone fairly quickly". Bakish also stated that the company had been planning for an extended strike and shared that the company's strategy to outlast the writers' strike is to use its large streaming library located within Paramount+ ,

3496-569: The Season Five episode of The Sopranos , " In Camelot ", Chris 's writing friend JT (played by Tim Daly ) tells Chris that he has a meeting with René Balcer about a writing job. Balcer's altercation with a Fox employee during the Writers Guild strike on January 10, 2008 became the subject of a joke by David Letterman during his monologue on January 12, 2008. At the North Dakota Museum of Art , Balcer's Law & Order episodes are played in

3588-485: The Teamsters contract if they refuse to cross picket lines. At a WGA rally on May 3, 2023, Lindsay Dougherty , the leader of Teamsters Local 399, said that while the Teamsters could not strike in solidarity due to a contract in place through 2024, she affirmed that Local 399 would not cross picket lines, saying, "Every single truck that we know of has not crossed." On May 2, 2023, The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839 made

3680-659: The Top Ten art exhibitions of 2011. Balcer's contribution—a poem entitled Backbone using Virginia tobacco plantation brand names as a tribute to the enslaved black women who picked the tobacco—was integrated by Xu Bing into an installation. The work is now part of the VMFA's permanent collection. Balcer later turned the poem into a blues song, Backbone (Mattawin Music), featuring the blues artists Captain Luke on vocals and Big Ron Hunter on guitar and produced by Michael Sackler-Berner . Backbone

3772-525: The United Kingdom, announced its support for the strike and instructed its members to refrain from working on American projects during the duration of the strike. The Australian Writers' Guild , Writers Guild of Canada , Screenwriters Guild of Israel, the Writers Guild of Ireland, and the Writers Guild of Sweden followed suit. Solidarity statements in support of the strike were issued by Writers Guild Italia and La Guilde française des scénaristes , although

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3864-445: The WGA met with them the previous day and agreed to restart negotiations the following week. A few minutes after the news, the WGA confirmed this. Four days later, it was announced that the union and studios would resume negotiations on September 20 with studio CEOs David Zaslav ( Warner Bros. Discovery ), Bob Bakish ( Paramount ), Bob Iger ( Disney ), Donna Langley ( NBCUniversal ), and Ted Sarandos ( Netflix ). This meeting

3956-492: The WGA strike had occurred and that the company was working to resolve the strike and compensate writers fairly. During the strike, several celebrities announced a desire to strikebreak by resuming to film or promote amidst ongoing negotiations. However, they all ultimately changed their minds after public backlash. Ren%C3%A9 Balcer René Balcer (born February 9, 1954) is a Canadian-American television writer , director , producer , and showrunner , as well as

4048-482: The WGA until October at the earliest and quoted one studio executive as saying, "The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses." The article and quote received attention and backlash from both Hollywood outlets, such as Entertainment Tonight , and non-Hollywood outlets, such as Vanity Fair and the New York Daily News . When asked about

4140-411: The attacks, "What many of these critics fail to realize is that Law & Order has always been an equal-opportunity offender, and if a Democratic administration had implemented this despicable (torture) policy, our show would have taken them to task for it." Balcer was showrunner for Law & Order: Criminal Intent through the fifth season . In March 2007, Balcer returned to Law & Order at

4232-594: The biggest interruption to the American film and television industries since the COVID-19 pandemic . The lack of ongoing film and television productions resulted in some studios having to close doors or reduce staff. The strike also jeopardized long-term contracts created during the media streaming boom: big studios could terminate production deals with writers through force majeure clauses after 90 days, saving them millions of dollars. In addition, numerous other areas within

4324-497: The brutal application of authoritarian power - at age 16, he was picked up as a suspected FLQ sympathizer during Quebec's October Crisis in 1970 and held overnight in the Montreal Police's infamous Station 10 where he was interrogated and beaten, before being released the next day. That experience, he says, gave him a harsh introduction to the reality lived by many disadvantaged communities. His work has been recognized outside

4416-636: The complicity of silence during the years of modern-day caudillos in Latin America and to society’s willful blindness in the face of today’s rising authoritarianism in the Americas. In making these images, Balcer was moved by his own experiences during Québec’s 1970 October Crisis in his native Montréal." This was followed by Hidden Stories at Alisan Fine Arts Gallery in New York in November/December 2024;

4508-446: The day before that the strikes would impact its 2023 earnings by $ 500 million. On September 8, the WGA released a statement claiming that there are member companies that have shown a "desire and willingness to negotiate an agreement that adequately addresses writers' issues... [and who] have said they are willing to negotiate on proposals that the AMPTP has presented to the public as deal breakers," and that they have asked them to leave

4600-834: The duties of artists in free societies, notably at Columbia , NYU , Harvard , UCLA , UPenn , and Loyola Marymount ; at Internews (Moscow), the Sorbonne (Paris), Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing), Virginia Museum of Fine Arts , Museum of Fine Arts Boston , Canadian Film Centre (Toronto), Deauville American Film Festival , Banff World Media Festival , Monte Carlo TV Festival , International Ukiyo-e Society (Tokyo), and SPAA Conference (Brisbane). Emmy Award Writers Guild of America Peabody Award Golden Globes Edgar Award – Mystery Writers of America Producers Guild of America Award American Psychological Association Advocates for Youth International Monitor Award ABA Silver Gavel Award for

4692-415: The earliest. The studio executives who anonymously spoke with Deadline stated that by October, many writers would be financially strained to the point where they would lose their housing, which they believed would allow them to be in a better position to dictate the terms of any new deal. Representatives for the AMPTP distanced themselves from the anonymous sources, claiming they remained committed to signing

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4784-660: The eight-episode series premiered internationally in January 2013. Jo was ranked fourth in a listing of the Top 30 Best French Detective Series. In 2013, he served as showrunner and executive producer of the CBS pilot, The Ordained , with Charlie Cox . In 2013, Balcer made two short videos: Watching Tea Leaves in Shanxi , was shot in China and is a zen meditation on the dynamics of tea leaves in fluid,

4876-472: The end of its 17th season as executive producer and head writer. He continued on as showrunner through the show's 20th and final season , writing and directing the show's series finale " Rubber Room ", which the New York Times called the "best finale of all" that season's TV series. In June 2010, he was hired as showrunner of the Law & Order spinoff, Law & Order: Los Angeles . LOLA , as it

4968-686: The entertainment community: in 1999 and 2000, he received the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association for his Law & Order episodes " DWB " and " Hate "; in 2004, he received a Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood for his Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode " The Third Horseman "; in 2010, he received the Champion of Justice award from the Washington-based Alliance for Justice , for his work on

5060-623: The exhibit, Light Before Dawn , opened at the new Asia Society Museum in Hong Kong in May 2013. The exhibit was accompanied by a new documentary written and produced by Balcer, The No Name Painting Association , about the Wuming Group. The documentary was an official selection at some thirty festivals in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia, garnering a dozen awards and nominations. In 2011, Mattawin sponsored

5152-508: The filming of Angela . He began his media career covering the 1973 Yom Kippur War as a cameraman. He later worked as a reporter, editor and film critic for various Canadian publications including Cinema Canada , and made documentary films at the National Film Board of Canada . In 1980, he moved to Los Angeles, where he collaborated with cult film director Monte Hellman on a number of film projects. He later wrote screenplays for

5244-448: The global entertainment ecosystem were impacted by the strike action, including the VFX industry and prop making studios. Following a tentative agreement, union leadership voted to end the strike on September 27, 2023. On October 9, the WGA membership officially ratified the contract with 99% of WGA members voting in favor of it. Its combined impact with the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike resulted in

5336-401: The grand historical and metaphorical tradition that joins photography with detective work; the flâneur’s openness to a changing world with urban crimes; and 'seeing as' with eminently metaphoric meanings. Balcer’s type of forensic aesthetic resonances with photography’s history, with Barthes’ assessment of its noeme, and with our preponderantly surveillant society in which even an innocent trip to

5428-545: The guild's demands for staffing minimums and guaranteed employment periods, AMPTP president Carol Lombardini responded by saying that "writers are lucky to have term employment ." AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron said of the WGA strike that only a prolonged strike lasting many months would impact the theater chain and that most of the movies to be released in 2023 and 2024 have already been written and even filmed. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO and president David Zaslav said that WBD and other Hollywood studios were "not glad" that

5520-589: The higher-paid members of the guild are expressing concern over the inability to end the strike." In addition, while there were plans for a meeting between the WGA and top showrunners on September 15, the meeting was cancelled on that day due to plans for an upcoming meeting between the WGA and AMPTP the following week. On September 13, American comedian and political commentator Bill Maher announced on Twitter that he will resume production of his show Real Time with Bill Maher . However, on September 18, Maher changed his mind, stating: "My decision to return to work

5612-410: The individual involved." The WGA also released a statement, which read, "Workers should not be threatened with physical harm when exercising their right to publicly protest and picket against unfair wages and working conditions." On July 12, 2023, Deadline Hollywood reported that the AMPTP and the major Hollywood studios did not plan to return to negotiations with the WGA until late October 2023 at

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5704-758: The latest Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) became the collective bargaining agreement that covered most of the work done by WGA writers. The Minimum Basic Agreement was an agreement that established a minimum wage for television and film writers. In television, the Minimum Basic Agreement only applied to those who wrote for broadcast television shows and not for streaming television . This was very clear when comparing late-night talk shows that were produced for broadcast television, such as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert by CBS , versus The Problem with Jon Stewart , produced for streaming by Apple TV+ . The writers who worked for The Problem were not covered by

5796-410: The loss of 45,000 jobs, and "an estimated $ 6.5 billion" loss to the economy of Southern California . One of the main focus points in the labor dispute is the residuals from streaming media ; the WGA claims that AMPTP's share of such residuals has cut much of the writers' average incomes compared to a decade ago. Writers also wanted artificial intelligence , such as ChatGPT , to be used only as

5888-525: The members of the Guild that there is nothing the union could do to force members back to work if a WGA strike were to happen. However, she also noted that if DGA members do not perform their "DGA covered services," they could be let go from their current positions. Ahead of the strike, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 399 issued an advisory to members instructing Teamsters not to strike but informing them that they are protected by

5980-622: The new contract. The WGA announced the members of its negotiating committee in November 2022, with David Young as chief negotiator. In February 2023, Ellen Stutzman took over as the chief negotiator of the WGA. Many films, television programs, and podcasts have been affected by the strike; some have continued production without writers, while others have been paused or completely shut down. The projects that have been unaffected either were already written before May 2, are largely unscripted, or rely on non-union staff. Still, other projects with completed scripts have been postponed or canceled due to

6072-832: The prominent donors were showrunners and producers J. J. Abrams , Greg Berlanti , Adam McKay , Ryan Murphy , Shonda Rhimes , Michael Schur , and John Wells . On June 7 and 8, 2023, picketing in the Northeast (namely in New York) was paused due to poor air quality from the 2023 Canadian wildfires . Strike activity resumed on the 9th when air quality improved. On June 9, 2023, Lionsgate suspended BMF line producer Ian Woolf following an altercation with striking writers who were picketing outside of BMF 's production headquarters. According to first-hand accounts from writers Gabriel Alejandro Garza and Tom Smuts, Woolf attempted to intimidate Garza and Brian Egeston, who were picketing on

6164-452: The publication of a 13-volume catalogue of the works of the Wuming (No Name) Group, a cooperative of underground Chinese artists during the Cultural Revolution . In the fall of 2011, Balcer and his wife Carolyn organized and sponsored the exhibition Blooming in the Shadows: Unofficial Chinese Art 1974–1985 at New York's China Institute , featuring works from the Wuming, Stars and Grass groups of experimental artists. A larger iteration of

6256-420: The publication of a book of photographs by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei , Ai Weiwei New York 1983–1993 . In 2014, it sponsored the art exhibit Oil and Water: Reinterpreting Ink at New York's Museum of Chinese in America . Mattawin also co-published A Token of Elegance (2015), a historical and photo survey of cigarette holders as objets d'art ; Chow! Secrets of Chinese Cooking (2020), an updated edition of

6348-406: The same reason, there will be just 13 episodes in the fifth season. In April 2024, the series was renewed for a sixth season which premiered on October 15, 2024. The series focuses on the work of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 's New York Fugitive Task Force (FTF), which relentlessly tracks and captures the notorious and dangerous criminals on the FBI's Most Wanted list . Overseeing the team

6440-552: The series for a second season, which premiered on November 17, 2020. On August 28, 2020, it was announced that showrunner René Balcer would be leaving the series and David Hudgins would be taking over for the second season. On March 24, 2021, CBS announced that the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on September 21, 2021. On May 9, 2022, CBS renewed the series for a fourth and fifth season. The fourth season premiered on September 20, 2022. The fifth season premiered on February 13, 2024. On April 9, 2024, CBS renewed

6532-402: The series for a sixth season which is scheduled to premiere on October 15, 2024. On May 15, 2019, CBS released the first official trailer for the series. The show airs on Tuesday nights in Canada on Global and airs three hours ahead of CBS broadcast. The show airs on Friday nights at 10pm on Sky Witness in the United Kingdom. The show airs on Thursday night at 10:40pm on AXN Asia in

6624-480: The series stars Edie Falco , Heather Graham , Josh Charles , Elizabeth Reaser and Anthony Edwards . The eight-episode series aired in the Fall of 2017 on NBC. In 2019, Balcer created FBI: Most Wanted . The series stars Julian McMahon , Kellan Lutz , Keisha Castle-Hughes , Roxy Sternberg and Nathaniel Arcand , and premiered on CBS on January 7, 2020. It was that season's highest-rated new drama. FBI: Most Wanted

6716-671: The show focused on Balcer's photos of Inuit communities in Canada's Western Arctic, referencing the Inuit's history of forced relocations and other encounters with settler culture. In the summer of 2011, Balcer collaborated with Chinese artist Xu Bing on an artwork that was part of Xu Bing's exhibition Tobacco Project Virginia at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in September of that year. The Washington Post named Tobacco Project Virginia one of

6808-533: The sidewalk next to the studio's entrance, by accelerating his car towards them and stopping just short of hitting them. After first claiming that he did not see them, Woolf later admitted to trying to scare them. According to Smuts, Woolf later unsuccessfully tried to convince Teamsters Local 728 to cross picket lines , but they refused. Lionsgate released a statement saying, "We take acts of intimidation and threats of violence seriously and investigate them thoroughly... As we continue to investigate, we have sent home

6900-808: The strike and, if so, to cease such work for the duration of the strike. The Guild noted that while they cannot punish non-Guild writers who write for companies against which the union is striking, they promise to bar such writers from future Guild membership. The WGA instructed members to begin picketing on May 2, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. PDT . Some places that the WGA has picketed include AMC Networks , Amazon/Culver Studios , MGM , CBS Radford , CBS Television City , Disney , 20th Century Studios , Lionsgate , Starz , Netflix , Paramount , MTV , Sony , Universal , Warner Bros. (including its Burbank division), 30 Rock/NBCUniversal , Broadway Stages , HBO , Silvercup Studios , Steiner Studios , Warner Bros. Discovery , and Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront. During

6992-410: The strike in their pre-recorded speeches during the ceremony. Seth Meyers spoke in support of the strike during the "Corrections" segment on Late Night with Seth Meyers a few days before the strike began. Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik similarly left during the show's last week of filming (for season 39), though production continued with Ken Jennings as host. The strike was also discussed at

7084-559: The strike, the WGA instructed writers facing financial hardship due to the strike to apply to the Entertainment Community Fund . The Entertainment Community Fund helps people in the entertainment industry with financial trouble find affordable housing and maintain health care and senior care coverage. On May 10, 2023, it was reported that writers had pledged $ 1.7 million to the Entertainment Community Fund. Among

7176-453: The team's sniper/sharpshooter. In the season 3 premiere, Crosby is put on medical leave (after being wounded by a former Army comrade during an investigation, Crosby having assisted FBI agents Maggie Bell and OA Zidan) and leaves, returning to Oklahoma. He is replaced by Special Agent Kristin Gaines, a rising star from the FBI's Miami field office . Later, in the second half of the season, LaCroix

7268-484: The union's use of picket lines to disrupt those productions. SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and executive vice president Ben Whitehair picketed with the WGA in May. A significant number of other actors also joined the picket lines or otherwise expressed support for the WGA strike. Drew Barrymore withdrew from hosting the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards in support of the WGA strike, and Jennifer Coolidge , Joseph Quinn , and Pedro Pascal expressed support for

7360-411: The upcoming 74th National Book Awards the following day. On September 17, Barrymore changed her decision and announced that the show would remain on hiatus while the strike was ongoing. On September 12, in an interview with TheWrap , a studio executive said that "the showrunners are quite pissed [...] they are mad at the guilds and feel that they are not responding to the studios' offer. Now even

7452-405: The upcoming summer movie slate, which will move to the streaming service, and productions that will be completed offshore. On July 11, 2023, Deadline Hollywood reported that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was seeking to use a "divide and conquer" approach among the different Hollywood unions, including the WGA. The article said that the AMPTP would not negotiate with

7544-469: The video is available on Vimeo and YouTube; the other, Blue Sky , was shot in Nice, France and is an "unhinged zen piece" featuring the music of Chinese contemporary composer Huang Ruo , the video is available on Vimeo and YouTube. In 2015, Balcer wrote and produced For Justice , a pilot for CBS directed by Ava DuVernay , and developed a series about the porn world in the early 1980s with Owen Wilson for

7636-488: The week and for the series Star Trek: The Next Generation , Capital News , Veronica Clare and Nasty Boys . Balcer is noted for writing and showrunning the television series Law & Order , and for creating and showrunning its spin-off series Law & Order: Criminal Intent . He was hired as staff writer on Law & Order' s first season in 1990, becoming showrunner in the show's seventh season in 1996. During his tenure as showrunner, Law & Order won

7728-567: Was an Official Selection at 31 international film festivals, winning the Golden Dragon Award for Best Documentary at the Ferrara Film Festival along with other awards and nominations at other festivals. In the summer of 2017, Balcer wrote and produced the limited series Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders , a kaleidoscopic take on the notorious 1989 murders of Beverly Hills socialites by their sons. Created by Balcer,

7820-452: Was announced that the series would premiere as a mid-season replacement in the winter-spring of 2020. The series premiered on January 7, 2020. On March 13, 2020, it was announced that Universal Television has suspended the production due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on television in the United States. They were filming episode 15, directed by Lexi Alexander. On May 6, 2020, CBS renewed

7912-469: Was called, was cancelled after one season, with Balcer again writing and directing the series finale. Balcer then rewrote the series finale of Law & Order Criminal Intent , bringing to a close his long association with the Law & Order franchise. In 2012, Balcer created the series Jo , an English-language cop drama set in Paris and starring Jean Reno , Wunmi Mosaku and Celyn Jones . Shot in Paris,

8004-419: Was canceled in Los Angeles due to Hurricane Hilary . The union, meanwhile, remained relatively silent beyond the message of August 18, 2023: "Everybody is trying to step up and make a resolution," one executive told THR . "There's more positive momentum this week than last." On August 22, 2023, AMPTP presented a proposal suggesting rules for AI content, but talks between the studios and the writers remained at

8096-832: Was exhibited at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Connecticut in 2012, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and the Asia Society Hong Kong Center in 2014, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2015 at SCADA in 2015-16, and at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing in the fall of 2018. Balcer produced a film documenting Xu Bing's Tobacco Project: Virginia (2011). In 2006, Balcer donated

8188-426: Was followed by more meetings on September 21, 22, and 23. Finally, the writers and the studios reached a tentative agreement on September 24, and on September 26, following a vote, the union leadership announced that the strike would officially end. The strike ended on September 27 at 12:01 a.m. PDT. On October 9, the WGA membership officially ratified the deal, with 99% of WGA members voting in favor of

8280-459: Was made when it seemed nothing was happening and there was no end in sight to this strike. Now that both sides have agreed to go back to the negotiating table I'm going to delay the return of Real Time , for now, and hope they can finally get this done." Earlier in September, he suggested that the Governor of California Gavin Newsom should help end the strike. On September 14, the AMPTP said that

8372-407: Was reached. On August 10, 2023, the AMPTP and the WGA agreed to resume contract negotiations, with the first meeting set for August 11. After that meeting, the Writers Guild sent a note to its 11,500 members saying the AMPTP had indicated a willingness to make concessions in some areas, including finding ways to safeguard writers from artificial intelligence technology. The note added, however, that

8464-553: Was renewed for a sixth season on April 9, 2024. Balcer has served on the jury for Best Drama Series at the 2013 Monte-Carlo Television Festival , and on the jury for Best Television Miniseries or Film at the 2014 Shanghai Television Festival . During his early days in Hollywood, Balcer was an usher at the Tiffany Theater in 1981 for its famous midnight and 2 am screenings of the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show . Balcer

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