Striking signs at Hollywood writers’ protest
Where to go, what to read, eat and buy: get ready for the weekend with these great diversions.
SPOTLIGHT / Signs of the times
Someone probably should have told the major film and TV studios that it’s a bad idea to send a bunch of scorned writers onto the streets to protest. For the first time in 15 years, Hollywood is experiencing an industry-wide writers’ strike, with more than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) putting their pens down and heading for the picket line. The WGA had talked with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers about fair pay in the streaming era, but no new deal materialised. While that means many of our favourite shows are now on pause, including Yellowjackets, Saturday Night Live, Cobra Kai and Abbott Elementary, one thing the strike has delivered is elite sign content.
The picket lines in Los Angeles and New York were brimming with punchlines as Hollywood’s best writers used their skills to skewer the industry. “Pay your writers, or we’ll spoil Succession,” one threatened, while others referenced the 2007 writers’ strike, which lasted 100 days and cost the studios billions. “We know how much you love reboots, so we’re rebooting the 2007 writers’ strike.” Also a hot topic was the increasing fear of ChatGPT. Unions are concerned the technology will be used to produce drafts for TV series and films, with writers then hired at a lower pay rate to add the finishing touches. But as one sign so rightly pointed out, AI can do smart, but it can’t do pithy: “I told ChatGPT to make a sign, and it sucked.” Now that’s good writing. Thomas Mitchell
WEAR / Keeping it unreal
Coat season has officially begun. And if the runways of Giorgio Armani, JW Anderson and Gucci at the most recent Milan Men’s Fashion Week are a guide, faux fur is one of the biggest trends for outerwear. Melbourne-based vegan brand Unreal Fur is promoting the unisex appeal of several new-season styles, including an aviator-inspired vegan leather “Symbiosis” jacket with a faux shearling-lined collar $419) that’s more James Dean than JLo. For those stuck in a black-puffer-jacket rut, this could be the perfect circuit-breaker; your partner will want to borrow it, too. Melissa Singer
SHOP / Kitx and tell
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