WGA Picketers Target ‘American Horror Story’ At Silvercup Studios As Ryan Murphy Threatens Litigation Against Strike Captain

deadline.com:

The scene outside Silvercup Studios on Thursday was the same as it has been for weeks. Dozens of members of the Writers Guild, SAG-AFTRA and other supporters circled loading bays and doors across the Long Island City, NY, property, where Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story has continued work on its 12th season despite efforts by the Writers Guild of America East to slow or halt production on one of the few shows still running on the East Coast. “We’ve shut down a sh*t-ton of shows and that’s why you see us out today,” T Cooper, a WGAE strike captain and, pre-strike, an executive producer on NBC’s hit series The Blacklist, said today. “We’re here at one of the few remaining shows that are being produced still, and how does it feel?

It’s like honestly we’re going to be out here as long as it takes to get what we feel is a fair contract to honor our work.” The WGA rapid response teams have become quite effective at shutting down productions across the U.S., but Murphy’s series have been tough to crack.

American Horror Story is one of very few productions still up and running as the writers strike closes out its 10th week. As for why Murphy, a WGA West member as well as a director and producer, hasn’t budged, Cooper shrugged. “Who really knows?” he said. “But I will say that just from our perspective, I think what’s hard about seeing people like Kim Kardashian cross [the picket line] and seeing Ryan Murphy keep his production running is that these are folks who could have tremendous impact.” While picketers were applying pressure to Murphyland from the outside, tensions were bubbling over on the inside as news surfaced that Murphy had threatened litigation against Warren Leight, a former WGA East strike captain and