Members successfully push for Guild coverage of short-form and TV animation projects.

Animation has quickly been able to adapt to the demands of COVID-19’s production shutdowns: writers’ rooms have gone virtual, animators and sound editors have been working remotely, and development deals show few signs of slowing. The WGAW has played an instrumental role in making Guild deals for writers, ensuring that they are fairly compensated in the process. 

Showrunner Craig Silverstein (Turn: Washington’s Spies, Nikita) wanted to create an adult animated one-hour drama for AMC, where he has an overall deal. AMC had a series of short stories under option from multiple Hugo Award-winning sci-fi/fantasy author Ken Liu, which Silverstein adapted into the upcoming series Pantheon.

Silverstein wrote the pilot in Spring 2018, and a 12-week mini-room with four additional writers commenced in Summer 2019 to begin working on Season 1. Silverstein and the mini-room also produced a ten-minute animated proof-of-concept short with animation company Titmouse. In February of 2020, AMC ordered two seasons of Pantheon.

“There was never a question, in my mind at least, that the writing would be Guild covered,” Silverstein told Connect.

All of Pantheon’s writers come from a live-action background. Unphased by COVID-19 shutdowns, a 16-week Season 2 writers’ room began for Pantheon’s writing staff in June 2020.

Brothers Jim and Brian Kehoe (Blockers) knew WGAW coverage would be crucial when developing the upcoming Futha Mucka with Anonymous Content for short-form streaming platform Quibi. Prior to approaching Quibi or Anonymous Content, the Kehoes’ pitch for Futha Mucka—a ten-minute animated series featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds as themselves—already had interest from both actors.

When it looked like their new series would be picked up, the brothers understood it would have to be Guild covered in order for them to maintain their Writers Guild healthcare and to secure residuals and other MBA protections. Both Kehoes have been members of the Guild since 2013.

Before going to Quibi, the brothers told Anonymous Content that Futha Mucka “is a WGA deal or it doesn’t happen.”

Meanwhile, Reynolds was pitching the series to Quibi through his relationship with Jeffrey Katzenberg. The Kehoes walked away from the deal twice before Anonymous Content agreed to the brothers’ terms for Guild coverage. By the time the project got to Quibi, the issue of coverage was already locked in, and the deal was finalized late this summer.

“As a writer,” Jim told Connect, “you have so little leverage throughout your career that when you do have it, you have to use it. Go in firm with your standards. Ours were healthcare and creative control.”

When Gabe Liedman (PEN15, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) began developing LGBTQ+ workplace spy comedy Q-Force with Mike Schur and Sean Hayes for Universal, they were also determined to secure a Guild contract. Since animation’s production model is significantly different from live action, and the Q-Force production calendar was over 70 weeks, Liedman wanted to make sure the Q-Force writing staff was protected.

“When we pitched it, Netflix picked it up straight to series,” Liedman told Connect. “I didn’t want the challenge of staffing a writers’ room without Guild coverage.”

Liedman and Schur consulted with colleagues on other WGA-covered animation projects (such as Big Mouth) and reached out to the Guild to strategize the Q-Force deal. The Guild helped negotiate the contract and included vital span protections for the writing staff in the WGA deal for the series.

Once the contract was in place, Liedman was able to find staff for Q-Force by using the WGA Platform. Despite the COVID-19 shutdown halfway through the Q-Force writers’ room, production has barely missed a beat as the entire process has gone completely remote. 

Working on an animation project? Reach out to the WGAW Member Organizing Department and get your project covered.

Read more stories about animation organizing and covered projects in Written By’s “I Can Relate,” about BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg and staff; “Animation Grows Up,” on Big Mouth co-creators Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett; "The Revisionary," about feature animation writer Linda Woolverton; and “Happening Ever After,” about feature animation writers organizing for union representation.