Jennifer Lopez's 'Unstoppable' halts due to writers' strike

The filming of ‘Unstoppable’ was disrupted in Los Angeles by picketing strikers earlier in the week

The ongoing writers' strike in Hollywood has impacted the production of Jennifer Lopez's Unstoppable. According to Deadline, Unstoppable was filming in Los Angeles and was disrupted by picketing strikers earlier in the week.

Unstoppable is based on the story of Anthony Robles (Jerome), a 3x All-American wrestler born with one leg who prevailed in a national championship at Arizona State. Oscar-winning Argo editor Billy Goldenberg is making his feature directorial debut in Unstoppable. The project is backed by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Artists Equity.

More than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) began the strike in May, claiming they aren't paid fairly in the streaming era. "Though we negotiated intent on making a fair deal, the studios' responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing," said a statement from the union leadership.

“They have closed the door on their labour force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership”. The Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP), which is negotiating on behalf of studio management, responded by saying it was willing to improve on its offer but was not willing to meet some of the union’s demands.

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”The primary sticking points are ‘mandatory staffing,’ and ‘duration of employment’ -- Guild proposals that would require a company to staff a show with a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or not,” said the statement from management’s negotiating committee.” Member companies remain united in their desire to reach a deal that is mutually beneficial to writers and the health and longevity of the industry, and to avoid hardship to the thousands of employees who depend upon the industry for their livelihoods,” it added.