Hollywood boss David Zaslav was booed by students during the writers’ strike

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As he reflected on his career, viewers chanted, “Shut up, Zaslav” and “We don’t want you here.”

The problem: His speech came amid an ongoing strike by Hollywood writers demanding better pay, new contracts for the streaming age and protections from artificial intelligence-generated content. “Pay your writers!” was another chant aimed at him.

Zaslav is hit by a “Pay Your Writers” chant in Boston. That is fine. pic.twitter.com/00pL4ahAqZ

— Mike Scolins (@mikescollins) May 21, 2023

“Writer guild Members are on strike because companies, including Warner Bros. Discoveryrefused to guarantee any weekly employment in episodic television, attempted to switch late-night writers to a daily rate, blocked free script revision work for screenwriters, and refused to even go along with our proposal on the existential threat that AI poses to all writers discuss,” the guild later said in a statement. accordingly The Hollywood reporter.

Actor Sean Penn supported the authors This week he said: “There are many new concepts being discussed, including the use of AI. It strikes me as human obscenity that the producers are resisting it.”

“Some people will want a fight,” Zaslav said to the students, eliciting boos and cheers. “But don’t be the one they find it with. Focus on the qualities of good people. In my career I’ve seen so many talented people lose opportunities or jobs because they didn’t get along with others. You can’t choose the people you work with. Find out what you like about a person – there’s always something – and do what you can to meet their challenges. We all have them.”

Some students laughed at the feeling. Vanessa Barlett, a graduate who helped lead a university solidarity event for writers’ strikes, told The Hollywood reporter: “I go to the same college as a bunch of film and TV kids. I’m friends with a lot of people at the School of Fine Arts, people who are in the theater department, so a sense of solidarity is very important to me.”

Zaslav also angered the audience when he spoke about his financial success as a lawyer: “I made good money, I felt really great.” This drew boos and groans.

Zaslav later said in a statement: “I am grateful to my alma mater, Boston University, for inviting me to attend today’s graduation ceremony and for awarding me an honorary doctorate and, as I have said many times, I support writers immensely.” and hope that the strike will be resolved soon and in a way that they feel recognizes their value.”