‘Drew Barrymore Show’ Gets Picketed as Series Resumes Production Mid-Strike

Kelli Boyle
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The Drew Barrymore Show is set to return for its fourth season on September 18 despite the ongoing writers’ strike. And it’s not gone down well with union members, who are now picketing her show.

Drew Barrymore announced the decision to resume production in a lengthy Instagram post on Sunday, September 10, saying, “I own this choice” and insisted that the show is in compliance with strike rules. She also noted that since Season 3 of the daytime talk show wrapped on April 20, the series never actually shut down due to the strike, which began May 2. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) said she’s in direct violation of the strike rules. (While there are unscripted segments in daytime and evening talk shows, all talk shows still have scripted segments, such as opening monologues, traditionally written by guild writers.)

“The @DrewBarrymoreTV Show is a WGA covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers,” the WGA tweeted September 10 in response to Barrymore’s announcement. “The Guild has, and will continue to, picket struck shows that are in production during the strike. Any writing on ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ is in violation of WGA strike rules.”

The WGA began its picketing of the show on Monday, September 11, at 6:30 a.m. ET, according to a schedule shared on Twitter on September 10.

Barrymore claims she’s in compliance by “not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind.” That is only accurate in terms of the SAG-AFTRA strike rules. SAG-AFTRA and WGA members can work under different contracts for different jobs. The commercial contract, for example, is not on strike, so actors and writers in SAG/WGA can work on a commercial with no penalty as long as the commercial isn’t promoting a struck show or film studio.

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As host of the daytime talk show, Barrymore operates under the Network Television Code, a contract that is not on strike. That means returning to host is not against the actors strike rules (she is a member of SAG-AFTRA, but not WGA). Writers on The Drew Barrymore Show, however, operate under the TV/theatrical contract, making the series a struck production.

Anyone who completes the work of writers for The Drew Barrymore Show Season 4 will be scabbing, resulting in being barred from WGA membership at any point in the future. By choosing to return, Barrymore likely doesn’t fear being banned from WGA membership herself. Non-writing producers could also step in to write scripts for Season 4, which would produce the same result. Hiring non-guild writers would hurt those writers the most, as they’d never be allowed to gain membership to the WGA and reap the benefits of the union protections the guild is fighting to secure.

Barrymore’s decision has shocked many, especially given her strong show of support for the WGA strike she displayed in May when stepping down as host of the MTV Film and TV Awards. She addressed this in her Instagram post, saying the circumstances are different because the award show directly promoted TV and film and she won’t be doing that in Season 4. That justification only applies to the actors strike rules. She did not directly acknowledge that her choice is a flagrant violation of the writers strike rules.

“I want to be there to provide what writers do so well, which is a way to bring us together or help us make sense of the human experience,” she wrote. By returning to set, she has caused division.

See reactions to Barrymore’s decision from celebrities and guild members below, including images of the show’s striking writers on the picket line in NYC and an audience member who says they were kicked out of the CBS studio because they wore a WGA pin.

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