Tom Hanks has weighed in on the Writers Guild strike, saying that “like minds” are going to have to come together for the “common good” of the industry. Promoting his new book on CBS Mornings, Hanks was asked by co-host Gayle King about the strike, which is now in its second week.
“The entire industry is at a crossroads, and everybody knows it,” he said. “The financial motor has to be completely redefined. And there is some degree of pie here that is going to have to be equitably distributed by the people who are responsible for the content – not the folks who make the deals for the content, the folks who actually make it.
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“And first up is the writers,” he continued. “We do not have scripts without writers. And up next is the directors. We do not have filmed stories without directors, and the actors are coming up as well. So there is going to have to be some sit-down. And for the common good of the arts and sciences, and the business of show, like minds are going to have to come down and be equitable, and believe it or not, some type of win-win situation.”
To which King said, “We all hope that this doesn’t last long.”
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See his comments here:
Hanks made a similar call for the end of a writers strike the last time the WGA went to the picket lines, a 100-day walkout that ended February 12, 2008. Speaking then at the UK premiere of his film Charlie Wilson’s War, the two-time Oscar-winning actor said, “I just hope that the big guys who make big decisions, up high in their corporate boardrooms and what not, get down to honest bargaining and everyone can get back to work.” That strike ended a month later.
Hank’s new book is called The Making of Another Modern Motion Picture Masterpiece.