Lionsgate’s Cannes market title Good Fortune has become one of the first major features to hit by the US writers strike since the stoppage began, with shooting on the project in downtown Los Angeles being suspended this week, according to reports.
It is not yet clear whether production will resume in the near future or be put on hold until the strike, now in its third week, is over. The comedy marks Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut. He also wrote the script. It stars Ansari with Seth Rogen, Keanu Reeves, and others. The production was temporarily halted on Wednesday due to a picket by WGA members. The suspension of work on Thursday was reported to be indefinite. However, the production is believed to have operated within strike rules and no writing was done during the shoot.
Since the strike started on May 2 it has been mostly television shows that have been immediately affected, with projects including
Yellowjackets, Cobra Kai, Stranger Things, Severance and The Penguin either halting work in writers rooms or pausing production. Ansari, who is best known for creating and starring in the streaming comedy series Master of None
was set to direct Searchlight Pictures’ Being mortal until production on this project was suspended last year after a complaint. The complaint was believed to be about the behavior of Bill Murray who had stated that he had “a difference of opinion” with someone working on the project. Production has not yet resumed.––
