Writers and writer-producers of Sony’s new animated series Sit Down, Shut Up! have walked off the show to dispute whether WGA or ITASE has jurisdiction over the writing staff according to Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood website. The toon, which is scheduled to join Fox TV’s animation block this fall, is based on a live-action Australian show and is headed by Mitch Hurwitz (Arrested Development), and written and produced by former Simpsons scribes Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein.Voice cast includes Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Henry Wrinkler and Nick Kroll.
All of Fox’s primetime toons are currently covered under the WGA contract, so the writers assumed that they would follow in the footsteps of the network’s other toons such as The Simpsons, Family Guy and King of the Hill. Writers Guild organizers were afraid that issues like this would develop when giant media corporations treated animation differently and let ITASE’s Local 839 (The Animation Guild) deal with their union issues. Sony’s Dilbert had also been following the WGA rules. This report is another great scoop for Nikki Finke who has had a stellar reputation for covering important union and strikes-related issues.
