Laura Shapiro

I suffer from this affliction

I went through that list in depth. There are several who are really questionable - eg one client who is a relative - and one who had their license revoked. They apparently didn’t vet it.

Trump signed the Epstein bill because Pam bondi already deleted anything bad about Trump. Period.

If I hear "the showrunner is only hiring his friends" ONE MORE TIME

Increase in productivity since 1979: 87%

Increase in hourly pay since 1979: 32%

Just so happens that ~25% of workers were unionized in 1979. Today? 10%.

As unions declined, the super-rich have taken a larger share of wealth generated by labor. We must build back union power.

Only one single person — the hero filming — took any sort of action. Everybody else just keeps walking, pretending not to see a screaming woman being dragged away. This is so incredibly Nazi Germany.

WGA Members and Aspiring Writers:

Please beware of a link circulating for a “WGA TV Career Launch ScriptFest.” This is NOT affiliated with the WGA and could be a scam. Do not give them your money.

I am consistently baffled by people who claim to be anti-fascist but they use AI avatars or banner art.

Generative AI is a fascist tool. Period. Look at who's paying for it. Look at who's pushing it. Look at what they want you to use it for. It is anti-human.

Do fucking better.

History’s Lessons for the Second Committee for the First Amendment Jane Fonda is reviving the Hollywood advocacy group to meet the high-stakes challenges to free expression in the Trump era.

My new piece for @thenation.com: Jane Fonda bringing back the Committee for the First Amendment is both an inspiring and cautionary tale of history, hardball politics, and bottom lines.
www.thenation.com/article/soci...

If you see this video, it is 1) from #NoKings in Los Angeles, but importantly 2) from the JUNE #NoKings rally, not today's.

Seriously, we didn't go down Broadway today- went up to Grand along 1st Street and turned north- didn't go to nor thru the Theater District.

Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world,... I feel like I can't take it. And my heart is just going to cave in.

These are professional engineers and builders who are taking on restoration projects that the governments won't pay for. There's definitely a great story here.

Upon viewing more closely, the film is actually about the takeover of the Pantheon, another action the group did around the same time

*wrote

I read about it in the Guardian at the time and kind of went down a rabbit hole researching them. Check out the links to articles on the wikipedia page - it was a larger movement all over the world

Pantheon, user's guide Original title: Panthéon, mode d'emploi (2009) Directed by: Lazar Kunstmann Various workshops conducted in the early 21st century by Urban eXperiment’s…

He also made a film vimeo.com/51365068

Pantheon, user's guide Original title: Panthéon, mode d'emploi (2009) Directed by: Lazar Kunstmann Various workshops conducted in the early 21st century by Urban eXperiment’s…

vimeo.com/51365068

It was part of a larger cultural movement: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_UX

La Culture en clandestins. L'UX (Beaux-Arts) Amazon.com: La Culture en clandestins. L'UX (Beaux-Arts): 9782754103411: Lazar Kunstmann: Books

There is one. Lazar Kunstmann, who was one of the people behind the project, write a book about it. It's only in French though: www.amazon.com/culture-en-c...

Barbie called it.

Kerry Bishe in costume as Donna and Mackenzie Davis in costume as Cameron Howe on the set of Halt and Catch Fire

Scoot McNairy and Lee Pace on the set of Halt and Catch Fire

Can folks do me a favor?

I was on Bluesky early & it was great. Mostly. I hit the eject button in January.

I came back, many colleagues are here, but still don’t know I am.

I co-created Halt and Catch Fire. I write TV & comics.

Here’s two favorite set photos.

Repost? I am in the wilderness.

These LA tenants saw some utility fees double. So they went on strike The controversial billing system their landlord uses was banned in West Hollywood three years ago.

These LA tenants saw some utility fees double. So they went on strike.
The controversial billing system their landlord uses was banned in West Hollywood three years ago.
lapublicpress.org/2025/08/la-t...

Park Chan-wook Can Keep Writing Despite WGA Expulsion: ‘No Impact on Employability’ Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar were kicked out of the Writers Guild of America, but the expulsion has little practical impact.

Many #screenwriters don't understand what the truth is, about Park Chan-Wook & Don McKellar being kicked out of the WGA for what was apparently minor post-production work (permitted by the DGA). The WGA board is very punishing. Read the whole article. #scriptsky #moviesky variety.com/2025/tv/news...

Newsom v. Trump begins tomorrow, Aug. 11, as a 3-day bench trial. For the first time in U.S. history, a court will decide whether a president violated the Posse Comitatus Act by using military forces as domestic law enforcement.

Here are the key facts: (🧵1/9)

The author with a Moomin doll on her shoulder.

Remembering Tove Jansson on her birthday 🎂
With a Moomintroll doll in Helsinki
📷 Lehtikuva, 1954

"If I could live it all over again, I'd do it completely differently. But I won't say how."

Good morning. Some thoughts about last night:

It’s a shocking thing when media get brutalized by the state, for a number of reasons, but it often shifts the spotlight off the thing we were out there to cover in the first place.

My evening started like this yesterday: a lively, fun march thru DTLA

The unions. DGA. WGA. SAG. IATSE. We need to stand up for the jobs of those in the adjacent unions. No AI to replace actors. No AI to replace crew. No AI writing in scripts. No AI to replace VFX artists. AI tools only and only tools that facilitate jobs, not replace them. Together we can do this.

I *cannot* fucking stress this enough:

The threat of AI is *NOT* making movies for us, but the hundreds of jobs it will be able to easily eliminate from crew positions. VFX. Drone pilots. Color timing. Sound mixing. Clerical staff.

If we don't move to protect jobs NOW, they WILL go away forever.

www.nbcnews.com/business/eco...