Producer Phil Lord of Sony’s acclaimed animated film Spider-Man: He acknowledges that the production of Across the Spider-Verse required a lot of hard work from the crew, but he is hopeful that industry issues can be resolved and the Writers Guild of America strike can be ended.
Lord was questioned about criticisms of the working conditions on Across the Spider-Verse during an interview with Variety. Lord stated, “that was a really hard movie to make,” even though he did not address any of the underlying issues that may have led to the complaints. We are very proud of everyone’s hard work, which was very demanding. However, we are extremely proud of the crew and everything they contributed to the project.
What were the crew’s thoughts on working on Across the Spider-Verse?
Spider-Man: A follow-up to 2018’s Spider-Man, Across the Spider-Verse: In June 2023, Into the Spider-Verse opened in theaters to critical and commercial success. The new take on the Spider-Man character and the dimension-hopping plot captivated fans, and the groundbreaking mixed animation style received a lot of praise.
However, an unidentified film worker later brought attention to the film’s unsustainable working conditions, stating that work days were 11 hours long, seven days a week, and that more than 100 artists had quit the project “because they couldn’t take it anymore.”
In regards to the WGA strike and the surrounding conversations about unsustainable working conditions in the film and TV industry, Lord said, “I’ve always been optimistic about this labor movement, because these deals seem incredibly makeable, and the main problem is that only one party wants to negotiate. But as long as both parties will come to negotiate in good faith and address the very real problems, like writers’ pay — which is down 25% and is a concrete issue that can be addressed — and make the business healthy so people can do this job and pay their rent, we’re going to be in great shape.” He concluded, “I’m frustrated, but I think this is an imminently solvable problem.”