The Disney Plus seriesAndoris already well-known for its strong sense of justice and passionate vibes, particularly among the rest of theStar Warsfranchise. Now, series showrunner Tony Gilroy has come out to share some of that passion with his fellow striking writers, proving exactly where the show’s fire comes from.
Gilroy has a long history in the entertainment business, and he’s become renowned for his writing. He’s easily one of the biggest reasons whyAndorhas such memorable speeches, from characters like Fiona Shaw’s Maarva radicalizing the people of her hometown to fight the Empire to the heart-pounding delivery from Andy Serkis as Kino Loy inspiring his fellow inmates to overpower their captors and take the one way out of their confinement. So, it should be no surprise that Gilroy has some of those scorching flames of defiance in his soul. That’s what he proved when he recently offered his own speech.
RELATED:Star Wars: Andor is the Perfect Rebellion Story
Appearing on the picket line for the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA actors' strike in New York City, Gilroy was captured on film byDeadline Hollywoodfiring up his fellow screenwriters with the sort of passion that wouldn’t be out of place in one of his projects, includingAndor,declaring that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers doesn’t have their “sht together.” As the guilds remain on strike for fair pay and treatment in a time where writers and actors scarcely see proper residuals for streaming projects in particular, he had a lot to say. “I’m second generation guild,” he began. “My father went on strike for the first time in 1960.” Gilroy offered context for the strike, reminding his peers that past strikes got them the rights to residual payments, healthcare, and pensions. “Marriages fell apart, friendships were broken forever, people really did lose their houses,” he continued. “That sacrifice was to win all this sht that we take for granted.”
Gilroy also spoke about how much has changed since he first participated in a WGA strike in the ’80s. At the time, things went about as well asBoromir’s plan to use the One Ring. But Gilroy now seems hopeful, given the current state of the guilds. “This doesn’t look anything like what we went through before,” he said with pride. “This guild is older and wiser in many ways, but it’s younger and more passionate and it’s more connected and it’s faster on its feet. And my god, we have a media landscape with a press that’s actually willing to report our story with interest and with accuracy for the first time in history.” This inspired cheers from the crowd.
“If we’ve learned anything in the last 15 years,” Gilroy continued, referring to the previous strike, “it is our value. And they know it. And the directors know it. And the producers know it. We are the content.” At this, the crowd cheered like the audience at pretty much every showing ofthe endlessly quotableBarbie. Even passing cars joined in to honk their approval. “It’s our ideas that fill the theme parks and the toy stores,” he added when the raucous sounds of approval died down. “Our characters on the lunch boxes and the Halloween costumes. They gaslight us, and they set the guilds in opposition to one another, and they try to use the press as a wind-up toy to spread fear, and we are not having it anymore at all. We are the natural resource from which the product is made, and we are tired of being strip-mined.”
Finally, Gilroy closed his speech out in his special way. “I never thought I would see writers on top,” he said, referring to the power the guild now has in negotiating better treatment. “But we’re there, it’s our show, we cannot wait, we cannot stall… one way out!” It’s fitting that he would quote Serkis' “one way out” speech as Kino Loy fromAndor, asSerkis also recently spoke about the strike. But even clever references aside, Gilroy’s passion is addictive, and the guilds deserve their fair treatment as much as those prisoners deserve their freedom. One way out, indeed.
