#34. Filmmaker Joe Russo Gives Insight Into The WGA Strike

Writer, producer, director and podcaster Joe Russo joins the Movies In Focus podcast to discuss the current strike by the Writer’s Guild of America. An up and coming genre filmmaker, Russo has written a host of well regarded screenplays with his partner Chris LaMont, as well as directing the thriller, The Au Pair Nightmare. He also produced the horror anthology film, Nightmare Cinema, Peter Farrelly’s The Greatest Beer Run Ever, as well as the fantastic podcast - Post Mortem With Mick Garris. Russo is a member of the WGA and a very vocal supporter of the current writer’s strike - and his insights into the reasons for it are a real eye opener. The rise of streaming and Artificial Intelligence means that the world of entertainment is changing and artists face a whole new set of challenges both commercially and artistically. In this fascinating conversation, Joe Russo talks passionately and concisely about these challenges as well as giving surprising details on how Netflix’s mysterious algorithm impacts creative decisions every stage of film production.