Lionsgate’s ‘Good Fortune’ suspends shoot due to writers strike (reports)

Lionsgate’s Cannes market title Good Fortune has become one of the first major features to fall victim to the US writers strike since the stoppage began, with shooting on the project in downtown Los Angeles being suspended this week, according to reports. 

It is not yet clear whether production will resume in the near future or be put on hold until the strike, now in its third week, is over. 

The comedy is the directing debut of Aziz Ansari, who also wrote the script, and stars Ansari along with Seth Rogen and Keanu Reeves. Production was first halted temporarily on Wednesday because the shoot was being picketed by WGA members. On Thursday the suspension of work was reportedly made indefinite, although the production is thought to have been operating within strike rules, with no writing being done during the shoot. 

Since the strike started on May 2 it has been mostly television shows that have been immediately affected, with projects including Yellowjackets, Cobra Kai, Stranger Things, Severance and The Penguin either halting work in writers rooms or pausing production. 

Ansari, best known as creator and star of streaming comedy series Master Of None, had been set to make his directing debut on Searchlight Pictures’ Being Mortal, until production on that project was suspended last spring after the filing of a complaint. The complaint is believed to have involved the behaviour of star Bill Murray, who has said he had a “difference of opinion” with someone on the project. Production has not yet resumed.