Jenna Ortega Comments on 'Wednesday's Writing Causing ...
Film 05.05.23 at 11:55 am
Lead Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
Courtesy of Netflix
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As the Writers Guild of America (WGA) continues to strike for increased salaries, residuals from streaming media, and other issues, some of its members are using comments recently made by Jenna Ortega about Wednesday as inspiration for their picket signs.
During an interview on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert in March, Ortega received negative feedback from listeners for admitting to being “unprofessional” on the set of Wednesday by rewriting parts of the script she didn’t feel related well to her character.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had to put my foot down more on a set in a way that I had to on Wednesday,” Ortega said. “Everything that Wednesday does, everything I had to play, did not make sense for her character at all.”
Ortega added: “There were times on that set where I even became almost unprofessional in a sense where I just started changing lines.”
On the picket line, Ortega’s name was seen on some writers’ signs, including the one carried by House Party writer Brandon Cohen. His sign read, “Without writers, Jenna Ortega will have nothing to punch up!”
Others like Tell Me Lies creator and writer Meaghan Oppenheimer were wondering where Ortega was during the protests.
Other writers like Nick Adams (BoJack Horseman) and Karen Joseph Adcock (The Bear) tweeted their own comments about Ortega.
Jenna Ortega better be back from NY for her afternoon shift on the picket line.
— Nick "Labor Organizer" Adams (@nickadamsweb) May 2, 2023
Cohen and others received criticism from people online who believed he was unfairly mocking Ortega.
The writers should have never brought up Jenna Ortega at all, if you don't know the context, these signs do come across as scapegoating her for the issues they are fighting about, I don't care how playfully they seem. The issues are important enough not to bring her into it. https://t.co/Hkdv8vq0tF
— Jeff Gains (@JeffGains3) May 4, 2023
Imagine being a 50-year-old man, working your whole life as a writer, receiving poor pay, participating in a writers' strike demanding more money, and for you to receive attention you need to name a 20-year-old girl who refused to turn a character iconic in a joke.#JennaOrtega https://t.co/dNlT5WhYpU
— Kate (@Madison_Kate90) May 4, 2023
WGA Strike participants have some crazy Jenna Ortega obsession. Mention her so much will not get you support you think it will, it will only piss off people and it started already https://t.co/NkJiWNJal3
— SJO (@StanJennaOrteg1) May 4, 2023
While many people believed Cohen’s sign was a mean swipe at Ortega, he later revealed that he was trying to be “complimentary” to the actress. “She is one of us,” he responded to someone online who questioned his motivation for the sign.
Earlier this year, Wednesday was officially renewed by Netflix for a second season. So it’s even more important to support the writers who helped bring this story to life with fair wages and compensation. If not, we might have a Heroes season 2 situation where a writer’s strike led to major cuts in episode count and storylines, leading to the eventual downfall of what started as a great show.
