Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger.  Unfortunately, your order might need to wait…

Filming for Good Burger 2 had been scheduled to continue in East Greenwich on Wednesday, June 14, but was halted due to picketing by the Writer’s Guild of America.  The union has been on strike since May 2 for issues ranging from residual payments on streaming content to the use of artificial intelligence in script writing.

 “The Teamsters Union has put out a statement that their members won’t cross our picket lines,” said Don Hooper, a strike captain with WGA East.  “So as long as we are physically present here, no filming will occur.   We have a good relationship with other workers, so they’re standing with us on this.”

  Hooper indicated that protests are scheduled to continue to occur until the disagreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has been resolved.  “These companies have been taking advantage of the transition to streaming platforms to underpay writers,” he said.  “They’ve refused to listen to our concerns about AI writing – they only offered to check in with us once a year to discuss new developments with the technology.  And they rejected all of our demands about mini rooms.”

 “Mini rooms” are a fairly recent innovation in television production, with a greatly reduced number of writers being paid at a scale rate to generate scripts.  WGA negotiators are currently calling for a minimum of six writers in television writer’s rooms in order to ensure that work remains available.

 Last month, WJAR reported that executive director Steven Feinberg said the Rhode Island Film and Television Office “did not anticipate” picket lines at any of the Good Burger filming locations.  In the time since then, however, both the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild have altered the non-strike clauses in their contracts.

 Filming has been taking place throughout the state over the course of the past several weeks, with the former Friendly’s on Mineral Spring Avenue in Providence having been transformed into the eponymous fast-food restaurant introduced in the 1997 Nickelodeon film Good Burger.  Stars Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell have been spotted riding around Providence in a hamburger-shaped car.

Additional scenes were supposed to have been filmed Wednesday at the New England Institute of Technology – or “Mega Corp,” as it has been rechristened by the set dressers.  Filming is expected to resume as soon as picketing ends.  The Film and Television Office has also listed that locations in Warwick will be used when shooting recommences.