One of the hot stories this past week, possibly hotter than the IATSE strike, was the tale of a Timothée Chalamet stan leaking footage of Wonka, a prequel film for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which somehow exists. Vulture got an exclusive with Art Doherty, the leaker, which I highly recommend. See their initial tweet below:

While it may seem like a shock to some that Timmy Chalamet, as I and a massive amount of the Internet call him, has droves of super stans, is it so ludicrous? He's a hot young star, and even though he looks like he could blow over in a slight breeze, I suppose that's attractive to some people.

But the more important news I'd like to talk about is the news that IATSE officially strikes on October 18th, 2021, if the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers doesn't make a deal over this weekend. I'm writing this on Thursday, and this column will be scheduled on Friday, so maybe we'll have a deal by the time this gets published, but if there is no deal, this means productions across the U.S. will be shut down.

I'd also like to go into why the IATSE strike is important to us, the fans. Of course, if the strike goes through, productions go into a grinding halt, which means shows and movies will be delayed, if not canceled outright. As someone who remembers the WGA strike of 2007-08, it allowed for a lot of creativity in spaces like late night, but it also led to truncated television seasons as productions raced to either wrap things up or finish seasons and films up after the strike finally ended.

I stand with IATSE, just like I stood with the WGA, young though I was, and I'd like to echo some sentiments I made on a certain social media site, and it's a sentiment I wish I saw more. No, you should not aim any complaints about the loss of content towards the crew members who are rightfully striking after literal decades of mistreatment. But what you could do is aim your complaints at those who are causing this strike through their intransigence: the producers and studios and streaming services who are refusing to bargain on even ground with these essential film and television workers.

So yes, a major film production getting recorded by an ardent stan spells trouble for Hollywood, but it isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened if we're being honest. The IATSE strike is bigger trouble, but it's good trouble. It's the kind of trouble that further changes a still-abusive industry for the better.