Cindy Chupack: Last News

All Rise will not be returning to CBS for a third season.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor A birthday ritual at her daughter’s preschool gave Cindy Chupack the inspiration to write her first children’s picture book. When her daughter Olivia was a toddler, Chupack, a veteran TV and film writer and two-time Emmy winner, was invited to read a special picture book to the preschool class to celebrate Olivia’s birthday. As she turned the pages, Chupack quietly struggled with lines like “You were in my tummy” and other references that did not reflect her experience of starting a family through adoption. “I remember wanting to have something that would address all the different ways that families are formed,” Chupack told Variety of the spark that led her to write “We Waited for You: Now We’re a Family,” with illustrator Emily Hamilton. “I wanted something that would be validating to parents who have gone through a lot to get their child.”

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Let the gig economy debate begin. One of the most contentious issues in the writers strike that erupted May 2 is the assertion by the Writers Guild of America that screenwriting is in danger of becoming part of the “gig economy.” The WGA’s proposed solutions — mandatory staffing minimums and guaranteed weeks of employment — are equally dividing labor and management. Now that contract talks between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have cratered, complex issues are being chewed over by writers who are fired up, walking in circles (literally) and wound up about the long-term employment picture for Hollywood scribes.