Awkward MTV Movie & TV Awards reaffirm importance of writers

The MTV Movie & TV Awards was a shell of its former self on Sunday. Literally: one of the first major casualties of the Writers Guild of America strike, the ceremony fell back on that tried and true sitcom method of transforming into a clip show of past moments rather than producing something new. It doesn’t make for a great awards show, but it does make a solid argument for the necessity of writers in the Hollywood ecosystem.

That’s not simply because writers are the ones doing the writing (duh!). It’s also because the entertainment industry has fostered an environment of solidarity. Host Drew Barrymore pulled out of the proceedings in support of the strike (though several pre-taped bits still aired), and much of the talent reportedly dropped out even before Paramount decided to cancel the live event. Rather than test who was willing to cross the writers’ planned picket line, the network decided to throw in the towel altogether.

Yet the not-live host-less 2023 edition couldn’t escape the specter of the strike, not least because some of its biggest stars expressed their support directly in taped acceptance speeches. The queens who accepted on behalf of RuPaul’s Drag Race emphasized the importance of advocating “for yourself and your worth” in their support of the strike, while Pedro Pascal spoke on behalf of The Last Of Us in stating “solidarity with the WGA, that is fighting very hard for fair wages.”

But the most robust of these statements came from “Comedic Genius” winner Jennifer Coolidge. “Almost all great comedy starts with great writers. … As a proud member of [the Screen Actors Guild], I stand here before you tonight, side by side with my sisters and brothers from the WGA that are fighting right now, fighting for the rights of artists everywhere,” Coolidge said in her speech. “I think of the words of Shakespeare where he once said, ‘The play is the thing.’ Well, I don’t wanna put words in his mouth or anything, but I think what he really meant was, ‘It’s everything.’”

Like so many other flailing Hollywood institutions before it, the awards show tried to turn things around with a stunt from Tom Cruise in which he professed his passion for entertaining (and plugged Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One) while flying a plane. But Cruise’s daredevil ways couldn’t cover up the fact that the night was MTV’s own Frankenstein’s monster, with new clips sewn together with old clips so as to be nearly indistinguishable. Even Barrymore’s most significant pre-taped bit relied on nostalgia (reprising her role as Josie Grossie in Never Been Kissed, something she’s done multiple times on her talk show, by the way) merged with pre-existing clips from the year’s biggest shows and movies. Without writers, there was nothing new—and by the way, without writers, we wouldn’t have any of that old stuff, either.

It’s the first (though probably not the last) chance of the 2023 strike for audiences to see what Hollywood is like sans scribes. Flashy, maybe, with plenty of shiny faces, but ultimately an empty husk. In an environment where awards shows are already struggling to stay relevant, it’s obvious that the formula can’t survive without that key ingredient.