Lilly Wachowski is speaking out after Showtime canceled her show, ‘Work In Progress.’
The show follows Abby, a 45-year-old who self-identifies as a “fat, queer dyke” with depression and OCD. This is a very different type of queer person than what’s usually on major networks. Trans icon Wachowski, who produces the show, is not happy with the decision to cancel it after two seasons.
The Grim News
“Right before the Thanksgiving holiday, I got the extremely disappointing news from the execs at Showtime that Work in Progress was not going to be picked up for a third season. It was a major bummer,” Wachowski said on Twitter.
Right before the thanksgiving holiday, I got the extremely disappointing news from the execs at Showtime that Work in Progress was not going to be picked up for a third season.
It was a major bummer.
— Lilly Wachowski (@lilly_wachowski) January 27, 2022
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In her lengthy thread, she wrote about how shooting the show during the coronavirus pandemic had been “extremely difficult,” “grim,” and “antiseptic.” However, she said things started looking up thanks to the vaccine saying, “as we neared the end of the season editorially, the last episodes like train cars coming into the station, I was beaming with pride with everything we had accomplished.”
But, still, she said show business is a business after all and after two seasons, the show’s viewership had declined. She noted how the show “isn’t enough to overcome the bottom line,” despite its making top ten lists.
A Vicious Cycle
“Shows like ours get trotted out to illustrate how networks and studios are soooo committed to diversity, but then get cut before they can establish a viewership,” she said. “It is a bit of a vicious cycle. At what point does the ‘commitment and championing of diversity’ end?”
If the answer to that question is at the bottom line of a profits and loss spreadsheet, then maybe you’re not really invested in diversity at all. An investment in diversity isn’t meaningful if ultimately studios and networks justify cancellations based on the bottom line.
— Lilly Wachowski (@lilly_wachowski) January 27, 2022
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“If the answer to that question is at the bottom line of a profits and loss spreadsheet, then maybe you’re not really invested at all,” she noted. “An investment in diversity isn’t meaningful if ultimately studios and networks justify cancellations based on the bottom line. Those are just, you know, regular investments.”
While she said she’s thankful that Showtime gave the show a home, she’s “not content or happy to just be here.”
A Work In Progress
“This industry should be pushed to create more meaningful support systems for the art that they help create,” Wachowski said. “Shows like Gentefied and Vida and South Side (why the hell hasn’t this show been picked up yet!? It’s fantastic!) and Shrill and Work in Progress need more meaningful commitments than just an intersection between art and commerce or a deal with the devil.”
She ended her thread by asking for new projects to hire her cast and crew. She also added, “And If any executive is seeing this our show is available!!!”
