The Chosen is reportedly still shooting during the SAG strike because it’s a ‘truly independent’ production


While the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America’s ongoing labor strikes have brought production on most of Hollywood’s movies and shows to an indefinite stop, filming on the fourth season of The Chosen — Dallas Jenkins’ historical drama series about Jesus Christ — is reportedly continuing because it is not associated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
Deadline — the entertainment industry trade that recently came under fire and subsequently apologized for aggressively misrepresenting an actor’s thoughts about the strike — reports that SAG-AFTRA has granted The Chosen an exemption allowing it to keep shooting its forthcoming fourth season due to its being a “truly independent” production.
On Thursday, before the SAG strike had technically begun, The Chosen’s official Twitter account posted a message from Jenkins expressing doubt over the show being granted an exemption “despite the requested work we did on our end” to avert a complete shutdown. In a subsequent Instagram post, Jenkins addressed SAG-AFTRA directly, insisting that The Chosen “fit all the qualifications for an exemption” and that the union’s lack of response at the time “costs us hundreds of thousands of dollars while your actors are struck in Utah.”
“We’re the good guys; we’ve treated your actors well,” Jenkins said. “Please take a few minutes to approve our application so your actors can get back to work getting paid for the last two weeks of a season they want to finish.”
At that point, the plan seemed to be that The Chosen’s cast would be dismissed from set while some filming that didn’t require their presence continued, but by Sunday afternoon, the show’s exemption had been approved, and full filming was set to resume the following day. Neither SAG-AFTRA nor The Chosen has put out statements addressing the show’s exemption as the vast majority of the union’s actors continue to strike. But it seems to be the first ongoing project to successfully secure a production pass due to its not being affiliated with the AMPTP — the trade association representing the studios who have not met striking workers’ demands.
Soon after the strike went into effect, SAG-AFTRA stated on its strike-focused frequently asked questions page that it planned to grant “Interim Agreements” to “independent producers” who aren’t a part of the AMPTP. Though SAG-AFTRA has said that it plans to post the terms of the agreement to its site, as of this piece’s publishing, it has yet to do so. But with The Chosen — a property that began as an independently produced short film before being adapted into a largely crowdfunded series for the faith-based entertainment outfit Angel Studios (the folks behind The Sound of Freedom) — it seems as if SAG-AFTRA deemed it removed enough from studios to warrant its winding back up.
The Chosen has always been available to watch for free via an official app, but in the time since those early days of indie bootstrapping, the series was also the centerpiece of a distribution deal with Lionsgate and has come to a number of streamers like Amazon, Netflix, and Peacock. Earlier this summer, The CW began also began airing The Chosen after gaining the distribution rights to its first three seasons. It’s unclear what will become of the show’s currently-shooting fourth season, but it’s going to be very interesting to see what other productions end up coming back online as SAG-AFTRA’s strike continues.
Disclosure: The Verge’s editorial staff is also unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.
While the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America’s ongoing labor strikes have brought production on most of Hollywood’s movies and shows to an indefinite stop, filming on the fourth season of The Chosen — Dallas Jenkins’ historical drama series about Jesus Christ — is reportedly continuing because it…
Recent Posts
- Apple’s C1 chip could be a big deal for iPhones – here’s why
- Rabbit shows off the AI agent it should have launched with
- Instagram wants you to do more with DMs than just slide into someone else’s
- Nvidia is launching ‘priority access’ to help fans buy RTX 5080 and 5090 FE GPUs
- HPE launches slew of Xeon-based Proliant servers which claim to be impervious to quantum computing threats
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010