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More than 400 prominent female writers and showrunners sent a letter today to the heads of the major studios expressing their “grave concerns” about the companies’ “lack of specific production protocols” to protect their workers in anti-abortion states.

The letters, which state that “it is unacceptable to ask any person to choose between their human rights and their employment,” also demanded that the companies “pledge to discontinue all political donations to anti-abortion candidates and political action committees immediately.”

Deadline has obtained a copy of the letter to Netflix, which organizers say was sent to top executives at Amazon Studios, AMC Networks, Apple, Disney, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount Global, , and Warner Bros. Discovery.

The letters, whose signers include Ava DuVernay, Shonda Rhimes, Amy Schumer, Marta Kauffman, Callie Khouri, WGA West vice president Michele Mulroney and WGA West secretary-treasurer Betsy Thomas, said that “this situation raises basic matters of equality, health, and safety in the workplace.

Peter Berg and former HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo are finalizing a deal to partner together.

The duo will work on film and TV projects, possibly via the Film 44 production banner. Endeavor Content is in conversations to be involved on the TV side. Director-producer-writer Berg had been going solo since his long-time producing partner at Film 44 Sarah Aubrey left in early 2015 to become head of original programming at TNT.

Berg and Lombardo had worked together on a number of series, including two Film 44 shows Lombardo greenlighted as head of programming of HBO, Ballers, which is heading into its fourth season, and The Leftovers. Film 44’s TV series credits also include NBC/DirecTV’s Friday Night Lights.

Lombardo served as president of programming at HBO for nine years before stepping down in 2016 to segue to producing through his Buster Productions. Among the projects he has in the works is Who Fears Death,...

Michael Lombardo has optioned bestselling author Amy Bloom’s just-published White Houses novel through his Buster Productions to develop for television, with Katie Couric on board to produce with him and Emmy winner Jane Anderson (Olive Kitteridge) attached to direct. White Houses, published by Penguin Random House on February 13, 2018 to strong reviews, incorporates fictional and nonfictional elements to tell the story of the love affair between Eleanor Roosevelt and her…...

Parody, video games and the internet have always been a three’s company of buddiness. CollegeHumor’s Dorkly, YouTube 8-bit parodies, and of course Atom’s long-running and recently ended Zelda spoof, The Legend of Neil all feasted from the table of viewers nostalgic for the video games of their youth. Creator Matt Lewis still saw plenty of flesh on this comedy bone, crafting an elaborately detailed parody of over a dozen video game characters in what would become his first leap into web series with Video Game Reunion, set to bow March 8th on Atom and GameTrailers. The series opts for the lighter, familiar mockumentary riff on the idea of the real lives of game characters like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser and Mega Man—not as dark as the neo-noir sendup of the Mario Bros. and the Koopa Kingdom in 2008’s There Will Be Brawl. The main conceit of...