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Super Bowl LII predictions: our writers pick the winner, MVP and players to watch

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Super Bowl LII predictions: our writers pick the winner, MVP and players to watch

Will the Patriots win a record-tying sixth Super Bowl championship or will the Eagles win their first? Our writers hash it out

Super Bowl LII

Super Bowl LII predictions: our writers pick the winner, MVP and players to watch

Will the Patriots win a record-tying sixth Super Bowl championship or will the Eagles win their first? Our writers hash it out

Paolo Bandini and Bryan Armen Graham in Minneapolis

Sat 3 Feb 2018 11.40EST Last modified on Sat 3 Feb 2018 13.25EST

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Can Nick Foles punctuate Philadelphias fairytale playoff run with the hard-luck clubs first title in 57 years? Photograph: Eric Gay/AP

What the Patriots need to do to win

PB: Let Philly build up a lead, then stick the ball in Tom Bradys hands? Im being glib, but when a team pulls off as many come-from-behind wins as this one, over such an extended period, what else are we supposed to say? You probably dont need reminding that the Pats trailed by 25 points in the third quarter of last years Super Bowl. Or that they stuck 14 fourth-quarter points on a previously dominant Jacksonville defense in last months AFC title game.

Perhaps the more nuanced version of that same answer is: keep on adjusting. As brilliant as Brady is in the clutch, it is Bill Belichicks capacity for tweaking his gameplan on the fly that makes this team so hard to beat. We saw it against the Jaguars, whose offense exploded in the first half but ground to a halt as New England started finding ways to keep Blake Bortles in the pocket. A different approach will be required against Nick Foles and company, but these Patriots know they need not panic if they dont have the right answers at the start.

BAG: Above all New Englands offensive line must protect Brady and they will have their hands full with a stout Philadelphia pass rush thats tormented opponents all year long. Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz likes to rotate Fletcher Cox, Tim Jernigan, Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry frequently with Chris Long, Beau Allen, Derek Barnett and Destiny Vaeao, an embarrassment of riches on the defensive line that allows them to pressure the quarterback without relying on the blitz. Look for the Patriots to run a lot of no-huddle to negate Phillys depth and keep the Eagles offense on the sidelines.

What the Eagles need to do to win

PB: Predictable, perhaps, but disrupting Tom Brady has to be the biggest part of this picture. The Patriots, as observed above, are masters of the in-game adjustment. Take away Rob Gronkowski, and theyll just fire up Danny Amendola. Commit to slowing down the run and they can either start to look for Brandin Cooks over the top or exploit your aggression with James White and Rex Burkhead in the screen game.

Brady is the one essential piece of the puzzle, and has played some of the best football of his career even this year at 40 years old. There might not be a team in the NFL better equipped than Philly to generate pressure with a four-man front at the tail end of a long season, however, thanks to an extraordinarily deep rotation which can alternate the likes of Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Tim Jernigan and Vinny Curry with Beau Allen, Derek Barnett and Chris Long. That group must play up to its potential for the Eagles to prevail.

BG: Theres been no shortage of hand-wringing over Nick Foles, the back-up quarterback thrust into the starters role when Carson Wentz was lost to a season-ending injury in December. But the Eagles coaches have done a masterful job of crafting game plans around Foles strengths and masking his weaknesses, putting him in a position to make plays. They will play with irreverence and they will put up points as they have all year, with or without their franchise player.

Not surprisingly, it will come down to the defense, which rated among the NFLs best all season long. The Eagles must harry Brady and shorten the game to keep New Englands offense off the field. Its the common thread in nearly all of the Patriots high-profile defeats, including their AFC title game loss to the Broncos two years ago and both Super Bowl setbacks to the Giants.

Unsung player to look out for

PB: My first thought was Trey Flowers undersized for an interior lineman, and slower than you would really like for an edge rusher, yet somehow consistently productive wherever he is deployed by New England. But is he actually unsung any more? Ill go with Kyle Van Noy instead third on the team in tackles during the regular season and a wrecking ball against Jacksonville, who had made a positive start on their final possession until he sacked Blake Bortles for a seven-yard loss.

BAG: No one is better than Belichick when it comes to denying an opponents best weapon or strategy. That will create opportunities for outsiders like rookie running back Corey Clement, an undrafted free agent who was a longshot to make the team in training camp but whos emerged as Philadelphias best pass-blocking back and a dependable target on screen passes. Clement only rushed for 321 yards, but he leads all Philadelphia running backs in rushing touchdowns (four) and total touchdowns (six).

New Englands Kyle Van Noy shined in the AFC title game after finishing third on the team in tackles during the regular season. Photograph: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

What youre most looking forward to seeing

PB: The coaching duel between Bill Belichick and Doug Pederson. The Eagles opened up the playbook against Minnesota, and were rewarded with a monster game from Nick Foles. So what does Pederson have up his sleeve here, and how will Belichick counter? And after each team pulled out the flea-flicker in the conference title games, what fresh misdirection lies in store?

BAG: Early fireworks. New Englands pass defense has improved greatly since early in the season when it allowed an NFL-record six consecutive opposing quarterbacks to throw for at least 300 yards, but the Patriots remain vulnerable over the top. The aggressive play-calling of Eagles coach Doug Pederson, whose first game as a head coach above the high school level was remarkably less than 17 months ago, has been a key ingredient Philadelphias sudden reversal of fortune. Dont expect a cagey opening. Coming off an NFC championship game where Foles became the first quarterback in NFL history with completions of more than 40 yards to three different receivers in a postseason game, look for Pederson to take shots downfield early.

One bold prediction

PB: Brady throws a pick six.

BAG: Brandin Cooks will go for over 120 yards receiving and a touchdown as the Eagles are forced to devote extra safety to Gronkowski.

Your MVP will be …

PB: Well if my bold prediction is correct then it might be the guy who runs that interception back, but Im going to go with Zach Ertz. The Eagles tight end absolutely dominated Harrison Smith a popular pick for the NFLs defensive player of the year in the NFC title game. Who do the Patriots have who can match up against him better?

BAG: Nick Foles, Super Bowl MVP? It might sound funny, but the 29-year-old quarterback has played himself into form since Wentzs injury shook the constitution of a city. After carrying the Eagles into the Super Bowl with a master-class performance against the Vikings, Foles career playoff numbers speak for themselves: 72 of 96 passes for 793 yards, with five touchdowns and no interceptions. That 116.4 passer rating is the best in NFL playoff history for any quarterback with at least 75 passing attempts, surpassing a mark held by Jeff Hostetler, another understudy who came off the bench late in the season to helm his NFC East team to an improbably Super Bowl win over a heavily favored AFC East opponent.

The winner will be …

PB: I honestly think well look back on this and marvel at the idea that the Eagles were ever able to convince us they were the underdogs, despite a 13-3 record and a 31-point win in the NFC title game. Yes, they lost Wentz. But weve seen enough since to conclude that this is still an excellent team. Eagles 24, Patriots 21

BAG: All seven of New Englands Super Bowls in the Belichick/Brady era have been decided by six points or less and theres little reason to believe the eighth will be any less touch and go. The Eagles will race out to a half-time lead and whether they can hold off New Englands inevitable rally, as an entire city chews their fingernails to nubs, will determine who comes away with the trophy. It says here they will on a late Jake Elliott field goal. Eagles 27, Patriots 24

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us

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Talk about the big news from GDC with TechCrunch writers

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Talk about the big news from GDC with TechCrunch writers

The Game Developers Conference concludes today in San Francisco but that doesn’t mean our coverage is over.

TechCrunch writer Lucas Matney and Extra Crunch contributor Eric Peckham were at the Moscone Center and got a first-hand glimpse into what is coming up for gamers and developers alike. And at noon PT today they’ll be sharing what they saw with Extra Crunch members on a conference call.

First, there can be no discussion about gaming news this week without mentioning Google’s new game-streaming service Stadia. As Lucas wrote this week, the service will let gamers leave their hefty GPUs and expensive systems behind … and the service can be used on devices with a Chrome browser and an internet connection.

They’ll also be discussing the latest about game engines, VR and voice-based gaming.

To listen to the call and the opportunity to participate in future conference calls, become a member of Extra Crunch. Learn more and try it for free.

Read more: https://techcrunch.com

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Veteran 007 writers Purvis and Wade rehired to salvage Bond 25

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Veteran 007 writers Purvis and Wade rehired to salvage Bond 25

Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are returning to James Bond for a seventh time, following Danny Boyles late-hour departure from the project

As producers attempt to get the next James Bond film back on track, after the abrupt departure of director Danny Boyle, reports have emerged that the series longtime writers, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, have been rehired to produce a new script.

According to the Daily Mail, Purvis and Wade have returned to the 25th Bond film, having had their original treatment for the film set aside when producers opted to go with Boyle and a script by him and his regular writing collaborator, John Hodge.

However, now the planned 2020 release has had to be postponed, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson are scrambling to avoid further disruption, and the rehiring of experienced Bond writers Purvis and Wade who have worked on every Bond film since 1999s The World Is Not Enough was almost inevitable. An unnamed source is quoted in the Mail as saying Purvis and Wades outline had been accepted before Boyle and Hodge came into the picture; they have now been given the go-ahead to complete a full script.

It is not clear what the creative differences were that led Boyle to leave Bond 25. Actor Jonathan Pryce suggested that producers couldnt take a socialist Bond; another possibility is that Boyle had his choice of actors principally Tomasz Kot as the lead villain vetoed by executives.

However, the latter scenario has been thrown into doubt by a claim by Kite Runner and Wonder Woman star Said Taghmaoui that he had been cast in the main villain role. He told the Abu Dhabi publication The National: Im supposed to do the next James Bond, playing the lead bad guy. However, Taghmaoui also mentioned the upheaval caused by Boyles departure, saying: I was cast by Danny Boyle, and just now he left the project, so of course theres some uncertainty.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us

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'I completely lost it': the movie scenes that made our writers weep

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'I completely lost it': the movie scenes that made our writers weep

From Toy Story 2 to Under the Skin, writers pick the cinematic moments that made them cry and explain why. Spoilers ahead

Aunt Lucys trip, Paddington 2

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On the face of it, Paddington is a fairly broad kids film franchise about the hijinks of a CGI bear, and so probably shouldnt make a grown human cry hot, salty tears. But that description ignores the fact that Paddington is a really, really well-made kids film franchise about the hijinks of a CGI bear, one that completely gets the pathos of its central character, a little lost immigrant searching for something resembling a family. Both films ably tug at the heartstrings, but the second film got me sniffling as early as 15 minutes in when Paddington imagines giving his only living relative, Aunt Lucy, a tour around London, something that in reality is impossible as shes stuck thousands of miles away in darkest Peru. When at the end of the film spoiler alert Aunt Lucy arrives on the Brown familys doorstep and she and Paddington hug, I completely, unapologetically lost it. Lord knows what surprises Paddington 3 has planned for my tear ducts. GM

When She Loved Me, Toy Story 2

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Just before writing this, I put When She Loved Me from Toy Story 2 on YouTube once again, just to check. Yep. Just as always, I choke up, in the same abject, lip-wobbling, head-bowed way. It still has that terrible power.

When She Loved Me is the song written by Randy Newman and sung by the devastated toy cowgirl Jessie and in fact performed, beautifully, on the soundtrack by Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan. The song is Jessies way of telling Woody why she has grimly decided to submit to the airless world of the toy museum, because it is better than the inevitable heartbreak and delusion of loving a fickle human child. She reveals her anguish that her owner, Emily, has fallen out of love with her outgrown her, in fact. As Emily entered the world of adolescence, pop music and boys, Jessie was left under the bed and finally dumped.

When I first saw this scene and misled by the size disparity between toy and owner I thought it was a parable for a childs anxiety over being abandoned by the parent. But now that I am a parent I can see the truth which is completely the opposite way around. It is about the parents fear of being abandoned by the child: the terrible fear, actually the terrible certainty, that the kid one day wont want to play with you. They will grow up and want something else. This song is utterly devastating. It is modern cinemas equivalent of the Vesti La Giubba aria from Pagliacci the tragic clown smiling on the outside but crying on the inside. Im afraid to watch it too often. I dont want to break down over and over again. But I also want to preserve its power over me. PB

Ruths death, Fried Green Tomatoes

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In many respects, Fried Green Tomatoes is not a movie for the modern age. It is a story about racism in the deep south told largely by way of eliciting our sympathies for wealthy white characters; it is a story about a lesbian relationship that had to slide its lesbian relationship in unnoticed, by presenting it as a very close friendship fulfilled by food fights, poker games and heads leaning meaningfully on shoulders. But I am deeply fond of this 1991 Sunday afternoon classic. Ive seen it more times than is healthy, and so I know exactly what is coming and when, and yet am still unable to resist the inevitable guttural sobbing that comes with the death scene.

There are plenty of teasers for it, too: Buddy on the train tracks, even Mrs Threadgoode talking about the death of her adult son. Nothing, however, can prepare the viewer for Ruth asking Idgie to tell her the old story about the frozen lake thats now somewhere over in Georgia. It doesnt so much pull on heartstrings as play a full symphony on them, and its devastating. As Sipsey puts it, a lady always knows when to leave. RN

The rooftop dance, Eat Pray Love

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While I was repelled by the mere existence of the Eat Pray Love book, I found something strangely charming about its big-screen translation. It was a mixture of glossy food porn, glossy travel porn and glossy Julia Roberts emoting porn (she remains one of the best fake criers in Hollywood) all wrapped up in a rather unique tale of a woman trying to unshackle herself from the men in her life. But while that all provided mostly surface-level enjoyment, one scene cut deeper and the extent to which it cuts surprises me still.

As is often with the case with movie tears, these were tied to a real-world experience that had happened not long before I sat down to watch. I was dumped by a long-term boyfriend without much of an explanation and without any sort of warning. I was heartbroken and seeking some form of closure that was kept cruelly out of reach. I didnt understand why it had happened and it was the not knowing that felt harder than the break-up itself.

In the film, Roberts character has left her flighty husband and remains haunted by the heartbreak shes caused. On a rooftop in Delhi, a vision of him appears and they dance to Neil Youngs heart-grabbing Harvest Moon, the song that was supposed to accompany their first wedding dance. She reminds him that she did love him. He tells her he still loves and misses her. They cry and continue to dance. At the end, she tells him that it wont last forever, nothing does. Its a short scene but it hit me like a bus, it still does now. My tears are for the film but theyre also for something deeper: the sting of loving someone who stopped loving me and the ache of an ending I was never allowed in real life. BL

The thunderstorm, Click

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Adam Sandler can make me cry harder than hes ever made me laugh, the true test of a clown. Yes, even in the underappreciated comedy Click about a dad who finds a magical remote control in the Beyond section of Bed Bath & Beyond.

Sandlers workaholic architect fast-forwards through the worst parts of his day the dull weeknight frozen dinners with his family, the repetitive arguments, the gross times everyone gets knocked out by the flu in order to get to his next promotion so he can buy his kids whatever they want. His plan doesnt go well, of course. But whats shocking is how gut-rippingly painful it is to see Sandler hit play on his life only to realize hes skipped past everything that matters. His bodys been present, the bills have been paid, but his emotional engagements been staticky a trade-off too many of us can understand.

In the climax, old man Sandler sobs in a thunderstorm as he arrives at his daughters wedding only to learn shed rather her stepdad walk her down the aisle, and his son has grown up to mimic his job-first, family-second example. I rarely cry at unavoidable tragedies where no ones at fault. My weakness is characters regretting choices they cant rewind. Click isnt Ingmar Bergman Sandler gets a happy ending but I barely saw his relief through the rainstorm on my face. AN

The courtroom, Kramer vs Kramer

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By all accounts, Robert Bentons film Kramer vs Kramer skews heavily toward Dustin Hoffmans Ted, whose wife Joanna has left him and their six-year-old son Billy. Billy and Ted make french toast together, or argue about eating ice cream before dinner, or visit the nearby jungle gym. Were it not for Meryl Streep and the trenchant, intuitive way she humanizes a woman who, in the 70s, would have otherwise been made to seem mawkish and unstable Kramer vs Kramer might be just a schmaltzy panegyric on fatherhood.

But leave it to our greatest living actor to turn a film on its head with a single scene. You know the one: Joanna, during the custody hearing, is subjected to a string of sexist questions about her failure as a wife and a mother. When asked why shes seeking custody of Billy, she blinks three times, beginning the monologue Streep herself wrote in an effort to redeem her character, who she initially perceived to be an ogre, a princess, an ass.

Billys only seven years old. He needs me, she says, reciting the word need with a whispery uptick as she glances at her ex. Im not saying he doesnt need his father. But I really believe he needs me more. After catching her breath, she becomes more emphatic: I was his mommy for five and a half years. Since I was about Billys age when my parents got divorced, ergo, too young to understand or even care, Ive always been astonished and, by proxy, moved by how compassionately Streep plumbs the depths of Joannas truth. JN

The beach, Under the Skin

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Little focuses the mind more effectively on human distress than the arrival of your own kids; scenes in films which I might once have snoozed through now induce boggle-eyed terror OH MY GOD, DONT LEAVE THAT BABY NEAR THAT COFFEE TABLE, IT HASNT GOT A CORNER PROTECTOR! But nothing has topped at least, not yet the scene in Under the Skin where Scarlett Johansson murders a swimmer and drags him off to eat him.

Its not the murder thats so epically upsetting, though its gruesome enough: Johansson, playing an alien visitor permanently on the lookout for human nutrients, simply bangs him over the head with a large stone as he lies prone and exhausted on the beach. Its what goes on in the background that is so awful. A woman goes into the water to try and rescue her drowning dog, and her male partner instinctively rushes in after her, leaving their toddler alone high on the shore. Johanssons chum the only other adult on this lonely Scottish beach goes to help too.

With the speed of falling dominoes, a nice little day out unravels: the mother and father are swept away to who knows where, and the alien takes her chance to acquire their would-be rescuer as a food source. Meanwhile, the suddenly abandoned kid is shrieking in terror as the night closes in. Another, less astute film-maker, might cap the scene with the alien scooping the kid up and adding him to her dinner menu, but what Glazer contrives is absolutely horrifying. Johansson-alien simply ignores it, and leaves it alone. The film moves on, this incident consigned to the past.

I have to confess I was absolutely blindsided by the scene; mostly, I think, because of the its sheer unexpectedness. I think I was gripped by a kind of internal hysteria: shock, hyperventilation, a feeling the back of my head might explode. (I cant say I actually cried though I may have, but in the confusion I cant really remember.) I certainly had to hold on to the seat to stop myself bolting out of the cinema then and there. I am aware theres a some degree of self-indulgence here: the fact that my daughter was about the same age as the kid in the film undoubtedly super-sensitised my reactions. But everyone has their weak spot; this is very much mine. AP

The birth, Cheaper by the Dozen 2

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Cheaper by the Dozen 2, if you havent seen it you probably havent, why would you have? is the sequel to the remake of family comedy Cheaper by the Dozen, and Im sure it was made because Steve Martin, the star of the franchise, needed to pay his mortgage. The main gist of the movie is that Martin and his wife, played by Bonnie Hunt, have 12 children who get into various japes. Its asinine. But during a time in my life when I was making a lot of transatlantic flights, Cheaper By the Dozen 2 was always an option on the British Airways seatback televisions, and one day I found, because of the frequency of my flights, I had watched all of the other films.

What choice did I have? At the climactic scene, where the oldest daughter, played by Piper Perabo, gives birth, and then names the baby after her father because he has shown her that there is no way to be a perfect parent, but a million ways to be a really good one, I cried so much the man sitting next to me regarded me with what appeared to be real concern. There may have not been enough cocktail napkins on the whole plane to dry my tears. Was it the recycled air? Was it the two miniature bottles of white wine? Or was it that a joyful childbirth scene can warm the cockles of even the coldest of hearts? JHE

The accidental reunion, Manchester by the Sea

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Weve got a real talent for repression back in Massachusetts. Kenneth Lonergans searing Manchester by the Sea plays out a 15-minute drive from my childhood home and, true to life, the characters all struggle to articulate the perfect storms of emotion raging within them.

When Lee (Casey Affleck) has a chance encounter with his ex-wife Randi (Michelle Williams), the shared history between them is literally unspeakable. They sputter out fragments of sentences that act as a shorthand for vast reservoirs of guilt and self-loathing they cant bear to express, and because they know one another so intimately, they can intuit all the meaning they have to. Theyve both shoved a lot deep down inside just so they can look at themselves in the mirror, and when in the presence of the only other person on the planet who understands what theyve been through, some of it has to come out. Randi does most of the talking, inviting Lee to lunch so they can get some closure, and he ends the conversation by walking away. Shes ready to face her past and be fully present in the new life shes built for herself. Lee, a North Shore boy born and bred, feels more comfortable starting a bar fight as his form of therapy. CB

The hotel, Unrelated

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Joanna Hoggs first film, Unrelated, has had something of a second life on account of being the debut of Tom Hiddleston, and set during a Tuscan summer, which means swimming pool, which means toplessness, and lots of it. Its nice to imagine the Loki-lovers streaming this masterpiece of English upper-middle-class excruciation. As its ending shows, specificity is no barrier to emotional oomph.

The story sees a woman in her early 40s, Anna (Kathryn Worth), holidaying with old friends and their teenage children. She finds she prefers the company of the kids, especially the charming Oakley (Hiddleston, then 26, playing eight years younger). The holiday implodes. Anna goes to stay at a grim airport hotel. Her friend visits, crossly wanting to know whats behind her behaviour. Anna explains that, quite recently, she thought she was pregnant but no, in fact, it was an early menopause. Shell never be able to have children. She sobs and bends double on the bed. It is shot in one take, from the middle distance, acted with a banal frankness which feels like eavesdropping.

When I saw it a decade back, it floored me: a twist I hadnt foreseen, a pain I could only imagine. A few years ago, I began consciously avoiding the film, fearful a similar fate awaited me. Now I can safely watch it again or, I thought I could, but Hogg is much too superb and mysterious a film-maker for that. It isnt simply the information which is terrible, it is the dreadful catharsis of its expression, coming after so much obfuscation. The stifle has gone; instead there is the most awful sadness. Buttoning up is often the bravest way. CS

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us

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TV writers circulate anonymous spreadsheet to fight gender pay gap

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TV writers circulate anonymous spreadsheet to fight gender pay gap

Crowdsourced document allowing writers to compare salaries is latest show of workers combating discrimination with transparency

Television

TV writers circulate anonymous spreadsheet to fight gender pay gap

Crowdsourced document allowing writers to compare salaries is latest show of workers combating discrimination with transparency

Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco

@juliacarriew

Thu 25 Jan 2018 02.00EST Last modified on Thu 25 Jan 2018 13.40EST

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The document, which features writers on top network TV shows, offers insight into possible pay disparities. Photograph: Reed Saxon/AP

Television writers are crowdsourcing information about their salaries in a Google spreadsheet, in the latest instance of workers attempting to address racial and gender discrimination through anonymized transparency.

Hundreds of salaries have been entered into the spreadsheet, which asks writers to help us achieve parity by sharing any info you are willing to. Contributors have entered data points including their job title, gender, whether or not they are a person of color, and how much they were paid per episode. Though the Guardian is not able to verify the salary data, the document offers some insight into possible pay disparities.

According to the spreadsheet, for example, a white male co-executive producer earned $25,000 per episode on a show, while a non-white female co-executive producer working on a show produced by the same studio and airing on the same network earned $10,000 per episode.

In another case, a white woman reported earning $14,000 per episode as a co-producer of a show, while a non-white, female co-producer on a show produced by the same studio and airing on the same network earned $10,000 per episode.

TV female writers trying to seek parity for our sisters of color, tweeted Audrey Wauchope, a writer for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend who shared a link to the document on Twitter but said that she had not created it. We all sit at the same table and do the same work.

Karen Nielsen (@KD_Nielsen)

Google doc of TV Writer’s Salaries. Wage shouldn’t be taboo we need to support each other so we all get paid according to experience and nothing else. Please input and share, including your experience level! https://t.co/4awofXnR18 #equalpay #womeninfilm

January 24, 2018

The spreadsheet began circulating this week amid an industry-wide conversation about sexism, sexual harassment and pay inequality. Several actors spoke out about the gender wage gap on the red carpet at the Golden Globes an issue epitomized by subsequent reports that Mark Wahlberg was paid $1.5m for reshooting scenes in All The Money in the World, while co-star Michelle Williams was paid just $1,000.

The document includes entries from all levels of television writers, from executive producers/showrunners earning five-figures per episode to writers assistants earning less than $1,000 per week without benefits.

The person who created the spreadsheet told the Guardian by email that they want to remain anonymous: Im worried if I out myself I may get a reputation with the studios.

A second spreadsheet collecting information about television actors salaries is also circulating, though it has attracted far fewer entries.

The whole point of this exercise to me … is to pierce the veil of silence so that you can have some information when you negotiate, said Melissa Silverstein, the founder and publisher of the website Women in Hollywood. I think it would be really helpful for women to know what men get paid, because thats part of the problem: men get paid more.

The most recent analysis of diversity in film and television by the Writers Guild of America West, the union representing film and television writers, found that women and people of color remained seriously underrepresented among the corps of writers, with a persistent earnings gap between male writers and female writers, and white writers and non-white writers.

Tina Gharavi (@Gharavi)

TV WRITERS SALARY – Please help us achieve parity by sharing any info you are willing to. Thanks!! https://t.co/kISLrAuKAQ

January 23, 2018

The Guild contract establishes minimum compensation levels for writers at various levels in film and television, but individuals can negotiate higher rates.

Its this very blind process, and Im certain that male writers are getting more than female writers, said one woman of color who writes for a television show and asked to remain anonymous because she did not create the spreadsheet. Its very nice for us to be able share this information so we … understand what our worth is.

The TV writers spreadsheet is the latest crowdsourced document attempting to upend entrenched inequality by sharing sensitive information. Since October, the media industry has been convulsed by the Shitty Media Men list, a document that collected anonymous allegations of sexual assault and harassment against more than 70 men working in publishing and journalism.

An anonymous spreadsheet for women working in academia has compiled more than 2,000 accounts of harassment, while a spreadsheet circulated among Google employees collected salary and bonus information of about 1,200 employees. The Google document showed that male employees were paid more than women an allegation that has also been made by the US department of labor but that Google has consistently denied.

The television writer who spoke with the Guardian said that seeing the information in the spreadsheet might influence her actions going forward.

I kind of just let my reps do all the work, she said, but it definitely is going to make me think twice when an offer comes in and theyre trying to lowball me.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us

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Twitter roasts Star Wars for hiring 'Game of Thrones' writers

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Twitter roasts Star Wars for hiring 'Game of Thrones' writers

Cheer up, emo kids.

Image: mashable composite/disney/hbo

The internet may have broken on Tuesday with news that Game of Thrones show runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are going to write and produce Star Wars films (that’s the third Star Wars series in development, if you’re counting).

Twitter was quick to make jokes combining the two epic franchises, and to criticize this particular employment decision from Disney and Lucasfilm.

SEE ALSO: OMG more Star Wars movies are on the way, this time from the ‘Game of Thrones’ creators

Game of Star Wars Thrones what now? pic.twitter.com/sCVTwgvMv2

— Chris Taylor (@FutureBoy) February 6, 2018

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away …

… winter came. pic.twitter.com/Sr56UXTHBC

— Glen Weldon (@ghweldon) February 6, 2018

GAME OF THE CLONES send tweet

— Danny Bowes (@bybowes) February 6, 2018

Winter is coming. pic.twitter.com/XbMCn3tOcm

— Nelson Carvajal (@nelsoncarvajal) February 6, 2018

pic.twitter.com/4s9XY8d4DI

— Marc (@MarcSnetiker) February 6, 2018

Many were not excited about Benioff and Weiss joining Star Wars given the current movement to uplift women and people of color. Additionally, Thrones‘ treatment of women has been criticized since the beginning for gratuitous nudity, “sexposition,” and the use of rape as a plot device.

hmm… my preliminary answer is “no thank you” https://t.co/qRqvqx6I52

— running up that shrill (@theshrillest) February 6, 2018

have never felt the words keep it so deeply in my bones https://t.co/EdhT2XbRgi

— Skye (@skyepayyyne) February 6, 2018

Okay fine they didn’t hire POC or women but they DID hire one David and one Daniel! https://t.co/jqP6v11Iep

— Chloe Bryan (@chloebryan) February 6, 2018

An alternative history where the Death Star was never destroyed. https://t.co/6P57w0LcgR

— colson whitehead (@colsonwhitehead) February 6, 2018

It’s interesting that you can actually see how excited people are for something new and different like WONDER WOMAN, BLACK PANTHER, and A WRINKLE IN TIME, only to decide that you don’t want to do anything like that.

— Nivea Serrao (@NiveaSerrao) February 6, 2018

a long time ago, in a galaxy full of NOOOOOOOOOOOPE

— Carly Lane (@carlylane) February 6, 2018

great to see lucasfilm and disney lead the way in change by letting women chill out and not have to work on directing a star wars movie forever until the end of time.

— Julia 💀 Alexander (@loudmouthjulia) February 6, 2018

pitch meeting: “so this space princess walks in naked” “wait what’s her name and why is she naked?” “i dunno it helps her channel the force. anyway she frees all these slaves on this planet” “wait what, were they just waiting for her all this time?” “no just LISTEN it’ll be GOOD” https://t.co/5STSzNHd2m

— Laura Bradley (@lpbradley) February 6, 2018

VADER: No, I am your father LUKE: FUUUUUUUUUU- [a nude woman walks across screen]

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) February 6, 2018

Read the room, Kathleen. #TimesUp

— Jenn Kaytin Robinson (@JennKaytin) February 6, 2018

WATCH: ‘Game of Thrones’ star Lena Headey on how cast reacted to final script