“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is perhaps the biggest large-scale causality from the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, which kicked off on November 5, 2007. Paramount Pictures was adamant about having a “Transformers” sequel shoot as soon as possible, which is why “Revenge of the Fallen” didn’t technically have a script when pre-production kicked off. The project was rushed into production, something co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci discussed in an interview with FirstShowing months before the film’s release. “We literally started breaking stories two weeks before the strike,” Orci expressed, revealing that an outline for “Revenge of the Fallen” was cooked up incredibly quickly. “It was pens down the minute the strike hit. We didn’t deal with Michael at all during the strike.”
Kurtzman added that the sequel was “prepped” off of that initial outline, which was submitted just before the strike manifested in late 2007. The strike wrapped up in February 2008, but pre-production on the sequel was already in full force. “And the second the strike ended, it was like two months — I’m not exaggerating — two months between starting to write and day one of direction,” Orci said. “So it was a crazy, crazy race to get it done.”
Even director Michael Bay took a stab at writing the sequal, confirming to Variety that he wrote a 60-page script. Filming on “Revenge of the Fallen” would ultimately begin in early June 2008, mere months after the strike concluded.
