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Is the strike over? I saw previews for Prison Break and Lost.
Writers Strike (Reloaded)
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Nope. These are episodes already in the can. Lost has 8 episodes and then we will be left hanging ... I suppose until next fall, assuming the writer's strike is over before summer so they can shoot some more episodes.
That's the other problem with the strike. With production being shut down, it will be months before any new episodes make it through the production process. Even if the strike ended tomorrow, the really big production shows like Lost won't have time to kick up production to get more episodes done. The strike has more or less cancelled an entire season for most shows.
I was explaining this to my cousin-in-law, who's visiting from Seattle. She's a knee-jerk liberal. At least she thinks she is a liberal. Issues like this confuse her. She said, "What? They can't cancel television. They should just hire some new writers."
I don't know why a woman who is so vehemently pro-union in all other cases would come to this conclusion. Maybe she just doesn't think of writers the way she thinks of her fellow union workers in more ... grunt-like jobs. However, I'm pretty sure that's the popular opinion in this country, and I'm pretty sure the masses have been oblivious to the writer's strike until this month, when the programming hits the fan.
So to speak.
Nobody undervalues writers like this country. The only professions more undervalued (and we're talking gross undervaluation here) are teachers and police/fire.
cardsfanmd
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This is sooo bad. I am so sick of Reality TV already. I love New York is gone. House is gone. Prison Break is gone. Last night my wife was pshyced that there was a new Desperate Housewives. I have been watching a lot of The First 48 on A&E lately. My cousin does the camera work for the Tyra Banks show and that UFC show. He had been writing for a few pilots and is really upset over all of this.
Darth Llama
Rise Up Red Sea!
The worst part about this is that my favorite show on earth, 24, is postponed indefinitely because of this stupid strike.
I'm sorry, but this crap has gone on long enough. They need to either give these writers what they want, or fire the lot and bring in new people, but the longer I have to go without 24, the more likely I am to climb a downtown sky scraper with a sniper rifle.
Ok, that's obviously an exaggeration, but that show is like crack and I'm having big time withdrawals.
I'm sorry, but this crap has gone on long enough. They need to either give these writers what they want, or fire the lot and bring in new people, but the longer I have to go without 24, the more likely I am to climb a downtown sky scraper with a sniper rifle.
Ok, that's obviously an exaggeration, but that show is like crack and I'm having big time withdrawals.
Ok, that's obviously an exaggeration, but that show is like crack and I'm having big time withdrawals.
Wait until February sweeps when it's all-reality, all the time, and people start turning the TV off. This strike will come to a screeching halt.
Nope, I will have Lost, Prison Break and Jericho along with a few more Earl's and Fox Sunday night cartoons. Plus my one reality show I like, The Biggest Loser.
Darth Llama
Rise Up Red Sea!
Well, I for one hope you're right. I don't watch a whole lot of TV as it is, but of course my favorite show is one of the hardest hit by the strike. Just my luck.
Warner warns 1,000 workers to expect some layoffs
Wed Jan 9, 2008
By Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner Inc, has told about 1,000 television and film production workers that an unspecified number of layoffs will soon be announced due to Hollywood's screenwriters strike.
"These WARN notices were sent because, in certain circumstances, federal and California law can require employers to give notice of staffing changes," Warner Bros said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America work stoppage, some studio divisions will have to lay off employees. We regret the impact this will have on our employees, and we hope to bring them back to work once the WGA strike ends," it said.
About 10,500 WGA members went on strike against major film and TV studios on November 5 in a contract dispute centered mainly on the issue of compensation for work distributed on the Web.
The strike has halted production on scores of TV shows and derailed several film projects.
FilmL.A. Inc, a nonprofit group that handles production permits for the city, estimates the TV industry stands to lose $21.3 million a day from shutdowns of 65 prime-time broadcast and cable shows that are shot in the Los Angeles area.
Those shows -- 44 one-hour dramas and 21 half-hour sitcoms -- collectively employ well over 10,000 people whose loss of income will ripple through the local economy, the group said.
The dispute is also now casting a dark shadow over this year's Hollywood awards season, with the Golden Globe Awards becoming the most high-profile casualty to date.
On Monday, General Electric Co's NBC was forced to modify the Golden Globe Awards broadcast, set for January 13, from its usual glitzy affair to a scaled-back news conference, since actors said they would boycott the show to honor writers' picket lines.
NBC is offering cash back to some Golden Globe Awards marketers after the network scrapped the star-studded telecast, which typically generates about $25 million in advertising, advertising and network executives said.
Since talks between writers and studios broke down in December, the WGA has sought to make deals with independent producers in an effort to divide and conquer Big Hollywood.
This week, the WGA signed a deal with Tom Cruise's film company, United Artists, owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
While the Cruise deal and the Globes' derailment mark interim victories for the writers, no end is in sight for the strike without plans for further negotiations.
Industry insiders said on Wednesday peoples' minds as well as their pockets were bearing the brunt.
"The impact of the strike on the Southern California economy is happening in two realms - the realm of reality and the realm of psychology," said Michael Levine, a veteran public relations professional, who has represented stars such as Demi Moore and Barbra Streisand.
"There's a feeling that this strike is part of a perfect storm, with anxiety over real estate, the economy and historically higher gas prices all coming together," he said. "It's pretty noxious."
----------------------------------------------------
Chap - is your job in jeopardy?
Wed Jan 9, 2008
By Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner Inc, has told about 1,000 television and film production workers that an unspecified number of layoffs will soon be announced due to Hollywood's screenwriters strike.
"These WARN notices were sent because, in certain circumstances, federal and California law can require employers to give notice of staffing changes," Warner Bros said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America work stoppage, some studio divisions will have to lay off employees. We regret the impact this will have on our employees, and we hope to bring them back to work once the WGA strike ends," it said.
About 10,500 WGA members went on strike against major film and TV studios on November 5 in a contract dispute centered mainly on the issue of compensation for work distributed on the Web.
The strike has halted production on scores of TV shows and derailed several film projects.
FilmL.A. Inc, a nonprofit group that handles production permits for the city, estimates the TV industry stands to lose $21.3 million a day from shutdowns of 65 prime-time broadcast and cable shows that are shot in the Los Angeles area.
Those shows -- 44 one-hour dramas and 21 half-hour sitcoms -- collectively employ well over 10,000 people whose loss of income will ripple through the local economy, the group said.
The dispute is also now casting a dark shadow over this year's Hollywood awards season, with the Golden Globe Awards becoming the most high-profile casualty to date.
On Monday, General Electric Co's NBC was forced to modify the Golden Globe Awards broadcast, set for January 13, from its usual glitzy affair to a scaled-back news conference, since actors said they would boycott the show to honor writers' picket lines.
NBC is offering cash back to some Golden Globe Awards marketers after the network scrapped the star-studded telecast, which typically generates about $25 million in advertising, advertising and network executives said.
Since talks between writers and studios broke down in December, the WGA has sought to make deals with independent producers in an effort to divide and conquer Big Hollywood.
This week, the WGA signed a deal with Tom Cruise's film company, United Artists, owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
While the Cruise deal and the Globes' derailment mark interim victories for the writers, no end is in sight for the strike without plans for further negotiations.
Industry insiders said on Wednesday peoples' minds as well as their pockets were bearing the brunt.
"The impact of the strike on the Southern California economy is happening in two realms - the realm of reality and the realm of psychology," said Michael Levine, a veteran public relations professional, who has represented stars such as Demi Moore and Barbra Streisand.
"There's a feeling that this strike is part of a perfect storm, with anxiety over real estate, the economy and historically higher gas prices all coming together," he said. "It's pretty noxious."
----------------------------------------------------
Chap - is your job in jeopardy?
Chaplin
Better off silent
Very short-sighted and EXTREMELY naive.
Chaplin
Better off silent
Warner warns 1,000 workers to expect some layoffs
Wed Jan 9, 2008
By Sue Zeidler
----------------------------------------------------
Chap - is your job in jeopardy?
Not yet.
Stout
Hold onto the ball, Murray!
I'm glad you're still safe. This thing is becoming devastating to the industry from my point of view. Hell, as an actor, I'm seeing tens of audition notices for stupid reality TV shows, when you used to only see them here and there. Ugh.
It was humor, not editorializing. But apologies again for offending your sensibilities.
krispydude
\_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_ \_
ive been finding leno and conan pretty funny without the writers. its nice seeing what they can do without the writers writing all the lines and jokes for them. alot more improv.
but still, i dont think i can handle some of the reality shows that will be coming because of the strike. ugh...
but still, i dont think i can handle some of the reality shows that will be coming because of the strike. ugh...
azsouthendzone
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FOX should bring back the OC starting from season one and air an episode nightly. Pretty soon everyone will forget about the writers strike. 
Jimmy Kimmel is pretty good without the writers as well. His jokes are pretty good. He sounds like he's BSing around a camp fire.
Jimmy Kimmel is pretty good without the writers as well. His jokes are pretty good. He sounds like he's BSing around a camp fire.
Striking writers turn to child's play By Steven Zeitchik
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
With the Hollywood writers strike putting the brakes on film and TV writing, a group of scribes has found an unusual mode of creative expression: children's books.
Writers with credits ranging from "The Simpsons" to "Shrek 2" to "That's So Raven" are picking up their pens to write fictional stories -- only instead of sitting in meetings coming up with punch lines, they're at home dreaming up frogs with big appetites and boys who fight with their sisters.
"It's kind of a nice way to do something creative at a time when we're having a hard time doing our bread-and-butter work," said David N. Weiss, a "Shrek 2" and "Rugrats" writer who recently turned in a first draft of "Carl the Frog," about a cannibalistic amphibian.
Then there's former "Raven" executive producer Dava Savel and former "Simpsons" and "Malcolm in the Middle" writer David Sacks. Savel is writing about a boy who creates his own town because his sister is hogging space. Sacks is finding time between his current executive producer duties on Comedy Central's "The Root of All Evil" to pen "Vigfus," a parable about Vikings who end up in modern-day New York and find the city too gentle.
"It has been a great outlet during the strike," said Sacks, who with his writing partner Brian Ross recently turned in a second draft.
The titles are part of Worthwhile Books, a new imprint at the telco-cum-entertainment company IDT/IDW. Although the unit was conceived and a number of the deals were signed ahead of the strike, Worthwhile is benefiting from the added time writers suddenly find they have on their hands -- when they're not picketing, of course.
"We're a small publishing house, so we're not a struck company, and these writers can write as much as they want," said Robert Kurtz, vp and creative director of Worthwhile Books and a veteran of shows including "Boy Meets World."
David Steinberg, a producer on "Meet the Robinsons," also has been signed up by Worthwhile. Kurtz also is penning his own title for the imprint. The division plans on five to 10 books in its first year.
IDT in the summer bought IDW, publisher of the source material for Hollywood projects including "30 Days of Night."
The writers are realistic about the financial rewards of a children's book, which in the past decade has come into vogue for celebrities ranging from Madonna to Jay Leno.
"I don't think anyone thinks they're going to make a lot of money on it," Weiss said. "But creatively and emotionally, the chance to work on something that's personal without the presence of a massive corporation is special right now." Worthwhile does says it hopes to develop the projects into potential film and television vehicles.
While the books -- mostly aimed at the preschool crowd -- skew younger than what most writers are used to, the scribes say the form complements film and television work.
"I'm finding that in good children's books, the text isn't just describing the picture but the two are working together to advance the storytelling," Sacks said.
And, sometimes, there's also a chance to make a political point.
"I'm writing a book with the lesson how it's not good to eat your friends," Weiss said. "This could be a good book for the AMPTP (the studios' bargaining arm)."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
With the Hollywood writers strike putting the brakes on film and TV writing, a group of scribes has found an unusual mode of creative expression: children's books.
Writers with credits ranging from "The Simpsons" to "Shrek 2" to "That's So Raven" are picking up their pens to write fictional stories -- only instead of sitting in meetings coming up with punch lines, they're at home dreaming up frogs with big appetites and boys who fight with their sisters.
"It's kind of a nice way to do something creative at a time when we're having a hard time doing our bread-and-butter work," said David N. Weiss, a "Shrek 2" and "Rugrats" writer who recently turned in a first draft of "Carl the Frog," about a cannibalistic amphibian.
Then there's former "Raven" executive producer Dava Savel and former "Simpsons" and "Malcolm in the Middle" writer David Sacks. Savel is writing about a boy who creates his own town because his sister is hogging space. Sacks is finding time between his current executive producer duties on Comedy Central's "The Root of All Evil" to pen "Vigfus," a parable about Vikings who end up in modern-day New York and find the city too gentle.
"It has been a great outlet during the strike," said Sacks, who with his writing partner Brian Ross recently turned in a second draft.
The titles are part of Worthwhile Books, a new imprint at the telco-cum-entertainment company IDT/IDW. Although the unit was conceived and a number of the deals were signed ahead of the strike, Worthwhile is benefiting from the added time writers suddenly find they have on their hands -- when they're not picketing, of course.
"We're a small publishing house, so we're not a struck company, and these writers can write as much as they want," said Robert Kurtz, vp and creative director of Worthwhile Books and a veteran of shows including "Boy Meets World."
David Steinberg, a producer on "Meet the Robinsons," also has been signed up by Worthwhile. Kurtz also is penning his own title for the imprint. The division plans on five to 10 books in its first year.
IDT in the summer bought IDW, publisher of the source material for Hollywood projects including "30 Days of Night."
The writers are realistic about the financial rewards of a children's book, which in the past decade has come into vogue for celebrities ranging from Madonna to Jay Leno.
"I don't think anyone thinks they're going to make a lot of money on it," Weiss said. "But creatively and emotionally, the chance to work on something that's personal without the presence of a massive corporation is special right now." Worthwhile does says it hopes to develop the projects into potential film and television vehicles.
While the books -- mostly aimed at the preschool crowd -- skew younger than what most writers are used to, the scribes say the form complements film and television work.
"I'm finding that in good children's books, the text isn't just describing the picture but the two are working together to advance the storytelling," Sacks said.
And, sometimes, there's also a chance to make a political point.
"I'm writing a book with the lesson how it's not good to eat your friends," Weiss said. "This could be a good book for the AMPTP (the studios' bargaining arm)."
Not sure if this has been posting already, but how some the strike does not effect the new or shows like Good Moning America or local news shows. I assume they have writers as well. Do they fall under a different union or job type since it is news.
The striking entity is the screenwriter's guild. I am assuming there is something different for news writers.
Isn't John Stewarts show considered a "news" show, meaning they would be news writers.
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Thw golden globes have been cancelled, pretty much due to the strike.
I would say John Stewart's show is a comedy/talk show, as evidenced it being aired on Comedy Central. Additionally, the show staffs WGA members, where "hard news" programs do not.
Come on, there is pleny of comedy on New Channels, just look at Fox New. Then there is the View, that show is a joke, but it is still on the air with new stuff.
Sorry, could not resist.
But seriously, though. Is E considered a new channel then beucase Talk Soup never went into reruns. I am just curious where the line is drawn. Can you consider yourself a "News Show" and hire news writers instead of WGA wirters? It seems that there are some gray areas.
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