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So uh...Hollywood Writer's Strike anyone?

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Could they film 24 and release it as a multiplatform videogame but with no actual gameplay - just requiring you to press a 1 button QTE during an action scene like twice an episode?

Not really being totally serious here, but I seriously don't think I'd mind if this somehow did happen. I really want season 7 :(
 
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6498734.html?rssid=193

On the News Corp. earnings conference call Wednesday, company COO Peter Chernin said that “a strike is probably a positive for the company.”


The News Corp. president and chief operating officer said that the Fox Broadcasting was in a better position than its network rivals to ride out a strike because it had a “wider array of reality programming,” most notably American Idol. Chernin also said that most of Fox’s animated shows, which include The Simpsons, King of the Hill and Family Guy, are “about a year ahead” in production.


Because they could offer original programming on virtually every night of the week, he expects the strike to actually increase Fox’s share. “We would expect if anything that it would lift our market share and have us win this season by an even greater margin than we expect to,” Chernin said.


Chernin said a strike would also cut costs. “We save more money in term deals and story costs and probably the lack of making pilots than we lose in potential advertising.”


Chernin expressed frustration that the two sides could not come to agreement and said that a prolonged strike, lasting eight to twelve months, would begin to have an impact on the business.
 
Does anyone know what effect this will have on the upcoming Futurama movies? Obviously the first one is in the can and waiting to be released, but I don't know how far along they were with the remaining three.
 
On the News Corp. earnings conference call Wednesday, company COO Peter Chernin said that “a strike is probably a positive for the company.”


The News Corp. president and chief operating officer said that the Fox Broadcasting was in a better position than its network rivals to ride out a strike because it had a “wider array of reality programming,” most notably American Idol. Chernin also said that most of Fox’s animated shows, which include The Simpsons, King of the Hill and Family Guy, are “about a year ahead” in production.


Because they could offer original programming on virtually every night of the week, he expects the strike to actually increase Fox’s share. “We would expect if anything that it would lift our market share and have us win this season by an even greater margin than we expect to,” Chernin said.


Chernin said a strike would also cut costs. “We save more money in term deals and story costs and probably the lack of making pilots than we lose in potential advertising.”


Chernin expressed frustration that the two sides could not come to agreement and said that a prolonged strike, lasting eight to twelve months, would begin to have an impact on the business.

Yes Fox's market share will increase. However the market itself will shrink leaving Fox in a worse position then before
 
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/

So now I'll bottom-line this: Really smart people have told me that if this walkout doesn't settle in the next few weeks, say, by December 15th, then there may not be an incentive for the moguls to settle it until June when the Screen Actors Guild contract expires. As for the Director’s Guild, whose contract is up next June as well but will settle it sooner, everyone expects the DGA to fold like pup tents: no shocker there.

In film, the studios prepared for this labor action starting two years ago. But I broke the news pre-strike that the Big Media and Hollywood CEOs viewed this TV season as a total loss and welcomed the walkout as an automatic "do-over" that would allow them to regroup and then refashion their business models.

At the same time, the writers guild two years ago began to draw a line in the sand on New Media and Internet which they're etching deeper with every turn on the picket line. I'm not passing judgment on whether either of these positions is right or wrong. But I am saying that this is a horrific situation. Yes, it is.
 
Costanza said:
Could they film 24 and release it as a multiplatform videogame but with no actual gameplay - just requiring you to press a 1 button QTE during an action scene like twice an episode?

Not really being totally serious here, but I seriously don't think I'd mind if this somehow did happen. I really want season 7 :(

I doubt it. They probably don't even have all of the scripts finished. They writers have admitted that they made up most of the story as they go along.
 
No settlement until June? How does that make sense, really? If they wait around for a SAG strike, doesn't that give SAG even more leverage to twist the knife?

I wonder what the effect of a prolonged strike will be on heavily-serialized shows like Lost and Heroes? Will people even be looking to get back into them a year from now?
 
border said:
No settlement until June? How does that make sense, really? If they wait around for a SAG strike, doesn't that give SAG even more leverage to twist the knife?

I wonder what the effect of a prolonged strike will be on heavily-serialized shows like Lost and Heroes? Will people even be looking to get back into them a year from now?

The WGA would wait until July, not the Corporations
 
vesp said:
Any news on whether the full season of Dexter will run? And has season 3 been confirmed yet?


Yes it will. I'm not sure about the 3rd but they'd be insane not to have a 3rd season..not that any deals will be happening until this has been sorted out.
 
border said:
Are the writers prohibited from doing writing for film or television, or can they do no writing whatsoever?

What if they wanted to work on a play or a comic book or a videogame?



Blader5489 said:
They're allowed to.


so the WGA could all write plays... about for example a counter terrorism unit.... and someone could film it?

It'd be odd seeing Keifer up there on stage but at least we'd have something?



Oh and I wonder how this affects the rest of the world who import this stuff? Maybe we'll actually be able to catch up with House and CSI etc. Getting fed up with waiting 9 months before we get a season.
 
mrklaw said:
so the WGA could all write plays... about for example a counter terrorism unit.... and someone could film it?

It'd be odd seeing Keifer up there on stage but at least we'd have something?



Oh and I wonder how this affects the rest of the world who import this stuff? Maybe we'll actually be able to catch up with House and CSI etc. Getting fed up with waiting 9 months before we get a season.

The writers can not write for the corporations that they are in strike against. This is mostly tv and movies. So having a writer write a play still wouldn't work if it is for the corporation.

The WGA is only American writers, the rest of the world will continue on like normal
 
Ron Moore on striking, "webisodes", and BSG.

Ron Moore said:
"I had a situation last year on Battlestar Galactica where we were asked by Universal to do webisodes [Note: Moore is referring to The Resistance webisodes which ran before Season 3 premiered], which at that point were very new and 'Oooh, webisodes! What does that mean?' It was all very new stuff. And it was very eye opening, because the studio's position was 'Oh, we're not going to pay anybody to do this. You have to do this, because you work on the show. And we're not going to pay you to write it. We're not going to pay the director, and we're not going to pay the actors.' At which point we said 'No thanks, we won't do it.'"

"We got in this long, protracted thing and eventually they agreed to pay everybody involved. But then, as we got deeper into it, they said 'But we're not going to put any credits on it. You're not going to be credited for this work. And we can use it later, in any fashion that we want.' At which point I said 'Well, then we're done and I'm not going to deliver the webisodes to you.' And they came and they took them out of the editing room anyway -- which they have every right to do. They own the material -- But it was that experience that really showed me that that's what this is all about. If there's not an agreement with the studios about the internet, that specifically says 'This is covered material, you have to pay us a formula - whatever that formula turns out to be - for use of the material and how it's all done,' the studios will simply rape and pillage."
 
Costanza said:
No, we're only up through episode 7 out of 13.

That wasn't what I said.

Next week is the last episode of Prison Break until January, they have announced.

They changed their schedule because of the strike.
 
That quote from Ron Moore tells me all I need to know...fuck the studios.

It's amusing that many of the same people who have no problem saying "Fuck the RIAA", would then be against the writers when they're essentially fighting the same corporations. It's all the same shit.
 
Fifty said:
Yes it will. I'm not sure about the 3rd but they'd be insane not to have a 3rd season..not that any deals will be happening until this has been sorted out.


The 3rd book recently came out so probably.
 
omg rite said:
That wasn't what I said.

Next week is the last episode of Prison Break until January, they have announced.

They changed their schedule because of the strike.
Well, it doesn't say those are new episodes in January. Could just be repeats.. dunno, I just can't see them interfering with their regular schedule for airing the show when they can easily air it like that because it's like a mini-season finale anyway.
 
Costanza said:
Well, it doesn't say those are new episodes in January. Could just be repeats.. dunno, I just can't see them interfering with their regular schedule for airing the show when they can easily air it like that because it's like a mini-season finale anyway.

That's what they're doing though. lol

They're not going to air repeats of Prison Break.
 
WGA Strikeblog, Day 4:

Back at Sony today for another day of trudging up and down. We're only a few days in and some of the writers are already talking amongst themselves about how much endurance we'll have once the celebrities and the news cameras and the free food start to disappear. We are not the hardiest of breeds - the whole reason many of us got into this line of work is because it enables us to work at home in our pajamas, and because there is no heavy lifting involved. This striking business is beginning to feel too much like real work.

(j/k)

Donny Wahlberg was on the line with us today, also Doctor Bashir from Deep Space Nine. Paul Haggis was there most of the day too, chanting merrily - he's a real stalwart. Judd Apatow was around for a while, too.

A Teamster showed up at the main Sony gate mid-afternoon and refused to cross the line, so he just left his massive truck containing heavy lift equipment parked outside while the studio tried to figure out what to do. Eventually I think they realized there wasn't any way he could deliver it without crossing the picket line so off he went. Those Teamsters don't fuck around.

Tomorrow morning is the mass rally at Fox, for which Avenue of the Stars will be closed to traffic in anticipation of around 3000 writers showing up. Will be interesting to see what transpires there.
 
BSGIMG_1536_1194485645-000.jpg


Fight the good fight, Ron...and then your ass better make sure the last season of BSG is the best fucking thing ever televised.
 
Seeing all these varied people working toward the same cause is like the biggest entertainment crossover since Garfield, Alf, and the Chipmunks convinced those kids not to take drugs.
 
My Two Cents on the strike is this.

As a writer who has tried to get in to the WGA a few times- and didnt pan out, the strike is warrnted, but is the right time but wrong era. It might be for the wrong reason too because unless im correct, isnt Hulu just exprementation between Fox and NBC? But i know the other aspects of the New Media but in excution it doesnt work quite as well as it does say in Japan or Germany. (1 seg and the like)

As for the Studios, the NFL (those that air nfl games) Lead Studios right now dont care how long the strike last. CBS and FOX will make just enough money on ad revenue from that League alone to last them until June/Jan 09. For ABC and CW- i dont know. As for the executives, the Higher Ups are born with ego's and as long as Moonves is conserned, as long as his baby (Ms. Chen-Moonves) is working her ass off for him, he could care less what the WGA does. The showrunners he has under contract, will work to try and bring Courics ratings up...but they all hated the season, for no other reason but to say "it didnt feel right" Thats true egotism.

As for the Actors yet to go...yipes. I dont want to be the studios.

As for the future? If the WGA get what they want, the studios will past the cost to the consumer, which will hurt the Hi-Def Disk Formats, and for the Internet...if you think microtransactions were bad enough YOU havent seen NOTHING yet...But if the WGA doesnt get this deal right- its gonna be 1988 all over again, and the writers will leave in droves. That year started the downward trend because the writers stopped caring and left.
 
Novid said:
As for the Studios, the NFL (those that air nfl games) Lead Studios right now dont care how long the strike last. CBS and FOX will make just enough money on ad revenue from that League alone to last them until June/Jan 09.
I was under the impression that the NFL was no longer a huge cash cow for the networks, simply due to the league's huge demands. I thought networks put in for football rights because it allowed them to fill up a Sunday afternoon with popular content and because it gave them a chance to promote other shows. CBS is pretty much anchored by popular comedies and hourlong dramas.....I don't see how they'll be able to weather the storm.

At any rate, it's not really good enough just to exist until 2009 (god forbid this lasts that long), because when that season starts there's no guarantee that people will come back.

As for the future? If the WGA get what they want, the studios will past the cost to the consumer, which will hurt the Hi-Def Disk Formats, and for the Internet...if you think microtransactions were bad enough YOU havent seen NOTHING yet..
Aren't the WGA asking for like a tenth of a percent royalty on this stuff? Who cares?
 
They just announced Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine will be doing something at the FOX rally tomorrow, hopefully busting out a few dialed-to-11 face-melting licks that will shatter all the windows at Fox Plaza.
 
Novid said:
As a writer who has tried to get in to the WGA a few times- and didnt pan out, the strike is warrnted, but is the right time but wrong era. It might be for the wrong reason too because unless im correct, isnt Hulu just exprementation between Fox and NBC?
Are you saying that Hulu is the only way in which the networks are selling or otherwise showing their programming on the Internet? Cuz that's ridiculously false.
 
Economan said:
I think you might be underestimating this.
Erm, they currently get approximately 4 cents per DVD. They want that increased to about 8 cents. [Technically, .3 and .6%, respectively.]
 
Cyan said:
The percentage increase the writers were asking for amounts to about $.04 a DVD. So I don't think I'm underestimating.

Sorry, as now I see that I was overestimating while you had actual facts. With the strike and all, I seriously thought that they'd want more than a 4 cents increase on DVD sales. Please excuse my ignorance.
 
Gary Whitta said:
They just announced Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine will be doing something at the FOX rally tomorrow, hopefully busting out a few dialed-to-11 face-melting licks that will shatter all the windows at Fox Plaza.

Awesome (and Izzard, too). Everyone and their mom is out there supporting. If I lived in Cali or NY, I'd be out there for support, even if I'm not a professional writer.
 
For people who were wondering about House:

Deadline Hollywood Daily said:
Production staff at House say they have one more script that they will be shooting next week. After that, the show will slowly shut down production. Actors and most of the crew will be gone by the end of next week. There are a handful of post production people that will have work until the end of January.
 
As for the future? If the WGA get what they want, the studios will past the cost to the consumer, which will hurt the Hi-Def Disk Formats, and for the Internet...if you think microtransactions were bad enough YOU havent seen NOTHING yet

Yes. Because 4 aditional cents to the cost of DVDs is going to erase all the consumers willpower to buy originals, sure. I bet that if you give the option to pay one additional dollar per DVD that would go straight to the writters, most consumers are going to pay it willingly and happily.
 
Ikael said:
Yes. Because 4 aditional cents to the cost of DVDs is going to erase all the consumers willpower to buy originals, sure. I bet that if you give the option to pay one additional dollar per DVD that would go straight to the writters, most consumers are going to pay it willingly and happily.
i don't know about most people, but i know i would.
 
Gary Whitta said:
They just announced Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine will be doing something at the FOX rally tomorrow, hopefully busting out a few dialed-to-11 face-melting licks that will shatter all the windows at Fox Plaza.


Wow, awesome!
 
Gary Whitta said:
They just announced Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine will be doing something at the FOX rally tomorrow, hopefully busting out a few dialed-to-11 face-melting licks that will shatter all the windows at Fox Plaza.
Sick. I was reading up about him and apparently he's been on Star Trek a couple of times :lol Can he get any more awesome.
 
I don't think this strike is going to last for that 8 months to a year thing. I'd imagine that once people start to realize that the scripts are out, the other unions will opt to strike. WGA might not hurt these corporations but if somehow the grips and lighting guys and stuff were to walk out (I don't even know if they're unionized, either) then these places would absolutely flip. If you can somehow hurt American Idol then Fox will cave immediately and probably force the other studios to acquiesce as well. I don't see this strike going long past February.
 
whytemyke said:
I don't think this strike is going to last for that 8 months to a year thing. I'd imagine that once people start to realize that the scripts are out, the other unions will opt to strike. WGA might not hurt these corporations but if somehow the grips and lighting guys and stuff were to walk out (I don't even know if they're unionized, either) then these places would absolutely flip. If you can somehow hurt American Idol then Fox will cave immediately and probably force the other studios to acquiesce as well. I don't see this strike going long past February.

That's still a pretty long time. We're talking 4 months? That would really hurt a lot of shows.
 
whytemyke said:
I don't think this strike is going to last for that 8 months to a year thing. I'd imagine that once people start to realize that the scripts are out, the other unions will opt to strike. WGA might not hurt these corporations but if somehow the grips and lighting guys and stuff were to walk out (I don't even know if they're unionized, either) then these places would absolutely flip. If you can somehow hurt American Idol then Fox will cave immediately and probably force the other studios to acquiesce as well. I don't see this strike going long past February.


Does the US allow secondary picketing like that? in the UK it'd be illegal unless the unions involved had their own geniune grievances.


If the studios let this run until next June/July (whenever the WGA contracts expire), is it feasible they would choose not to renew and then hire non-union labour? Presumably they aren't doing so now because the contract they are in forbids it. But that runs out in June/July right?
 
whytemyke said:
I don't think this strike is going to last for that 8 months to a year thing. I'd imagine that once people start to realize that the scripts are out, the other unions will opt to strike. WGA might not hurt these corporations but if somehow the grips and lighting guys and stuff were to walk out (I don't even know if they're unionized, either) then these places would absolutely flip. If you can somehow hurt American Idol then Fox will cave immediately and probably force the other studios to acquiesce as well. I don't see this strike going long past February.

A lot of the unions can't strike in support because they have "no-strike" clauses in their contracts with the studios. But if you think not having scripts isn't going to hurt the studio's you're pretty crazy. You're already looking at pretty much all TV scripted production being shut down by January and they'll run out of movie scripts around Juneish.
 
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