• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

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

Status
Not open for further replies.
Stoney Mason said:
The grips will now be writing the jokes. A lot of comedy on how the cameras operate now I'm guessing...
Click to expand...
"What's the deal with zoom. Am I right here, people? You too lazy to walk closer? Come on."

This could be awesome.
 
mattx5 said:
Leno without writers will be a fun trainwreck to watch.
Conan, on the other hand, will be incredible to watch. I wonder if Conan's lost anything over the years - we all know he was one of the sharpest comedy writers around before he helmed his show. I assume he'll be writing himself a lot of material for when he goes back on the air.

I wonder how much this is weighing on Conan's conscience considering he used to be the one in the trenches fighting for his lifebread. I wonder if he's become a suit?
Click to expand...

Leno would then be like watching American Idol tryouts
 
Oh snap
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.c...to-restart-wga-amptp-talks-outlook-very-grim/

Here is what is clear to me based on new reporting about the entrenched positions of both sides: hopes for any kind of settlement have dimmed. I have learned that last week Jeffrey Katzenberg tried and failed to backchannel a compromise that would have brought both the WGA and the AMPTP back to the bargaining table.


It was an effort that was laudable. But the fact that it was unsuccessful dramatically points up disturbing realities, I have learned: that the CEOs are deeply entrenched in their desire to punish the WGA for daring to defy them by striking and to bully the writers into submission on every issue, and that the writers are sadly misguided to believe they have any leverage left. I'm told the CEOs are determined to write off not just the rest of this TV season (including the Back 9 of scripted series), but also pilot season and the 2008/2009 schedule as well. Indeed, network orders for reality TV shows are pouring into the agencies right now.

The studios and networks also are intent on changing the way they do TV development so they can stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars in order to see just a few new shows succeed. As for advertising, the CEOs seem determined to do away with the upfront business and instead make their money from the scatter market. I'm sorry to break this disappointing development right before Christmas, but I pledged to stay objective in my reporting and I can't ignore this major news development. The truth often hurts. But don't blame the messenger. And, no, this info wasn't dumped in my lap, either. (That only happens over at Variety or the Los Angeles Times...)

The WGA-AMPTP post-strike talks fell apart December 7th when the mogul reps issued an ultimatum, containing six issues which the WGA needed to take off the table for any talks to continue, then ended all negotiations. Katzenberg as both a moderate this time around (he was a hardliner back during the WGA strike of 1988) and a bit player (as head of small DreamWorks Animation) has been marginalized by the Big Media moguls during these negotiations (unlike '88 when he headed Walt Disney Studios and was a major henchman). Despite his lowly status, Jeffrey made an effort, with the full knowledge of the other CEOs, to get the talks restarted. "Ultimately, what he was trying to do was to bring both sides back before the DGA started negotiating," a source told me.

So Katzenberg organized three give-and-take sessions between himself and 30 to 40 TV showrunners seeking his advice because of their concern about the WGA's negotiating strategy.

These so-called dissidents claim to represent at least a 100 hyphenates. And they say they had the blessing of three members of the WGA negotiating committee. But WGA insiders maintain there is no widespread showrunner movement to negotiate independently, "just a small group who mistakenly thought they could maneuver behind the scenes (with only the best intentions) but were blindsided by the AMPTP," as an influential WGA insider tells me. WGA leadership claims showrunner unanimity and points to a series of smaller showrunner informational meetings that took place during the same period of time which included at least a hundred if not more.

But not only WGA negotating committee member Carlton Cuse went back to work to finish his producing duties on Lost without the knowledge of the general membership, so, too, did Marc Cherry, the Desperate Housewives showrunner and another WGA negotiating member. There's no question many showrunners are now in solidarity with WGA leadership, both some are not. It's true the strike is being waged on their backs because of their influential positions. And while these producer/writers are on the picket lines, the WGA for some reason has not gone after the director/writers or the actor/writers to stop working as the guild promised it would.

According to sources, Katzenberg told the dissident showrunners, "If your WGA leaders don't make a deal with us before the DGA, my concern is you'll never make a deal with us. The guild will break down and key people like yourselves will go Fi-Core. It'll be 1988 all over again almost to the week and month. It's my belief that it's not in anyone's interest, in fact it would be bad for the Industry as a whole, for the guild to get divided. And that's what's going to happen."

Then Katzenberg went to Barry Meyer, the Warner Bros chairman/CEO considered a hardliner among the moguls, and told him that this clique of showrunners were ready to go to their leadership and tell them to focus only on New Media issues if the talks re-started. But the moguls needed to go back into negotiations without any conditions so that ultimatum had to be taken off the table. "Jeffrey told Barry, 'I'm confident we will get a deal done if you go back in the room with the WGA now,'" an insider confided.

But Meyer, obviously speaking for the rest of the CEOs, refused. Now those dissident showrunners, I'm told, feel really burned. "They totally understood now what the negotiating committee has been through for the past six months and were very apologetic that they had questioned leadership up until now. 'Sheepish' was the word I heard used," one influential WGA insider tells me. "Although now there really aren't two differing opinions anymore. We all think the AMPTP sucks and that our guys have been sandbagged throughout this process." So no talks are planned, none are anticipated, and if the moguls continue to have their way and blow up the TV development process, none will be forthcoming for months and months. That is the reality.

I am now convinced that the 8 Big Media moguls pretty much have a vice-like grip on how this strike will get settled. And virtually no amount of external pressure will force their hand. I know from my many years of reporting on labor negotiations in the U.S. and abroad that, in any new contract negotiation, there is one watershed moment when the union and the companies can move the flag down the field in a meaningful way before ego, rhetoric, and the passage of time get the better of everyone involved. Has that moment come and gone? I honestly don't know, but if it hasn't, then it's soon -- very soon.
Click to expand...
 
This guy has been taking a beating for saying the WGA was stupid on striking on television and elsewhere, but so far he has been accurate on how all this is going down. If the last part is true, reality glut is coming.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.c...-amptp-talks-outlook-very-grim/#comment-19620

I really respect Nikki’s reporting here and I think a lot of it is accurate. I do not believe that it will go on much past March, though. As I’ve said, the DGA will make a deal and then the WGA will agree to those same terms. Unlike what Klatuu and others want to believe, because it validates their support of the misguided strategy that the guild has followed since ‘05, the deal they will have will be the same as what they could have had in Dec.. I don’t think the AMPTP really will want to continue the strike, just to break the Union. They just want to prove that the union’s tactics didn’t work and that goal will be attained after the DGA contract is negotiated and accepted.

Take a look at how Gil Cates and Michael Apted have portrayed the DGA position and think about how it creates a comfortable climate for the AMPTP to compromise and conclude a negotiation. Anyone can see that their offer to the WGA was not what they were willing to give but a reaction to the childish, irrational and petulant posturing of the WGA negotiators. They have always been planning to give more and will give more. I know most of these guys and have had disagreements with each of them.

They don’t give in to arm twisting, even when you really have a grip on their arm. Losing the TV season doesn’t frighten them because scripted programming has been, for the most part, a money-loser. Their big financial scores, during the past few years, have been with reality shows. Forget about shows that don’t make it. A series like Alias, that runs for 5 years, runs up a big deficit and then sells for a few hundred thousand off-network, is still a loser. Dancing with the Stars, on the other hand, is a cash cow. Ugly Betty will never earn as much for ABC as Dancing with the Stars or Home Makeover.

Anyway, those of you that do work as writers, will be back to work in the spring.

Comment by Gavin Polone — December 25, 2007 @ 9:52 am
Click to expand...
 
Nothing, so far, has turned out nearly as grim as Nikki Finke has made it seem initially. Gonna call BS on this latest report too.
 
So, Jimmy Kimmel is going back on the air also, but apparently he's not available to do any writing for himself.....I have no idea what any of that means.
 
improv%20inferno.jpg
 
MIMIC said:
Damn CEOs. I want my 24 :**(
Click to expand...

Same. The Season 7 preview was awesome.
Yeah, Tony coming back seems silly as hell, but there were some great moments in just that 2 minute trailer.

January won't be January without the back to back Jack viewing.
 
I actually think this strike is awesome. It's giving me a chance to watch older tv series I never had time to get into and to catch up on my backlog of movies I've been meaning to watch.

I hope the strike keeps up! I discovered The Wire is a fantastic show because of the strike!!
 
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.c...-verrone-to-enforce-strike-rules-against-jay/

URGENT: Writers Guild president Patric Verrone is going on air telling radio and TV media today that the union will go after member Jay Leno for writing his own monologues. This is a 180-degree turnaround from the guild's position yesterday that it didn't want a battle with the late night TV host over this issue. Verrone just appeared on Fox. But he told The Thom Hartmann Show on Air America this morning, ''Jay is a longtime member of the guild and we've known him a long time and it's clear to us that [writing his monologue] is a violation of the rule.

There are strike rules and we're going to have to enforce them against him.'' Strike-breaking is a serious issue for the WGA and its strike rules require members to report any activity in that realm. Discipline for violations of a strike can include expulsion, suspension, fines and censure.

Meanwhile, I've learned exclusively that one of the reasons that the WGA was going to give Leno a pass was a privately communicated threat by Jay to go "Fi-Core" -- aka financial core status -- with the writers union. This comes to me from unofficial WGA sources. Under Fi-Core, a writer gives up full membership in the guild and withholds dues spent on political activities in order to continue writing during the strike. WGA members who go fi-core can’t be disciplined for working during a strike. But they still receive all the WGA benefits.

The reason why guild writers don't go Fi-Core even when they disagree with union decisions is because of the ostracism factor among their colleagues. But the bad PR from having Leno go Fi-Core clearly is not what the WGA leadership wanted right now as the strike drags on into a third month and solidarity is still holding. It'll be interesting to see whether, now that the union is going after him for writing his monologue, Jay carries out the Fi-Core threat.

I've also learned exclusively that Leno wasn't the only late night host complaining to the guild. ABC's late night host Jimmy Kimmel, like Leno a WGA member, also requested and received his own private meeting with Verrone and other WGA leaders to discuss his unhappiness.

In fact, I'm told that Kimmel and Leno were in constant phone contact with one another over the controversial issue of the WGA granting an interim agreement to David Letterman's Worldwide Pants so that rival Late Show could go back on air with its team of writers. This is a fast-breaking story so stay tuned.
Click to expand...
 
So I guess this summer we're going to get a lot of season sets that only have 12 or 13 episodes on them, huh.

But seriously, how long can this strike really last? Aren't the writers at a bit of a disadvantage? The studios seem content to just pump out cheap reality shows, while the writers can only live on savings so long...I know the strike in the 80s lasted awhile, but we're in different times. I wonder who will blink first.
 
These side deals are undermining the union in the long run. Its like playing favorites and cutting a side deal with UA means nothing considering Lions flopped and nothing else coming out is going to help them.
 
Grizzlyjin said:
So I guess this summer we're going to get a lot of season sets that only have 12 or 13 episodes on them, huh.

But seriously, how long can this strike really last? Aren't the writers at a bit of a disadvantage? The studios seem content to just pump out cheap reality shows, while the writers can only live on savings so long...I know the strike in the 80s lasted awhile, but we're in different times. I wonder who will blink first.
Click to expand...


The writers.
 
They should give some of the money Hollywood makes to teachers and firefighters. These writers are making 200k a year for writing Dawson's Creek and Everybody loves Raymond or whatever the hell crap is on TV these days.
 
Dark Octave said:
They should give some of the money Hollywood makes to teachers and firefighters. These writers are making 200k a year for writing Dawson's Creek and Everybody loves Raymond or whatever the hell crap is on TV these days.
Click to expand...

writing Dawson's Creek is worth more than being a teacher.
 
I'm hoping the writers will last long enough to see a real Hollywood strike. I'm curious what would happen.
 
Well, DGA goes into negotiations next week, so there could be SOME resolution, or an even bigger strike.
 
Joni said:
I'm hoping the writers will last long enough to see a real Hollywood strike. I'm curious what would happen.
Click to expand...

I will run out of complete season boxsets, that's what will happen. Although I found The Sopranos lately which is all good! I have no idea why I passed on it when it was on air the first time :(
 
Dark Octave said:
They should give some of the money Hollywood makes to teachers and firefighters. These writers are making 200k a year for writing Dawson's Creek and Everybody loves Raymond or whatever the hell crap is on TV these days.
Click to expand...
They really aren't making that much money. But if you're a writer behind a hit show, you deserve to make a lot of money. Writers are the creators of all the content on that show.
 
Keyser Soze said:
I will run out of complete season boxsets, that's what will happen. Although I found The Sopranos lately which is all good! I have no idea why I passed on it when it was on air the first time :(
Click to expand...

Finding new shows has been the best part of this strike really.

Finally saw Arrested Development, Veronica Mars about to check out Dexter.
It's been pretty good if there are enough sets out.
 
DrEvil said:
Well, DGA goes into negotiations next week, so there could be SOME resolution, or an even bigger strike.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that the DGA has no real issues with the producers, but would go on strike only to support the writers. Same for the SAG too.
 
Blader5489 said:
I was under the impression that the DGA has no real issues with the producers, but would go on strike only to support the writers. Same for the SAG too.
Click to expand...

No, they all want a part of the digital distribution machine that is the internet. It's as much as an issue for DGA/SAG as it is for WGA... the question is whether or not the AMPTP will give the DGA/SAG a "good" deal in order to make the WGA look bad.
 
Penguin said:
Finding new shows has been the best part of this strike really.

Finally saw Arrested Development, Veronica Mars about to check out Dexter.
It's been pretty good if there are enough sets out.
Click to expand...

looks like CBS is about to air the entire first season of Dexter to fill holes. :lol
 
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr...sion/news/e3i045d22b3c760e2e6e4df4ead746ad594
Jan 12, 2008

STRIKE ZONE: LATEST NEWS AND UPDATES

ABC Studios on Friday afternoon became the first TV studio to terminate overall deals under the force majeure provision in its producers' deals.

In a major house-cleaning sweep, close to 30 writing and nonwriting producers -- most of them well-known -- who don't have active projects have been axed. The list includes the writing duos of Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia, as well as Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah, director Larry Charles, producer Sean Bailey, the producing team of Nina Wass and Gene Stein, writers Jack Kenney and Bill Callahan and actor-producer Taye Diggs, who landed a producing deal a year ago when he signed on to star on the ABC/ABC Studios drama "Private Practice."

"The ongoing strike has had a significant detrimental impact on development and production so we are forced to make the difficult decision to release a number of talented, respected individuals from their development deals," an ABC Studios spokeswoman said late Friday.

While force majeure action by TV studios had been inevitable as the writers strike entered its third month, few expected that many deals to be axed at a single studio.


Rumors are that Warner Bros. TV will terminate about 5-6 overall pacts next week, with other TV studios expected to follow.
Click to expand...
 
ABC's been ordering lots of unscripted material too. The Mole, The Bachelor, and The Bachelorette are all returning. I'm also knowledgeable of one more new series all but certain to pull an order next week.

I don't think ABC foresees this ending any time soon.
 
What would happen if the strike ends and writers go back to work, and the follow seasons of all our hit shows just suck total crap... ugh, i'd be pretty pissed!
 
I still have unwatched seasons of ALF and Lois and Clark and Scrubs and The Simpsons and 3rd Rock and NewsRadio and My Name is Earl I can watch.
 
uh oh.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/b...66800&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

Reality TV Is No Lightweight in the Battle to Outlast Strikers
By BILL CARTER

The striking members of the Writers Guild of America may have hoped that television viewers, upset that their favorite dramas and comedies had gone dark, would disdain the chief alternative the broadcast networks had to offer: reality shows.

If they did, the results from the last two weeks have offered cold comfort.

For the moment at least, the antistrike strategy of replacing scripted entertainment with so-called reality series seems inspired. One new NBC reality entry, “American Gladiators,” has the look of an out-of-the-gate hit, something no new scripted show this season has been able to claim.

Other, established reality series, including NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” and “The Apprentice,” and ABC’s “Supernanny” and “Wife Swap,” have returned to the air impressively.

Other nonscripted programs, like ABC’s new “Dance Wars,” have performed as well or better than the scripted shows they replaced. And all of this has happened before Fox’s “American Idol” makes its usual colossuslike entrance into the prime-time schedule, starting Tuesday night.

ABC will bring back its reality powerhouse “Dancing With the Stars” in March. CBS will not only return its signature reality series, “Survivor,” but next month will move its summer reality hit, “Big Brother,” into the regular television season for the first time.

The strong performance of nonscripted series has some network executives brimming with confidence about their antistrike strategy.

“In every other country in the world, the majority of prime-time programming is unscripted,” said Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment. Reveille Productions, which Mr. Silverman ran before going to NBC, produces “American Gladiators.”

He argued that a shift to unscripted television was inevitable, partly because such programming simply costs less than the $2 million to $3 million an hour that scripted television does. But he added: “It also has to do with demographics. Young people like this kind of programming.”

Mr. Silverman emphasized that he is still interested in finding scripted hits; but he also noted that the success of reality shows during the strike would almost surely have an effect on what the networks will look like when the strike ends.

“Time periods may be lost to scripted shows,” Mr. Silverman said. “If you’re a writer, you don’t want to kill that golden goose,” but then he added,. “CBS can fill three hours a week with ‘Big Brother’ for about five bucks.”

A senior executive from a different network pointed to the performance of “American Gladiators,” emphasizing that the show finished with about 60 percent higher ratings than the drama “Chuck,” which had occupied the same time period before the strike.

“If I were a writer and I saw ratings like that for a show that costs far less than ‘Chuck,’ I’d be scared to death,” said the executive, who asked not to be further identified because the network had told its executives not to discuss publicly any issues related to the strike.

Still, some are suggesting that the networks should hold off on self-congratulation. “The writers should certainly be worried about the staying power of these reality shows,” said John Rash, senior vice president and director for media at Campbell Mithun, an advertising agency with clients that include H&R Block and Polaroid cameras.

“But the networks should have equal concern about their business model,” Mr Rash said. “A lot of the best television still comes from a pen — or now a word processor. It’s still imperative for networks to create those touchstone shows.”

Brad Adgate, senior vice president and director of research at Horizon Media, a firm with clients including Ace Hardware and Mutual of Omaha, said: “At some point there could be some viewer backlash if all they see is reality. The viewer will eventually migrate, primarily to cable.”

Mr. Adgate acknowledged, however, that on cable channels the main genre that any wandering viewer would be likely to encounter is reality programming. This is especially true because of the strike. The scripted hits on cable television, like “Mad Men” on AMC and “Entourage” on HBO, are also shut down from production.

Much of the original programming on cable is reality-based anyway, whether it is “Celebrity Rehab” on VH1 or “Myth Busters” on Discovery.

There is a danger for networks, Mr. Adgate said, in that very blurring of the lines between network and cable fare. “The networks have always been a destination stop for viewers,” he said. “What does it do to commercial pricing if you can’t distinguish between a network show and a cable show? What happens if you can’t tell the difference between ABC and HGTV?”

Mr. Silverman argued that network reality shows are always more lavishly produced, citing “American Gladiators.” He said the series is being shot in high definition, the better to appeal to sports fans.

The show, which features contestants competing in events like jousting with large tipped weapons over a pool of water against a corps of musclebound opponents, has exceeded even NBC’s expectations. For its premiere, the program, a comeback version of a 1990s syndicated show, attracted more than 12 million viewers and had the biggest complement of young adult viewers of any program of its type this television season. (Its third show will be on Monday at 8.)

“American Gladiators” took on formidable competition the first two times. ABC saved the season’s last original episode of “Desperate Housewives” to run against it during its Sunday night premiere. The next night, it went up against the Bowl Championship Series football game and scored impressive ratings again.

That performance followed the best first-week results for NBC’s weight-loss competition, “The Biggest Loser” and the surprisingly strong performance of the reconstituted “Celebrity Apprentice,” with stars like Gene Simmons of Kiss and Vincent Pastore of “The Sopranos” competing to survive Donald J. Trump’s hiring instincts.

NBC had canceled the steadily declining “Apprentice” franchise before Mr. Silverman negotiated a renewal. The move has paid off so far. The first week’s ratings were the strongest for the series since 2005, even against stiff competition from the last original episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “C.S.I.,” further weakening the argument that viewers miss their scripted series.

“They hit us with everything they had,” Mr. Trump said, “and now they’re out of bullets.”
Click to expand...
 
AG is only doing well becasue the original show was so cheesy, that everyone loves watching the stupidity.

It's not some bachellor shit or survivor or big brother, this is people getting HURT, which you never see in reality tv.

Using gladiators as any sort of vantage point that reality = success, is plain flawed, and I predict that Gladiators will be THE ONLY successful show that comes out of this reality boom due to the strike.

People are getting tired of Reality, it was finally going away, and only the popular survived.. now it's 2001 all over again and all we'll see is shit shit shit, AG is a rare Gem along side Kid nation.

If I were a writer, I'd know this, hell, I'm sure the studio execs know this.
 
DrEvil said:
AG is only doing well becasue the original show was so cheesy, that everyone loves watching the stupidity.

It's not some bachellor shit or survivor or big brother, this is people getting HURT, which you never see in reality tv.

Using gladiators as any sort of vantage point that reality = success, is plain flawed, and I predict that Gladiators will be THE ONLY successful show that comes out of this reality boom due to the strike.

People are getting tired of Reality, it was finally going away, and only the popular survived.. now it's 2001 all over again and all we'll see is shit shit shit, AG is a rare Gem along side Kid nation.

If I were a writer, I'd know this, hell, I'm sure the studio execs know this.
Click to expand...

They cited more than just AG as doing well. Reality programming for the most is the pits, but the profit these networks are making on them is probably nothing to scoff at. If and when reality programming really starts nosediving along with ratings, I'm sure the networks will come crawling back...but by the time that happens there's going to be a lot of bankrupt writers. Hell, if this stretches long enough I wouldn't be shocked to see many of the writers abandoning ship and writing anyways. Guild Meltdown and all that.

I keep hoping for a surprise resolution where the writers get their due...but the longer this drags on the more worried I am. With Hulu and my DVR I've been getting into television for the first time since I was a kid...and now it's being taken away :(
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

How Kevin Costner Lost Hollywood
2
57
1K
Insane Metal replied
So for all that "AI crisis killing memory prices" - did anyone run the numbers?
6
439
Soodanim replied
Uh... So... Anybody here into... Beyblades?
44
4K
0neAnd0nly replied
Ridley Scott says Hollywood is “drowning in mediocrity”
2 3
112
1K
Men_in_Boxes replied
Anyone get paid to playtest?
15
379
AJUMP23 replied
Top Bottom