From syfyportal, We're coming into the fifth week of the Writers Guild of America strike, and already the studios have lost an estimated $300 million -- and that's excluding NBC.
Alan Gould, a senior analyst with Natixis Bleichroeder, told CNN that it is the price tag already being paid by CBS, ABC and Fox so far. He did not mention NBC, which recently laid off employees as a way to cut expenses during the strike.
There seems to be no end in sight for the strike, as both sides almost came to an agreement at the end of November, only to have the WGA shoot it down for what they called an unacceptable offer. In fact, if the studios want to make any headway in dealing with the union, they should consider approaching the WGA one-by-one, instead of through their own collective bargaining agency, said WGA West president Patric Verrone.
"If any of these companies want to come forward and bargain with us individually, we think we can make a deal," he told the Associated Press.
Verrone has blamed stalled talked on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the collective group representing the studios in the contract talks.
Production has already been shut down on nearly all genre television shows, although some movies which had completed scripts -- like "Star Trek XI" -- is still moving forward. NBC showed what could be the final episode of "Heroes" for the second season Monday night, and many of the networks are planning to start 2008 with scripted programming they held on from a fall release, and reality programming.
4 comments:
As a Thon member who may be directly affected by this nonsense, I would like to make a historical point:
The writers last struck in 1988 for a couple months, which led directly to the formation of Cops, Fox's (and the world's) first "reality show." Next was MTV's The Real World, and so on down the line to Promiscuous Idiots Island 4. The prevailing wisdom seeming to be: "Writers? Fuck them. We don't need 'em!"
I can only say that this is going to lead nowhere good. They don't even know what they're bargaining about. ("Internet? What the hell is the Inter-net?")
Well, you're not alone to be potentially affected by this nonsense, although for now work is okay (I'm knocking wood right this second).
The way I heard it, the writers aren't just dealing with the studios, but with the giant corps that own them, who just have money rolling in no matter what. Not a great bargaining position.
If they don't get it together by March, Jon Stewart is going to have to ad-lib the Oscars. Totally not kidding.
Yeah...it seems that the whole argument boils down to revenue from material that finds its way to things like iTunes and YouTube. Like, the writers from Lost are all desperate for that residual check in the mail for $37 when the fourth season hits iTunes.
It all just seems so ridiculous; if the music industry still can't figure out what to do, how are the writers going to?
The problem is, no one knows how to charge for things that are basically being given away. The reality is, Reality TV has fucked everything up, which they brought on themselves.
My own union, the Director's Guild, constantly sends me propaganda about how they're "moving forward" to get "members working in the new media" and also to "secure financial revenue in the new media." Horseshit.
Fact of the matter: if a reality show doesn't have to employ you, they won't. Writers and assistant directors included.
And the Internet doesn't hire anybody. Sort of.
Cool to have your "inner" perspective handsomestan.
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