WRITERS' STRIKE IS OVERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!

[Xstatic1]

LATEST UPDATE: Jan 12, 2008:

LOS ANGELES - Striking Hollywood writers said Friday they had decided not to picket the Golden Globe Awards because organizers of Sunday?s event changed it from an exclusive NBC broadcast to an event open to all media.

The Writers Guild of America issued a brief statement saying it had given the Hollywood Foreign Press Association its assurance that writers would not protest outside the news conference where winners will be announced.

The association announced the expanded media access earlier in the day, marking a reversal of NBC?s intent to cover the strike-affected event exclusively for television.

Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22613256/

---

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? When the union representing Hollywood directors begins contract talks Saturday, striking TV and film writers will likely be calculating how a deal might affect them.

A quick resolution with directors could undercut the bargaining power of writers by serving as an industry template for the central issue of new media compensation, observers said.

The Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild issued a joint statement Friday saying they hoped directors reach a fair deal that "incorporates principles that will benefit all creative artists."

Full article

 

[Pepsei]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: Xstatic1
LATEST UPDATE: Jan 10, 2008:

LONDON - Actor Tom Hanks is keen to see the Oscar ceremony held as usual, and urged studios to return to the negotiating table to end a writers? strike that threatens to disrupt the climax of Hollywood?s awards season.

The Golden Globe ceremony scheduled for Sunday has already been scrapped, and will be replaced by a news conference few stars are likely to attend. The People?s Choice Awards were also scaled back and subsequently bombed in the television ratings.

Now all eyes are on the Academy Awards, the movie world?s biggest night, which are due to take place on February 24.

Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22594671/

----

LOS ANGELES - The Weinstein Co., one of Hollywood's largest independent film producers, says it expects to reach a deal with striking Hollywood writers that will allow the company to resume production.

The company was anticipating that an agreement with the Writers Guild of America would be signed by the end of Thursday, Weinstein Co. spokesman Matthew Frankel said.

The deal would be the second reached with big-screen producers. United Artists reached an agreement with the guild Monday to resume production.

The guild previously agreed to a deal with Worldwide Pants, the company that makes David Letterman's late-night TV show.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22596535/

Are the actors so brain dead that they can not even think for themselves for an acceptance speach?

Would someone please explain why the Writers are needed for awards ceremony?

People read a list of names, open an envelope with a name, call it out and then someone shows up and gives a fancy speech.

maybe some of those actors support the writers or are writers themselves. probably...

 

[Xstatic1]

LATEST UPDATE: Jan 13, 2008:

**first part of article snipped**


"What's really caused the impasse," said Kennedy, "are some additional demands that the Writers Guild have made. They'd like to cover our reality programming or animated programming. And they'd like the power to go out on sympathy strikes if other unions are having a dispute."

"Well, those are issues that are on the table at the moment," said Shawn Ryan. Ryan is the producer of such popular shows as "The Shield" and "The Unit," and he's on the Writers Guild negotiating team. He says those issues aren't the real reason the producers left the bargaining table. "The companies have other issues unrelated to the Internet that are on the table that maybe we don't agree with.

"What they are, are the excuses that the companies have given to strategically pull themselves out of the negotiating room," Ryan said. "They've not talked with us the last month and they're using the excuse of 'Oh, there's a few issues that we just don't agree with.'"

The writers' contract was the first to expire. Directors' and actors' contracts are up this spring and some of the same issues - especially carving up the new media revenues - are sure to come up. Everybody wants a bigger share of the pie.

The fight escalated with the writers' plan to picket the Golden Globes, and if need be, the Oscars. Cancelling the Globes could cost the local economy $70 million, the Oscars as much as $130 million.

Full article: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories...nday/main3705547.shtml

 

[RossMAN]

Xstatic1, thank you for continually updating this thread

 

[Xstatic1]

LATEST UPDATE: Jan 15, 2008:

LOS ANGELES - Four major studios have canceled dozens of writers? contracts in a possible concession that the current television season cannot be saved, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The move means the 2-month old writers strike may also endanger next season?s new shows, the Times said.

January is usually the beginning of pilot season, when networks order new scripted shows. But the strike leaves networks without a pool of comedy and drama scripts from which to choose.

20th Century Fox Television, CBS Paramount Network Television, NBC Universal and Warner Bros. Television told the Times they have terminated development and production agreements.

Studios typically pay $500,000 to $2 million a year per writer for them and their staffs to develop new show concepts.

?I didn?t see it coming,? Barbara Hall, a writer and producer whose credits include former CBS series ?Joan of Arcadia? and ?Judging Amy,? told the Times, which said ABC executives gave her the news Friday. ?I am not entirely sure what their strategy is, all I know was that I was a casualty of it.?

The newspaper said more than 65 deals with writers have been eliminated since Friday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22665291/

---

LOS ANGELES - Producers of the Grammy Awards have requested an interim agreement that would allow striking Hollywood writers to work on next month?s telecast, The Recording Academy said Tuesday.

Writers Guild of America spokesman Gregg Mitchell said the request was referred to the board of the union?s West Coast branch for a decision. He said earlier in the day, however, that a deal ?is unlikely to be granted.?

He noted that Grammys producer John Cossette Prods. is on the WGA?s list of ?struck companies.?

Should the WGA decide to picket the awards show ? which conveniently takes place in Los Angeles where most writers are based ? celebrity attendance would certainly be affected. It was the refusal of Screen Actors Guild members to cross the picket line at the Globes that ultimately derailed that show.

Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22670159/

 

[Xstatic1]

LATEST UPDATE: Jan 16, 2008:

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Director John Singleton is among the latest casualties of the Hollywood writers strike, losing his production deal at Warner Bros. TV as part of a sweeping cost-cutting action by major studios.

"Force majeure" -- or act of God -- provisions in the contracts allow studios to cancel deals with writers and producers idled by the strike, which is now in its third month. These deals usually involve the supply of offices and staffers on the studio lot, and can be both costly and unproductive.

Warner Bros. TV, along with CBS Paramount Network TV, Universal Media Studios and 20th Century Fox TV, sent termination letters to a total of 45-50 writers and producers on Monday. ABC Studios dropped 25-30 producers last Friday.

Full article

---

NEW YORK - Despite the Hollywood writers' strike, the big TV networks have more than a hundred episodes of scripted series ready to roll out over the next few months.

The bad news for viewers: Few are fan favorites.

"Desperate Housewives" is done, the dust barely settled from a tornado that hit Wisteria Lane. "Grey's Anatomy" has no more episodes left, as does Thursday competitor "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." No more laughs are coming from "Two and a Half Men," "30 Rock" and "The Office." "Heroes" is also done.

Several other shows are down to a precious few, the networks carefully rationing new material like a hiker lost in the desert with a half-empty canteen. One of the three remaining "House" episodes, for example, is set aside for maximum impact right after the Super Bowl.

***THIS IS WHAT WE'RE INTERESTED IN KNOWING:***

Looking ahead, CBS' stockpile of original programming is the shortest. "CSI: Miami," "NCIS," "Criminal Minds," "Cold Case," "Shark" and "Numb3rs" are among the series down to only one fresh show apiece. Two series set for a midseason return, "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and "Jericho," have two months' worth of episodes.

One advantage for CBS is that its procedural dramas do much better in reruns than serials like "Desperate Housewives." CBS also announced this week that it has ordered three new reality series, including one called "Game Show In My Head" from the "Punk'd" team of Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg.

Some analysts pick Fox as the network that will be least damaged by the strike, and not just because "American Idol" is back. It was the most improved network in ratings this fall, with growth from shows like "Prison Break" and "Bones," and both these shows have at least a month's worth of new episodes still unseen.

Because they are animated and needed to be produced well in advance, Fox's popular Sunday night lineup with "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy" all have a season's worth of shows done. The midseason drama "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" had the strongest debut of any new series this season.

"Fox has a well-planned midseason," said Shari Anne Brill, programming director at the Madison Avenue firm Carat. "The other networks are dealing with strike contingency plans."

Fox and ABC are taking different approaches with popular midseason entries. Eight episodes each are already in the can for Fox's "24" and ABC's "Lost," but Fox is keeping Jack Bauer on the sidelines until a full season can be done. The new "Lost" episodes begin airing Jan. 31, even though their creators have complained they'd prefer that ABC wait until all 16 were done before risking that viewers are left hanging.

CBS and NBC are also taking the unprecedented steps of rerunning drama series that were originally aired on sister cable stations ? Showtime's "Dexter" on CBS and USA's "Monk" and "Psych" on NBC.

"Law & Order" and "Medium" are set for two or three months on NBC. The network is also pleased with how its "American Gladiators" game is doing.

ABC has "Dancing With the Stars" and "The Bachelor" ready to return. And "Cashmere Mafia," "Eli Stone," "Notes From the Underbelly" and "Men in Trees" all have two or three months of new episodes available for ABC.

Full article

 

[Xstatic1]

LATEST UPDATE: Jan 17, 2008:

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood directors reached a tentative contract deal Thursday with studios, a development that could turn up the pressure on striking writers to settle their 2-month-old walkout that has idled production on dozens of TV shows.

?Two words describe this agreement ? groundbreaking and substantial,? said Gil Cates, chairman of the Directors Guild of America?s negotiations committee. ?There are no rollbacks of any kind.?

Among other things, the three-year agreement establishes key provisions involving compensation for programs offered on the Internet.

That issue has also been a key sticking point between striking writers and the studios, which broke off talks on Dec. 7.

The Writers Guild of America said it would evaluate the terms of the directors? deal. It also reiterated that it has been calling on the studios to resume negotiations.

?We hope that the DGA?s tentative agreement will be a step forward in our effort to negotiate an agreement that is in the best interests of all writers,? the writers guild said in a statement.

Writers previously said directors do not represent their interests.

Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22716097/

---

NEW YORK - If David Letterman hoped a deal with striking writers would help him in his battle for late-night supremacy with Jay Leno, it hasn?t happened yet.

Leno?s NBC ?Tonight? show averaged 5.17 million viewers last week, despite its writers being on strike and big-name celebrities being encouraged not to cross the picket line.

Letterman, who made a separate deal to bring writers back to his CBS ?Late Show,? had 4.08 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Leno has a 27 percent advantage over Letterman, compared to 33 percent prior to the writers going on strike.

Leno?s victory margin of nearly 1 million viewers comes despite Letterman actually winning last Monday, when Tom Hanks visited to watch Letterman shave the beard he grew during two months off the air.

Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22716358/

 

[mooglemania85]

Originally posted by: Xstatic1
LATEST UPDATE: Jan 17, 2008:

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood directors reached a tentative contract deal Thursday with studios, a development that could turn up the pressure on striking writers to settle their 2-month-old walkout that has idled production on dozens of TV shows.

?Two words describe this agreement ? groundbreaking and substantial,? said Gil Cates, chairman of the Directors Guild of America?s negotiations committee. ?There are no rollbacks of any kind.?

Among other things, the three-year agreement establishes key provisions involving compensation for programs offered on the Internet.

That issue has also been a key sticking point between striking writers and the studios, which broke off talks on Dec. 7.

The Writers Guild of America said it would evaluate the terms of the directors? deal. It also reiterated that it has been calling on the studios to resume negotiations.

?We hope that the DGA?s tentative agreement will be a step forward in our effort to negotiate an agreement that is in the best interests of all writers,? the writers guild said in a statement.

Writers previously said directors do not represent their interests.

Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22716097/

---

NEW YORK - If David Letterman hoped a deal with striking writers would help him in his battle for late-night supremacy with Jay Leno, it hasn?t happened yet.

Leno?s NBC ?Tonight? show averaged 5.17 million viewers last week, despite its writers being on strike and big-name celebrities being encouraged not to cross the picket line.

Letterman, who made a separate deal to bring writers back to his CBS ?Late Show,? had 4.08 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Leno has a 27 percent advantage over Letterman, compared to 33 percent prior to the writers going on strike.

Leno?s victory margin of nearly 1 million viewers comes despite Letterman actually winning last Monday, when Tom Hanks visited to watch Letterman shave the beard he grew during two months off the air.

Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22716358/

Better NYT article

 

[Rock Hydra]

Ugh...weak. No Daily Show or Colbert Report.

 

[aplefka]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper

Originally posted by: Xstatic1
LATEST UPDATE: Jan 10, 2008:

LONDON - Actor Tom Hanks is keen to see the Oscar ceremony held as usual, and urged studios to return to the negotiating table to end a writers? strike that threatens to disrupt the climax of Hollywood?s awards season.

The Golden Globe ceremony scheduled for Sunday has already been scrapped, and will be replaced by a news conference few stars are likely to attend. The People?s Choice Awards were also scaled back and subsequently bombed in the television ratings.

Now all eyes are on the Academy Awards, the movie world?s biggest night, which are due to take place on February 24.

Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22594671/

----

LOS ANGELES - The Weinstein Co., one of Hollywood's largest independent film producers, says it expects to reach a deal with striking Hollywood writers that will allow the company to resume production.

The company was anticipating that an agreement with the Writers Guild of America would be signed by the end of Thursday, Weinstein Co. spokesman Matthew Frankel said.

The deal would be the second reached with big-screen producers. United Artists reached an agreement with the guild Monday to resume production.

The guild previously agreed to a deal with Worldwide Pants, the company that makes David Letterman's late-night TV show.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22596535/

Are the actors so brain dead that they can not even think for themselves for an acceptance speach?

Would someone please explain why the Writers are needed for awards ceremony?

People read a list of names, open an envelope with a name, call it out and then someone shows up and gives a fancy speech.

Oh the irony...

Anyway, interesting past couple of days with the way things have been going for the DGA. Steps in the right direction hopefully, however as one article mentioned January is the start of pilot season so who knows what's going to happen as far as new shows next year if the strike goes too far into February (which it could).

 

[Xstatic1]

LATEST UPDATE: Jan 18, 2008:

NEW YORK - The Recording Academy has asked its members to sign a petition urging the Writers Guild of America to accept an agreement that would grant a waiver for writers to work on the upcoming Grammys, The Associated Press has learned.

The fate of the Feb. 10 telecast is in doubt after the WGA announced that it was unlikely to grant a waiver for music?s biggest night. If a waiver is not granted, its members could picket the event, set to be broadcast live by CBS.

The online petition reads in part: ?As a member of The Recording Academy, I would like to express my strong support for the Grammy Awards, and to encourage the WGA to accept the interim agreement offered by the producers of the Grammys. ... During this important 50th anniversary year, I support the Grammys and strongly urge the guild to do the same.?

Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22734315/

---

NEW YORK (Reuters) - NBC Universal, hamstrung by the Hollywood writers' strike, is near a decision to cancel the glitzy presentation it holds every May to introduce new prime-time TV shows to advertisers, affiliates and the media.

NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker, whose company reported on Friday a 10 percent rise in operating profit and 8 percent revenue growth, said he would still hold meetings with the advertisers, but was reviewing whether to call off the showcase "upfront" event at Radio City Music Hall.

Full article

---

LOS ANGELES - Striking Hollywood writers could begin informal talks with studio chiefs as early as next week in an effort to end a two-month walkout that has hobbled the entertainment industry, according to a person familiar with the bargaining strategy of the writers union.

Word of the possible break in the stalemate came Friday, a day after the Directors Guild of America announced a tentative contract deal, and studio heads urged the Writers Guild of America to join in talks that could lead to the resumption of formal negotiations that broke off Dec. 7.

The Writers Guild is prepared to sit down with executives such as Robert Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Co., who participated in similar informal talks with directors, said the person who was not authorized to publicly comment and asked for anonymity.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, said it had no comment on the possible start of informal talks.

Full article

 

[Eeezee]

God damn it, end this strike already!

 

[Xstatic1]

LATEST UPDATE: Jan 21, 2008:

LOS ANGELES - Film fans finally will soon learn who's competing for this season's Academy Awards. Now all we need to know is whether any nominees will turn up for the big show amid a writers strike that has thrown the awards season into turmoil.
The list of Oscar nominees Tuesday is expected to include such luminaries as Cate Blanchett, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis and Angelina Jolie.

That smattering of talent alone would ensure that a lot of people at home would tune in to the Feb. 24 ceremony. But without the cooperation of the striking Writers Guild of America, celebrities might honor the union's picket lines and stay away from the Oscars, leaving the show's planners to either scrap the telecast or come up with some new form of Oscar ceremony unlike anything audiences have seen before.

The word around Hollywood is that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a backup plan to put on the show without the blessing of writers and stars, but they declined to disclose details.

Gil Cates, producer of the Oscar telecast, has vowed the show will come off no matter what, hinting the program could be padded with clips from 80 years of Oscar history if writers and stars do not cooperate.

Officially, the academy says it is moving ahead with the red carpet and awards ceremony as usual.

Full article

 

[Squisher]

Xstatic1, I appreciate your updates, without them I probably would be clueless as to what is going on.

 

[marvdmartian]

Meh. The only network tv shows I watch any more are NCIS and The Unit. Everything else is on cable channels, though I am checking out the new Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles to see if it'll turn out well.

Honestly, this strike hasn't done a thing for my tv watching. Hopefully it'll help weed out some of the garbage that the networks have shoveled out over the past 8-10 years, and bring some quality back to network tv........but I doubt it!!

 

[Xstatic1]

Originally posted by: Squisher
Xstatic1, I appreciate your updates, without them I probably would be clueless as to what is going on.

 

[Xstatic1]

LATEST UPDATE: Jan 22, 2008:

LOS ANGELES - The striking Hollywood writers guild said Tuesday it will refrain from picketing the upcoming Grammy Awards, possibly allowing the music ceremony to escape the fate of the wrecked Golden Globes show.

The guild?s board of directors has yet to grant the music industry show a waiver that would allow union writers to work on the ceremony, but the Grammys typically depend more on performances than scripted lines or comedy.

The guild previously said it was unlikely to grant the Recording Academy a waiver for the Feb. 10 show, the music industry?s most important event, set to be broadcast live on CBS from Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22788210/

---

LOS ANGELES - The Hollywood writers guild said Tuesday it has agreed to back off proposals to unionize writers of reality and animated shows, a key concession that came the same day the sides said they would begin informal talks.

The new strategy was disclosed in an e-mail from the union to its members that was later released publicly.

The message was sent after guild officials met with representatives of several Hollywood studios, according to a person familiar with the bargaining strategy who was not authorized to publicly comment and asked for anonymity.

The talks held Tuesday were intended to lay the foundation for the resumption of full negotiations, which broke down Dec. 7 after the studios demanded that the guild take the unionization issue off the table.

Full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22791079/

---

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In the 80 years since the first Oscars were handed out, it has taken a war or a flood or an assassination to drastically alter or delay the celebration surrounding the film industry's highest honors.

Now Hollywood is wringing its hands over whether the 11-week-old strike by screenwriters against the major studios could, or should, be enough to postpone the Academy Awards this year.

More than a week after the writers strike yanked the red carpet out from under the Golden Globes, reducing that ceremony to a 30-minute news conference, Oscar organizers insisted on Tuesday their show will go on as scheduled on February 24.

Full article

 

[SmoochyTX]

Thanks for the update Xstatic1!

 

[Xstatic1]

Originally posted by: SmoochyTX
Thanks for the update Xstatic1!

yw.

 

[Xstatic1]

LATEST UPDATE: Jan 23, 2008:

WASHINGTON ? Missing some of your favorite political jokes because of the writers' strike?

The striking writers of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report and The West Wing debuted some fresh ones Wednesday as the Writers Guild of America, East met with members of Congress in an attempt to raise awareness about the ongoing strike.

Using the format of a fake political debate between the writers and the movie studios, moderated by former White House spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers, the writers got in a couple of zingers on the gathered lawmakers.

_ On coming before Congress? "We saw Charlie Wilson's War last night and are a little disappointed by the lack of strippers that we've seen here."

_ On the writers strike? "It would cost Paramount a total of $4.6 million to give the writers everything they're asking for. That's half the amount it would take to get Reese Witherspoon into a movie. Now, I ask you, what's more important to a movie: a script or half of Reese Witherspoon?"

Another of the writers quipped: "Which half?"

The fake debate even had its own fake pink T-shirted protester disrupting the event, whose disruption was disrupted by a fake green T-shirted protester.

Lawmakers showed their own sense of humor, with Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., donning a long black beard before coming to the lectern, saying she was growing a beard in solidarity with the writers, as late night talk show host David Letterman did briefly.

Full article

---

US network NBC is to stop making pilot episodes of TV series - a move that could change how new US shows are made.

The networks spend millions of dollars each year turning scripts into single episodes to test audience reaction.

But NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker thinks he can save $50m (£25.6m) each year by scrapping them.

"We will still market those scripted series. We are just going to go straight to air with them and cut out the pilots," he said.

The move has partly been prompted by the writers' strike, which has led studios to scale back on new productions because of a lack of scripts.

The cost of producing a pilot has soared over the last three years from $3m (£1.5m) to $7m (£3.6m).

Last year NBC commissioned eight new drama series after pilots were produced. The system is supposed to weed out failures.

Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7205118.stm

 

[rh71]

7 mil per episode of a show that might not even make it to the 2nd ep. Those production guys really should lay off the $4000 lunches.

 

[aplefka]

That's too bad about the pilots. I've got a friend on a children's show pilot that was supposed to come out this pilot season. Good thing they already taped it.

I wonder how their audience testing will be done now, because there's no way they'll actually just air a show like the article says. Zucker has something up his sleeve.

 

[krunchykrome]

I dont care. The only things I watch on tv are the news, espn, seinfeld reruns, and the movie channels (ex: HBO)

 

[paulxcook]

Thanks for this thread with the updates, Xstatic.

These hollywood types are all a big bunch of babies. Just come to an agreement already.

 

[tw1164]

I don't get how sending shows straight to air will save money. It seems like that would be a risker way to do things.