No more TV for awhile... (Writers Strike)

Writers Set to Strike, Threatening Hollywood - New York Times

Originally Posted by N.Y. Times

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 1 — Hollywood’s two decades of labor peace shattered Thursday night, as movie and television writers declared they would embark on an industrywide strike for the first time since 1988, when both writers and Teamsters walked out.

The writers’ union said it would inform its members no later than Friday afternoon as to when the strike would begin, according to a person who attended a union gathering Thursday night at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The strike would pit union writers, whose position has been eroded by reality television and galloping technological change, against studios and networks that are backed by big corporate owners like General Electric and News Corp., but are also unsure of the future.

The walk-out threatens an instant jolt to television talk shows like “Late Night With David Letterman” and “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” which rely on guild writers to churn out monologues and skits. And if the strike drags on, audiences could see the eventual shutdown of soap operas, TV series and movie productions, as they exhaust their bank of ready scripts.

In the near term, a writers' strike will have an immediate impact on more than 200,000 workers in the movie and TV industry here and the thousands more who produce or sell entertainment elsewhere in the United States and abroad. The dispute may also signal more labor trouble to come, as directors and actors face similar issues when their contracts expire next June.

Over the long haul, multiple strikes could lead to a drastic overhaul of the economics of Hollywood. They could redefine the industry’s relationship with its highly unionized work force at a time when DVD sales are cooling and changing movie and TV markets have workers and companies alike vying for their perceived fair share of a yet-to-be-identified next digital bonanza.

“I’m afraid that everybody’s in for a terrible time,” said Norman Lear, the writer, producer and entrepreneur whose career spanned the disruptions of the 1980s — when Hollywood weathered five strikes by its guilds — and the years of relative peace that preceded and followed that tumultuous decade... [continued in the link]

So... how about that? Essentially, we won't be seeing anymore talk shows (Jay, Conan, Colbert, Stewart, etc...) for an indeterminate amount of time. This could be crazy-bad if it's not resolved within a month. If it goes on for a long time, all our favorite shows will be put on hiatus, and we'll see nothing but repeats, news, and possibly reality shows.

Sucks, don't it?

EDIT: Phew, good thing Achmed Owlcat's here to the rescue with scripts from overseas!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

It does indeed suck to lose the late night TV like Stewart and Colbert. For the rest of the stuff, I'm not all that worried, since it won't go away immediately. I've got such a backlog of video games and TV I've downloaded to watch, that I almost welcome the break. Unlike 1988, people these days have alternatives to TV (internet, downloaded content, whole seasons of shows on DVD, games), and while it will be painful to lose my Colbert fix, it's not the end of the world.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It's too much to hope that people will find something worthwhile to fill the unfortunate void with.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The strike is in regards to royalties isn't it?

As for Letterman going on hiatus from the writer's strike: He had writers on his staff? Are you shitting me?!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Yeah, basically what it is: The writer's want to be paid for their stuff being used in "new media" Read: The internet. And the evil suits don't want to do it.

I was speaking idiomatically.

It's about time they finally did this, since it's been rumored for months now. Not that I want them to do it, but I just want to get this whole thing over with already.

I honestly don't know if I'll even feel the effects of this. I don't watch much late night television, and I'm putting my money on the networks having this resolved before it affects most scripted shows. Assuming most networks have enough shows to get them through to the Christmas hiatus, the earliest those shows would be affected is probably January, and they'll probably have already caved in by then.

Worst case scenario, TV ends forever, right?

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by SILBER-3

Worst case scenario, TV ends forever, right?

Not really.
There's always reality TV shows after all.

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But we all know they ran out of good reality show concepts about five years ago.

How ya doing, buddy?

Hmm... is this like the auto industry, where if the TV company goes bankrupt then the labor union contract is automatically null & void and all bets are off? I think if it came to that we'd just see a lot of TV companies peel off from their parent companies, file for bankruptcy, and then start right back up under a new name with new employees (writers).

As for late-night shows: oh my god, without writers they might actually have to conduct an honest to god interview! *gasp* (Instead of just filling time telling the actresses they look hot and then showing a film clip that shows them looking hot. Not that there's anything wrong with that...)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Meh, who cares? I mean, they can't hire more writers?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by GoldfishX

Meh, who cares? I mean, they can't hire more writers?

Please don't talk when you don't understand. The writer's guild is on strike. No writers working. None. Fastest way to get blacklisted in this industry is to work outside the guild. There's a reason very few directors do it, and pretty much no writer will. So no, they can't just hire more writers. Because any writer even remotely worth his salt is in the guild.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by SILBER-3

Worst case scenario, TV ends forever, right?

If Stargate Atlantis goes, I kill myself. Totally not fucking joking here.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Oh well...I watch, um, Simpsons, and pro wrestling (wait...do they count? They actually do have writers, and given how much Steph has pissed them off lately....), and um, repeats from five to fifteen years back.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Reality shows were invented as a meens of torture.

I dissaprove of any industrial action that alows Simon Cowel to get any more ritcher than he already is, infact, as of late, the phrase "Strike" has been associated with "Brat Drama" to me, people wanting more and more rather than anything useful and holding the general public hostage for thier services.
I'm looking at you, Royal Mail workers.

Cuz who suffers if they keep at it, us suffers, we have to watch REALITY TELEVISION, the most godawful genere of television conceved by man.

This is brat drama, it's damn time the brat was given the kicking.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I can definetely understand why the Writers guild would go on strike.

If they feel they're being cheated out of revenue in terms of DVD sales and other forms of media broadcasting their work they should entitled to their fair share of profits.

I don't think this strike will affect me since I don't get a lot of free time to watch tv anyway. It'll be interesting to see what will happen. I would like to think its great that they're standing up to the big corporations because if it wasn't for their hard work then the networks wouldn't have a lot of quality shows on the air.

I may not know a lot of about the entertainment industry but it seems like with the shows I do watch that there is not enough emphasis placed on the writers who actually write for them.

I've been around quite a number of strikes, everything from teachers, college professors, security guards, tradespeople but on a local scale, so it probably can't compare to whats going on now, but I sincerely hope the writers do get they asked for without getting too greedy in the process.

Personally I would like to see this strike go for a long time, just to see how the media world would suffer or to see the extent of the full consequences of this strike on the media itself. I guessing deep down a lot of people don't want to see this strike go for a long period of time since a lot of these writers have their own familiaes and lives to support, but I guess in the meantime it will be the wait and see approach.

FELIPE NO

one would argue the adverage quality of shows in any given season's been goign down fairly quick-fast.

Like I've said I disaprove of any action that remvoes funtime on my tellybox in favour of Simon Cowel's uggly ass fizog.

How ya doing, buddy?

Anyone want to place bets on how long this will last?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Too Long as of hour zero of the strike.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

God, unless this is resolved within monthes, guess there's nothing to do but stick to Anime and games.

But still, my fav shows...

How ya doing, buddy?

Thought I'd post a video that's been going around to convince people to support the strike since there's a lack of media representation about this strike. Makes sense... The network moguls own the news, and they're not gonna publicize an event that not only hurts their profit but also reveal what greedy bastards they are.

YouTube Video

For "The Office" viewers, I thought this clip of the picketers was very convincing. :3

YouTube Video

So stop going to the network websites to watch clips, and stop buying DVDs. Rockgamer. ;_;

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Without getting into a big argument about it, I'm just gonna say that I'm not taking a side on this either way. Sure, the networks are being assholes about paying them what they deserve, but honestly I think the writers are being somewhat greedy as well.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I think it's moreso the unions bed-wetting, to be honest. Unions are fine and all when you have millworkers losing fingers left-and-right, but in the modern world, they tend to impede things. For example: thanks to such unions, it is nigh on impossible to fire a lousy public school teacher. If you try to do so, unions will hop all over it. I have a parent in the public education system, and it can get frustrating at times because of this...

Anyhow, writers who are content with their pay, etc can't work or else they'll get blacklisted. I wouldn't be surprised if a good number of writers opposed this, but they have to stick with the union or else their futures as writers are fucked.

In other news, my brother mentioned that 24 is on indefinite hold. Probably due to the writers ;_; I thought they'd be done with the scripts and what-not by now, though...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

It's funny who WGA also spells out "Windows Genuine Advantage", it sums up how much the only person being hurt in this whole deal is the consummer.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Gechmir

IIn other news, my brother mentioned that 24 is on indefinite hold. Probably due to the writers ;_; I thought they'd be done with the scripts and what-not by now, though...

Are you kidding? With all the rewrites and delays they went through over the summer, I'm surprised they actually got out the ten or so they're reported as having. And as much as it pains me to admit, I'd rather have no 24 at all than have less than half a season with no idea when it will finish.

As for writers opposing the strike, I know the official vote was something like 90% of them agreed to go on strike, so there were definitely some who openly opposed it, and probably more who were just too cowardly to go against the grain.

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I can't consider the writer's greedy when all they are asking for is their share cut that was promised ages ago, and its only 4 frelling cents extra from a DVD, and the same rate for internet full episodes with the TV ones. I'm pretty sure by now, the home video industry is MORE than stable.

I always expected the internet full episodes have around the same rate and deal as the ones on TV, looks like I was wrong.

I mean, look at musical artists. I'm sure some people agree that some artists earn get more money out of our wallets than they derserve sometimes. Why should all those Hip hop singers own a giant mansion, while writer's struggle to pay their mortgage?

Unless the writers are demanding gold or some shit, I don't think most of them were being greedy. I mean hell, Peter Jackson asked for his fair cut in the LOTR EE DVD sales too, which from what I've heard was suppose to be his contracted pay cut, yet New Line refused to pay up despite Jackson essentially saving them from being obsolete.

And now? Jackson can't even get frigging Halo going in the movie production side, a game that Hollywood is blaming for the drop in ticket sales. Whether you like LOTR movies or not, its undeniable to what a hit it has become. It took Jackson 10 years of hard work and a large team of creative people to pull this off, now all he asked in return is not a raise, but his fair cut, and this is how he got treated?

But I haven't been following this as closely as some of you may had, so I could be wrong. But from what I can tell, greed doesn't seem to be part of the equation. Writers deserve their fair cut.

Jam it back in, in the dark.