A Strike Upon Us

[Sylph]

November 7, 2007

TV Writer-Producers Show Solidarity

By EDWARD WYATT

BURBANK, Calif., Nov. 7 — They face off against each other each week in prime time: “Desperate Housewives” vs. “Family Guy,” “Ugly Betty vs. “My Name is Earl” and “Private Practice” vs. “Bionic Woman.”

But the creators of those programs, and of dozens of other hits like “Lost,” “Two and a Half Men” and “Brothers & Sisters,” joined forces today to picket the headquarters of the Walt Disney Company as the strike by television and film writers entered its third day.

These show runners, as they are known, from at least 30 scripted television series walked the picket line this morning outside Disney headquarters, joined by members of the Screen Actors Guild and other striking writers.

As the writers who also serve as executive producers of their shows, the show runners have the responsibility for hundreds of crew members — electricians, costume designers, set decorators and make-up artists, among others — who work on the programs that the show runners created.

Those other crew members are not on strike. But in a few weeks, many of them will be out of work as well as shows begin to shut down production for a lack of scripts.

Josh Schwartz, the creator of “The O.C.” and the current series “Gossip Girl” and “Chuck,” said the show runners are walking a fine line between not performing writing duties while they are on strike and the demands by television producers that they perform their contractual duties — editing episodes that are already filmed, casting episodes that have not been run yet, and the like.

“We’re very concerned that there be shows for our crews to come back to after the strike is over,” Mr. Schwartz said. “We feel a great solidarity with the Writers Guild, but at the same time I have a real obligation to my shows.”

Some show runners, like Shawn Ryan of “The Shield,” have been adamant that they believe they cannot perform any of their editing duties while on strike as a writer.

But even leaders among the striking writers are uncertain that the lines are so bright. Carlton Cuse, an executive producer and writer of “Lost” and a member of the Writers Guild negotiating committee, said he believed the question of whether to perform some duties during the strike “is a decision that should be left up to the conscience of the individual show runner.”


November 8, 2007

For TV Executives, It’s Time to Juggle

By BRIAN STELTER and EDWARD WYATT


Jack Bauer will return to save the world on “24” — again — but somewhat later than expected. And Michael Scott, the comically obtuse regional manager on “The Office,” will not be serving up any original cringe-inducing comments after next week.

As television and movie writers entered the third day of their strike against Hollywood producers yesterday, the walkout continued to complicate matters for the networks.

Fox, the first to announce revisions to its prime-time schedule because of the strike, said it would indefinitely postpone the start of the seventh season of “24,” which had been scheduled for January, to ensure an uninterrupted 24-episode season.

Original episodes of NBC’s half-hour comedy “The Office” will stop broadcasting after the Nov. 15 show. Other television programs, including “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” on NBC, were wrapping up production yesterday as producers ran out of fresh scripts. And the cast and crew of “Desperate Housewives” on ABC were expected to stop filming by tomorrow, a studio spokeswoman said.

Six other comedies — including “Two and a Half Men” and “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” both on CBS — have already ceased production this week. But unlike “The Office,” they (and most other prime-time scripted shows) have several weeks or months of episodes already filmed and waiting to be shown. Production on “The Office” was shut down after the writers, several of whom are also actors on the show, began picketing, and Steve Carell, the lead actor who plays Michael Scott, refused to cross the lines. A publicist for Mr. Carell said he had no comment about the strike.

Several of the writers and actors from “The Office” expressed their complaints in a video posted on YouTube. “You’re watching this on the Internet — a thing that pays us zero dollars,” said Mike Schur, a writer for the show, clutching a picket sign.

More than 12,000 members of the Writers Guild West and the Writers Guild East went on strike just after midnight Monday, after a late negotiating session convened by a federal mediator failed to bridge the divide between writers and producers.

The most contentious issue centers on how much writers should be paid when their programs and movies are shown on the Internet and other new-media devices like cellphones and iPods.

On the picket line yesterday morning, outside the headquarters of the Walt Disney Company in Burbank, Calif., show runners from at least 30 scripted television series (including “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives” and “My Name is Earl”) joined members of the Screen Actors Guild and other striking writers.

As the writers (and often creators) who also serve as executive producers of their shows, these so-called show runners must contend with their own sharply divided loyalties. Members of the Writers Guild, they have marched off their shows. But as producers, they are still expected by the networks and studios to perform their contractual duties, like editing episodes that are already filmed and casting episodes that have not been filmed yet.

They also have responsibility for hundreds of crew members — electricians, costume designers, set decorators and makeup artists, among others — who work on the programs.

Those crew members are not on strike. But in a few weeks, many will be out of work as shows start to shut down production for a lack of scripts.

“We’re very concerned that there be shows for our crews to come back to after the strike is over,” said Josh Schwartz, the creator of “The O.C.” and the current series “Gossip Girl” on CW and “Chuck” on NBC. “We feel a great solidarity with the Writers Guild, but at the same time I have a real obligation to my shows.”

Some show runners, like Shawn Ryan of “The Shield” on FX and “The Unit” on CBS, have insisted that they cannot perform any of their editing duties while on strike as a writer.

But even leaders among the striking writers are uncertain that the lines are so clear. Carlton Cuse, a show runner and writer on “Lost,” and a member of the Writers Guild negotiating committee, said he thought that the question of whether to perform some duties during the strike “is a decision that should be left up to the conscience of the individual show runner.”

[Sylph]

Put the picket line to good use, folks

By Mary McNamara

Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

November 9, 2007

To: Members of the Writers Guild of America, West

From: A Concerned Citizen

We are all very worried about the events of the last week. A writers strike is inevitably traumatic for everyone -- the writers, the networks, the viewers. Already we have lost late night, and it is only scant weeks before many of our favorite shows are replaced by reruns or reality TV.

But where a pessimist sees a strike, an optimist sees opportunity. Really, how else should one react to the news that "Big Shots" will cease after the 10th episode, except with exquisite relief? It can only be hoped that those of you writing for these shows will use your time on the picket line to rethink the obnoxious nature of some of your characters and the sexist, and nonsexy, tenor of your plots.

In fact, given the disappointing ratings of many of this season's new shows, a strike isn't necessarily a bad thing. All of us can benefit from a break now and then -- look at "The Sopranos," perpetually hopped up on hiatus. Consider those hours in front of the studio gates as much-deserved, if ill-paid, Me Time.

You writers have put down your pencils, not turned off your brains. So much of the creative process takes place in the mysterious recesses of the central nervous system; there's no reason you can't use this raft of new free time to solve the many problems facing your shows. Why, this strike could turn out to be the best thing that could happen for some shows, including:

The Bionic Woman

Clearly the biggest disappointment of the season. Promising pilot, stunningly lame follow-through. I know there have been staffing issues, and no doubt studio issues, but honestly, you all have to get things moving. Literally. To make a show about a superhuman warrior girl boring takes some doing. Perhaps you could figure out what the show is actually about. Is Jaime (Michelle Ryan) going to stop kidnappings and diffuse bombs or is she going to continue to have an existential crisis? The "Matrix" grays and shiny blacks are great visual top-notes, but you need way more super-cool CG-enhanced fights and fewer sister scenes. You also need to acknowledge the fact that most bad guys prefer guns to hand-to-hand combat. And who is the star here? Jaime or Sarah? Requiring Ryan to watch some "Lara Croft" movies might help, but in the end the actors can do only so much soulful staring and tae kwon do sweating to make up for lack of plot.

Journeyman

There's so much going on here that every week is essentially a new show, and not in a good way. Is this a procedural with Dan the time-traveling reporter unraveling mysteries? A sci-fi love story in which the dead fiancé turns out to have been an astrally challenged alien all along? An exploration of marriage in which we are all haunted by past loves, or perhaps a metaphor for modern life -- multitasking has become so entrenched that time no longer has meaning? I'd watch any or all of these shows, only what I've seen so far looks more like "Starsky and Hutch in Space" with more cryptic dialogue than the law should allow on network television. In the Thank Heaven for Small Mercies Department, no one is named Chuck or Darling or both, which they seem to be in every other new show.

Carpoolers

What should have been a show about the strange and accidental intimacy between strangers turned out to be about a bunch of middle-aged guys poorly channeling Lucy and Ethel. How can a show written in L.A. not have better jokes about driving? Silly people can be funny, but they must be grounded in pathos, not whining. It may be too late, but try downloading "The Bob Newhart Show" onto your iPhones and court the muse as you walk the line.

Private Practice

The numbers are good, but you have to think of the long haul. Enough with the semi-insulting single-gal frustration motif -- the cake bingeing, the dream obsession, the whole shower head thing. (The shower head thing! Writers have been shot for less!) If you insist on making Addison a romance-addled Everywoman (instead of the experience-tempered brilliant doctor she was on "Grey's Anatomy"), then pattern yourself on the master. You had the temerity to make the hat-in-the-air reference in the pilot, so when you hit a narrative roadblock, ask yourself: What would Mary Tyler Moore do in a situation like this? Make up little "WWMTMD?" wristbands as you picket, because I guarantee you it would not involve shower heads.

Moonlight

I keep getting e-mails telling me that this is a good show, though all evidence remains to the contrary. A vampire detective is a fine idea, but I at least hope for something more along the lines of "House" or "Monk" and less along the lines of Count Chocula. The show works when Mick is able to use his "special skills" to sense things others would miss -- why not do more with the ageless immortality bit? He's pretty old, so wouldn't he have a greater understanding of human nature than most people, in addition to the ability to move fast and smell vampires? The brilliance of "Interview With the Vampire," which kicked off the modern wave of pop bloodsuckers, was not just the humanity of the main character but the richness of his experience and the wisdom that it brought him.

Cavemen

Just thank your lucky stars your little stinker premiered pre-strike; otherwise you would be off the air permanently by now.

Life

Don't despair. Don't panic, and please, please, don't lose the groove. Keep doing what you're doing and pray the strike ends before we miss a week of Charlie Crewes. Because that's what I'll be doing.

[email protected]

[Sylph]

Will producers turn to U.K. writers?

London grapevine is abuzz with gossip

By ADAM DAWTREY

Far from the WGA picket lines, there's a place where top-tier screenwriters are, in theory, still free to work on movies backed by the U.S. studios.

It's called the United Kingdom.

The WGA has no jurisdiction here. But the question worrying producers, agents and studio execs in London is whether local writers can (or should) work on projects involving U.S. partners.

The subject is so delicate that no one will discuss it on the record. Indeed, some would prefer that the subject not be raised publicly at all for fear of drawing the WGA's attention to the gray area in which the U.K. biz operates.

The Writers Guild of Great Britain has pitched in with its own opinion. "We are contacting the major U.K. broadcasters and producers, and the U.K. Film Council, asking them not to dump U.K. material into the U.S. market and not to dress up American projects to look as though they are British," said general secretary Bernie Corbett. "Strike-breaking would at best be a short-term payday but would have a devastating long-term effect on a writer's U.S. career."

That depends, of course, on the attitude of WGA. As one London-based studio exec said, "It's still legitimate for us to be working on non-WGA contracts if the writer is rendering services in the U.K. But some people are freaking out that if you cross a picket line, and you are not WGA already, it may affect your ability to join the union in future."

Brit-based productions are almost always non-WGA -- even the biggest ones developed by the U.K. arms of the studios or produced by companies with studio relationships such as Working Title (Universal), DNA Films (Fox), Marv Films (Sony) and Heyday Films (Warner). None is a WGA signatory, and some have their own independent local financing, so technically they shouldn't be directly affected by the strike, even if they are working on projects written by British members of the WGA.

The London grapevine is abuzz with gossip that marquee American producers have been scouting for non-WGA writers for film or TV projects they would funnel through British production companies. Hollywood's majors have lodged discreet inquiries with agents and lawyers about the availability of their clients.

"It could be an extraordinary opportunity for British writers to get a shot at big studio projects that they otherwise would never get a shot at," confided one U.K.-based studio exec.

British agents, however, are counseling caution. "To do nothing, and to be seen to do nothing, is the thing to do," declared one agent to some of the highest-profile British screenwriters.

In the U.S., it's clear that WGA members shouldn't take non-union work. In the U.K., it's far from clear where to draw the line. A British writer, whether a WGA member or not, is surely free to write a local TV drama for the BBC or Channel 4. But what if that drama is sold to a U.S. network to fill a gap left by strike action? Or what if it's co-produced by HBO?

Most would think it's OK to write a British movie for BBC Films or Film4 -- but what if the movie is co-financed by Focus or Paramount Vantage, or pre-sold to Buena Vista for U.K. distribution?

Writers currently contracted to a non-union project from a local producer affiliated to a U.S. studio would be in breach if they put their pencils down. But agents are advising clients to be wary about entering any deal, or even taking a meeting, with such companies, even though the projects are legitimately British and non-union.

According to one British agent, the rules are clear that "any non-U.S. citizen can render services on non-WGA projects, as long as those services are provided outside the U.S., even if they are provided to a WGA signatory company."

But another agent from the same company added, "If it seems that supporting a strike means you have integrity, I don't know that any writer would want to be seen as a scab."

It's unclear how much power the WGA has to punish non-American writers. The guild can refuse to grant full membership with voting rights but can't deny "financial core" membership status to anyone. Do British writers care if they can't attend union meetings, so long as they get the financial benefit?

In the end, it's a matter of conscience for each individual.

As one British agent said, "Maybe English writers haven't quite got hold of how important this is in Los Angeles. I don't know if anyone here has quite woken up to what it all means."

Read the full article at:
" target="_blank">http://www.variety.com/article/VR111797562...t;

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The last strike in 1988 resulted in 22 weeks and a remake of Mission Impossible - this strike is predicted that it could go on even longer! It'll be interesting to see how this affects the tv landscape come spring...