"Strike: No More Scripts!"

This could be tragic: "Hollywood writers begin strike"

Film and TV writers resolved to put down their pens and take up picket signs after last-ditch talks failed to avert a strike.

The contract between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers expired Oct. 31. Talks that began this summer, failed to produce progress on the writers' key demands for a bigger slice of DVD profits, and revenue from the distribution of films and TV shows over the Internet.

The strike is the first walkout by writers since 1988. That work stoppage lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry more than $500 million.

Talk shows will be affected the most. The absence of writers for monologues and skits, will probably force such shows as "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" to run repeats. Some talk shows may still continue to air nightly, but with more interviews and fewer sketches.

Soap operas will run out of fresh scripts within a month or so. Television networks haven't said what their plans are, but it's likely that a mixture of news and sports programming would probably take the place of daytime serials.

Scripted television shows will run out of new episodes in about six weeks. After that, the networks will probably run repeats, game shows, reality shows, sports programming, news programs, and possibly even programs imported from abroad or from cable channels.

Reality shows such as "Survivor" will not be affected by the strike. Neither will news and "magazine" shows such as "60 Minutes" and "Primetime Live". Game shows, also largely unscripted, will not be affected much. And since animated series' like "The Simpsons" take a long time to produce, scripts are already in place as much as a year in advance.

If this strike lasts long-term, your television and movie watching habits WILL be affected. My advice? Stock up on old television shows already out on DVD! :)

-Jon
posted by Jon at 3:19 AM  I   I  0 comments