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Posts with tag: writers-strike | Return to WatchersWatch.com Homepage Saturday Night Live Returns February 23 The writers' strike is finally over and the screenwriters are heading back to work. Saturday Night Live will return on February 23rd on NBC and Tina Fay will be the host. We're guessing that there will be lots of political skits. The other networks are still finalizing plans. 24 won't return until January, 2009, which is too bad. But CBS announced that it will be airing six new episodes of Ghost Whisperer on April 4 and four new episodes of Moonlight on April 11. Posted on February 13, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) A tentative deal has been reached between the writers and the studios, which is fantastic news for television viewers. Today, the terms of the proposed deal are being submitted to the membership of the WGA for approval. If the membership approves the deal, everyone will be back at work next week. That means Oscars will go on (with jokes and movie stars and evening gowns aplenty) and that writers will get back to work on all our favorite TV shows. And movies, of course. It's a happy day in Hollywood. Posted on February 8, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Oscars President Wants Answer From WGA About Telecast The Oscars bigwigs are putting pressure on the Writers Guild to give them an answer about whether the show will go on. Academy prexy Sid Ganis has again reached out to the Writers Guild of America about Oscar's fate but still hasn't received an answer. "We're running out of time," he told Daily Variety.The Oscars staff has prepared two shows: one which uses writers and movie stars and one which doesn't. Needless to say, they'd rather have the one with the writers and actors. The WGA meets this weekend to look over a proposed settlement to the strike. If all goes well, the Oscars will move forward as planned, with a red carpet and everything. If not, then it will be something truly horrible like the fiasco that was the Golden Globes newscast. Posted on February 7, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) The Oscar nominees will be announced Tuesday, but there may not be an awards show because of the writers' strike. However, Gilbert Cates, producer of the award telecast, remains adamant that on Feb. 24 there will be a red carpet outside the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood and an Oscar telecast on ABC despite the Writers Guild of America strike and the threat of a boycott by George Clooney, Angelina Jolie and the rest of the Screen Actors Guild. He hinted that he might not need actors onstage.Gil Cates knows full well that an Oscar telecast without movie stars is like a Monday night without Heroes: totally boring. Posted on January 18, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) SAG Says No Golden Globes So much for the Golden Globes. The president of the Screen Actors Guild, Alan Rosenberg issued a statement saying that SAG members won't be crossing the WGA's picket lines. "After considerable outreach to Golden Globe actor nominees and their representatives over the past several weeks, there appears to be unanimous agreement that these actors will not cross WGA picket lines to appear on the Golden Globe Awards as acceptors or presenters. We applaud our members for this remarkable show of solidarity for striking Writers Guild of America writers.We're trying to feel sad, but somehow we don't. Perhaps this is a sign that there are way too many awards shows during the year. If the strike isn't settled soon, millions of viewers might discover the same thing. Posted on January 4, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Golden Globes Seeking Deal With WGA The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is trying to work out a deal with the Writers Guild that wold allow the Golden Globes ceremony to proceed without picketing, but with its comedy writers and its A-List actors. According to a statement from HFPA president Jorge Camara, the Press Association began talking to the WGA on Dec. 29 after learning about the interim deal writers forged with David Letterman's Worldwide Pants. That deal permits The Late Show with David Letterman (as well as The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson) to resume production today using WGA writers. "We feel that The Late Show with David Letterman agreement is very reasonable, and hope and expect the WGA will agree to the same terms and ultimately permit the Golden Globe Awards to be broadcast as scheduled, without picket lines, on Jan. 13," Camara said in the statement.The WGA responded with a statement that Dick Clark Productions is a struck company and that picketing will proceed. "Dick Clark Productions is a struck company. As previously announced, the Writers Guild will be picketing the Golden Globe Awards. The WGA has great respect and admiration for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, but we are engaged in a crucial struggle that will protect our income and intellectual property rights for generations to come. We will continue to do everything in our power to bring industry negotiations to a fair conclusion. In the meantime, we are grateful for the ongoing support of the talent community."The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is really groveling here, but the writers aren't buying it. The feeling seems to be that the HFPA is just a marketing tool for the studios and that there is no benefit to the cause to allow the show to go forward on NBC. NBC Universal has steadfastly refused to entertain the writers' demands. Posted on January 2, 2008 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Pilot Season is in Jeopardy The writers' strike isn't ending anytime soon, and it's looking the traditional tv pilot season may not happen at all. The disruption of the pilot season, which runs from January through April, would shake up the $9 billion "upfront" market that begins in May when advertisers pay to book commercial time long in advance of a broadcast.We think that if the strike isn't settled soon (and the AMPTP refuses to even come back to the bargaining table) the entire television industry will change. That could eventually be a good thing, but it's going to make for some truly awful television programming for the next year or so. Posted on December 21, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Carson Daly broke ranks with his late night talk show brethren and crossed the WGA picket line. Carson is not a member of the WGA, but all the other late night talk show hosts have respected the writers' strike and have put their shows into reruns. NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly is about to become the first late-night talk show to defy the writers strike and resume production. Daly, who is not a member of the Writers Guild, will begin taping new episodes of his Burbank-based show this week for airing next week, an NBC spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.The Writers Guild Of America issued this statement: "We're disappointed at Carson Daly's decision to return to work. Mr. Daly is not a writer and not a member of the WGA, unlike other late-night hosts Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Kimmel, who have all resisted network pressure and honored our writers' picket lines. We hope he'll change his mind and follow the lead of the other late-night hosts." Bad Carson. Bad talk show host. May all his dialogue be perpetually unfunny. Come to think of it, he's not funny even with professional writers. Posted on November 27, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Brad Pitt Walks Out on State of Play Brad Pitt pulled out of the political thriller State of Play because of his concerns over the script. The script can't be changed now because of the writers' strike. The move comes after a couple of weeks of meetings between Pitt and director Kevin Macdonald ("The Last King of Scotland") in an attempt to iron out the concerns. The script cannot be worked on because of the Hollywood screenwriters' strike.Universal issued a statement confirming that Pitt is no longer attached to the film and used language that it is reserving all its rights in the matter. In other words, Pitt may be getting sued for backing out of the project. Posted on November 23, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) One Studio Head's Heartfelt Thoughts Fred Armisen from Saturday Night Live plays a studio executive who shares his heartfelt thoughts about the writers' strike and why the writers really need to allow the studios to decide what is fair pay for writers. He then goes undercover as a WGA member. Posted on November 21, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Strike Talks to Resume November 26th Talks between the WGA and the AMPTP will resume on Monday, November 26th. The strike will continue during the talks. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and studio reps will head back to the bargaining table on November 26 after back-channel dialogue facilitated by Creative Artists Agency partner Bryan Lourd helped put the parties onto a more productive track. The WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) put out brief, identical statements Friday night.It's good news that talks are resuming. But the studios are going to have give something to the writers on the issue of Internet residuals, or the talks are going nowhere. Posted on November 19, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Angels & Demons Pushed to 2009 The film version of Dan Brown's Angels & Demons has been put on hold because of the writers' strike. Here's the official word from Sony via Nikki Finke. "With the strike nearing its third week, Columbia Pictures has postponed production of Angels & Demons. While the filmmakers and the studio feel the screenplay is very strong, we do not believe it is the fully-realized production draft required of this ambitious project. At this time, there is no new start date for Angels & Demons, but we are setting a release date of May 15, 2009 and are hopeful to deliver the movie worldwide to theaters on that date. We do not expect any other film on our 2008 slate to be affected."This is just the beginning. It's looking like the worst year in movie history is about to land in 2008. Guess we'll all be spending more time outside next summer. Or reading a lot more. Or surfing the Net. Or gaming. Or catching up on any rentals we've missed. Posted on November 16, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Leave the AMPTP Alone! Here is a new Writers Strike video from the Colbert Report writers and United Hollywood. "Very successful entertainment executive, who is also quite young for his position, on why scribes' strike is asinine. Not tooting own horn or anything but he is very connected-- squash, Iger-- has inside dope. And 'hung' not an exaggeration. Rare example of humility in biz. Also makes squash-playing very challenging. If he can't change this description later, you'll never work in this town again, Youtube." Direct video link Posted on November 15, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) The Voices of Uncertainty Seem Awfully Certain About Web Profits The AMPTP says that the future of the Internet is just too uncertain for them to agree to share any revenues with the writers. They say they don't even know if the medium will make money. But in this hilarious short video entitled "Voices of Uncertainty" we see the major AMPTP execs crowing about how much money they'll make off of the Internet and digital downloads. Crowing about your profits on film while you argue that you can't pay writers for new media because it's too new and confusing? All in a day's work for the AMPTP boys. Posted on November 13, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) Ellen DeGeneres Not Welcome In New York  The Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) is
very unhappy with Ellen DeGeneres, who is continuing to film her show, even though other talk show hosts such as Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel are refusing to cross the picket lines to film. Ellen is now not welcome in New York! Here's what they said:
Ellen DeGeneres went back on the air this week after honoring only one day of the writers strike. In anticipation of her plans to tape shows in New York City on November 19th and 20th, the Writers Guild of America, East is extremely disappointed to see that Ellen has chosen not to stand with writers during the strike. Ellen's peers who host comedy/variety shows have chosen to support the writers and help them get a fair contract, Ellen has not. On her first show back, Ellen said she loves and supports her writers, but her actions prove otherwise.Ellen's publicist issued a namby pamby response about how it's sweeps week and it will cost them money not to film and she's daytime, not nighttime etc etc, even though she is a comedian who writes material as well an as actress. So, cry us a river, Ellen. Oh, right -- you already did that over Iggy. But somehow you can't seem to show the same consideration for the writers who create all your material for your show. Everyone is losing money on a strike; that's the entire point. Writers deserve a fair wage and that's worth sacrificing for. Posted on November 9, 2007 Permalink | Subscribe | | | Comments (View) |
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