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Writers' Strike

WGA Strike | TV Strike Changes Chart | Homepage

Hollywood Artists Launch Strike.tv

Strike TV

The website for Strike.tv has launched. Strike.tv is an online network created by Hollywood storytellers. Hundreds of talented film and television artists came together to create Strike.tv. The idea for Strike.tv originated earlier this year during the 100-day long writer's strike. Hundreds of talented film and television artists came together to create Strike.TV. The new site contains the following teaser trailer about what you can expect from this unique new online network.

Posted on July 12, 2008
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Tentative Deal Reached: Writers' Strike Could Be Over Soon

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
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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.

WGA leaders obviously have a lot on their plate this week, but Ganis on Wednesday said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences needs to know ASAP "as a matter of logistics. We have nominees and potential presenters who live all over the globe. I'm nervous. We're getting down to the final moments; we need to make plans."

Guild reps have told reporters several times that they don't intend to grant the Academy a waiver, but have never given a definitive yes or no to the org itself. "We've asked several times for a waiver or a one-day truce to move ahead," Ganis said, with the latest request delivered Monday afternoon. WGA reps told the Academy that they could expect an answer sometime next week. Ganis said he is sympathetic to the guild's sensitivities at this time -- but next week is too late for a show that involves not only travel arrangements for dozens of people, but complicated plans for a stage show, TV production, etc.

Logic would dictate that since the guild gave waivers to such kudocasts as the Image Awards and the upcoming Grammys, then Oscar would be given the OK. But nothing's been firmed. Ganis is hopeful, because all 13 nominated screenwriters attended Monday's nominees luncheon at the BevHilton, as did James L. Brooks and Frank Pierson, who are governors of the Acad's writers branch. All the scripters were "thrilled at being there," Ganis said.

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
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Carson Daly Thumbs Nose at Writers' Strike

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 half-hour Last Call airs at 1:35 a.m. EST weeknights, but whether Daly's first new episode would air next Monday or Tuesday was initially unclear. No guests were disclosed. Writers Guild spokesman Gregg Mitchell declined to comment. Daly is not the first talk-show host to go back into production. Ellen DeGeneres, who is a member of the union, has continued taping her daytime syndicated talk show after shutting down the first day of the strike. But Last Call becomes the first to break ranks among the late-night shows, which all had chosen to air repeats rather than tape new shows without their striking writers.

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
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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 is on the fast track to replace the star. Sources said the studio is looking at Johnny Depp, whose movie "Shantaram" just got postponed at Warner Bros., as well as Russell Crowe. Pitt was set to star with Edward Norton, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman and Robin Wright Penn in the Matthew Michael Carnahan-scripted adaptation of the British miniseries. He was playing a political consultant-turned-journalist who heads a newspaper's murder investigation involving a fast-rising politician (Norton).

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
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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
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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.

No other details were provided, and a press blackout was instituted. But it's clear that the emotion-charged issue of new-media compensation will remain front and center when the talks resume. Despite the planned resumption of talks, the WGA intends to continue its picketing and other strike activities. Negotiations between the WGA and AMPTP broke down November 4, and strike pickets took to studio gates the next day.

Picketing will take place as planned Monday and a big writers march is planned for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on Hollywood Boulevard. No strike activities will be held the balance of the week, but that's only because none had been scheduled due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Pickets will reappear the same day negotiations resume. WGA West president Patric Verrone alerted guild members during the weekend that their picketing obligations remain in place. "This announcement is a direct result of your efforts ... the hours you have spent on the picket lines, the days you've spent educating friends and colleagues, the boundless energy you've put into engaging with not only the Hollywood talent community but people all over the country and the world," Verrone said.

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
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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
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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."

Many of your favorite shows are running out of episodes and the late night shows have all gone dark thanks to the Writers' Strike, which has now lasted ten days with no sign of any negotiating between the WGA and the AMPTP. There are some shows the strike benefits and those are TV newsmagazines. ABC's Nightline was seen by the largest number of households during the first week of the strike -- beating out reruns of Letterman and Leno.

Indeed, "Nightline," which introduced a new anchor team two years ago, already has enjoyed an immediate lift. During the first week of the writers' strike, the usually third-place program drew the largest number of households, according to early Nielsen data of 56 metered markets. The newsmagazine pulled an average of 2.8 million households, while Letterman had 2.7 million and Leno had 2.6 million.

"We take no pleasure in there being a strike whatsoever," Goldston said. "It's no good for anybody. What's also true in the odd circumstance this presents us with is that it is an opportunity of sorts for people who have maybe not sampled the new 'Nightline' or who are looking around for alternatives to come to the show."

"Nightline" is not the only news program that stands to benefit from the strike. As the broadcast networks ration their dwindling supply of original comedies and dramas, news divisions have been instructed to prepare to pick up the slack. If the walk out drags into next year, the prime-time schedule could be filled with NBC's "Dateline," ABC's "Primetime" and CBS's "48 Hours Mystery."

For newsmagazines, the situation offers a chance to flex their muscles. In their 1990s heyday, they were on as much as 20 hours a week, but since, their roles have diminished. "Dateline," which once aired five nights a week, was not scheduled to be back on until after football season ends early next year.

If the strike lingers you may see more news shows on the networks. There will also be lots of reality tv, game shows and reruns of other shows.

Posted on November 14, 2007
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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.

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 has also been performing comedy on her show. Even if Ellen is writing those segments herself, since those segments would normally be written by the writers on strike, she's performing "struck work". Ellen is violating the strike rules that were clearly explained to all of the comedy/variety shows.

We certainly intend to let Ellen know our dissatisfaction in person if she decides to proceed with the shows she has scheduled in New York on November 19th and 20th. We will also make our voices heard the preceding week if she tries to pre-tape comedy segments on location.

We find it sad that Ellen spent an entire week crying and fighting for a dog that she gave away, yet she couldn't even stand by writers for more than one day - writers who have helped make her extremely successful.

Every show and film set has a production staff and crew that is beloved by their writers. Ellen's staff is no more important than the rest of the industry. When shows refuse to stand with us they create huge revenue streams for the companies and that prolongs the strike for the thousands of staff and crew members who are noble enough to honor our picket lines. We find this situation hurtful to those people and extremely unfortunate.

The writers did not cause this strike. The companies' greed caused this strike and it could end tomorrow if they were finally willing to negotiate a fair deal. We ask Ellen to cease doing shows immediately. She should stand by all writers and help us bring this strike to a quick conclusion. We owe that to the thousands of people who are caught in the middle.

If you agree that Ellen should stand with the writers on strike, please contact her and tell her so at: ellen.warnerbros.com/show/dearellen/. Or, contact the show's production office at (818) 260-5600.

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
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Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo Support the Writers' Strike

Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo of Gray's Anatomy talk about the writers' strike and why they fully support it in this short video. You can find breaking news, updates, links and explanations of what the strike is all about at our sister site Writerswrite.com's special Writers' Strike section.

New York Magazine's Vulture blog and TV Guide are reporting that an alternative ending will be shot for the December 3rd episode of Heroes. This alternative ending could be used as a finale in case the writers' strike prevents new episodes from being shot.

TV Guide reports that the struggling Heroes is planning to shoot an alternate ending for its December 3 episode, which would serve as a season finale in case the writers strike scuttles further production. We have to say that this sounds like the smartest idea Heroes has had in a while; offering actual story closure where other shows are going to be stuck in the middle of their seasons might make the show satisfying again.

It is sad that there may not be as many Heroes episodes but at least watchers won't be left hanging. Unlike some people, we think Heroes has been great this year.

Posted on November 5, 2007
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Writers Strike Will Cripple Hollywood

The Writers Guild goes on strike this Monday, November 5th at 12:01 a.m. Hollywood will be crippled by the strike. All writing for television and film projects will stop. The talk shows will go into reruns. The soap operas, and scripted dramas and comedies will stop after producers air the finished episodes that they have. Generally, it means we'll have good tv until December, then it's going to be a virtual wasteland.

Reality shows will be unaffected, as will news. Film projects without a completed script will grind to a halt. One bright spot in February will be Lost. The producers have been shooting until June, and they already have 14 episodes in the can. So that's one bright spot. But some of our favorite shows -- Ugly Betty, Chuck, 24, Grey's Anatomy, Eureka, Psych -- will all stop production.

Unless there's a last minute deal this weekend, the strike is on. You can find out more about the strike and what it all means on Writers Write's Writers' Strike resource.

Posted on November 2, 2007
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Heroes: Origins Cancelled

The planned Heroes spinoff mini-series called Origins has been shelved.

NBC has shelved plans for Heroes: Origins, a spinoff series of its hit show, and the possibility of a writers' strike contributed to the decision, Variety reported. Production has been halted indefinitely on the planned six-episode spinoff. It had attracted such talent as feature directors Eli Roth and Kevin Smith and writer Michael Dougherty (Superman Returns). NBC had planned to debut the show while Heroes was on hiatus.

Heroes also has been facing sophomore growing pains, losing some key staff members, the trade paper reported. Insiders told Variety that Heroes: Origins isn't completely dead and could very well be revived at a later date, perhaps as soon as next season.

The Writers Guild is meeting tonight to decide whether to call a strike. Heroes: Origins is just the first casualty in what could be a protracted war between the WGA and the producers.

Posted on November 1, 2007
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Writers' Strike Would Cause Major TV Programming Changes

With the Writers Guild poised to go on strike on November 1st if they don't reach a deal with the producers, things are looking a bit grim for television viewers. If the writers go on strike, there won't be anyone to work on new episodes of The Bionic Woman, My Name is Earl or any comedy, thriller or drama. That means lots of reality TV and news programs in our future. But it also may mean some Sci Fi channel favorites like Battlestar Galactica will air from the beginning on NBC.

[I]t's a different world in television than it was in 1988 when writers struck for 22 weeks, causing many shows to bring down their tents midway through the season. Even "Star Trek: The Next Generation" tried to get around it all by digging up old scripts from "Star Trek: Phase II," but most shows don't have those kinds of luxuries.

Today, however, many networks own multiple cable channels, and nearly all of those have some kind of original programming or another. So don't be surprised if "Heroes" gets replaced by NBCU's SciFi Channel programming like "Battlestar Galactica," or even a watered down "Nip/Tuck" joining reality programming on Fox.

NBC Universal probably has the biggest library of cable programming to pull from thanks to owning both SciFi Channel and USA Network where they could easily start adding previously aired shows like "Psych," "Monk" and "The 4400" to the main network schedule. TNT isn't owned by a company that also owns a major network, but Time Warner officials reportedly are offering "The Closer" to networks ... for a price, of course.

"Battlestar Galactica" could be the biggest beneficiary. Although it's clear that a strike would delay production on the show's final season (and likely ensuring that the last 10 episodes will air in 2009), NBC could opt to start the entire show from the beginning or even start picking and choosing episodes it feels will draw viewers when they run out of existing scripted programs. "The 4400" -- which is possibly facing cancellation after a not-so-stellar fourth season -- may get new life with a run on NBC as well.

A writers' strike will be a disaster for everyone, including the writers who mostly live from paycheck to paycheck. Everyone's rushing to get scripts locked down for upcoming features films, as well. But if the writers do strike, look for the worst film year ever in 2008.

Posted on October 24, 2007
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