What the Writer’s Strike Means for You and Me
Oh what a tangled web. The writer’s strike, that is. And if you thought the writer’s strike was bad, apparently it’s just the beginning. While it might seem odd that the studios don’t want to negotiate to resolve this thing, when you consider the fact they’ve also got the Director’s Guild and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) coming up June 20, 2008, it puts this in a new perspective.
According to the LA Times:
“The largest union, with 120,000 members, SAG also has a relatively new president, Alan Rosenberg, who came to power after promising a much more aggressive stance about new media revenues. For the first time, SAG also brought in an outsider, former NFL Players Assn. executive Doug Allen, to be its executive director, another sign that the guild is preparing for a hard-nosed negotiation.”
In other words, the actors will probably be looking for the same thing that the writers are, and if the studios give it to the writer’s, they’ll have to give it to the actors.
Labor negotations… Ain’t it great?
What does that mean for you and me? The International Business Times says:
“If the strike lasts another four to six weeks, it could spell the end for 2008 pilot production. The most-circulated scenario in that case involves the networks renewing all their existing series for next fall, producing their pilots in the summer and launching their new crop of shows in midseason 2009.”
In happier news, John Stamos believes the writer’s strike will actually help his show, ER. (Yes folks, that show is still on the air! I personally haven’t watched it in like ten years, but it’s been on for over a decade. The Gunsmoke of the its time, apparently.) Stamos tells the New York Daily News:
“The writers strike will mean that a lot of pilots won’t be made. That will help us because we’re tried and true and have enough episodes stockpiled to remain on-air well into February, which is getting to be pilot time. Besides, after 14 years, the series would take at least 14 to 19 episodes to wind up properly.”
Well, not necessarily. That’s what “TV Movies” were created for, after all.
One of the shows apparently hit by the writer’s strike is ABC’s Big Shots (which the Hollywood Reporter called “a low-rated male version of “Desperate Housewives.”) The show had some serious eye candy, with Michael Vartan, Dylan McDermott, Christopher Titus and Joshua Malina as the stars. But alas, it was not to be. The network has canceled the show, which aired just after Grey’s Anatomy on Thursday nights. ABC will air reruns of Private Practice in its place.
Private Practice is also among the new shows ABC has already requested a full season from, along with Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies.
If you can’t wait until Thursday for Private Practice, not to worry. It’s still on tomorrow, too, where they’ll re-air the episode, “In Which We Meet Addison, A Nice Girl from Somewhere Else.”
Here’s a clip:
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