Writers Go On Strike

Yesterday, the Writer's Guild (WGA) elected to go on strike on Monday.

What that means is no new scripts will be written for television or motion pictures until the strike is over. Studios have been expecting this for some time and have ordered a more-than-usual amount of movie scripts in preparation, so the motion picture industry probably won't be affected too much in the short-term. But the television industry will be adversely affected if the strike goes on for longer than a few weeks just due to the nature of television production.

If the strike goes on a while (at least a month, but assuredly by year's end), there will be long-term effects to this year's TV season. Shows are already bracing for the impact of having no new scripts. The "arc" finale of Heroes that is due to air on Dec. 3 will also have an alternate ending shot soon that will allow the ep to be a season finale if the strike isn't ended in time for more scripts. It's unknown what will happen to shows like Lost and 24, that work in season-long arcs and haven't premiered yet.

So, what's the strike about? Basically, the writers believe that they should benefit from the alternate media outlets that weren't prevalent when their current contract was written, namely through DVD and Internet. They haven't seen the money that comes from DVDs or iTunes.

Here is a link to WGA member Mark Evanier's (a sometimes comic book writer, and a great columnist) take on the situation:

http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_10_31.html#014277

And here's another post from him that tries to eliminate some of the myths surrounding the situation and the union:

http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_11_03.html#014294

I'm a nobody (from an industry perspective), but the writers have my full support on the strike, and I hope the producers loosen the strings to the purses they've kept the DVD and iTunes money for themselves thus far.

And let's get this worked out sooner rather than later because no one wants a bunch of the shit reality shows the networks are gearing up for if they don't get new scripted fare.