Monday, November 05, 2007

The Strike is On

Via CNN - Hollywood writers go on strike
The strike by Hollywood writers is on. Writers and studios broke off talks late Sunday after 11 hours of negotiations.

The talks between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers were called by a federal mediator. The producers said a deal couldn't be reached.

The writers want more money from the sale of DVDs and a share of revenue generated by the sale of TV shows and films over the Internet. The studios say the demands are unreasonable and will hamper attempts to experiment with new media.

Picketing starts in the morning in New York and Los Angeles.

The walkout will affect late-night talk shows first, then daytime talk shows and soap operas. Studios have stockpiled movie scripts and prime-time TV has completed shows in hand to last until early next year.
As it won't affect things like reality shows and sports broadcast, I guess people won't have to go back to reading books right away. Who knows, if it goes on too long maybe the producers will turn to buying the rights to film fan fiction.

2 comments:

annabkrr said...

From the reaction of the media you'd think cops and fire fighters were striking.

I thought those late night talk shows were hosted by comedians? Aren't comedians supposed to be able to write funny jokes?

Jan said...

That had occurred to me, too, about the comedians. I guess they are too far removed from having to do regular stand-up comedy that they've forgotten how.