How the Hollywood writers strike affects YOU
You may have heard snippets of news items about an impending Hollywood writers strike and didn’t let the magnitude of the situation sink in. Perhaps you were in denial. But I’m here to tell you that it is real, and that it will probably be disastrous.
How does seven nights a week of nothing but “American Idol” and “Dateline NBC” sound?!!
Here’s the lowdown on how the writers strike affects you, John and Jane Q. Public, in handy question-and-answer format.
Q: Who’s striking, and why?
A: It’s the Writers Guild of America (WGA) striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The WGA’s contract ended Nov. 1, and they were trying to negotiate some changes for the new contract. The AMPTP wouldn’t budge, the contract expired, and so a strike officially begins today.
The key issue is that the WGA feels writers deserve more residuals when movies and especially TV shows are sold on DVD. They also want a cut of money made from “new media” — the Internet, iTunes, cell phones, and so on.
The AMPTP says the new media situation is, well, too new to be able to tell how big a cut would be fair. As for DVD sales, which are not new, the AMPTP just doesn’t want to pay more than it’s already paying.
Q: Which movies and TV shows will this affect?
A: It will affect all movies, since all movies have writers (yes, even “The Game Plan”). The studios will have to use scripts that are already finished. However, since the process of making a movie is generally a couple years from screenplay to theatrical release, and since the studios have been stockpiling scripts in preparation for the strike, it will be a while before you notice a difference. Even then, all it will mean is fewer movies coming out, not no movies.
TV, though: That’s where the apocalypse is. All TV shows use WGA writers except for reality shows, game shows, news programs, and sports programs. Some of those do employ writers, but they don’t have to be union members.
Q: How soon will my stories be affected?
A: Daily programs like Letterman, Leno, “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” will be affected immediately. As in, today. They have writing staffs that prepare material on a daily basis for that night’s program, and all those writers are on the picket line now.
Next in line will be daytime soap operas, which will run out of scripts in a couple weeks.
After that it’s the prime-time entertainment programs. Most shows have around six or eight episodes written, some of them already filmed or almost filmed. November should be business as usual, since it’s a sweeps month and the networks want to air new episodes. December tends to be rerun-heavy anyway.
In January, things will get tough. The networks will want to air some new shows — but they might also want to save the few episodes they have left for February, which is another sweeps month.
Also, half-hour comedies filmed in front of audiences will run out faster than no-audience sitcoms and hour-long dramas. Why? Because with studio sitcoms, the writers are usually on hand throughout the process, including the tapings, rewriting lines as they go. With the writers gone, that means they won’t be able to tape anything new, even for scripts that have technically already been written. Other shows can go ahead and film the scripts they have now, and any touching up that needs to be done can be done by producers and other staff members.
If the strike isn’t resolved by February, the networks simply won’t have new episodes to air. They’ll fill the schedule with reruns, reality shows, news programs, and whatever else they can scrape up. They might dig into the archives to find old, unused scripts that they can shoot. It won’t be pretty.
Q: Wait, why do the late-night talk shows need writers? Aren’t those hosts comedians?!
A: Well, yes. But even funny guys like Letterman and Conan can’t come up with an entire show’s worth of material every day all by themselves, and Leno hasn’t been able to be funny without writers in well over 15 years. The shows will stay off the air for a while, in solidarity with the striking writers. (The hosts tend to be WGA members, too, so they’ll want to support their brethren.) Then they’ll come back because there are other staff members who need paychecks — crew members, technicians, producers, etc. They’ll spend more time with the guests (since interviews don’t need writers) and less time on monologues and prepared comedy bits.
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will probably stay in reruns, though, since their shows rely mainly on writing and couldn’t function if the focus were shifted to interviews.
Q: Does history teach us anything?
A: The last WGA strike was in 1988, and it lasted five months. However, that one went from April to August, which was mostly summer rerun season anyway.
The current strike is happening at a much worse time. The fall season has just started, and many fledgling shows are just developing their audiences. A months-long dearth of new episodes could kill their momentum.
Or consider a show like “Heroes,” which was huge last year but has been down in the ratings so far this year. Some viewers just might not bother to return to it when it finally comes back after the strike.
Q: Are there any rays of sunshine in all this darkness?
A: “Lost” and “24″ were both planning to come back early in 2008 and run without stopping for 16 and 24 weeks straight, respectively. They might still be able to do that, since they started production around the same time that shows premiering in September did. The difference is that the other shows have been airing their episodes, while “Lost” and “24″ have been saving them.
Q: Could the strike end soon?
A: Well, they’ve been negotiating since August, and they couldn’t come up with an agreement before Nov. 1, so I don’t know why they’d suddenly reach a compromise now.
Eventually, I suspect it will be the AMPTP that caves in. Public sentiment is mostly on the side of the WGA. Writers do deserve residuals when their work is resold in new formats, and no matter how much they complain that the opposite is true, studios are making gigantic profits. Plus, the AMPTP is the Goliath in this situation, as producers and other studio bigwigs tend to be wealthy fat cats, while most writers make very middle-class incomes.
Q: What can I do to occupy myself when the TV landscape becomes barren?
A: Hopefully you’ve been practicing what I call tube storage. Tube storage is where you choose a show you like — and then don’t watch it. Instead, save up the episodes on your DVR, to be viewed during times of famine. Usually, it’s for summertime. While others are suffering through reruns, you’re enjoying fresh, original programming. If you haven’t been saving up some TV to watch, now might be the time to start. You might have to ration your TV viewing the next couple months and save up as much as you can for the hard months of the strike.
I guess you could read a book, too, but whatever.
November 5th, 2007 at 10:16 am
Too bad I’m just a poor college student that can’t afford Tivo….. However, I will be able to watch some shows online that I haven’t had a chance to get into, like Pushing Daisies and Chuck.
November 5th, 2007 at 11:18 am
This shouldn’t affect Conan. He hasn’t said anything funny in his entire life. It doesn’t take writers to make up his unfunny crap.
November 5th, 2007 at 11:35 am
I’m going to do just that, Eric…Lucky for me, I wanna watch nothing but the NFL and Professional Wrestling right now, so the DVR and DVD Recorder will be put to use as I mass-record current Television…then, when The NFL comes to close the 2007-08 season and The Superbowl is out of the way, I’ll have Pro-Wrestling (Which right now is flopping in and out of ok-to-suck territory), and my massed-archived TV. It’s really ingenious.
November 5th, 2007 at 11:40 am
You know, the BBC, CBC, and most other non-US networks sometimes actually air shows NOT made in their respective countries. Perhaps the US networks could take this time to introduce American audiences to some of the best of the rest of the world’s scripted programming.
I have 2 seasons of “Slings & Arrows” from Canada on DVD waiting for me if things get really bad. (Plus I do still have all of the first season of “Robin Hood” sitting on my TiVO completely unwatched even as Season 2 is going out in the UK right now.)
November 5th, 2007 at 11:52 am
I agree that the writers should be fairly compensated, but to the amount of residuals, I’m not sure how I feel about that. It’s negotiable, which… is what they’re doing.
November 5th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Thank goodness we just got Guitar Hero for the Wii!
November 5th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
karen: look for me online. we’ll totally have an online guitar battle.
November 5th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I think Heroes is failing because of the utterly abysmal season finale made people finally realize how sloppy the writers on that show can be. They should spin off a show for the “5 years in the future” setting. That episode was pretty sweet.
November 5th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Or, for people like me who don’t go to the theaters, you can catch up on watching the summer blockbusters as they come out on DVD.
November 5th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
“…Leno hasn’t been able to be funny without writers in well over 15 years.”
Leno hasn’t been able to be funny WITH writers in well over 15 years. I don’t see how anyone can enjoy his monologue. I haven’t done so much as chuckle at one of his jokes for a terribly long time.
Conan’s monologue usually sucks, too. Even when his monologue jokes are funny, I see the punch line coming a mile away. The real genius of Conan, of course, is the sketch comedy stuff. I wish he would do away with the monologue altogether and replace it with installments of “In The Year 2000,” Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, and others.
November 5th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
I quite agree about Conan, his personality and his sketches are what gets laughs, his monologues are pretty dry. I think Letterman is more of an interviewer than a comedian these days, he is funny but not like he used to be. The real king of monologues in my opinion is Craig Ferguson, from what I hear he doesn’t even really use many writers, his monologues are all done kind of on the fly and he centers them around one idea. His sketches aren’t always very funny, though his making fun of Rowling is highly amusing.
November 5th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
I actually enjoy watching Leno. The portion of the show between the monologue and the interviews is typically the best but I do enjoy the monologue’s too. I enjoy Letterman’s interviews now and then but i’ve never enjoyed anything that Conan has done (at least not that i’ve seen and i’ve given him quite a few chances to make me laugh).
November 5th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Jason L. Wright: You hate Conan, but like Leno? [Rude personal rejoinder deleted. -- MOD.]
November 5th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Just tell me that the entire season of Dexter has already been written, please…
November 5th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
That was actually an incredibly informing Q/A piece. I go to Eric’s website for some laughs and he actually teaches me something in the process! I can’t wait for some “key grips” go on strike so I can learn more about them and their pivotal role in the movie industry.
November 5th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
I have never really found Leno to be very funny. I enjoy Letterman more, but the monologue isn’t that great. Conan has his moments. Out of all of them I actually enjoy Craig Ferguson the most since it does seem a little more unexpected. I’ve also heard that he’s really funny if you’re high. Not that I would know….
November 6th, 2007 at 1:03 am
I have a dilemma on my hands. I support the writers completely; there’s no reason to deny them compensation for DVD sales and rentals. That said, which action shows more support for the writers: Buying the DVDs, knowing they’re not getting paid? Or downloading them, to ensure that if the writers don’t get compensation, then no one does?
November 6th, 2007 at 10:35 am
The sad irony of the strike is that it will probably boost DVD sales while we wait for shows to get up and running again. DVD sales that the writers won’t be getting their cut of.
My understanding is that writers get a cut of the profits for re-runs, but when studios realized they could get a quick buck up front with DVD sales instead of holding off for re-runs years down the road, the writers are the ones who suffered.
November 6th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
From the 24 Season 7 Wikipedia site it sounds like the strike may have an impact on 24 because production didn’t start until S eptember. ”
Production may be delayed due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike. The WGA is fighting for content residuals on DVDs and new media (e.g. streaming content, webisodes). Studios haven’t acted, and the WGA recently voted with over 90% of members in favour of a strike. A strike would affect 24 harder than other shows because production started on September 10, 2007, leaving no time to bank scripts before the season premiere scheduled for January 13, 2008. Maureen Ryan recently spoke to FOX and 24 executive producer David Fury, about the likelihood of 24 being delayed if a strike occurs. FOX is playing it safe, simply saying that, “We’re hoping that all parties can come to an agreement and a strike can be averted. However, in the event one does occur, we’re prepared.”
November 6th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
I agree 100% with Jason.
November 6th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
JLW said, “The portion of [Leno] between the monologue and the interviews is typically the best.”
As in, the commercials? I agree heartily.
November 6th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
For the most part, except for maybe Big Love or Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO MAYBE), I avoid television out of principle, now, because I got tired of getting emotionally invested in shows that would get cancelled after a season in favor of CRAP (i.e. Mobile Suit Gundam being cancelled in favor of back-to-back episodes of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z in a 2-hour time slot — that was the LAST STRAW); and because of the onslaught of “reality TV,” I haven’t found TV a rewarding medium worth enjoying for the past five years. HOWEVER..
I do hope that the best side (which seems to be the WGA) wins this (I think I ,being an aspiring writer, determines my bias ^^;) — there’s no reason why the big wigs should get all the cash, while the little guys who create the foundations to begin with get little to nothing — the movie industry should not be allowed to run like the recording industry.
May the good guys win.
November 6th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
I love the idea of a shortage of mainstream TV shows! I am really hoping this will mean that in the next 6 months more americans will be reading books or getting off their well-worn couches and getting some fresh air for a change. Maybe by the time Leno comes back he won’t have any more jokes about how fat we all are, because we will have all had time to get out really live our lives, instead of obsess about pretend life on TV, eating and fermenting as we deaden our brains. There are a few shows that I actually like, but I’m not going to be sorry for any excuse to do something else with my time and maybe even get me out of the habit of turning the stupid thing on altogether. They should do this strike thing more often!
November 7th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Conan could read from a macaroni box and be hilarious. He can not be not hilarious. He couldn’t not be not hilarious not ever.
November 7th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Personally, I don’t like the idea of an all-powerful Writers Union at all. If someone wants to work for a studio and write shows, then he can, and if he doesn’t, then he can work for someone else, or for himself, or get a different job, etc. It’s works fine in most other careers.
As for the question of compensation for residuals… well, that’s fine, if a studio wants to throw that in as a perk. But I refuse to believe it’s some kind of “right”. As an Engineer, if I create something valuable, and even get a patent or two in the process, while working for my employer, they own the whole thing and can do what they want with it with no input from me, because they paid me to develop it. If I don’t like that, I can try to produce it elsewhere. It’s not like I get nothing in return for what I give the company, and I can only believe it’s the same with writers: they are paid for their work, which is then the property of whoever bought it from them. I have no problem with them demanding whatever they want to demand, but the studios ought to have no problem hiring someone else if they feel the demands are excessive. The “All companies are owned by fat cats” line is usually no more than an excuse to rip someone or other off.