It Will Be This Week Or The Next Coming Week When We Will Find Out If Hollywood Writer's Go On Strike.
So My Question Is Do You Think That There Is Going To Be A Writer's strike?

They did last time and I don't mind so I can catch up with my dvd's.

I think they will and I also think they're stupid if they do.

I dont care.
It's not like i watch any of these stupid new shows and movies.

Yes, I think they will....not like it's much of a loss these days, lol.

:(

Looks likely barring a miracle.

Film and TV writers, actors and crew members are canceling vacations, working overtime and squirreling away savings while they still can.

Talent agencies, postproduction houses and equipment rental shops have drawn up plans to cut costs and payrolls while caterers and special-effects houses scramble to find jobs that reduce their dependence on the entertainment industry.

All over Hollywood, people are bracing for a strike.

Writers could walk out as early as Thursday if their union can't hammer out a new three-year employment contract with the studios to replace one that expires at midnight on Wednesday. The two sides were huddled Friday at the Writers Guild of America West offices in the Fairfax district to wrangle a deal but, after four hours, had made little headway. They agreed to meet with a federal mediator Tuesday, people involved said.

It would be the first writers strike in 20 years -- and, economists say, more painful than the last one, in 1988, which lasted five months. Hollywood is a more dominant force in the region today, with studios and networks part of media giants -- such as Time Warner Inc., Walt Disney Co. and News Corp. -- that have bulked up to feed an entertainment-hungry world.

The timing would be unfortunate, given the already disruptive housing downturn and, most recently, the wildfires.

"If it [cost the industry] $500 million in 1988, a slowdown of that length would have over a $1-billion impact today. I'm very concerned," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in an interview.

Because scores of businesses rely on the industry, a long walkout would inflict pain beyond Hollywood's studio gates.

"It would affect everyone: the people who mow your lawn and those who serve you at restaurants," said Richard Riordan, who worked to avert a Hollywood labor dispute when he was mayor in 2001. "It's not just the wealthy that are going to get hurt."

The entertainment industry contributes nearly 7% -- an estimated $30 billion annually -- to Los Angles County's $442-billion economy, supporting not only studio jobs but companies tied to the industry, including hotels, restaurants, florists and even dog groomers.

Though tourism and international trade employ more people, entertainment remains L.A.'s signature industry, accounting for about 250,000 jobs and as many more that are indirectly tied to the business. That is up from about 69,000 in 1985, although certain jobs counted now were not included then.

If a strike were to occur, one of the hardest-hit sectors would be the tens of thousands of technical workers who toil behind the scenes on the sets of movies and TV shows. Electricians, camera operators and other blue-collar crews work under separate contracts and don't have a say in whether writers walk.

No one can predict how long any strike might last. Although the film and TV writers were not discussing their plan of attack, picket lines probably would form at select studios around town.

Production would not come to a halt. Writers for commercials, sports programs and reality TV would be free to work because they are not covered under the guild contract.

Filming on movies with finished screenplays would continue. Television programs with a stockpile of scripts would still be made. Networks appear to have enough shows to carry them through most of the fall TV season. However, some series could run dry as early as December.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/la-fi-strikeblow29oct29,0,636258.story?coll=la-home-entertainment

they probably will, i'd say. then again, with them striking and the crappy state of tv right now, well that doesn't make sense-unless that is they are clearly motivated by greed. no wonder there aren't as many good shows, particularly sitcoms on tv right now. not that it's huge loss to us as we have our dvds and the internet to turn to

As i understand it the main issue right now remains that writers want a share of roylaties from episodes that are streamed online and are syndicated and sold on DVD. currently they do not get anything and it's a shame because without writers the tv and film industry would shut down.

Writers strike reality sets in
A dark latenight ahead?
By VARIETY STAFF

While the networks have been repeating the mantra that "screens will not go black," it won’t take long for TV viewers to see the impact of a Writers Guild of America strike.

The canaries in TV’s creative coal mine are latenight hosts such as David Letterman and Jay Leno, whose monologues and sketches are dependent on union writers. If history is any guide, both shows will almost instantly go dark, as would "Saturday Night Live." Comedy Central’s latenight stalwarts "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" are also guild-repped under a deal inked earlier this year.

Primetime comedy and drama series will feel the pinch immediately, though the on-air effect will be delayed at least a few weeks for most shows as they air completed segs. Cruelest blows will hit the frosh crop of shows that are just starting to get a toehold with viewers, including ABC’s "Private Practice," "Pushing Daisies" and "Samantha Who" and CBS’ "The Big Bang Theory."

In general, most nets will have four or five filmed episodes of most of their shows on hand as of Nov. 1. In addition, most shows have anywhere from one to five scripts that have been written but not yet shot.

"A lot depends on whether we can shoot these other episodes," one insider said.

Even if actors agree to film those episodes, scribes won’t be available to do rewrites or make changes based on network notes.

Most likely, original episodes will start disappearing by early December or January.

It’s no mystery what will fill the timeslots now occupied by WGA-repped skeins; Net execs say they’re just not exactly sure how they’ll sked all of the reality and news programs they’ve been bulking up on during the past year.

"Do we have a schedule, per se? No," said one webhead. "Do we have a lot of options? Yes."

Of all the webs, Fox is sitting pretty with "American Idol" slated to return for the second half of the season, ensuring at least one net will have the lights fully turned on in the event of a work stoppage. CBS last week cued up a new season of "The Amazing Race," to plug the Sunday-night hole left by the fast fade of "Viva Laughlin."

Suits said they can’t make final calls on how to spread out their programming resources until a strike is actually called. What’s more, scenarios will change depending on whether the work stoppage looks to be a short-lived event or a months-long ordeal.

With sweeps far less important than they used to be, some networks could air a few repeats of shows in November to keep a reservoir of originals until late January or February.

As for what viewers will see, "The most likely outcome is more news and more reality," said NBC U entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman.

Another exec said network TV skeds would start looking like the summer, with more reality shows, extra newsmags and some repeats. There will also be originals, though for how long remains unclear.

Some shows are better off than others.

CW laffer "Everybody Hates Chris," for example, has actually wrapped production on a full 22-episode season. Other CW Monday comedies are also far ahead in production, which means the net could keep originals on the air through February.

Most nets have multiple schedules at the ready: one in case of a two-month strike, another in the event of a four-month strike and so on.

"Those decisions are ready to go," one webhead said. "It’s so much more manageable this time around. In 1988, everything was scripted programming. But now there’s so much alternative programming, at least we have a pad."

And in many cases, writers were looking to add a bit of a cliffhanger, tie up some loose ends or at least make a big splash in that seg, in case it turns into a de facto season ender.

On "Pushing Daisies," for example, exec producer Bryan Fuller said he was racing to finish the show’s ninth episode, which winds down a major character arc that threads through episodes seven and eight as well. Much of the show’s mythology is advanced in those segs, including a big character reveal.

"There’s such a scramble to get as much work as possible done," Fuller said.

They’re breathing a little easier on "Prison Break," the Fox drama that traditionally splits its seasons in half, with a midyear cliffhanger that helps bridge the gap between January (when the show takes a break) and April, when it returns.

In case there is a strike, that midyear cliffhanger could easily double as a season finale if need be, said exec producer Matt Olmstead.

"We have our episodes through 13 written," Olmstead said. "That’s our traditional break, anyway. So at least we won’t be cutting out mid-storyline if a strike happens."

Then there’s "Lost." Fans have been waiting patiently for the show’s February launch and the promise of 16 uninterrupted episodes. That pledge, of course, will be shortened if only eight episodes are ready to go this year. But rather than wait to pair them with the other eight, ABC will still air what it has, as scheduled.

"It’s better to come on with some season then no season," one insider said. "If there’s a strike, we’ll need scripted programming."

Fox will face a similar decision with "24," which usually is far ahead of schedule but this year is playing catch-up due to creative problems early in the season.

Some shows are so far ahead of production, they would seemingly be less impacted immediately. Such is the case with animated series -- a genre not on the air during the 1988 strike -- which, due to the production process, is written as much as a year ahead. But "The Simpsons" exec producer Al Jean said it may still be hampered by a strike.

"The Simpsons" has recorded 21 of 22 episodes for this year’s batch, but "recorded doesn’t mean they’re done," he said. "They still need rewriting."

While the last strike helped birth unscripted skeins such as "Cops" and "America’s Most Wanted," 20 years later the reality genre has fully matured. Webheads have been stockpiling reality shows like crazy and will be ready to go with literally dozens of concepts.

With a strike looking to be pretty much a fait accompli at this point, network execs are resigned to the fact that things are about to get hairy -- and no one knows how it’ll shake out.

"We are as prepared as anyone, but that’s really only good for so much," one broadcast topper said.

From a financial standpoint, network execs are at least in a better position than their studio counterparts. The nets may see their ratings and revenue go south as they replace scripted fare with repeats and reality shows, but their costs will decline, too. Sliding in a reality show that costs $900,000 per episode in place of a $3 million-per-seg drama will help soothe the sting of a strike.

That said, "We really don’t want this to happen because of the macroeconomic issues facing our community," Silverman said. "It’s disturbing and upsetting that it seems to be becoming a foregone conclusion."

More immediately, NBC News anchor Brian Williams or thesp Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson -- both of whom are set to host "Saturday Night Live" in the next few weeks -- could be among the first casualties of a WGA walkout.

Most of the sketches for this week’s planned Williams-hosted edition of "Saturday Night Live" have been written, so the show could go on --assuming Williams doesn’t object to crossing a picket line.

But a strike in the next few days would almost certainly cancel the Nov. 10 episode of "SNL," slated to be hosted by Johnson.

How Monday-Friday latenight skeins carry on the wake of a scribe walkout likely depends largely on each host.

"Dave (will be) supportive of writers, as he was the last time," said Robert Morton, the former Letterman producer who was at the helm of NBC’s "Late Night With David Letterman" during the 1988 WGA strike.

Morton, noting that Letterman and his "Late Show" colleagues are also WGA members, said the hosts will be hard-pressed to continue with business as usual.

"I think they have to show support for their writing staffs," said the producer, who now heads Panamort Prods. "Even if they want to go back, they have to give their writers due respect."

As might be expected from showbiz writers, the WGA is probably going to push back its deadline.

The emerging consensus is that WGA leaders won't start a strike until next week at the earliest -- even though the town's been fretting in recent days that scribes could walk out at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, when the current contract expires.

Both sides resumed negotiations Tuesday after a three-day break as the town became utterly enveloped by fears of a strike hitting as early as this week. Those concerns have been fanned by a variety of troubling signals -- continued combative rhetoric from both sides, lack of progress at the bargaining table, battles over guild strike rules, the Teamsters' pledge not to cross picket lines, and strike preparations by the WGA.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975063.html?categoryid=2821&cs=1

A writers strike could mean boom time for the network's news divisions as they ratchet up production to fill holes in primetime.

While no directive has been given from above, ABC News' longform unit is stockpiling series under the "Primetime Live" banner as potential fill-in programming and is preparing as if the newsmagazine could return to the schedule.

"We have a lot of series in production," said "20/20" and "Primetime Live" exec producer David Sloan. "In the event of a strike, we would fast-track them."

A prolonged writers strike could take primetime back to the '90s, when "Dateline NBC" ran five nights a week and the newsmagazine was king.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975056.html?categoryid=2821&cs=1

Writers meet to discuss deadline, DVD issue
By DAVE MCNARY

WGA negotiations have unraveled over the DVD issue -- seriously ratcheting up the chances of a strike.

Talks hit the wall early Wednesday evening as companies demanded that the Writers Guild of America drop its demand to increase homevid residuals. Guild negotiators responded by saying they weren't prepared to continue and gave no indication when or if they'd return.

With the guild contract expiring at 12:01 a.m. today, WGA leaders can order their 12,000 members to strike at any time -- possibly as early as tonight's membership meeting at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

In an ominous sign, WGA strike captains have been told to instruct guild members to take their personal items home from offices at the end of work today.

The negotiating session ended as many others have, with both sides issuing statements blaming each other for being stubborn and unprofessional.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975166.html?categoryid=2821&cs=1

Writers will strike
WGA members will walk out Monday
By DAVE MCNARY, CYNTHIA LITTLETON

The Writers Guild of America and its 12,000 members is about to announce that it will go on strike Monday against studios and networks.
The official announcement will come at a news conference at WGA West headquarters in Los Angeles, following approvals in Friday meetings by the WGA West board and the WGA East Council.

Talks between the WGA and the companies broke down on Wednesday -- a few hours before the contract expired -- over the issue of DVD residuals and work for the Internet. No new talks have been scheduled.

The strike announcement follows a unanimous recommendation by the Guild's negotiating committee. WGA leaders told 3,000 members of the strike plans Thursday night at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

In voting several weeks ago, WGA members gave a 90% endorsement to authorize their leaders to call a strike if no agreement could be reached.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975256.html?categoryid=2821