Words on a page

Posted on November 12, 2007
Filed Under Entertainment |

For those who are wondering why there is an over-abundance of re-runs, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have been on strike since Nov 4. In a gesture of support several television shows have not used “scabs” to offset the strike but have instead showed support to the writers, popular shows such as the Late Show With David Letterman, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart halted production of new episodes. Celebrities such as Steve Carell and Ellen DeGeneres stars of NBC’s The Office and Ellen respectively, refused to cross WGA picket lines, or have also suspended taping shows in a gesture of solidarity. Jay Leno was handing out donuts to writers on the picket line.

New shows have also been affected as a result, CBS’s new show– The New Adventures of Old Christine was halted, and ABC said it was delaying the premiere of the series “Cashmere Mafia.” At the risk of losing their jobs, some members of Teamsters Local 399 decided not to cross the picket lines, and that action might have shut down a small number of shows, union officers said.

Although it appears that celebrities and union workers have joined in supporting the writers-the studios do not seem to be relenting-the last round of talks broke off Sunday night and have yet to resumed, in addition, studios such as Fox have started notifying writers that they will stop paying them, this only 12 hours after negotiations broke off.

The biggest complaint of writers is that they are not being compensated for new media outlets such as the internet, IPODS and IPhones in which consumers can now access TV and movies-this would be additional compensation to that which they receive for TV production. There does not appear to be an end in sight with approximately 10, 000 WGA workers, it appears to be a question of who blinks first. The 1988 strike by the WGA which lasted 22 weeks costs the industry 500 million.

Comments

Leave a Reply




Your Ad Here
Find your property in Dubai with best UK Property in Dubai Service