Hollywood writers begin strike
Enlarge imageBy Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. film and television writers went on strike on Monday, after last-minute talks aimed at averting the Writers Guild of America’s first walkout in almost two decades collapsed.
The strike is expected to shut down many sitcoms and send popular late-night talk shows such as NBC’s "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and CBS’ "Late Show With David Letterman," immediately into reruns because they rely on a stream of topical jokes.
The members of the union’s East Coast arm went on strike at the designated deadline of 12:01 a.m. EST (5:01 a.m. British time). Their West Coast counterparts followed them three hours later.
The East Coast walkout led to the collapse of 10-hour-long talks in Los Angeles between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the studios.
A spokesman for the AMPTP said no new talks were scheduled, and both sides are braced for a lengthy strike after labor talks that were marked by intensifying hostility over more than three months.
The two sides hit an impasse primarily over demands by writers for higher fees, or "residuals," derived from the sale of movies and TV programs on DVDs and the Internet.
"Notwithstanding the fact that negotiations were ongoing, the WGA decided .....continued below
Advertisement starts
Advertisement ends
to start their strike in New York," AMPTP president Nick Counter said in a statement. "When we asked if they would ’stop the clock’ for the purpose of delaying the strike to allow negotiations to continue, they refused."A prolonged strike could cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues and wages.
Even though studios have stockpiled scripts in preparation for a strike, production of many sitcoms is expected to shut down this week since writers will not be able to go on set and offer last-minute rewrites. The impact on movies is seen as less immediate since the major studios already have scripts for next year’s projects.
The WGA, which represents roughly 12,000 screenwriters, said it withdrew its demand for a higher royalty payment on DVDs, a demand that the AMPTP had last week described as a "complete roadblock to any further progress." But it said the studios refused to budge on such issues as payment for Internet downloads and streaming video.
PICKET LINES
WGA members in Los Angeles earlier loaded trucks with picket signs, bottled water and tables to prepare for demonstrations. Picket lines will go up at 14 major film and TV studios including Walt Disney Co.’s movie operations and ABC network, Time Warner Inc’s Paramount Pictures, CBS Corp’s CBS, and News Corp.’s Fox.
Union members have been told that picketing is compulsory, and to hand over unfinished work to the union to ensure that that there is no furtive writing.
The strike poses a dilemma for writers who are also producers or creators of their shows.
"I have to figure out how to strike and picket myself," said Spike Feresten, a former writer/producer on the "Seinfeld" show who now has his own weekly talk show on Fox. "How do you egg yourself? How does that work?"
Page: 12next
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. film and television writers went on strike on Monday, after last-minute talks aimed at averting the Writers Guild of America’s first walkout in almost two decades collapsed.
The strike is expected to shut down many sitcoms and send popular late-night talk shows such as NBC’s "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and CBS’ "Late Show With David Letterman," immediately into reruns because they rely on a stream of topical jokes.
The members of the union’s East Coast arm went on strike at the designated deadline of 12:01 a.m. EST (5:01 a.m. British time). Their West Coast counterparts followed them three hours later.
The East Coast walkout led to the collapse of 10-hour-long talks in Los Angeles between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the studios.
The two sides hit an impasse primarily over demands by writers for higher fees, or "residuals," derived from the sale of movies and TV programs on DVDs and the Internet.
"Notwithstanding the fact that negotiations were ongoing, the WGA decided to start their strike in New York," AMPTP president Nick Counter said in a statement. "When we asked if they would ’stop the clock’ for the purpose of delaying the strike to allow negotiations to continue, they refused."
A prolonged strike could cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues and wages.
Even though studios have stockpiled scripts in preparation for a strike, production of many sitcoms is expected to shut down this week since writers will not be able to go on set and offer last-minute rewrites. The impact on movies is seen as less immediate since the major studios already have scripts for next year’s projects.
The WGA, which represents roughly 12,000 screenwriters, said it withdrew its demand for a higher royalty payment on DVDs, a demand that the AMPTP had last week described as a "complete roadblock to any further progress." But it said the studios refused to budge on such issues as payment for Internet downloads and streaming video.
PICKET LINES
WGA members in Los Angeles earlier loaded trucks with picket signs, bottled water and tables to prepare for demonstrations. Picket lines will go up at 14 major film and TV studios including Walt Disney Co.’s movie operations and ABC network, Time Warner Inc’s Paramount Pictures, CBS Corp’s CBS, and News Corp.’s Fox.
Union members have been told that picketing is compulsory, and to hand over unfinished work to the union to ensure that that there is no furtive writing.
The strike poses a dilemma for writers who are also producers or creators of their shows.
"I have to figure out how to strike and picket myself," said Spike Feresten, a former writer/producer on the "Seinfeld" show who now has his own weekly talk show on Fox. "How do you egg yourself? How does that work?"
The last major Hollywood strike was a Writers Guild walkout in 1988 that lasted 22 weeks, delayed the start of the fall TV season and cost the industry an estimated $500 million.
Los Angeles economist Jack Kyser said a similar strike now could result in at least $1 billion (479 million pounds) in economic losses.
© 2008 Reuters Click for restrictions
Advertisement starts
Advertisement ends
U.S. Elections
Find out all about American's next President and how the states voted.
Weekly quiz
Have you been paying attention? Take our weekly, fun news quiz to test your knowledge of current affairs.
Weather forecasts
Get the 7-day forecast for your region.
WAGS
It's not just footballers who get shown the red card. Take a look at some of the WAGS back on the market.
Odd pics
Look back at the week in picture in our special gallery of the weird and wonderful.
Experian Credit Report
Check who's been checking on you with your FREE Experian credit report.Latest Headlines
- World leaders back free trade to ease crisis
- Obama sees long haul ahead
- Annan and Carter say barred from Zimbabwe
- Vatican forgives John Lennon for Jesus quip
- Citigroup talking to U.S. government
- U.S. strike in Pakistan kills British militant
- Litvinenko witness could come to Britain
- Bean says policymakers must counter cyclical excess
- Iraq warns of consequences of early U.S. pullout
- Springboks crush England 42-6
Page Footer
Access keys
You will need to use different key combinations in order to use access keys depending on your internet browser, find out which on our accessibility page.
- (0) Navigate to Accessibility page.
- (1) Navigate to Home page.
- (2) Navigate to My email.
- (3) Navigate to My Account.
- (4) Navigate to Site Map page.
- (5) Navigate to Contact us page.
- (6) Navigate to Members channel.
- (7) Navigate to Services channel.
- (8) Navigate to News & Info channel.
- (9) Navigate to Entertainment channel.
- ([) Skip down to the Primary navigation block.
- (]) Skip down to the more links within this section block.
- (=) Bypass all navigation and jump to the content.
- (x) Text only version of this page.
