WGA set to strike - TV Season could be truncated/delayed (1 Viewer)

[MishaLauenstein]

Wasn't that when all of those Dateline-type shows premiered?

Also, Mission: Impossible 1988 was an Australian production, so that was another option: imported shows.

 

[Craig S]

OK, here's a question for those of you who are in the know about these kind of things.

Assuming the strike begins Monday, when will viewers see the effect on our screens - i.e., no new eps of scripted shows?

I'm assuming most shows have a few eps in the can, and a few stockpiled scripts to shoot beyond that. Given that we're coming into the holiday season, where we start seeing reruns & pre-emptions anyway, wouldn't it be early 2008 before they start running out of episodes to air??

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Yes, there's a while to go yet.

I'm pretty sure that Cops and America's Funniest Home Videos were results of the '88 strike.

 

[Rocky F]

You pretty much nailed it, as far as primetime, scripted dramas and comedies goes. The late night shows, like Leno, Letterman, Daily Show, etc. will shut down immediately, and daytime soaps will dry up probably by the end of November.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Just edited my earlier post -- the existing DVD residuals formula is 1.5% of 20% (0.3%) of the *wholesale* price, not the retail price.

So if you buy a $20 DVD, and the wholesale price is, say, $10 (I don't know the actual amount), then the writer's residual would be 3 cents.

 

[Scott-S]

For those shows that had more scripts ordered (Like Chuck), are the writers going to finish those?

 

[Jason Seaver]

Probably not, although I believe the idea was to order them early enough that at least some would be finished by the strike deadline. And I imagine that most of the writers would have written them to have a personal war chest, rather dawdle so that they have more leverage over the networks.

The way television works, though, it might be strange - some writers might still wind up on the set in their roles as producers. I wonder how that works if they're watching the shoot and something's not working; it would be hard for me to hold my tongue but also hard to determine whether saying "why don't you ____ ..." would be strikebreaking or not. Especially if the strike drags on, and each episode has had successively less time for re-writes.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I'm guessing there are about 5-8 episodes "in the can" now for most shows that had that many scripts greenlighted due to good ratings, so we'll get through November sweeps, and then very few new episodes in December, and 1-2 new episodes (on average) in January, and then it might be a decent to lackluster February sweeps month if only 1-3 scripts can be shot in the meanwhile after the Monday strike date occurs.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It's official. The strike starts 12:01 am Monday

 

[Brandon Conway]

One can only hope that one positive result from this would be the studios dipping into their archives a bit more for classic films and TV shows to release on DVD.....

 

[Derek Miner]

I was thinking that myself. Some product is better than no product.

 

[BrandonL]

So what does the strike do exactly? For now no union writers will work? Does this cause the other unions to have some reason to eventually strike?

 

[Michael Harris]

On NPR I heard a story about the impending writer's strike and if other unions would honor it. Most have said they support the writers but can't walk out due to legal obligations. Of course I would'nt be surprised if the other unions will want to bring up royalty issues once their contracts up for renegotiation, especially if the writers get what they want.

 

[DaveF]

Thanks for the info on salaries, etc. I had a naive view of a few writers working a show full time -- the Sorkin effect where the key writer leaves and the show has a dramatic change in quality. I didn't realize they were mostly worker bees like the rest of us, and not an A-Game few.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

That's a trickey one, and may depend on whether the scripts are freelance or staff written. A freelancer will normally get a contract that calls for an outline and a couple of drafts, with payment when each stage is completed. Depending on exactly what each contract says, and what any general language in the MBA may say on the subject, the writer may be required to complete only the current stage (finish the outline and turn it in, and get paid for that, then stop) or at the contractual number of full drafts. (Most deals include a first and second draft, and may agree on a dollar amount to be paid for subsequent drafts, but don't require one.)

Also even though the network has ordered additional scripts, that doesn't mean the shows have already ordered more scripts from the writers. Typically non-staff shows will call in a few freelancers and have them pitch ideas for possible scripts, then commission outlines based on whichever ideas strike their fancy. Then they'll choose from among the outlines to decide which to develop into full scripts. If they haven't given out these assigments before the strike starts, they won't be getting any scripts.

I'm know next to nothing about how all this works for shows with writing staffs or what variations their contracts include, so their mileage may vary.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Brandon Conway]

The studios will be looking to offset lost income in a variety of ways. This may be one of them, especially as it looks like it will be a very long strike if the reports are accurate about how far apart the two sides are.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The studios will be losing the income generated by network licensing fees, true. But they will also be saving the cost of producing the shows - which is generally more than the fees the network pays. (Most TV series are produced at a deficit and only turn a profit after they are sold into syndication - although TV-on-DVD is starting to change this.) So on the TV side, the studios should realize a net improvement to their bottom line and not have any "lost revenue" to make up.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Brent M]

So does this mean all the late-night shows(Letterman, Conan, etc) will go into reruns immediately starting Monday?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The two sides will be meeting again on Sunday November 4th, at the behest of a federal mediator, in a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/yrmv9f

Regards,

Joe

 

[Brandon Conway]

Yep.