The WGA is ready to strike, and Hollywood should brace itself. Hollywood Today takes an in-depth look at how a strike will affect the industry.
By Jonathan Zipper
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/2/07 – With their contract officially up, the Writers Guild of America met behind closed doors in LA on Thursday night, agreeing that a strike should be the next move. Members of the guild will meet again later today to set the stage for a formal announcement of their plans, and picketing could begin as early as Monday.
In a statement, the WGA confirmed that Thursday night’s three hour discussion ended, as expected, with the writers pushing for a strike.
“The Negotiating Committee reported that the AMPTP had called a halt to negotiations by demanding we accept the extension of the current DVD formula to new media. They also reported that in three months of negotiations, the AMPTP has not responded in any serious manner to our initial proposals. The Negotiating Committee then announced its unanimous recommendation that the WGAW Board and the WGAE Council call a strike.”
Hollywood and consumers should start preparing for a work stoppage, as a strike declaration will have both immediate and long-term affects on the industry.
The first areas that are likely to shutdown are talk shows because the scripts are written on a day-to-day basis to stay on top of current events. Unless the hosts plan on writing all of their own material and crossing picket lines, thus ignoring any sense of solidarity with their writers, expect to see all daytime and late-night personalities in rerun form for the long haul.
Also ceasing production right away: Saturday Night Live. Earlier this week, SNL star Amy Poehler weighed-in on what a strike would mean for the comedy series. “Boom — our show just shuts down,” she told Variety. “It’s just done. There is no backlog of scripts.”
Primetime television would take a major hit once networks run out of new episodes for the current season. If the writers walkout next week, most shows should have enough stockpiled scripts to make it to their half-way points – typically completing 11 out of 22 episodes on the year. Series that are planning spring comebacks, such as “Lost,” “24,” and “Jericho” would still be able to start their seasons on time since they have been in-production for a while.
One tactic the networks may employ to weather the strike is airing repeats in between new primetime episodes, hoping to stretch the material as much as possible. While it could work to keep viewers at bay with returning shows, this seasons new additions – like “Chuck,” “Bionic Woman,” and “Cane” – face their own struggles as each is still looking to solidify a weekly audience. A halt in production generally sends the ratings in a downward spiral.
Everyone should be ready for reality TV to take over for the duration of a strike. Without the need for writers, networks can quickly revamp their schedules with “reality” fodder, and chances are good that people will initially tune-in.
“As much as I’m not enthralled with reality TV, it seems to strike an interesting voyeuristic note with consumers and will continue to generate viewers,” Jeffrey Dachis, Chairman of the PGA New Media Council, told Hollywood Today.
Then, there is the movie industry. Whether the projects are big budget Hollywood or independent films, all will have problems succeeding during a strike. Studios have plenty of completed scripts and in-production films that will help get them through most of next year, at least. Without talk-shows, though, it will be harder for stars to publicly promote their upcoming features.
On the other hand, if there is nothing but news and reality programming on television, theaters could see an exponential increase in moviegoers.
Speaking on conditions of anonymity, an industry veteran told Variety that studios are not fretting at this point. “It would need a very long strike, six or seven months, to have an impact,” the insider said. “For now, it’s a television strike, not a movie strike. Everybody has done their films for 2008 and part of 2009.”
Many Hollywood players are too young to remember the extensive damage caused by the writers strike in 1988. Lasting 22 weeks, television networks took the brunt of it, losing around $500 million. Viewers grew frustrated by the strike’s affects on their favorite programs, and nearly 10 percent of the audience turned their sets off for good. With any luck, the writers and producers will reach a consensus before the industry faces a similar cataclysmic shockwave – one that might never be repaired.