Writers Guild Strike 2007 is Over

FADE IN:
On Sunday, the WGA began a 48-hour vote. On Tuesday, it was announced that 92.5% of the membership voted to end the strike. Writers were back to work today. The strike lasted 14 weeks and 2 days (100 days). The Oscars dodged a bullet. All is well in Hollywood again.

THE END

Writers Guild Strike 2007, Weeks Twelve, Thirteen, and Fourteen

Yes, it still technically continues. And yet with the buzz of an imminent end so loud its earpiercing, it ain't over till it's over. The biggest announcement Oscar-wise? No, not that the show will go on. But rather, that the "Vanity Fair" after-party has been called off (it would have been that famed A-lister bashes 15th). Here's a link to the New York Times article.

The WGA Awards will be announced on Saturday and the Guilds on both coasts are planning meetings for members to discuss the latest developments in the negotiations (see Hollywood Reporter story). Variety today had an article that described the striking today as the "last day of school."

Writers Guild Strike 2007, Weeks Ten and Eleven

So, the Oscars are still in jeopardy, and the WGA was made to look bad when AMPTP worked out a deal with the DGA in five days (Jan 12-17). The DGA deal establishes a new residuals formula for paid Internet downloads and establishes residual rates for ad-supported streaming and use of clips on the Internet. Writer for THE SHIELD, Shawn Ryan, suggests in an online article that AMPTP waited purposefully (stepping away from the negotiating table) to work out something with the DGA first. He says that he hopes that the negotiation with the DGA would offer the AMPTP a face-saving way of working something out with the WGA in the near future.

However, the Oscars noms are Tuesday morning and we're no closer yet to a resolution.

Writers Guild Strike 2007, Weeks Eight and Nine

The big happenings of late: the return of late-night TV talk shows with writers (Letterman) and without (Leno). And how SAG announced that the Golden Globes will be without guild actors who will not be crossing the picket lines (announced yesterday afternoon; Variety link). NBC says they plan to air the Golden Globes in any case. And there is rumor online that George Clooney is one of the most vocal within the acting community about boycotting the Globes and Oscars (see link).

There is also word on the Varitey website that a deal will be announced between United Artists and the WGA on Monday to allow feature film writers to return to work. See link.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association offered this brief statement on their website:

HOLLYWOOD, CA, JANUARY 4, 2008--"The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been placed in an extremely difficult position with the ongoing Writers Guild strike. We are making every effort to work out a solution that will permit the Golden Globes to take place with the creative community present to participate. We hope to announce a resolution to this unfortunate predicament on Monday."

It will certainly be an interesting Golden Globes on the 13th!

Writers Guild Strike 2007, Week Seven

The strike continues and talk has turned from the TV line-ups to the effect the strike will have on "Awards Season."

The People's Choice Awards had a rumor of cancelation but instead will air "in a different format" and be taped rather than live.

On Tuesday, the trades noted that both the Golden Globes and the Oscars were being denied waivers (to hire writers) from the guild. Also, apparently a request for clips clearances was also denied for the Oscars. Today, however, it was announced that the guild is allowing writers to work for the Independent Spirit Awads (but, unlike the other awards shows, the Spirit Awards's producers had asked for permission before the strike began seven weeks ago).

Writers Guild Strike 2007, Week Six

Little to report as negotiations continue. Still, the emphasis in reporting is in the effect the strike is having on the television industy, rather than the movies. There has been a lot of print about the thin line-up of pilots for the upfronts.

The entire creative community, TV & film, is at a loss about whether or not to attend the Golden Globes if the strike continues. See Variety article.

Writers Guild Strike 2007, Week Five

Talks behind closed doors have not yielded much in the way of a resolution this week.

Just a few notes and thoughts from the week:

• The Guild gave their blessing to Elizabeth Taylor who didn't wish to "cross" the picket line for a benefit she was doing at Paramount. See link to AP article (at cnn.com).

• Gregg Kilday had an interesting column in the weekend Hollywood Reporter that pointed out how the 1967/8 Oscars brought an end to an AFTRA strike-- could something similar happen this year with the WGA strike? Here's the web address of the article: http:www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/features/columns/risky_business/e3i30e25f15c78d91314ef0661fd0df3a2d

• Speaking of the Oscars... although there is some suggestion that the Dreamgirls backlash has led to a quieter Oscar campaign season, could it not also be related to the fact that the late-night talk shows are affected by the strike? Much of the Oscar campaign is seen on the couch opposite Leno, Letterman, etc. Perhaps, this year Oscar voters will have to make their choices, soley by quality!

Writers Guild Strike 2007, Week Four

Negotiations have re-opened this week but picketing continued at the studios in Los Angeles: CBS Radford Studios, CBS Television City, Disney Studios, Fox Studios, NBC Burbank, Prospect Studios, Paramount Studios/Raleigh Studios Hollywood, Sony Pictures Studios, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. Studios (photo, above).

Several feature films seem to be proceeding despite the fact that their screenplays were not complete, such as Transformers 2, presumably in hopes that the strike will end in time for the scripts to be polished.

Woody Allen is the latest celeb slated for the "Speechless Without Writers" shorts (by director George Hickenlooper), dubbed pretentious by some posters (who are actually sympathetic to the cause— see, for example, comments under Harvey Keitel short). The short with Woody Allen will show him silently sipping tea while a laugh track plays.

Writers Guild Strike 2007, Week Three

The Writers Guild Strike continues, but with a glimmer of hope, as the guild and the studios return to the bargaining table on Monday. In the meantime, several studio films have been put on hold until the strike is over, including the following:

Pinkville: Oliver Stone's film about the My Lai Massacre, starring Bruce Willis had a December start date that has been postponed.

Angels & Demons: Ron Howard's follow-up to The Da Vinci Code, based on Dan Brown's prequel, is on hold since Akiva Goldman's script still needed work and he's on strike. The movie's release date has thusly been pushed from late 2008 to sometime in 2009.

Shantaram: Mira Nair's film with Johnny Depp slated to star, was to begin filming in February, but the production start date has now been called off.

Nine: Rob Marshall's film with Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Sophia Loren, Marion Cotillard had its March start date postponed.

Writers Guild Strike 2007, Week Two

Picketing continues at the studios in Los Angeles: CBS Radford Studios (photo above), CBS Television City, Disney Studios, Fox Studios, NBC Burbank, Prospect Studios, Paramount Studios/Raleigh Studios Hollywood, Sony Pictures Studios, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. Studios. The Tuesday Wall Street picketing of the WGA East and Universal Studios picketing of the WGA West ("Picketing with the Stars") was the big news this week.

Entertainment Weekly brought up a point in regards to Oscar season, that of the hosting duties by Jon Stewart, who's respecting the strike. If the strike should last until the Oscars, the ceremony may be without a host. Last year's host, Ellen DeGeneres, is having enough troubles hosting her own show in light of the strike (Variety article), and would be unlikely to fuel the controversy by taking the Oscar hosting reigns. Could Billy Crystal return as host? Possibly, if he had the blessing of the Hollywood community for this one-time bending of the rules in honor of Oscar's 80th.

Writers Guild Strike 2007, Week One

The Writers Guild strike, which began on Monday, is casting a dark cloud over Hollywood (with SAG and DGA waiting in the wings: their contracts expire in July 2008). Hopefully an agreement puts film and television schedules back on track soon, however, the strike is expected to be a prolonged one. The 1988 strike lasted five months. For movies, the Oscar season will offer some cheer, but planned '08 and '09 releases will certainly feel the impact. Luckily for James Bond fans, such as myself, Paul Haggis submitted his screenplay for "Bond 22" in the nick of time. The Bond series has seen three of its longest breaks in recent years 1989-95, 1999-2002, and 2002-06. "Bond 22" is slated for release in a year's time on November 7, 2008. Time will tell the full impact of the strike, but for now, the town is begining to shut down in a big way for the Holidays.