The writers’ strike fallout and what viewers can do about it

Posted by fanshawe

November 3, 2007

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Michael Ausiello reports that the cast and crew of Heroes are filming an alternate ending to the episode scheduled to air on December 3. If an agreement is not reached between the writers and Hollywood film and television studios by that time and the writers’ strike continues, the episode will serve as the early season two finale.

Last Wednesday, NBC made the decision to pull Heroes: Origins, a six-episode spin-off of the show, from mid-season launch, which was supposed to happen some time in late April. The spin-off has not been cancelled, but it has not been given a new air date either. Names that were mentioned as guest writers and directors during the promo campaign for Origins included Eli Roth and Kevin Smith.

More than 5,000 members of the Writers Guild of America have voted in favour of the strike, the first industry-wide walkout since 1988. In the aftermath of the writers’ contracts expiring, the central issue concerns raising their payments for profits made from DVDs and shows offered for download on the Internet and on mobile devices. As a sidenote, actors’ and directors’ contracts end in June 2008.

In response to concerns raised about the strike, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the organization that negotiates on behalf of Hollywood studios, has said that the quality of the programming will not decline. If the strike ends up being a long one, though, the networks will have little choice but up the dosage of reality and game shows and start airing reruns. This, in turn, will not only affect viewers but also advertisers.

Heroes is only one of the popular television shows that will be affected by the writers’ strike. If an agreement is not reached soon, shows such as Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives may also run out of screenplays. Reportedly, CSI and Ugly Betty are covered until the end of the year.

The most immediate casualties of the fallout will be popular talk shows such as Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which will revert to repeats on Monday. The domino effect will include a slowdown in promotion of new theatrical releases and Oscar and Golden Globe campaigns. Production companies and talent agencies have already begun to consider different cost-cutting schemes, most of which include layoffs. Publishing companies have voiced concerns about studios’ reluctance to buy the rights for books if there are no professional writers available to adapt them for the big screen. These are just some of the foreseeable consequences of the strike.

The question that arises is what, if anything, the regular viewer can do. Several writers have suggested fan campaigns addressed to the negotiating group - the contact form is on the AMPTP website - and to major Hollywood studios: Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Sony, Warner Brothers, Disney, Universal… - to voice their concerns, as the end consumers of quality entertainment, about writers getting a fair deal for their work in the future.

The writers’ strike officially begins on Monday. Let’s all cross fingers and hope it is a short one.