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Here's the official WGA announcement to striking writers: On Tuesday, members of the Writers Guilds East and West voted by a 92.5% margin to lift the restraining order that was invoked on November 5th. The strike is over. Writing can resume immediately. If you were employed when the strike began, you should plan to report to work on Wednesday. If you're not employed at an office or other work site, call or e-mail your employer that you are resuming work. If you have been told not to report to work or resume your services, we recommend that you still notify your employer in writing of your availability to do so. Questions concerning return-to-work issues should be directed to the WGAW legal department or the WGAE’s assistant executive director. The decision to begin this strike was not taken lightly and was only made after no other reasonable alternative was possible. We are profoundly aware of the economic loss these fourteen weeks have created not only for our members but so many other colleagues who work in the television and motion picture industries. Nonetheless, with the establishment of the WGA jurisdiction over new media and residual formulas based on distributor’s gross revenue (among other gains) we are confident that the results are a significant achievement not only for ourselves but the entire creative community, now and in the future. We hope to build upon the extraordinary energy, ingenuity, and solidarity that were generated by your hard work during the strike. Over the next weeks and months, we will be in touch with you to discuss and develop ways we can use our unprecedented unity to make our two guilds stronger and more effective than ever. Now that the strike has ended, there remains the vote to ratify the new contract. Ballots and information on the new deal, both pro and con, will be mailed to you shortly. You will be able to return those ballots via mail or at a membership meeting to be held Monday, February 25th, 2008, at times and locations to be determined. Thank you for making it possible. As ever, we are all in this together. Best, Patric M. Verrone President, WGAW Michael Winship President, WGAEPosted by Nikki Finke on Tuesday, Feb 12th, 2008 at 04:24PM | Permalink |
A post-writers strike scorecardBy AARON BARNHARTThe Kansas City StarWriters are expected to return to work today now that the Writers Guild of America has moved to end its three-month-old strike. Last week, the writers walked the picket line at NBC Studios in Burbank, Calif.Television and movie writers were expected back at work today as their 3 1/2 -month strike ends.A new three-year deal with the companies that run Hollywood won’t be formalized until a vote of the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America concludes next week. But it seems like a slam dunk.So who were the winners and losers in this strike?Winner: The viewers. By ending the strike when they did, the writers ensured that most of the shows we actually watch, record and stream online will come back in time to finish their (shortened) seasons.“Lost,” “Boston Legal,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” the “CSI” triplets, “30 Rock,” “The Office” and “House” are all planning at least a month’s worth of new episodes, mostly pegged to the May ratings period.More ambitious schedules call for seven to 10 new episodes to be written and shot between now and the end of the season. (My source for this information is Brian Stelter, the well-connected TV blogger for the New York Times.)The late-night shows that didn’t sign interim agreements with the guild during the strike — basically, all of them except the two on CBS — get their scribes back no later than tonight. Plus, the Oscars won’t have to be called off Feb. 24, as the Golden Globes were in January.Loser: The viewers again. The long hiatus forced the networks to take a hard look at some new series that were just becoming fan favorites. The lucky ones will get to reboot next fall: “Chuck,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Moonlight” and “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” among them.Some established hits won’t restart until next season, such as “Heroes” and “24.”But for many shows that were still searching for an audience, a second chance won’t come, including three “C” shows: “Cavemen” (hurray!), “Carpoolers” (aww) and “Cane” (is that still on CBS?). And yes, “Friday Night Lights” is in trouble again as well.Winner: “Jericho.” Canceled, then revived, the CBS thriller returned in a choice time period Tuesday night, a direct result of the strike draining the network’s pool of available shows to air.Loser: David Letterman. He had a chance to really shine in the late-night spotlight, with his main rival, Jay Leno, working without writers and denied access to A-list talent (the actors guild was honoring the writers’ pickets). But Dave rarely rose to the occasion, while Leno’s energy and resourcefulness allowed him to put on shows on a par with his pre-strike output.Winner: The two other guilds, Screen Actors and Directors, whose contracts were also up this year and will benefit directly from the writers’ hard-line stance on getting paid for Internet streaming.Loser: Whatever idiots at the studios thought it would be a good idea to get the writers angry at them. And speaking of which, has anyone heard from the studios’ so-called chief negotiator, Nick Counter, lately? The deal appears to have been brokered without Counter, whose blustery run-ins with the union leadership made for great news copy but had little effect on the outcome.Winner: Reality-show producers. The February sweeps are lousy (in more than one sense) with unscripted TV shows, since the networks had little scripted fare left by the strike’s third month. And because the union dropped its demand that reality writers be represented, networks can continue treating them as low-end tape editors (and subject them to 90-hour work weeks) instead of what they really are.
Carson Daly's 'Last Call' Hosed By NBCRemember how Carson Daly took all that abuse for going back to work as the host of Last Call during the writers strike? Well, I've confirmed with the network that NBC has thanked him by cutting his show's budget and firing most of his writers. "This is obviously an NBC decision and it's not his decision," a source close to Carson complained to me. Specifically, the network confirm for me that this week it fired 9 Last Call employees, including 3 of the four writers whose contracts ran out during the strike. (The one scribe kept on still has 4 weeks remaining on his pact. The other 6 employees trimmed worked in other departments.) NBC sources insist that the Last Call budget cuts weren't done because of the strike and would have made regardless of the WGA labor action. This, after the network threatened to cancel the 5-year-old show altogether unless Carson went back to work. Which just goes to show that, in Hollywood, no "good" deed goes unpunished. Daly still has two years more to go on his contract, and his New Year's Eve special delivered its best-yet ratings -- but karma can be a bitch.
