Author Topic: The Writers' Strike thread. (Read 22202 times)

B E C K · « **Reply #30 on:** Dec 15, 2007, 08:21:11 PM »

Strike May Cut Returning "LOST" Season

Letterman to seek deal with writers (Very awesome and very interesting if talks succeed and the show returns.)

B E C K · « **Reply #31 on:** Dec 24, 2007, 12:00:31 AM »

More stuff on the Letterman return. I've never been a Letterman girl, but is this guy ever getting points with me:
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/late-night-breakthroughs-and-breaches/

The D · « **Reply #32 on:** Dec 28, 2007, 02:19:34 PM »

I'm seeing "New episodes of Leno/Conan Jan 2nd" in their shows... did they find new writers or is this strike over?

B E C K · « **Reply #33 on:** Dec 29, 2007, 12:46:35 AM »

The strike is not over and doesn't look like it's reaching its end anytime soon. Everyone who isn't David Letterman and Craig Ferguson that are returning are doing so without writers. Leno and Conan O'Brien are members of the guild themselves, and therefore barred from writing monologues. They can improv and that's the extent of it. Expect lots guest focus, assuming people will want to go on the shows (since it could be viewed as them not being supportive of the strike). The Daily Show and the Colbert Report are also supposed to be coming back, but I don't know what the hell they're gonna do with no writers. I think Jimmy Kimmel may also be coming back. A lot of these people are getting desperate and if they don't come back, virtually all of their non-writing staff will be jobless. If Letterman's deal comes through, he and Ferguson (since his show is owned by the same company, Worldwide Pants) will be the only two that return with writers.

Expect schedule changes in the next year as networks scramble for new material to air. Some shows will be leaving the schedule entirely (on what is supposed to be a temporarily basis) as a result.

EDIT: Corrected a mistake.

Also, it is done: Letterman And Writers Strike Deal, Giving CBS The Edge

B E C K · « **Reply #34 on:** Dec 29, 2007, 01:09:45 AM »

In case you get some BS about having to register, I copied the above link here:

Quote

Letterman And Writers Strike Deal, Giving CBS The Edge

Craig Ferguson's show, owned by Letterman, also gets its writers back. (By Frederick M. Brown -- Getty Images)

David Letterman's Worldwide Pants company negotiated its own pact with the striking Writers Guild. (By Jeffrey R. Staab -- Cbs Via Associated Press)

David Letterman will have some help being funny when his talk show returns to the air next week.

Letterman's production company yesterday became the first to cut a deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, enabling "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" to resume production with their writing staffs.

Letterman's Worldwide Pants, which owns both shows, worked out the agreement just days before late-night talk shows will resume after an eight-week hiatus. The disruption was caused by the writers' strike that has stopped production of dramas, sitcoms and talk shows. Almost all of the talk shows have said they will return Wednesday, but without writers. "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central will return the following Monday, Jan. 7.

The agreement gives huge leverage to Letterman and CBS, which will now have the only late-night shows with material written by professional writers. That will include topical monologues and other bits, such as Letterman's signature top 10 list. Other talk shows are still scrambling to patch together material without writers. Under union strike rules, the shows' staffs can't write anything that the writers would have written.

In addition, Letterman and Ferguson will be the only shows that can regularly attract big-name celebrities without fear of a picket line. Out of solidarity with striking writers, TV and movie actors have been reluctant to appear on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "Last Call With Carson Daly," the two talk shows that have gone back on the air. The writers' guild has objected to both. Neither Letterman nor Ferguson have announced guest lineups for their first shows next week.

By creating a separate agreement with Letterman, the writers' union hopes to put pressure on all of the networks to come to a comprehensive settlement. Without writers or famous guests, the other shows will probably lose viewers to Letterman.

"I am grateful to the WGA for granting us this agreement," Letterman said in a statement issued by his company. "We're happy to be going back to work, and particularly pleased to be doing it with our writers. This is not a solution to the strike, which unfortunately continues to disrupt the lives of thousands. But I hope it will be seen as a step in the right direction."

A deal between the union and Letterman, who is a 30-year member of the writers' union, was possible because his company owns the two talk shows. The other talk shows are owned by the networks and the studio conglomerates against which the writers are striking.

A key issue in the dispute is how writers should be compensated when the networks and movie studios distribute films and TV shows over new media, such as the Internet. The WGA called its deal with Worldwide Pants "a comprehensive agreement that addresses the issues important to writers, particularly new media. . . . Today's agreement dramatically illustrates that the Writers Guild wants to put people back to work, and that when a company comes to the table prepared to negotiate seriously, a fair and reasonable deal can be reached quickly."

While CBS continues to hold the digital rights to Letterman's shows, a union representative, Neal Sacharow, said Worldwide Pants will "take full responsibility" for paying writers when CBS makes money from the shows in new-media formats.

The union said that Worldwide Pants "had accepted the very same proposals that the Guild was prepared to present to the media conglomerates when they walked out of negotiations on Dec. 7," adding, "It's time for NBC Universal to step up to the plate and negotiate a company-wide deal that will put Jay Leno, who has supported our cause from the beginning, back on the air with his writers."

B E C K · « **Reply #35 on:** Jan 03, 2008, 05:58:29 AM »

I was asleep so I missed the return of the late show hosts. Everyone but ABC comes out lousy on our tv anyway.

From USATODAY, Late-night shows return fully bearded — with and without writers. My notes in brackets:

Quote

By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
Late-night talk shows returned Wednesday with politicians, some ad-libbed material — and "strike beards."

Off the air since a Writers Guild of America walkout Nov. 5, it was largely a case of haves and have-nots: CBS' Late Show With David Letterman was back with writing staff intact, thanks to a side agreement with the union, and Letterman bounded on stage surrounded by a high-kicking group of female dancers sporting strike placards. "Two long months, but by God, I'm finally out of rehab!" he shouted.

ON LENO: Huckabee plays some bass, says he and Obama are similar

In an opening monologue filled with what seemed like prepared jokes, NBC's Jay Leno said, "we can write for ourselves," [He can? I heard otherwise.] and said he didn't blame Letterman for forging a side deal. "We have to go by ourselves up against the CBS machine." But he said "the strike is especially hard on NBC. Do you know there are actually more people picketing NBC now than watching NBC?"

After a few strike-related jokes — "at ABC, the writers tipped over Regis" — stagehand Biff Henderson asked Letterman, "When are the writers coming back?"

Conan O'Brien, also without writers, vamped to fill time, attempting (in vain) to beat his 41-second record for spinning his wedding ring, and showed a taped segment about his time-wasting office routine since the strike began.

The shows were scarce on A-listers, as top actors feared negative publicity from crossing picket lines. Though Letterman had Robin Williams, Leno had chef Emeril Lagasse. O'Brien had comedian Bob Saget. ABC's Jimmy Kimmel had Andy Dick.

Letterman's top 10 list was recited by striking writers of other shows.

Presidential candidates won some exposure a day before the Iowa caucuses: Mike Huckabee had an extended interview with Leno and jammed on bass with the band; Hillary Clinton opened Letterman's show with a taped joke: "Dave has been off the air for eight long weeks because of the writers' strike. Tonight he's back on. (Pause). Oh well, all good things come to an end."

But a main topic was facial hair: Letterman sported a white beard that prompted Williams to shout, "My God, man, you've aged!" and compare him to Gen. Robert E. Lee, a rabbi, and someone who "should have their own cough drop."

O'Brien said he grew his red beard "out of solidarity for my writers, and to prove that I have some testosterone."

Picketers stayed away from Letterman, but some marched outside O'Brien's Rockefeller Center studios, and they were out in full force at Leno's studio in Burbank, where they were sidestepped by Huckabee, whom picketing M*A*S*H writer Larry Gelbart called "Snuckabee." [He should've called him "Suckabee".]

"The strike is huge and shutting down all of Hollywood," said picketing Two and Half Men star Jon Cryer. "Two shows going on isn't going to change it."

There's a top ten list on that page from Letterman, which gets props for including striking writers but is lame as usual. I like 10 and 6 though.

Wickedly Yours E · « **Reply #36 on:** Jan 03, 2008, 09:51:53 AM »

Intriguing.

The D · « **Reply #37 on:** Jan 03, 2008, 06:30:40 PM »

I'm suprised Letterman, Leno and O'brian don't write their own stuff anyway. If standup comedians write their own shit and can wing it when they run out of material, so can late night hosts. My opininon of these guys has gone way down.

Wickedly Yours E · « **Reply #38 on:** Jan 03, 2008, 08:37:52 PM »

During the Break I had a chance to Watch Craig Ferguson. That guy's hilarious.

IDE · « **Reply #39 on:** Jan 03, 2008, 11:55:19 PM »

As members of the guild they weren't supposed to be writing for themselves even I think.

Max Con · « **Reply #40 on:** Jan 04, 2008, 04:54:58 AM »

Of all things that could have possibly returned, why does it have to be late night?

I couldn't laugh at Conan/Letterman/etc. if they were killed on stage and their remains set ablaze.

Rama · « **Reply #41 on:** Jan 05, 2008, 02:10:14 AM »

Quote from: Dangerous D on Jan 03, 2008, 06:30:40 PM

I'm suprised Letterman, Leno and O'brian don't write their own stuff anyway. If standup comedians write their own shit and can wing it when they run out of material, so can late night hosts. My opininon of these guys has gone way down.

Well considering O'Brien use to write for both SNL and the Simpsons he would be prefectly capable. I don't even know if he is still a member of the WGA, but I'm sure he was at one time.

B E C K · « **Reply #42 on:** Jan 05, 2008, 06:58:42 PM »

He's still a member. (I've said it at least once in this thread, but I don't blame you for not reading.)

Some more stuff:

First, the NY Times on the fact Jay Leno's been writing monologues. I've bolded the first few parts because after that, the rest of it goes into non-monologue stuff. Quoted for your convenience:

Quote

Leno Faces Writers Guild Action Over Monologues
Paul Drinkwater/NBC

Jay Leno has defied the writers union by writing monologues.

By BILL CARTER
Published: January 5, 2008

The restrictions that the striking Writers Guild of America has placed on late-night television hosts to keep them from writing material for their shows continued to have no impact on the leading late-night star, Jay Leno, who planned once again to write and perform a comedy monologue for NBC’s “Tonight Show” Friday night.

A spokeswoman said Friday that the guild would definitely take some action against Mr. Leno, who is a member.

“The answer is, he is not getting a pass,” said Sherry Goldman, a spokeswoman for the Writers Guild of America East. She said that the action to be taken had not yet been specified.

Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America West, also pledged Friday that the guild would respond to Mr. Leno’s decision to continue writing his monologues.

Another impediment that the guild and its supporters have raised against the affected late-night shows — pressuring high-profile show business guests to avoid appearing on them — is proving to be a serious challenge for “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” and “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” on NBC, as well as “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC.

All three shows have reported resistance from publicists for many of the guests that the shows typically book. All three declined to release their guest lists for next week’s shows.

“The bookings continue to be tough,” said a representative of one of the shows, who asked not to be identified so as not inflame the opposition from the guild. “Why should we announce guests and invite the guild to try to give cold feet to those people?”

Because David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants production company reached a separate interim agreement with the East and West Coast writers unions, “Late Show With David Letterman” on CBS has been able to return with writers and is starting to assert another advantage it expects to enjoy over the other shows: booking guests.

Since they will not have to cross a picket line to appear with Mr. Letterman or on “Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson” — the show that follows his on CBS, which Worldwide Pants also owns — much bigger stars are lining up for both shows.

The best example: For Monday Mr. Letterman has booked perhaps the most appealing late-night guest from the movie world, Tom Hanks, and also plans an appearance by Mike Huckabee, who just won the Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa. Mr. Letterman is also trying to land the Democratic winner, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, for Wednesday night.

Political guests, especially Democrats, may gravitate to Mr. Letterman and Mr. Ferguson because they will not have to antagonize labor unions to appear on those shows.

On Wednesday night Mr. Huckabee did turn up as the lead guest on Mr. Leno’s first show after two months off because of the strike, helping Mr. Leno to a dominant ratings win over Mr. Letterman. That was considered a coup for Mr. Leno because Mr. Letterman could use material from his writers, while Mr. Leno declared that he was able to write material for himself. The guild contends that he cannot.

The ratings margin did shrink on Thursday, the second night of strike-affected programming in late night. Yet Mr. Leno still won, drawing an estimated 5.2 million viewers to 4.6 million for Mr. Letterman. On Wednesday the numbers had been 7.2 million for Mr. Leno and 5.5 million for Mr. Letterman.

But in the narrower audience segment of viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, the primary group advertisers seek in late night, Mr. Leno’s edge was even smaller Thursday. In that group he had an advantage of just one-tenth of a rating point: a bit less than 2 million for Mr. Leno and slightly more than 1.8 million for Mr. Letterman.

Two other late-night entries are scheduled to rejoin the competition Monday. “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” with Stephen Colbert will both resume production on the Comedy Central cable channel. The shows have been seeking to make their own deal with the Writers Guild for an agreement similar to the one Worldwide Pants was able to reach.

The shows have contended in negotiations with the guild that they have just as much right to an agreement and that to deny them would amount to favoritism to Mr. Letterman. But as of Friday no deal had been made.

That meant those two shows remained subject to the guild’s restrictions on writing, though it was not yet clear how Mr. Leno’s defiance of the guild’s rules might affect what Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert, who like Mr. Leno are members of the writers guild, decide to present as comedy material.

Both those shows displayed the same caution about booking guests as the others subject to the strike. Neither released a planned guest list for the week.

In other strike news, the president of the Screen Actors Guild reiterated on Friday that members would not cross picket lines to appear on the Golden Globes awards show Jan. 13.

“There appears to be unanimous agreement that these actors will not cross W.G.A. picket lines to appear on the Golden Globes Awards as acceptors or presenters,” the president, Alan Rosenberg, said in a statement released after a meeting with some nominees on Friday.

The Golden Globes are scheduled to be shown on NBC, but the fate of the broadcast, and possibly the ceremony itself, remains unclear.

Brian Stelter contributed reporting.

B E C K · « **Reply #43 on:** Jan 05, 2008, 07:24:14 PM »

Also:

Actors likely to snub Golden Globes. But then again, I'm sure most of you already knew about that one.

Writers Guild is close to a deal with UA. That's United Artists, as in the studio headed by Paula Wagner and cah-razy Tom Cruise. A small studio, but still progress.

What "Fi-Core" Really Means. Gives a good def of fi-core and why it's bad for the strike.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/ -- Has all kinds of stuff including about the UA deal, the WGA and Leno's monologue, and Leno's threat to go fi-core. Lots to read if you're so inclined.

Rodent of Unusual Size · « **Reply #44 on:** Jan 05, 2008, 08:09:40 PM »

Leno had rather face the wrath of the Guild than the wrath of NBC...that much is obvious. Considering that the guy's supposed to be retiring next year, maybe he just doesn't give a crap what they do, but does want to ensure that the Tonight Show continues under his auspices.

IDE · « **Reply #45 on:** Jan 05, 2008, 10:50:55 PM »

I don't see why there is an option to go ficore. That seems like bullshit scabbery to me.

B E C K · « **Reply #46 on:** Jan 07, 2008, 03:33:50 AM »

New at Deadline Hollywood Daily:

Quote

CES: Bill Unveils Microsoft-H'wood Deals

Tonight at the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Bill Gates announced a bunch of Hollywood deals for movie and TV programming from NBC Universal, Walt Disney, MGM and Showtime because Microsoft's Xbox and MSN online services need to keep up with rivals like Apple's iTunes. Sony's Sir Howard Stringer also spoke. All the details in the morning along with lots of CES updates throughout the conference, including the Hollywood CEO symposiums. Oh yeah, this is going to make the WGA-DGA-SAG negotiations with the AMPTP way more interesting.

Quote

Rumors Upon Rumors Of WGA Side Deals

So many rumors of WGA side deals: Lionsgate, The Weinstein Co, and the latest, Lucasfilm.

Also there's a blurb about the DGA.

Meanwhile, Leno and Kimmel are so desperate for guests, they're gonna be each other's guest! Or as philly.com put it: "Desperate for guests, Leno and Jimmy Kimmel will appear on each other's scab shows."

Wickedly Yours E · « **Reply #47 on:** Jan 08, 2008, 09:10:13 AM »

If this goes on for a longer term (the scabbery), in the end it'll hurt Leno's rep, along with the show's rep. Bad mojo.

Bitey the Snail · « **Reply #48 on:** Jan 08, 2008, 12:24:59 PM »

Golden Globes canceled.

ChelseySuzie · « **Reply #49 on:** Jan 08, 2008, 01:34:12 PM »

I watched the Daily Show and the Colbert Report last night. Not as funny as usual, but I give them credit. Colbert had on a huge fake beard when he and Stewert were talking to each other, then it got caught in a shredder.

Bitey the Snail · « **Reply #50 on:** Jan 14, 2008, 03:13:51 PM »

From Variety, Force majeure ax falls at ABC Studios. Basically, due to the strike, ABC took the opportunity to terminate a bunch of deals.

Rodent of Unusual Size · « **Reply #51 on:** Jan 14, 2008, 11:01:07 PM »

Television needs an enema.

Wickedly Yours E · « **Reply #52 on:** Jan 16, 2008, 08:43:24 AM »

Well its getting one. This won't be the last set of firings.

Bernie AKA · « **Reply #53 on:** Jan 16, 2008, 01:12:22 PM »

This is the golden opportunity for some people with talent and originality to eschew the political process and get a break. We might actually have some shows worth watching next season.

Rama · « **Reply #54 on:** Jan 16, 2008, 10:32:26 PM »

......or a bunch of reality tv. Ugh!

B E C K · « **Reply #55 on:** Jan 17, 2008, 08:56:46 AM »

I fear it'll be less of the first, more of the second.

B E C K · « **Reply #56 on:** Jan 17, 2008, 09:35:27 AM »

Interview with The Shield's" Shawn Ryan. Some interesting insights.

The subtitle on this one explains it all but I linked the article in case anyone wanted to read it: UNION members in Australia will be asked to join a campaign expressing support for striking Hollywood writers.

Another self-explanatory one: Writers strike puts Justice League of America on hold. But if you haven't seen the chick that was casted as Wonder Woman, she's on that page. More about Justice League here.

Also, some more dropped deals due to strikage.

B E C K · « **Reply #57 on:** Jan 17, 2008, 09:48:03 AM »

Not really related to the strike, I didn't know Spike from Buffy is playing Piccolo in a live action Dragon Ball movie. I have mixed feelings.

IDE · « **Reply #58 on:** Jan 17, 2008, 11:02:13 AM »

That 87eleven group sounds interesting. I might look them up when I move out there.

The D · « **Reply #59 on:** Jan 17, 2008, 07:27:04 PM »

Quote from: B E C K on Jan 17, 2008, 09:48:03 AM

Not really related to the strike, I didn't know Spike from Buffy is playing Piccolo in a live action Dragon Ball movie. I have mixed feelings.

Well I'll be a shit stain on soiled drawers. I've heard rumors about live action DBZ, but I though they were just rumors. Expecting movie to be royal piece of shit.