Triple Threat Strike Over the Hollywood Horizon

Posted by hollywoodland (maggie@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 19, 2007

Writers in Hollywood are mad, fightin’ mad. They don’t think it’s right that they’re kept out of big bucks profit participation (given without an argument, well, not much of one anyway), to other above-the-liners.

It’s pre-strike time, way past the point where the powers that be try to keep their fingers on the pulse of the writers. Now they’ve got the actors and directors to contend with. Everybody’s getting into the act.

It’s easier for television producers — all they have to do is come up with another mindless reality show which only requires a few drunks in a room wondering what idiot members of the public would be willing to do to get on TV. Suicide maybe? Say, that’d bring in the viewers. They could get all the cemeteries and funeral homes for sponsors. A no-brainer, except of course for the dead guy.

A strike in Hollywood can paralyze the entire industry, as did the writers’ five-month walkout back in 1988. That little incident cost Hollylwood half a billion dollars, about the equivalent of Spidey 4. But this time, producers are stockpiling material, and moving things along much quicker to hopefully thwart strike repercussions.

Times have changed. Who knows how much TV and film writers should get for their work on the internet, cell phones, digital media, and other devices now known and yet to be invented? They still haven’t been able to come up with a satisfactory answer to the problem of what to pay writers for DVD rights.

Emmy-winning writer-producer Steven Bochco told the Seattle Times “There’s no question in my mind this is not simply about emerging technology, but the perception that the guilds pretty much got screwed in previous negotiations in what were then emerging technologies. All the guilds feel strongly that they don’t want to be caught in a position that doesn’t anticipate rapidly shifting technological advancements that leave them high and dry.”

In addition to writers’ rights, actors have taken a tough stand against product placement in shows, a growing practice as more viewers zoom past commercials prerecorded on TiVo. The guilds have said their members deserve a piece of the pie. Or maybe at least a few tax-free Hummers?

Bochco said that a strike this year could be extremely difficult because TV and film operations represent a small part of the income earned by the huge conglomerates that own studios and networks.

“When you strike, you’re not striking Universal or Paramount, or NBC,” Bochco said. “You’re striking News Corp. You’re striking Viacom Inc., You’re striking General Electric Co. Those are much deeper pockets and those are companies that can afford to hold out for a far longer period of time.” We think he’s talking about Sumner Redstone who owns everything except Suri Cruise’s diapers.

Wired reported September 18th that the triple threat strike of Writers Guild of America West, Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America, represents their desire to tap the new revenue streams.

“If they decide on a simultaneous strike, the entire entertainment industry — movies, TV, videogame shoots, online productions, etc. — grinds to a halt. Careers and companies could be ruined,” reports Wired.

Three-year contracts between the studios and the Writers Guild expire October 31st, a scary prospect. SAG and DGA contracts currently in effect will continue until next summer, but they could strike jointly in sympathy. Some producers, says Wired, are rushing projects through development before next summer’s potential big freeze.

It might turn out to be a dry summer for the fans in ‘08.

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