[B]BURNING STRIKE QUESTION NO. 1: So...is there any end in sight?
[/B] Short answer: No. Eleven weeks into the strike — and five weeks after the WGA and AMPTP stopped talking — there are no new negotiations scheduled. (The WGA refuses to take issues including jurisdiction over reality TV writers off the table in advance, and the producers refuse to negotiate until they do.) The WGA, meanwhile, canceled its West Coast awards show, three days after NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association scaled the Golden Globes down to a sad press conference. And the Guild's strong alliance with SAG is forcing Oscar organizers to consider solutions like postponing the ceremony to avoid a night of zero stars: SAG prez Alan Rosenberg insists potential Oscar noms will continue to honor picket lines ''for as long as the strike takes.'' Tinseltown's white knight may just be the Directors Guild of America, which announced a new three-year deal with the producers association on Jan 17. The DGA, whose previous contract is up in June, faced many of the same compensation issues as the writers — and the Guild went into the negotiations armed with its own study on new media. With [B]a deal between the DGA and the producers[/B] now hammered out, the WGA and the AMPTP will feel more pressure to end their standoff and get back to the table
[B]BURNING STRIKE QUESTION NO. 2: How is the movie business being affected?
[/B]Don't let your crowded local theater marquee lull you into believing that the strike isn't hurting the movie industry. It's just that all the pain is behind the scenes...so far. Nervous studios ramped up production before the strike hit, ensuring a fresh supply of films through 2009. However, some big projects — like Johnny Depp's [I]Shantaram[/I] and Tom Hanks' [I]Angels & Demons[/I] — were jettisoned due to script problems that couldn't be solved in time. Also, on Jan. 16, Warner Bros. confirmed it will push back its planned tentpole for summer 2009, [B]Justice League of America[/B], and DreamWorks is still struggling to get [I]Transformers 2[/I] ready as well. Things will get [I]really[/I] ugly if the strike isn't settled by the fall, preventing studios from beginning work on their big movies for 2010. So why is Tom Cruise smiling? Because his UA studio, as well as the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment, and Media Rights Capital, all signed interim deals with the WGA allowing writers to work on new scripts for them. ''I will work with UA,'' says Academy Award-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis. ''I would say the top 20 screenwriters in this town have already put in calls to the company.'' Being the only places currently open for business could turn these indie players into tomorrow's power brokers.
[B]BURNING STRIKE QUESTION NO. 3: Once the strike ends, how long will it take for TV shows to start production again?
[/B]Viewers aren't the only ones wondering whether their favorite shows will get to finish out the 2007-2008 season — it's a big question mark for the networks, too. Let's say the strike is settled on Feb. 1 (hey, miracles could happen). Production on a new episode of a sitcom or drama can take up to six weeks before making it to air. A CBS insider says a Feb. 1 resolution would allow time for at least six spring episodes of procedural dramas like [I]CSI[/I]. Comedies like [I]The Office[/I] would be able to churn out around five installments, according to an NBC source. And ABC's [I]Lost[/I] could shoot another eight, which would enable the creators to close out this season's story arc. Should the dispute extend through late February or March, though, every network will have a tough decision to make about returning shows. ''Do we bring them back for only one or two episodes? Or do we just have them start next [fall]?'' says a Big Four exec. As far as summer series, TNT's [I]The Closer[/I] and HBO's [I]Entourage[/I] were supposed to start production by now for June/July runs, but both programs are currently up in the air. The one man who could save summer? Vic Mackey. FX has a wrapped final season of [I]The Shield[/I] ready to go.
[B]BURNING STRIKE QUESTION NO. 4: Will the strike screw up next TV season, too?
[/B]In January, networks are traditionally hard at work greenlighting the 75 to 100 scripts that will be shot for fall-schedule consideration. (Twenty-five to 35 of those might become series.) But say sayonara to tradition this year. If the strike isn't settled before mid-February, ''any resemblance to pilot season as we know it would be over,'' says a top studio exec. In various time-crunched scenarios, the networks will likely order fewer pilots, some of which will be presentations (think: mini-pilots). Other shows will skip the pilot process and score direct-to-series orders. But if the strike isn't resolved before March, the networks will have a doozy of a time meeting the May deadline to announce their fall slates to the advertising community. Not that the networks will be left completely empty-handed: Most have already shot a few pilots or plan to, as some scripts were ready before the strike. In any case, the work stoppage should help revolutionize pilot season: Industry insiders have been wanting to move toward a year-round development schedule, with a focus on fewer script orders and pilots. ''Our plans were to do this anyway,'' says a top network exec, ''but this accelerates it and in some ways makes it easier.'' Seconds the studio exec: ''If it hadn't been this strike, it probably would've been a bad economy in the next year or two that would've driven us to reevaluate the way we do business.''
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