On Strike: WGA

Monday, November 05, 2007

I am sure most have heard about this already, but the writer's involved with our television shows and movies headed out on strike this morning at 12:01am. We had picketers outside studios in both New York and Los Angeles, including celebrities such as Tina Fey and Jay Leno. At least, I saw him speaking in one of the interviews I saw on Fox News a bit ago. What does this mean for the television viewer like myself and others? Television can possibly end up getting quite interesting.

The Heroes spin-off has already been canned because of the strike, the final six episodes of Scrubs are in jeopardy. One behind the scenes person at Heroes has already left after he was asked to cut story lines and make major script changes this weekend before the strike went into effect. Late night television shows are on repeats as of tonight. For now, prime time television is safe because series have prepared in advance, but if the strike continues on this could be a problem. Soap operas might be the next to be effected in the next week or two.

One article on this I read this morning said that the winter television market can end up looking like summer if the strike goes on too long. We could be in for a lot of reality television. The last strike lasted six months. Hollywood itself won't be affected soon. Movies will continue to be filmed, but there will be no on the spot re-writes if they are needed. Scripts will be shot as is. This could lead to poorer movie content hitting the big screen next year. We just have to cross our fingers it doesn't last too long.

Why are they going on strike? One word, money. They want their share of new media. New media? What is that? Internet for one. In the last couple of years, television shows and movies have become available for purchase online. The writers see none of that revenue. They want that to change, and until it does they will walk the picket lines. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. I know I'll miss my television if shows start to slowly go into repeat because of no new material.