This morning, a lot of really talented people grabbed placards and started walking around movie and television studios in New York and Hollywood. The Writer’s Guild of America went on strike, after months of prelude.
Over the years, I’ve met a lot of folks who write for a living, so I’m predisposed to taking the writers’ side in this whole debacle. (If you don’t know what it’s all about, this bit from Daily Kos may be the best precis on the topic.) Here’s why you should light a candle and hope the dispute gets resolved, post haste:
- All of those wonderful shows that rely heavily on long, season-spanning arcs, like “Heroes,” “Lost” and “24″? Yeah, they’re going to feel the pinch, and quickly. If there’s no resolution in sight, the current season of “Heroes” will end on December 3, which was originally due to close the “Generations” chapter with that episode. “24″ looks to be good with the first nine episode’s scripts in the can, but there would have to be a resolution by mid-February to finish out the season. “Lost” looks to have eight scripts in the can. (The LA Times has this handy guide to where your favorite show is on the evolution chart.)
- While neither side wants this thing to drag on endlessly — the studios want a steady flow of content, and the writers want to pay bills — this dispute has every appearance of dragging on for as long as six months. The last WGA work stoppage in 1988 lasted 22 weeks, and people who’ve watched this aspect of the business for a while say the two camps weren’t as far apart on terms back then. The union wants to “future-proof” this agreement, and the studios want to horde every last penny, avoiding change like the plague.
- With more holes created in the networks’ schedule by this stoppage, the big answer is “unscripted programming.” This means reality TV, and this world needs LESS reality programming, not more. For Bog’s sake, Tila Tequila needs to be vanquished, not cloned.
- There are a lot of people who look at the strike as an opportunity to put the old studio system underwater. While I would normally recommend a sea change of this order, I shudder to think what independent programmers would come up with, and what the zeitgeist would embrace.
So, kiddies, pray the suits come back to the table and hammer out an agreement. Quickly. Because, if they don’t, it’ll be a nasty winter of discontent.
