Friday, November 02, 2007

T-minus 2 hours until strike time

Well, it looks like it really happened. As expected the Writers Guild of America is going on strike officially at 12:01am Monday morning.

From Variety, Patric Verone WGA West President said "Rather than address our members' primary concern, the studios made it clear that they would rather shut down the town than reach a fair and reasonable deal, This is not an action that anyone takes lightly. But it slowly became apparent that the studios are not prepared to deal fairly with writers and the rest of talent community."

In response Nick Counter, President of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers said "The WGA's call for a strike is precipitous and irresponsible,"

So I kinda think this is going to be a problem. It honestly sucks, for everyone involved. The WGA is planning picket lines for Monday morning, and while apparently stressing that they are ready to go back and negotiate, they are sticking to their guns, especially when it comes to New Media and dvd residuals.

Of note, I guess the DGA is also negotiating with the AMPTP regarding dvd compensation. But the WGA have made it clear that they will not acquiesce to any deals they see as bad, even if it was already made by the Directors Guild.

Lets all hope this gets sorted out very soon. For everyone's sake.
For more info on the strike this wiki might help out.

UPDATED
Here's another more recent Variety article on the strike, and AICNs quick take with some practical points about what tv shows we can expect to fall first.... even for a potential springtime celebrity Big Brother, this is not worth it :(

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