2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike

[Bant Veteran]

I don't understand why all the guilds (actors, directors, whatever else) don't strike at once...they should just bring everything to a standstill. it seems like they all have something to gain from this going through quickly.

People need to start supporting the strike by not supplying the studios with their ad revenue. If nobody is watching, there will be no purpose in paying for the ads to be aired. Get the advertisers on the writers side and I don't see how things couldn't turn around quickly.

support the strike by not watching any form of media that comes from these studios.... or by pirating.. :p

[Rappy Veteran]

I don't understand why all the guilds (actors, directors, whatever else) don't strike at once...they should just bring everything to a standstill. it seems like they all have something to gain from this going through quickly.

People need to start supporting the strike by not supplying the studios with their ad revenue. If nobody is watching, there will be no purpose in paying for the ads to be aired. Get the advertisers on the writers side and I don't see how things couldn't turn around quickly.

support the strike by not watching any form of media that comes from these studios.... or by pirating.. :p

Well the last weekend I was watching alot of rented dvd's due to no new telly programs so I suppose I was doing bad...:laugh:

[gigapixels Veteran]

I don't understand why all the guilds (actors, directors, whatever else) don't strike at once...they should just bring everything to a standstill. it seems like they all have something to gain from this going through quickly.

Contracts. They could be sued for violating contracts by not fulfilling their duties. The WGA's contracts were up, so they were able to strike without penalty.

[Hurmoth]

THE BIG PICTURE: In the strike, the studios are playing to win

DESPITE what they say about global warming, it's going to be a long, cold winter for the writers of Hollywood. The studios pretty much made it official Friday, when they walked away from the negotiating table after giving the Writers Guild an abrupt "put up or shut up" ultimatum. Considering that the studios were asking the writers to give up much of their core Internet residuals proposal, there was little left to negotiate.

The studios' message was obvious: They're going to play hardball. Believing they have comparatively little to lose by letting the strike drag on, the studios will try to weaken the guild by letting writers spend Christmas out of work while studio operatives sow seeds of discord among the membership, hoping to persuade some high-profile writers to cross the line and go back to work.

This puts all of Hollywood on the road to perdition. That still leaves the real unanswered question: Why have the studios walked away from the negotiating table? Although it seemed hard to believe at first, the evidence is overwhelming that they never had any serious intention of making a fair deal, at least the kind of deal that, as Lew Wasserman might have put it, would've allowed both sides to come away declaring victory. There is clearly a powerful studio faction that believes that giving residuals to the writers was a fundamental mistake. Since it's impossible to put that genie back into the bottle -- not that the studios didn't try -- the next best thing would be to put a tight lid on any new media revenue streams, since they will someday become the studio's biggest new source of profit.

The studios' behavior appears shortsighted unless you look at the negotiations in a broader light. While attention is focused on the writers strike, a bigger confrontation looms down the road. No one expects that the studios will have much of a problem settling with the Directors Guild of America, whose contract is up June 30, 2008. But the Screen Actors Guild, whose contract is also up that day, is another matter.

The largest union, with 120,000 members, SAG also has a relatively new president, Alan Rosenberg, who came to power after promising a much more aggressive stance about new media revenues. For the first time, SAG also brought in an outsider, former NFL Players Assn. executive Doug Allen, to be its executive director, another sign that the guild is preparing for a hard-nosed negotiation.

The studios don't want to make any concessions to the Writers Guild of America that would set a precedent for the SAG negotiations. In fact, many insiders believe the studios are trying to crush the writers as a way of signaling to SAG members that they can expect similar treatment if they don't soften their negotiating stance.

The studios have little to lose by stonewalling, since it's all too clear that they can win any prolonged strike. Their pockets are too deep, their weaponry too strong. But at what cost? Even many studio supporters admit that squashing the WGA after a prolonged strike would be something of a pyrrhic victory. If network TV turns into a 24-hour reality TV and game show channel, it will simply accelerate the trend of young viewers deserting the tube for the Internet.

For the writers, their best defense now is a good offense. As I've argued before, their future lies in becoming more entrepreneurial. This would also be good strategy for future strike negotiations. With the studios stuck churning out reality sludge, the barriers for entry for an outsider are lower than ever. What's to stop Google, Yahoo or Mark Cuban from striking a deal with a top TV show runner who has a proven ability to create characters and stories that would bring eyeballs to the Internet?

I suspect the guild is already in the process of setting up interim deals that would allow writers to work with companies not represented by the studios. It would be a way to show the WGA rank and file that other opportunities exist outside of the traditional studio model while sending a message to the other side that, when it comes to negotiating, the guild has other arrows in its quiver.

And speaking of arrows, the studios last week hired Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane, former aides and advisors to Bill Clinton and Al Gore with reputations for canny damage control and bare-knuckled attacks on political adversaries.

It is widely believed that the new consultants had a hand in a recent studio proposal designed to portray the studios as willing negotiators. Although it offered precious few concessions, it was labeled a "new economic partnership," which brings to mind the time the Bush administration described a pro-logging proposal as a "healthy forests initiative." Nonetheless, the studios flogged it as a big step forward, claiming it would increase the average working writer's salary to $230,000 a year.

The proposal doesn't mention anything about the average nonworking writer, who, as it happens, is on strike too. If you include all writers, the plump $230,000 figure ends up being roughly a quarter of that. The new consultants also clearly had a hand in the studios' Friday statement about the collapse of the talks, a statement that many in the guild leadership view as a "red-baiting" style campaign designed to divide the guild -- and chip away at its public support -- by branding the leadership as radicals.

It's a fascinating statement, not for what it says, but for the language it uses, which would bring a blush even to the face of wily GOP rhetorician Frank Luntz, the man the WGA should hire if it really wants to win a PR battle with the studios. A new word that pops up in the document is "ideology," as in "the WGA organizers are on an ideological mission far removed from the interests of their members."

The document also criticizes the guild's "radical demands" and repeatedly refers to the WGA leadership not as negotiators but as "organizers," another sign that the studios are attempting to brand them as militant apparatchiks. That would be in keeping with the traditional tactics of the studio's new hired guns, it being Lehane, who, as Gore's campaign spokesman, once compared a Florida secretary of state to a "Soviet commissar" during the 2000 election uproar.

The statement also charges that guild leaders have "never concluded one industry accord," implying that they are clueless outside agitators. It has a nice ring to it until you realize that the single most successful labor negotiator of modern times, baseball players union leader Marvin Miller, had never done a baseball deal either when he came to the game. He'd been an economist with the United Steelworkers.

From where I sit, it was telling that the labor talks collapsed just days after the Baseball Hall of Fame revisited its own divisive labor history, electing former Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, a die-hard opponent of free agency, while once again overlooking Miller.

Like today's studio bosses, Kuhn had become so beholden to the old rules of the game that he was paralyzed by a fear of the future, convinced that allowing players to become free agents would destroy the sport. Of course, he was wrong. Baseball franchises are more lucrative than ever. But that distrust of the future is at the core of this labor dispute too. The studios have assembled a comfortable business model, one so comfortable that they are loathe to tinker with it.

Kuhn once warned that if the players gained free agency, the game wouldn't survive unless "we find oil under second base." Hollywood is different. In an era when show business is the secular religion of America, there's oil under every studio in town. If the studios aren't willing to share some of that black gold, the writers should do what any good entrepreneur would -- start digging for themselves.

[Hurmoth]

Lower ratings could pinch TV ads

Are advertisers the next to be shut out in the writers strike?

With the strike expected to extend into the new year, broadcasters are beginning to feel pressure from advertisers that are worried about lower ratings after the networks run out of fresh episodes of popular scripted shows.

The writers strike has come amid an already disappointing season, particularly for NBC, CBS and ABC, whose prime-time ratings are down compared with last season. NBC's prime-time ratings in the key advertising category of viewers aged 18 to 49 are down 11% compared with last season; CBS is down 10% and ABC is off 5%.

January and February, when fresh episodes will run out, could be even worse.

"There's a lot of uncertainty all coming together at once," said Brad Adgate, research director for ad firm Horizon Media.

For starters, there has been no breakout hit this season. Also, the networks changed the way they sold advertising time, resulting in slightly lower ratings for which they now have to compensate advertisers. Finally, the strike has halted production, forcing the networks into reruns and reality shows.

The strike is "another setback in a series of setbacks for the networks," Adgate said.

ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW network sold $9.3 billion in prime-time ads for this season. In the process, they sold about 80% of their time, holding back some to give advertisers should ratings fall short of guarantees. The remainder is sold later.

Although the decision to sell such a large percentage of their commercial time earlier in the year appeared to be a smart decision, it could come back to haunt the networks if their program schedules unravel.

"There is a great deal of concern about what the schedules are going to look like in 2008," said Harry Keeshan, an executive vice president of PHD USA, an ad agency whose clients include Jeep and Charles Schwab. "When we get into the first quarter of next year, that's when it will start to bubble up."

Analyst estimates about the financial effect on the networks vary, ranging from $300 million to $600 million in lost advertising, if the strike continues for several more months. Although those figures sound high, executives say the damage might not be severe. Lower-cost substitute programming might mitigate -- at least in the near term -- financial pain, they say.

"We are certainly not going to go dark," Leslie Moonves, chief executive of CBS Corp., told investors last week at a conference. "Ratings probably will not be as high without the influx of our great original programming. But, by the same token, costs will be down considerably."

Nonetheless, the lower cost might come with a price. Network audiences fell about 10% during the 1988 writers strike when disaffected network TV viewers switched to cable channels to sample new shows. Indeed, the influx of viewers helped to put such cable channels as TNT and CNBC on the map, further splintering the audience.

This time the Internet could be a big winner. And where viewers go, ad dollars follow.

"We believe that with each day the strike persists, broadcast programming's hold on viewers, and potentially advertisers, is weakening," said Douglas Anmuth in a Lehman Bros. research note Friday. "Advertisers could be forced to reallocate ad dollars to other media if broadcast ratings fall short of guarantees made."

When a show's ratings fall short of a guarantee, networks give advertisers "make goods" -- free ad time to make up for the shortfall. And because ratings are down this season, networks have had to use up some of their spare inventory to compensate advertisers for lower ratings. That means they have less time to sell.

That pressure became evident Tuesday when NBC confirmed that it had taken the highly unusual step of returning cash to advertisers to compensate them for prime-time ratings shortfalls from earlier in the year. NBC remitted about $10 million, according to a person familiar with the situation.

"This represents an extremely small portion of NBC's business and accommodates the changing needs of our clients' marketing plans," NBC said.

CBS and ABC also are providing advertisers make-good time, but those networks said they were not returning cash to advertisers. But if the strike continues well into the new year, then some ad buyers are worried that the networks will run out of leftover time to compensate for the lower ratings.

Advertisers such as Procter & Gamble Co., Coca-Cola Co. and American Express Co. say they have not altered their plans.

Not yet anyway. Hollywood's labor issues "get people thinking about other media, which frankly is what we should be doing anyway," said Rob Schwartz of ad firm TBWA/Chiat/Day.

Writers union feeling the heat

The Writers Guild of America is under new and mounting pressure from its ranks to get back to the bargaining table.

A number of union members are unhappy that the negotiations with the major Hollywood studios that broke off Friday night were sidetracked by issues secondary to the one the writers see as central: how they will be paid when their work shows up on the Internet.

Six weeks into a costly strike, they're pressing union leaders to get the talks back on track -- and fast -- fearful that the Directors Guild of America might open its own contract negotiations with the Hollywood studios as early as next week.

That could undermine the writers' leverage, because the directors might not make all the demands that the writers have made. The writers don't want another union to set their agenda.

Among the writers urging fresh talks are some of the guild's most powerful members, those responsible for the day-to-day operations of popular TV shows, which are quickly running out of original episodes.

One group of those show runners met with guild officials Tuesday to air their concerns, and another is set to meet with them today. Members of the negotiating committee plan to meet with strikers on the picket lines, hoping to calm fears.

Jeff Hermanson, assistant executive director of the Writers Guild of America, West, said the guild had not received many complaints from members and accused the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers of trying to create the impression that there was a schism.

"This is a democratic organization in which we value the input and opinions of our members," Hermanson said. "When the issues are explained to them, they understand this is a ploy by the AMPTP in an effort to divide us."

For its part, the directors guild has scheduled a meeting tonight at its headquarters on Sunset Boulevard to brief members on the leadership's negotiating strategy. That guild is expected to inform the studios as early as Thursday when it will be ready to begin formal talks, according to one senior studio executive.

The directors, whose contract expires June 30, have historically sealed their deals early. They have been waiting in deference to the striking writers.

Now, with the writers and studios deadlocked, the directors are expected to move forward.

Last week, more than 300 writer-directors, who are caught in the middle as members of both unions, urged leaders of the directors guild to continue holding off until writers could resolve their dispute.

The writers and studios haven't scheduled new talks. The climate seems to be more poisonous than ever.

On Monday, for example, each side accused the other of lying about its respective position and what had triggered last week's impasse.

Friday's breakdown came after the studios made good on their threat to stop talking if the writers didn't take off the table half a dozen issues the studios saw as nonstarters. They included a demand to extend the union's jurisdiction to writers of animated movies and reality TV shows and to include in the contract a so-called sympathy strike measure that would allow writers to honor the picket lines of other unions without fear of reprisals from their employers.

Hermanson noted that the issues the studios demanded be removed from the table included one that was key to the writers' proposal on Internet residuals. He said that the studios negotiated in bad faith and that the writers refused to give in to an ultimatum.

He and guild leaders complained that the studios' "new economic partnership" proposals were only modest improvements over what they originally offered Nov. 4, the day before the walkout.

Studios maintained they made a generous offer, which they valued at about $130 million, a figure disputed by the guild.

"These talks broke down over the WGA's insistence on jurisdictional demands, that everything has to do with expanding the power of the union's organizing and very little has to do with the needs and demands of working writers," said Jesse Hiestand, studio alliance spokesman.

Still, some writers -- including die-hard strike supporters -- are angry at Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West, and chief negotiator David Young, saying they allowed the talks to drift into less important issues, according to several guild members, some of whom asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals from the union.

Writer Craig Mazin, a former board member and frequent critic of union leaders, called some of the additional demands, such as jurisdiction over feature animation and reality TV, misguided and not achievable.

"New media is the only thing that matters," Mazin said, who also has been sharply critical of the studios' proposals. "It's what the leadership went on strike for."

Those sentiments are shared by a number of writers, including some on the picket lines, who have complained directly to their union leaders about taking the focus off new media.

"There is a growing group of writers who are burning up over this," said one top writer and strong supporter of the strike who asked not to be identified.

That impression was further fueled by the guild's decision to go ahead with a previously scheduled rally in Burbank on Friday -- the same day the talks broke down -- to call attention to working conditions of writers working on reality TV and game shows.

At the rally, Verrone reminded the crowd that jurisdiction over reality shows was always part of the union's demands. "It will be in our next contract," he said.

On Monday, members of the guild's negotiating committee debated intensely about the timing of the rally and how to respond to the criticism -- and assure members that their focus remained on new-media pay, people who attended the meeting said.

How to get paid for their work that appears on the Internet also is important to the directors, who have been discussing that issue for months with the studios. In contrast to the writers, directors and studios have historically enjoyed a more cordial relationship and far less contentious labor negotiations.

But the directors won't be pushovers when it comes to issues of new-media pay. They have many of the same concerns on that front as writers do.

Nonetheless, they are expected to be more flexible on terms and more sympathetic to studio arguments that Internet-related businesses are still in the formative stages and that there are many uncertainties about where and how soon those future revenues will pour in.

The Directors Guild has spent more than $1 million to study those very questions, hiring two outside firms to prepare a detailed report on new media. The findings will be presented at tonight's meeting.

"Oddly, we've been preparing for this negotiation for well over a year," said Gilbert Cates, chief negotiator for the directors. The alliance is "tough, rough and nervous because they don't know what the future holds. We all want a piece of the Internet; the difference is the tactics that we use to get it."

Award shows brace for strike

Golden Globe noms will be announced Thursday, but this year there's double the suspense: not only who will be nominated, but who will attend.

The Globes, to be telecast Jan. 13 on NBC, has asked for a waiver from the Writers Guild of America in order to allow guild scribes to pen the kudocast's script, but few expect it will be granted.

So will the stars -- both presenters and nominees -- be willing to cross the picket line?

The WGA continued to be mum on the Globes question Tuesday but it has granted a waiver to the Screen Actors Guild's 14th annual awards -- not a completely surprising development, given SAG's strong support for the WGA throughout the six-week strike.

It's a safe bet that all upcoming televised kudocasts -- which include the Critics Choice Awards, the SAG Awards, Independent Spirit Awards and the big kahuna, the Oscars -- will proceed as scheduled, since the networks and the voting orgs have too much invested to cancel them.

SAG, in response to questions, said its interim agreement with the WGA covers a professional union writer for its Jan. 27 show in Los Angeles.

"WGA's support for the Screen Actors Guild and the SAG Awards -- an event that pays tribute to the extraordinary work of actors and highlights the importance of the labor movement in the entertainment industry -- is welcome recognition of the strong bond of solidarity between our two creative guilds," national exec director Doug Allen said. "We're grateful to the WGA for working with us to accomplish this understanding and strongly support their efforts to get a fair contract."

The waiver also means that the SAG Awards, telecast on TBS and TNT, won't be picketed. The WGA previously granted waivers to the Kennedy Center Honors telecast and for Elizabeth Taylor's AIDS benefit at Paramount.

But for the other shows, attendance of nominees in all categories is a question mark; of particular concern to the networks is the presence of star contenders or presenters. Actors have shown solidarity on picket lines, but optimists are hoping that, even without a waiver, kudos shows will warrant a cease-fire, so stars can attend without guilt or censure.

One major producer said, "You've got a guy like George Clooney, who has been outspoken and who has given money to a strike fund. If he gets nominated for 'Michael Clayton,' it's very difficult to imagine him crossing a picket line -- to say nothing of all those television actors who've been photographed walking on picket lines in solidarity with the writers. They can't think it's OK to cross because they're up for an award."

In theory, people in the film and TV business will want to honor their colleagues, but there are questions of priorities: At least one showrunner on a TV series is refusing to even do publicity for his show, since he feels that will bolster the companies that he's striking.

One agent of top stars hopes that, waivers or not, there won't be protests outside awards shows. "What good will the writers accomplish by picketing shows that celebrate their fellow artists? It would be spectacularly unfair to force fellow artists to stay away. Do studios make money from the show? Of course, but so do all the artists. This is a celebration of artists, and it should have nothing to do with politics between the guild and the studios."

A Daily Variety poll showed overwhelming support for the writers. But it's hard to predict the mood by Jan. 13 (the Globes telecast), much less the Feb. 24 Oscarcast.

Of course, most people hope that the strike will be resolved by then. But the rancorous end to the talks on Friday and the ensuing verbal volleys have fueled a fear that the strike could be a long one.

Said one prominent celebrity publicist: "We are all waiting to hear what the guild will do before we figure out what clients should do, but we are hopeful they'll grant the waiver."

The WGA has not weighed in yet on waivers for any shows, but few expect them to promote the work of the studios and networks they are striking. And pickets will provide a chance for their grievances to be aired in red-carpet coverage.

A special case, of course, is the WGA Awards themselves. The Feb. 9 ceremony will not be televised, so, by attending, scribes would not in any way be promoting a network.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. and NBC usually only hire two or three writers for the Globes, which has no host.

But Oscar will have to deal with the added question of Jon Stewart, who has declined to resume his latenight talkshow since the strike began. It's a little early to make decisions yet: Most kudos shows start the writing process after nominations are announced.

The hosts and voiceover talent at awards shows perform as members of the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists.

In 1988, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences was denied a waiver just weeks after the WGA strike started. The Acad enlisted comic performers to write their own material; while there were onstage jokes about the walkout, viewers at home barely noticed any difference in the lineup of nominees and presenters.

In contrast, almost no stars showed up for the 1980 Emmy telecast, which came during the SAG-AFTRA strike. The only winner in attendance was Powers Boothe, who won for his work in the telefilm "Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones."

[Rappy Veteran]

[Hurmoth]

Kristen Bell is really cute in that first pic :)

[Rappy Veteran]

Kristen Bell is really cute in that first pic :)

Yeah shes certainly become a grade A hottie before she was just known as this girl from Veronica Mars but now shes known for being hot :D

[Rappy Veteran]

[Full Set on Flickr]

[L3thal Veteran]

Kristen Bell is really cute in that first pic :)

:yes: (Y)

[Hurmoth]

Directors Plan Talks as Writers? Strike Drags Onb>

In a move that could realign Hollywood?s troubled labor front, movie and television directors said Thursday that they were prepared to begin bargaining toward a new master contract with production companies after the New Year?s Day holiday.

An existing contract between the Directors Guild of America, which represents about 13,500 directors and associated production workers, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, an industry bargaining group, is set to expire June 30.

The new talks are likely to jolt striking screenwriters, who walked out almost six weeks ago after failing to reach a deal of their own with the producers? alliance. Members of the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East had lobbied the directors to stay away from the bargaining table until the writers came to terms with the companies.

But talks between producers and writers collapsed amid mutual accusations of bad faith last Friday, and leaders of the directors? guild, who have often found advantage in settling their deals early, decided they could no longer hold back.

In a letter addressed to members on Thursday, Michael Apted, the president of the directors? guild, said, ?We have decided that the D.G.A. must go forward with our own negotiations.? Even so, he said, the guild would wait until January in order to give the writers and companies ?one last chance to get back to the table.?

Mr. Apted also said that the talks would begin ?only if an appropriate basis for negotiations can be established,? a signal that it did not intend to be marked as an easy bargaining partner.

The directors? union is led by Mr. Apted; by Gilbert Cates, the guild?s secretary-treasurer; and by Jay Roth, its national executive director. It is expected to bring a new point of view to the table on many of the issues dividing the producers and writers.

The directors are being assisted by Kenneth Ziffren, an industry lawyer who is credited with having brokered an end to the five-month writers? strike in 1988. And they come armed with independent research that could offer a fresh approach to compensation for the distribution of movies and shows over the Internet.

The directors? arrival on the scene is sure to send both the producers and the writers scrambling for advantage from the changed situation. Screenwriters may find support for their demands that companies raise their offers for new media compensation. Employers, meanwhile, may hope to strike a deal that will attract some in the writers? guilds to advocate a settlement on similar terms.

The directors? guild has struck only once in its history. In 1987, the directors walked out for three hours on the East Coast and just minutes in the West before settling.

In both 2001 and 2004, the guild reached agreements months before the expiration of existing contracts. Leaders have been eager to get their talks underway again this year, but held back for months to avoid complicating the companies? negotiations with the writers.

In a letter sent by e-mail Wednesday to members of the writers? union, David Young, the executive director of the West Coast writers? guild, urged steadfastness in the face of the companies? insistence that the writers drop their demands for jurisdiction over reality television programs and animated movies and shows, among other things, before the talks can proceed.

Some writers have privately urged their leaders in recent days to narrow their proposals in an attempt to restart negotiations. Counseling otherwise, Mr. Young wrote: ?The negotiating committee is not crazy. The guild is not scared or divided over the principles of this strike.?

[Hurmoth]

No Action: Directors Delay Labor Talks

Hollywood directors said Thursday they will hold off on contract negotiations with studios for now but could start talks after New Year's Day.

The move could put added pressure on striking Hollywood writers to reach a new contract with studios and end their six-week walkout.

In a statement, the Directors Guild of America said it was deeply disappointed by the collapse of talks between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The writers strike, which began Nov. 5, has shut down production on dozens of TV shows and started to slow the making of movies for release in 2009.

The directors guild represents about 13,500 directors and associated production workers. Its contract with the alliance is set to expire June 30.

The guild delayed starting its contract talks for two months "out of respect for our sister guild," directors guild President Michael Apted and negotiations chair Gil Cates said in the statement.

"But now the situation is dire. The WGA-AMPTP impasse has cost the jobs of tens of thousands of entertainment industry workers, including many of our own members, and more lose their jobs every day the strike continues," the statement said.

A call to the writers guild and an email sent to the alliance seeking comment were not immediately answered.

[Hurmoth]

Writers file labor charges against studios

A bitter labor dispute intensified today when Hollywood's striking writers filed charges against the studios, alleging they had not bargained in good faith.

In a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, the union representing 10,500 writers asserted that the studios broke federal law by ending contract negotiations Friday after writers refused to meet their demand to take several proposals off the table.

"It is a clear violation of federal law for the [studios] to issue an ultimatum and break off negotiations if we fail to cave to their illegal demands," the guild said in a statement.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios, fired back: "The WGA has now been reduced to pounding the table, and this baseless, desperate NLRB complaint is just the latest indication that the WGA's negotiating strategy has achieved nothing for working writers."

Today's development only exacerbates the hostility between the two sides and could prolong a costly strike, now in its sixth week. The two sides are deeply divided over how writers are paid for their work sold on the Internet.

The development came the same day the Directors Guild of America announced it would begin its negotiations with the studios right after New Year's Day.

Go Writers! :laugh:

[Hurmoth]

Late-night Hosts to Return in January -- Or Not

Top late-night hosts David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Craig Ferguson could be back on the air by Jan. 7 or sooner. Or maybe not.

That's the word coming from the trade papers today (Dec. 14). With late-night talk-show ratings halved, and more Americans tuning into to ABC's Nightline rather than "classic" couch chatter, the networks need their hosts to get back behind the mics. And Variety is saying they'll do just that. Mind you, the trade-news bible also says that "absolutely nothing has been agreed upon." And, oh yeah, the parties involved refuse to comment.

So, basically, the only thing anyone can confirm is that if you cross your fingers extra tight and clap your hands if you believe in television, late-night TV will be back in the New Year because "insiders" at NBC and CBS have been whispering about how awesome it would be if the hosts came back to save their shows' behind-in-the-ratings hides.

It would, indeed, be awesome. However, nobody wants to be another Carson Daly. When Daly returned to his late-night desk in November, he became a target for the wrath of the striking WGA. Demonstrations appeared outside his studio, disrupting the taping of at least one episode.

As encouragement to the Big Four, though, some writers have told Variety they would be supportive of the hosts if they decided to go back to work, citing their two months off the job as an admirable gesture to the writers' cause.

Should the hosts be planning a speedy return to the air, NBC's Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno are expected back on the air first, as their shows are suffering the most in the ratings.

Sounds to me like the leaks at NBC & CBS are more like the AMPTP planting stories so people will start watching again :laugh: Or scare the hosts into returning, "Hey that guy might be returning, so maybe I should too."

[Rappy Veteran]

As of 14th December...

[draklin]

^ YEah!!! Caveman has 7 more episodes left!! [/sarcasm]

[Rappy Veteran]

^ YEah!!! Caveman has 7 more episodes left!! [/sarcasm]

Purely because no one cares about that show :rofl:

[Rob2687]

Can't wait till Conan comes back. I'm going into withdrawal here!

[Hurmoth]

Purely because no one cares about that show :rofl:

ABC is afraid to air those episodes because they're worried people will stop watching ABC all together :laugh:

[Rappy Veteran]

ABC is afraid to air those episodes because they're worried people will stop watching ABC all together :laugh:

I laugh because thats true :laugh:

[htwho]

So when is everything going back to "normal?"

[Rappy Veteran]

So when is everything going back to "normal?"

Not for a long time yet, as we said before if the strike ends next week (doubtful due to the holidays) we wouldnt get anything new till March at earliest.

[Hurmoth]

Not for a long time yet, as we said before if the strike ends next week (doubtful due to the holidays) we wouldnt get anything new till March at earliest.

Sadly :( Looks like we'll most likely be waiting 'til the Fall TV Season before new episodes start up. Hopefully we'll get our summer shows back though (i.e. The 4400, Burn Notice, Damages, etc.), but at this point, anyone's guess is as good as the next guys.

[Rappy Veteran]

Sadly :( Looks like we'll most likely be waiting 'til the Fall TV Season before new episodes start up. Hopefully we'll get our summer shows back though (i.e. The 4400, Burn Notice, Damages, etc.), but at this point, anyone's guess is as good as the next guys.

Well I have been catching up on all the shows I wanted to see for example just started first season of JJ Abrams Felicity.

[htwho]

Not for a long time yet, as we said before if the strike ends next week (doubtful due to the holidays) we wouldnt get anything new till March at earliest.

Until March? That's got to hurt most people who love watching the shows at night. Not that I care since I hate watching TV. :p