Writers Guild of America-related stories
Posted Jul 28th 2009 12:02PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Ratings, Reality-Free
NBC has broken some interesting new ground under
their now-former entertainment co-chairman, but they have also broken new lows in the same amount of time. The only reason it is hovering between third and fourth is because UPN isn't around anymore to screw with the flowcharts.
Ben Silverman has made some significant contributions to the Peacock Network, most notably with the smash cult hit
The Office, a show that wouldn't have even had a second season if people like Silverman weren't willing to give it a chance to grow.
Overall, however, NBC is in the dumper. And this is from a network that used to dominate free TV in almost every single category, from comedies to dramas to the newly mutated drama-comedies or dramadies. These days, "comas" is a more appropriate term.
Continue reading Will the Peacock's plumage perk up now that Ben Silverman has bailed ship?
Posted Jun 10th 2009 6:05PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Industry, Programming, News and Gossip, Reality-Free
The long Hollywood labor nightmare that began in November of last year officially ended yesterday when the Screen Actors Guild overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with the studios.
Guild members voted 78% in favor of the new agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP), despite calls by hard-line union members who urged actors to vote "no" and force continued negotiations.
It's clear that two huge factors in the SAG approval were general labor strife fatigue and the struggling economy.
Continue reading SAG ratifies new contract to avoid yet another Hollywood strike
Posted Mar 16th 2009 5:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Star Trek: Original Series
Harlan Ellison is a great writer and also one guy you don't want to piss off.
He wrote the classic
Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever" (often called by best episode of the original series by fans and non-fans alike), and
now he's suing CBS-Paramount over what they have done with the story since he got paid for writing it in 1967. He got paid for the script and got residuals, but in the years after the episode aired the studio has not only published a sequel trilogy with Pocket Books based on the episode, they even had a "Guardian of Forever" talking Hallmark Christmas ornament that said Ellison's lines from his script, so he wants his money.
Continue reading Harlan Ellison suing Paramount over Star Trek stuff
Posted Dec 31st 2008 12:00PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Reality-Free
If you were hoping the Screen Actors Guild would be able to rise above the fray and destroy the networks' heads with a mighty swipe of their superbly manicured hands, then keep hoping. Christmas is over and Santa has come and gone. Ask him next year.
The SAG's latest tactical move against the money grubbing networks is to oust their own negotiators.
If this were a military theater, we would be calling this a case of "friendly fire."
Continue reading Is SAG about to kick themselves in the head?
Posted Dec 11th 2008 11:02AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, WGA Strike, Reality-Free
Remember the good old days when dock workers, air traffic controllers, teachers, and strike placard makers went on strike? Good, hard-working people who didn't make much money but put their bodies and well-being on the line every day to improve themselves and their community. In exchange, they received measly little things like health insurance, safe work conditions, and a vending machine in the break room that didn't eat quarters, dollars or fingers.
Those
Norma Rae days are long gone. Now the only strikes we hear about are ones like the latest looming
threat of a strike by the Screen Actors Guild, according to Reuters.
It's not that I don't feel sorry for SAG members or that I'm against their plight. Just about every industry in America has greedy CEOs who take as much as they can from as many as they can, all under the guise of performance and production bonuses earned by not running the company into Hell. It just feels like it could not have come at a worse time.
Continue reading The SAG strikes back
Posted Dec 9th 2008 3:28PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Industry, Awards, Reality-Free
Maybe I should watch
The Simpsons more often. The Writer's Guild of America has nominated FOX's long-running animated sitcom for
best comedy series along with
30 Rock,
The Office,
Entourage and
Weeds. This is the first time
The Simpsons has nabbed a Best Comedy nom from the WGA. Considering that the show has been on for 19 years, I gotta ask -- Why now?
Did the success of
The Simpson's Movie really re-energize the show's creative team that much? It's been years since I watched
The Simpsons regularly, or even quoted the show in conversation with my friends. I figured its best days were behind it, but maybe I was wrong. The few eps I caught last season were pretty hit-and-miss. I wasn't too impressed with the
Departed spoof, "The Debarted," but I really dug watching Homer invent grunge music in "That '90s Show." Were all the following eps as good as that one?
The WGA also nominated four episodes of
The Simpsons in the category of best animation broadcast. Needless to say, I'll probably be tuning in when the series returns with fresh eps next year. Click through for a list of more WGA TV nominees.
Continue reading The Simpsons leads WGA Award nominees
Posted Aug 5th 2008 8:25AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Psych, Eureka, Reality-Free
Ah, product placement. It's a subject that's come up before. We have an award for it, and even as far back as those care free days of 2005, Karina was writing about the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild Of America protesting it. The telling quote from that piece, "Our writers are being told to perform the function of ad copywriter, but to disguise this as storytelling." And isn't that where most of us have always drawn the line in the sand? The placing of products into sets was kind of an understood cost of doing business, but having the writers change scripts to incorporate them was a whole other ball of (Turtle) wax. Unfortunately, those (Foster Farms) chickens have come home to roost.
Continue reading More signs of the product placement apocalypse
Posted Jul 11th 2008 12:23PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, American Idol, WGA Strike
With the WGA Strike as ancient history, the guild is now pushing to have reality shows join its organization. In an effort to do this,
the WGA is specifically targeting the show American Idol.
They're calling it the Truth Tour and it begins with a Wednesday morning press conference in front of WGA headquarters following by a set of fake auditions at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, where auditions are held for the actual
American Idol. They call it "the version they don't want you to see".
Continue reading It's the WGA versus American Idol
Posted Apr 23rd 2008 7:06AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, WGA Strike, Reality-Free
The WGA has
posted the names of 28 writers who crossed picket lines during the WGA Strike on their website. Most of them went to work on soap operas. The union also posted an open letter ridiculing them for breaking the strike.
All these writers still have "financial core" status in which they pay union dues and are still represented by the Guild. They can't, however, participate in guild elections (either with votes or holding an office) or union activities.
The Association of Motion Picture and Television denounced this move accusing the WGA of violating labor law by "seeking to deny employment to these writers in the future."
Continue reading Strike Aftermath: Strike-breaker Hunt!
Posted Feb 11th 2008 9:18AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Industry, WGA Strike
WGA leaders
voted unanimously Sunday to endorse the proposed deal with studios, effectively ending the three month writers' strike that has crippled the television industry. While they do feel that the deal falls short, it still makes key gains in dealing with the new media; remember that it was this area of downloads and internet streaming that was one of the most important issues to the guild.
While the strike is ended per union leaders, writers won't return to work until the membership itself has had a chance to vote
on the new deal. They are expected to vote "yes" on Tuesday and be back to work by Wednesday. The timing of this resolution means that some of this season can yet be salvaged and there's still time for pilot production for new series next year. For details on how this will affect your favorite shows, Keep up to date with Mike Ausiello's
nearly comprehensive list of when your shows will return. And now things can get back to normal, and we can all go back to needlessly hating on
According to Jim, the way God intended.
Posted Jan 15th 2008 5:27PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Industry, Watercooler Talk, Awards, WGA Strike
This year's awards season, barely a month old now, has not been a good one for Hollywood. First, the Golden Globes ceremony was reduced to an Access Hollywood special after members of the Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild boycotted the show. Now, it looks like the Grammy Awards ceremony may also be in trouble.
It is being reported that the striking guild will probably bar its members from working on the February 10th Grammys telecast. Grammy organizers have yet to ask for a waiver allowing for writers to work on the show. However, according to a WGA spokesperson, a waiver grant would be unlikely. There is no word if the WGA will picket the ceremony. If it does, then SAG members will not cross the picket line. This potentially means another exciting 1-hour infotainment special.
I'm sure members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are sweating a bit now.
Posted Dec 17th 2007 9:01AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Industry, WGA Strike
As the strike lingers on and the Writers Guild of American (WGA) and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) seem no closer to bridging their philosophical and monetary gap, the WGA is set to try a new tactic. According to Variety, the WGA is going to make a "legal demand" today for individual members of the AMPTP to schedule bargaining meetings with the WGA. However, at this point it isn't clear if the companies are legally obligated to do so, and if not, will they?
Continue reading WGA to seek individual deals to break impasse with AMPTP
Posted Dec 13th 2007 1:01PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Celebrities, Awards
The Golden Globes weren't the only award nominations announced today. The Writers Guild of America announced the nominees for their awards too. The festivities are on February 9 in LA and NY. I wonder if the writers will show up to get their awards if the strike is still going on?
Drama Series
Dexter
Mad Men
Friday Night Lights
The Sopranos
The Wire
Continue reading WGA Award nominees announced
Posted Dec 7th 2007 11:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, WGA Strike
Just wanted to give you an update on the ongoing writers strike, before you head off to your glorious weekends of skiing, Christmas shopping, Naked Twister parties and whatever else you folks do on Saturdays and Sundays.
Talks broke off between producers and the writers on Friday, after four days of talks that at first seemed to be productive and then ... well, not so much. In fact, the Writers Guild of America sent out a letter Friday afternoon that pretty much said that the producers were dragging their heels in the talks and even accused them of trying to sabotage the talks. Of course, the Alliance of Motion Picture And Television Producers also sent out their own letter on Friday to explain their side.
As 2007 is about to turn into 2008, it really doesn't look like we're going to see that many new scripted shows for the rest of the season (besides what is already in the can and will be seen in January and February). This could last for months.
Posted Nov 17th 2007 9:41AM by Liz Finn-Arnold
Filed under: Industry, WGA Strike
Variety is reporting this morning that negotiations between the
AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) and the
WGA (Writers Guild of America) will resume after Thanksgiving. However, the WGA will remain on strike, even though the AMPTP had originally insisted that they would only resume negotiations if the striking writers temporarily went back to work.
A joint statement was released late Friday night, reading: "Leaders from the AMPTP and the WGA have mutually agreed to resume formal negotiations on November 26."
Continue reading WGA Strike: Writers and studios agree to resume negotiations
Next Page >
The TV Squad Podcast: Vik Sahay of Chuck, Oprah talk, brutal timeslots, and more!
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
