It’s Official: TV Writer’s Strike is On
I bring you this news with a heavy heart. The Writer’s Guild of America went on strike at midnight last night after last minute negotiations broke down.
What’s all the hubub about? Very simply stated: the writers want a better deal. Sticking points include DVD profits; residuals from streaming of shows online, downloads and promotional use of shows and films. The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) doesn’t want to pay for the online-related issues. They say the market is too young to know if it will make any money from streaming and downloads. Both sides are sticking to their guns, hence the impasse that allowed the strike to go ahead.
Why should you care? Well, as a Heroes fan, you should care because this will very likely cut our season short. As it stands now, the 11th episode, which will air on December 3rd, will be the 2nd season finale. The producers have said they are retooling that episode to fit as a finale. It was already going to wrap up part of the story arcs, but now will apparently wrap up the entire season. If the strike lasts more than just a few weeks, there is no way the season would recover. They will have lost too much production time.
If you were around back in the late 80’s when the WGA went on strike, you might remember that that strike lasted 22 weeks. It completely ruined the 1988 TV season and the industry took ages to recover. Some say they never did recover completely.
I am devastated. How will a TV Junkie, like me, ever survive this strike? I guess it’s time to break out the DVDs or spend some time watching TV Land.
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