Network Exec: Settlement Unlikely Until Next Year
With the Writers Guild of America strike entering its ninth day, network executives are now saying they don't expect a settlement until early next year. As of late Monday, there was not even a hint of the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, which represents the studios, returning to the bargaining table, as both sides are dug in on the issue of residual payments for DVD and digital distribution of programs."We're being told by our labor people that it won't be resolved before the end of the year," says one network executive.There are also no signs that any of the late-night talk-show hosts will return to their desks without writers. Several network insiders said published reports about a scenario where substitute hosts fill in for Jay Leno on NBC's Tonight Show and Conan O'Brien on Late Night with Conan O'Brien was unlikely. "It would be hard for any late-night host to go on without writers, but someone who's never hosted before?" said one exec. But the hosts will clearly feel the pressure to return as the staffs of those shows could be laid off after this week.
TV Bloggers Go Dark in Support of WGA Members
Support for WGA members on strike is spreading from people like union members and friends and families of the strikers to a wilier bunch: TV bloggers. The Pie Maker, a fan blog for Pushing Daisies, posted the following announcement: "On Nov. 13, this blog and the blogs listed below will be on strike for the day in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America. As fellow writers and as TV fans, we are coming together to express our strong support for the writers and their goals. We believe that when a writer's work makes money for a company, that writer deserves to be paid." Although the list of striking bloggers is small, it should continue to grow by day's end. There are many grassroot efforts popping up all over the Internet. WGA members now have a blog, along with Facebook strike groups, and the most viewed strike site, United Hollywood. The message is clear: Bloggers are not just TV fans, they are writer fans as well. They want their TV back, but they want their writers back and happy. "Many writers depend on residuals for a stable income, and that income shouldn't be based on an outdated formula that ignores the existence of new media and all but a tiny percentage of DVD sales. The talented writers responsible for so much of what we love about television should and must be paid fairly and equitably, and we will stand with them until they reach that goal. For everyone's sake, and for the sake of television, we hope both sides can come to an agreement quickly." Bloggers should be back to work first thing tomorrow.
Soap Scribes Ponder Return to Work
A gaggle of soap opera scribes — allegedly at the top-rated The Young and the Restless in particular — have decided to give up their membership in the Writers Guild to return to work. Which is too bad, really, because whatever scabs would have come up with could have been chalked up to the handiwork of shape-shifting Nurse Sheila, anyway.
They Said/They Said: Writers and Producers Each Make Their Cases
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Monday took out full-page ads in trade papers Variety and the Hollywood Reporter to claim (with some degree of, um, "poetic license") that not only do writers already see green every time a film or TV episode they penned is downloaded, they also get paid residuals. For their part, the writers have set up their own strike blog (at Strikenotes.blogspot.com) to state their case to those (both) of you who haven't already had it up to here with strike coverage.
Lost's Damon Lindelof: "Things Have Gotten Ugly"
In a 1,095-word op-ed piece for the New York Times, Lost cocreator/head writer Damon Lindelof weighs in on the WGA strike and "the guild's desire for a portion of revenues derived from the Internet." Lost, for example, "has been streamed hundreds of millions of times [on ABC.com], yet the writers get 'nothing' from the sale of surrounding ad content. We're also a hit on iTunes. Again, we get nothing."
Lindelof warns, "If this strike lasts longer than three months, an entire season of television will end this December," and any new series won't arrive until 2009. He describes himself as "angry because I am accused of being greedy by studios that are being greedy. [My] greed is fair and reasonable.... The studios' greed, on the other hand, is hidden behind... claims that they make nothing on the Web, that the streaming and downloading of our shows is purely 'promotional.'"
So is there any hope for resolution and a return to how things were a week and a half ago? "Things have gotten ugly," Lindelof opines, "and the lines of communication have broken down completely.... Perhaps it's not too late, though, for both sides to rally around the one thing we still have in common: our mourning for the way things used to be."
Nets Line Up Game Shows
Get ready for lies. No, not from politicians. Not even from network suits. There’s a new crop of game shows coming that hinge on whether contestants are bluffing. And those programs could make air sooner rather than later, if Hollywood writers continue to strike.
Filming has wrapped on ABC’s Wanna Bet?, a game show based on a German format, in which celebrities wager on stunt-performing contestants. Also in production is Duel, based on a French format, in which players gamble for prizes, using the bluff as part of their strategy. On CBS’ Do You Trust Me?, strangers team up for money, wagering on how much each can depend on the other. On Fox’s Moment of Truth, premiering Jan. 23 (and based on a Colombian format), contestants answer questions about their own lives, strapping themselves to lie detectors in a quest for cash. NBC’s Amnesia also delves into players’ personal lives.
Steve Sternberg, Magna Global’s executive vp of audience analysis, said any bluffing trend in game shows may signal broadcasters’ attempts to find the next Deal or No Deal. “The networks are always looking to put a new spin on what’s working,” he said.
The show with perhaps the newest—and unlikeliest—spin is Fox’s Moment of Truth. Five years ago, the network tried and failed with extreme game show The Chamber, while ABC had similar results with The Chair. But with stories about torture and interrogation continuing to make headlines, some advertisers said viewers still may not want to embrace such dark show concepts. “We weren’t ready as a culture to embrace it then, and I don’t think we’re ready now,” said Laura Caraccioli-Davis, executive vp at Starcom Entertainment.
What viewers are ready for, everyone seems to agree, are family-friendly game shows. Shows that aren’t too risqué. Shows, Sternberg said, that “adults can watch with kids in the room.”And that’s just what NBC hopes it has with Amnesia. Craig Plestis, the network’s executive vp of alternative programming, compared the eight-episode series to the classic This Is Your Life, “but with stakes to it,” he said, adding Amnesia was much more light-hearted than Fox’s Moment of Truth.
Of course, the two networks have battled over formats before, the most recent time occurring after NBC announced The Singing Bee, and Fox followed with Don’t Forget the Lyrics. But Plestis said this time around it’s no contest. “They’re completely different formats,” he said of Amnesia and Truth. “So I don’t see this as a race.”
Overview of new game shows in the works:
ABC’s Wanna Bet?, a game show based on a German format, has celebrities wagering on stunt-performing contestants.
ABC's Duel, based on a French format, has two contestants face each other in a high-stakes quiz game while trying to bluff their way to win money. It's a cross between a quiz show and a poker game.
CBS’ Do You Trust Me? where strangers team up for money, wagering on how much each can depend on the other. It's supposed to be hosted by bow-tie-sporting pundit Tucker Carlson, and the cash is over $1 million. Carlson reveals secrets from each contestant's past, influencing how much trust their teammate may have.
Fox’s Moment of Truth is based on a Colombian format where contestants are strapped to lie detectors and asked personal questions in a quest for cash. As long as they answer truthfully, they win money and continue on in the game.
NBC’s Amne$ia is a quiz show that delves into players’ personal lives. The brainchild of Mark Burnett, it challenges contestants to remember events from their own life.
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