Cinema Hype

Contrary to popular belief, we at CHHQ have not been on a sympathy strike; we’ve just been taking a little time off for the sake of sanity (insert obvious joke here).

And what a time to take off: I go on vacation, and 12,000 of my favorite writers walk out! (Someone should have warned me. I could have postponed if they really needed me. Jeez.) So far, the media coverage is mostly TV-centric, because that’s where the industry (and the audiences) will feel the pinch first. As soon as the networks run out of produced episodes, they’re stuck with a whole lot of reality programming and not much else. We know this.

But fast-forward to next year’s Oscar season. The Writers’ Guild of America isn’t just the TV writers’ union; they support all the working writers in Hollywood. And when they say, “pencils down,” they mean “pencils down”–according to the strike rules, even spec scripts, or un-contracted work, has to be returned to the people who submitted it. Nobody’s writing. Before long, the actors won’t have roles, the directors won’t have shots to perfect, and audiences won’t have any reason to go to the theater. It’s a longer-term problem than the immediate lack of The Office on my screen every Thursday night, but a long strike might have Americans everywhere rummaging around for something to read (or new episodes of Dancing with the Stars, but we won’t talk about that). Heavens!

And speaking of actors and directors, the writers aren’t the only ones with their eyes on the “new media” (i.e. the internet): SAG and the DGA are scheduled to go into talks with the studios next July, and the WGA agreement is widely known to be the “pattern” for their negotians (…good choice? Guys?) If the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers wants to pick a fight–especially if the writers are still out–they may find themselves with a whole lot of empty studio lots. Things are ugly now, but they could get even uglier for everyone, including the bored, entertainment-starved masses. There may be tar. Also, feathers.

For basic information on the WGA strike, try here, here, or here.

For one affected writer’s personal account, check out media critic, novelist, TV writer, and generally awesome person Pamela Ribon’s blog.

No good, folks. No good.

WGA strike, writers strike