STILL STRUCK BY THE STRIKE "Production tracker FilmLA said Thursday that on-location film, TV, commercials and other shoots fell 23% in the first quarter, the sharpest quarterly decline ever recorded. … FilmLA recorded 7,547 days of feature film, TV and commercials production, or 28% fewer production days than in the same three-month span of last year, while other categories such as music videos, documentary shoots and student films were off a more modest 11%. A production day is defined as one crew working on a single project at one location during a 24-hour period. Television productions were off a huge 45% at 2,921 shoots, with dramas, sitcoms and pilots production off 68%, 72% and 77%, respectively. Reality shoots fell 29% but still accounted for more than five out of every 10 days of on-location TV production in the latest quarter."
THE TELEVISION WILL BE EUTHANIZED? "NBC Universal President-CEO Jeff Zucker delivered a dire warning today about the potential impact of an actors strike, saying it could be 'incredibly devastating' on network TV. … Mr. Zucker said the recently ended strike by movie and television writers hurt Hollywood, the state of California and the entire TV industry. A follow-up strike by actors, he said, could cause real economic damage. 'If we go through that again, I severely question … the future on the broadcast side,' he said. ' … I don't think … the TV business would be able to survive something like that."
The WGA strike, which gave millions of bored Americans the opportunity to speak with – and subsequently realize they hate – their families and friends, is at last over. 101 days after Hollywood's writers shut down movie and television operations in New York and Los Angeles, the WGA and studio executives have come to an agreement that will see writers back on the job as early as today.
Late night talk shows will be the first to showcase fresh work, followed by Saturday Night Live, which will air a new episode, hosted by Tina Fey, on the 23 of this month. Grey's Anatomy, 30 Rock, The Office, Desperate Housewives and CSI will be coming back sometime between mid-March and early April. Heroes will be back in the fall.
24 isn't expected to return until January '09; until then you'll just have to look at those old photos of Abu Ghraib.
Because the writers strike is rumored to be coming to an end, talk is already spreading about the future of some of TV's most popular shows. After the jump: the scoop on Heroes, Ugly Betty, Gossip Girl and all the other series that have been gone for too long. CONTINUED »
"FEEDING FRENZY" "With optimism spreading about an imminent resolution of the writers strike, film agents, producers and development execs are bracing for a barrage of dealmaking, says The Hollywood Reporter. 'It's started already,' one development exec declared. 'Just in the last few days I'm starting to have more conversations. We're going to see a ton of spec scripts come in pretty much the second the strike ends.'"
SCHMOSCARS LOSING FRIENDS Vanity Fair announced yesterday that it would not hold its annual Academy Award party…[Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon] Carter told The New York Times, 'A magazine like Vanity Fair is a group of writers and artists, and we are in solidarity with the writers and artists out there. Whether the strike is over or not, there are a lot of bruised feelings. I don't think it's appropriate for a big magazine from the East to come in and pretend nothing happened.'"
Our brilliant toppling Oscar image, of which we are very proud, might prove to be incongruous with reality, as reports surface of an impending end to the WGA strike.
Informal talks between representatives of Hollywood’s striking writers and production companies have eliminated the major roadblocks to a new contract, which could lead to a tentative agreement as early as next week…
Nothing's set in stone, but a deal this week would mean the Feb 24 Oscar ceremony would go off without a hitch, or a picket. The event's planners would be ecstatic, and what better way for Hollywood to heal its wounds than with that too-long, glittery masturbation session?
With the WGA strike in full swing, we've had a long time to think about all the TV we aren't watching, and one conclusion that we've come to is that comedy shows aren't actually funny. Real life is funny and it's better, because it never asks for a bigger paycheck.
The Hawaii Chair is more hilarious than anything that's been on Saturday Night Live in the past four years, and the people who devised it weren't kidding. Screw off, TV.
If the WGA strike remains unresolved on February 24, the date of the Oscars, event host Jon Stewart reportedly has said he will not attend the ceremony. If that is indeed the case, this year's Academy Awards ceremony is set to be a hostless, actorless ("I just hope that the actors are there — I pray that the actors are there") affair consisting of many "old clips of past shows." Working in the Academy's favor is that this sounds only slightly less boring than normal.
Representatives for the WGA and the major film studios met for a second consecutive day yesterday, sparking rumors that the talks, intended to end the three-month writers strike, have been productive. Um, great, we guess.
Listen, not that we're not excited to see more 30 Rock, but is there any way we can keep this thing going until after the Oscars?
The 2008 Oscar nominations were announced this morning despite the strong possibility that the show will not go on due to the continuing Writer's Guild strike. After the jump, the nominees, only some of whom will be disappointed when their Oscar win doesn't include an opportunity to publicly thank God and their manager.
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SOMETIMES BEING RIGHT IS LONELY "The striking members of the Writers Guild are disappointed they aren't getting more support from the supposedly pro-union Democratic presidential candidates. The bitter scribes say front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are afraid of alienating their well-heeled supporters in Hollywood, folks like Alan Horn (Warner Bros.), Peter Chernin (Fox) and Bob Iger (Disney)…All of the Democratic presidential candidates have issued statements in support of the strikers, but only John Edwards has appeared in person to picket and speak with the writers…"
• 50 Cent is going to interview Paris Hilton for some MySpace commercial disguised as journalism. Let's hope the notorious racist doesn't call him a nigger to his face. And if she does, let's hope he cares. [SH]
• Pretty sure Gwyneth Paltrow is seen here wearing what the kids call locs. Awesome! [DListed]
• Rachel Bilson's passport photo shoot finds her looking better than ever. At least she looks like a woman and not a victim. [HT]
• Go ahead and dress lie Catherine Zeta-Jones; just promise not to also be a calloused snake like her. [INO]
• Johnny Depp would like to be considered for the lead in Tim Burton's remake of Alice in Wonderland. Yes: Alice. Shark jumped. [ICYDK]
• New day, new Britney Spears diagnosis. [Yeeeah]
• She's finally given up, then? We thought she would never learn. [EBG]
• Margaret Cho won't cross the picket lines for BFF Ellen DeGeneres. Yay, principles! [Queerty]
The funny, funny, funny Writer's Guild has struck a deal with the NAACP that will allow the influential civil rights organization to produce their Image Awards with WGA writers and no picketing of the event. And get this, racist conspiracy theorists: They're basically giving them the go-ahead because they're black!
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STRIKE OUT THE OSCARS…MAYBE "…Writers Guild of America West president Patric Verrone reiterated Tuesday that he does not anticipate granting the Academy Awards a waiver unless the striking writers and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reach a deal…Without a waiver, it remains to be seen whether the Screen Actors Guild membership would skip the Oscars as it did for the Globes…The WGA already turned down a request to use clips for the Academy Awards…"
Unfortunately: kidding! Clive Owen and Brian O'Byrne are just filming The International. But let's all keep hoping for the day everyone in Hollywood will be forced to literally fight for the millions they think they deserve.
[Source]
SILENCE IS GOLDEN The Golden Globes ceremony went off last night without a hitch and almost no production of which to speak, stripped down due to the writer's strike to just two presenters calling out the nominees and the names of the winners. It was simple, actually quite pleasant and profoundly exciting in the same way as seeing a man with crutches suddenly walk unaided.
The winners are listed after the jump.
PEER MEDIATION "…George Clooney today is volunteering to personally set up a so-called 'mediation panel' including himself and with plans to ask Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and John Wells (the executive producer of ER and a controversial ex-WGA president) to be part of it, plus 3 or 4 bigwigs who are siding with the producers."
Editor
