New York Feeling Pain of Strike Too

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David Letterman and Conan O’Brien might be back on the air, but the Writers Guild of America strike that put them in reruns for the past two months continues to wreak havoc on New York’s film and television production industry, Crain’s New york reports.


The shutdown has left thousands of the area’s 78,000 production workers unemployed and many of the 4,000 film-related businesses, like prop houses and caterers, struggling to stay afloat amid their worst crisis in more than a decade.


“The situation has gone into a tailspin,” says John Ford, president of studio mechanics union Local 52. “Everyone is out of work now.”


The writers began their strike in November. They are seeking residuals from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for work that appears on the Internet and other new media.


About a dozen TV series are shot in New York, including 30 Rock and Law and Order; they have run out of scripts and stopped filming. A growing number of feature films slated to get under way this month are being postponed because scripts need rewriting.


Negotiations between WGA and AMPTP have broken down, and no further talks are scheduled. The last writers’ strike, in 1988, lasted five months and paralyzed the industry.


“Everyone talks about the writers, the writers,” Mr. Ford says. “But there are a lot of other people involved besides the writers.”


Read the full Crain’s New York story

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