Hollywood union strikes have never been a dainty affair. On one side, you usually have powerful people with tons of money and even weightier egos. On the other side, you often have famous people (who also happen to have some money and fair-sized egos) and people who aspire to be famous (and one day have the wealth and ego-boost that fame brings). So as the writers’ strike heads toward its seventh week with no end in sight, you know there won’t be a quick, easy, or quiet end to the walkout called by the 8,000-member Writers Guild of America, BusinessWeek.com reports.
Indeed, it looks as if studio executives are prepared to wait out the writers for weeks, months, maybe more. For those of us at home, that means more warmed-over reruns and reality shows no self-respecting cable channel would dare offer under normal circumstances.
The problem is the issue really isn’t what has been advertised,the sharing of whatever money the studios will one day make from distributing TV shows and movies over new digital methods such as the Internet or cell phones. In a surprise to just about everyone but the WGA leadership, the writers offered up a series of demands more likely to change their relationship with studios than to get the 3.5% pay hike they’re seeking. The key demand: allowing the WGA to extend its membership to cover people who “write” for reality shows such as ABC’s (DIS) Extreme Makeover or NBC’s (GE) Biggest Loser.
