Apparently, it is a huge issue, because I started hearing about it 6 months ago. And the word back then was they were doubtlessly striking.
Actually, this has been in the working for two years. Essentially, writer's in Hollywood are getting screwed out of money, thanks to every cheapening venture that the studios can think of: reality shows has been a huge revenue loss for writers and actors. Don't misunderstand, reality shows ARE scripted, but they are pre-shot long before they actually go on the air. I think that the studios are afraid of what U-tube and other sites of this sort are going to become. Too bad they don't follow in the Music Industries footsteps.
Here are some articles to look up with an excerpt:
Q. Forget everything else: What’s the one issue everyone needs to resolve here?
A. New media and the Internet. At the start of last Friday’s negotiations, WGA lead negotiator David Young boiled it down to this: “For a few decades now, there has been a growing feeling among writers that they are slowly being left behind. Every new technology or genre, instead of being treated as a new opportunity for mutual growth and benefit, is presented to us as some unfathomable obstacle that requires flexibility from writers — meaning a cheap deal that remains in place. This happened with home video. It happened with basic cable. It has happened with reality TV. Now you want it to happen with new media and the Internet.”
The producers want a coupla years to determine what new media’s big revenues might be, but offer to make any deal retroactive. AMPTP’s newest solution is to base new-media payments on what individual writers can negotiate with the studios and networks — presumably through their agents — all without any interference from the WGA.
Q. How will the strike affect TV viewers and moviegoers?
A. There’ll be a steady supply of films, because the Hollywood studios began preparing for this strike two years ago. As for TV, late-night talk shows will seem lamer than usual. Most scripted primetime series have at least eight to 12 completed episodes in the can. Some of the networks early on went into production on strike programming masquerading as midseason replacements (like ABC’s Cashmere Mafia ). NBC’s strike strategy was to stockpile episodes of familiar shows like The Office , My Name Is Earl , and Heroes . No wonder Fox is a strike hawk: It can’t wait for its walkout-unaffected blockbuster American Idol to return in January. Expect the other nets to put up crappy reality and game shows, news specials, old inventory and European programs.
http://www.laweekly.com/news/deadlin...e-happy/17550/
http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/wg...t-enemy/17549/
http://www.laweekly.com/news/deadlin.../17603/?page=2