Results of the WGA Strike

Wondering at all what the results of the Writers Guild of America strike has been on the public? Entertainment Weekly polled 1,000 people and came up with some results:

• 20% thought WGA was the U.S.'s only association for professional women golfers


• 44% watching less TV


• 40% reading more books


• 36% listening to more music


• 22% cleaning the house more


• 9% having more sex


• 4% fighting with their spouse more

Ah, the wonders of the modern labor movement.

No Scripts for Late Night

The late night talk shows are going back on the air, but without benefit of scripts, according to the Wall Street Journal. Apparently the networks are pressuring the shows and their hosts to return - I guess there is only so much reality television that even industry executives can take. But because many of the hosts are members of the Writers Guild, they will not be doing anything that smacks of writing, including writing monologues, plotting sketches, or creating fictional characters, which means, according to another take on the situation (can't remember the source), up to one-third of the show material may be prohibited. One answer is supposed to be more and longer celebrity interviews, but many of the actors and actresses that the shows are trying to book won't cross the picket lines. Personally, I think that it's a plan by the networks to make reality tv look appealing.

Late Night TV Needs Talkers

The late night talk shows have a problem. They are largely returning to the air - Letterman at least having worked out a deal with the writers on strike - but Hollywood stars are reluctant to cross picket lines. As the New York Times notes:

Uncertainty over whether many of Hollywood’s biggest stars will be willing to cross picket lines and appear on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” and “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” both on NBC; CBS’s “Late Show With David Letterman”; or “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC has the programs’ producers in a frenzy as they try to book guests for the shows, which are scheduled to return with fresh episodes Jan. 2.

My sympathy for the plight of producers is well-known, and so I make an offer to be of help. Ladies and gentlemen, I am available if you need a guess. I obviously won't be crossing a picket line, but perhaps we could do a phone interview. Unfortunately, I don't have a recent movie or well-known novel out, but the flip side is that I'm easy to find and have time on my hands - at least since we got a plumber in to deal with the leak in the heating system. But I'm willing to be as amusing as I'm capable of and am happy to talk about my blogs, magazine articles for business managers and lawyers, and my search for regional dessert recipes. Why don't you have your machine call my machine? Love ya - don't change.

Writers? Scratch that - Entprepreneurs

If Hollywood thought that splitting revenues with writers and then a strike were problems, then it has the real shock coming. This LA Times piece reports on how television and movie writers are beginning to turn into entrepreneurs, pretty much cutting the studios out of the major business. Movie stars apparently take lower pay if there are actually good parts, versus what most studio machined movies have, and writers get to pocket a lot more money. Maybe the studios can go on strike, trying to get a cut of the Internet revenues ... oh, wait, that's right, they can't actually hold up anything.