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Writers’ Strike: Networks Face Harsh Reality … TV
by
findingDulcinea Staff
As the standoff between the Writer’s Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture Television Producers drags on, major networks plan to lure viewers back to the small screen with a flood of new reality television shows.
30-Second Summary
On Friday, Dec. 7, negotiations between writers and studios stalled again, prolonging the already 5-week-old dispute over how writers should be paid for online content.
Since it began on Nov. 5, the writers’ strike has forced most of the staple late night comedy shows to air reruns. Although some prime time programs have had a stockpile of scripts to fall back on, The New York Times reports that those reserves are drying up and studios are looking for new reality shows to fill the prime time gap.
The four major networks—ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox—are planning a 50 percent increase in reality programming, with as many as 27 hours a week scheduled for the first quarter of 2008.
These shows are relatively cheap to produce, and generally do not employ union-represented writers. In fact, it was those selling points that attracted studios to the show “Cops” during the 1988 WGA strike.
“That's when Fox bought 'Cops,' because a series with no narrator, no host, no script, no re-enactments sounded very good to them at the time,” show creator John Langley told the Associated Press.
Reality sleeper hits aside, networks may find themselves having to woo some of their more Internet-savvy viewers back to the tube.
According to Andy Morris, partner and principal at the New York-based public relations firm Morris & King Company, younger consumers “are already snacking on” Web-based alternative media. “The feeling is, there may be a real upside for Web-based content creators."
Since it began on Nov. 5, the writers’ strike has forced most of the staple late night comedy shows to air reruns. Although some prime time programs have had a stockpile of scripts to fall back on, The New York Times reports that those reserves are drying up and studios are looking for new reality shows to fill the prime time gap.
The four major networks—ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox—are planning a 50 percent increase in reality programming, with as many as 27 hours a week scheduled for the first quarter of 2008.
These shows are relatively cheap to produce, and generally do not employ union-represented writers. In fact, it was those selling points that attracted studios to the show “Cops” during the 1988 WGA strike.
“That's when Fox bought 'Cops,' because a series with no narrator, no host, no script, no re-enactments sounded very good to them at the time,” show creator John Langley told the Associated Press.
Reality sleeper hits aside, networks may find themselves having to woo some of their more Internet-savvy viewers back to the tube.
According to Andy Morris, partner and principal at the New York-based public relations firm Morris & King Company, younger consumers “are already snacking on” Web-based alternative media. “The feeling is, there may be a real upside for Web-based content creators."
Headline Links: The coming flood of reality TV
Laurie Ouelette, an associate professor of communications studies at the University of Minnesota, told The New York Times that although the number of prime time hours devoted to reality television grew steadily during the first half of the decade, it has remained relatively flat since 2005. Oulette attributes the genre’s tapering popularity to the rise of dramas such as “House,” “Desperate Housewives,” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” “But many of those programs are going to be in hiatus because of the strike … And the networks are responding to the need to come up with shows that are a cost-effective solution to that problem,” Ouelette added.
Source: The New York Times
Prime time programming isn’t the only thing being threatened by the strike. Hollywood is still uncertain about whether the WGA will grant waivers for the January-scheduled Golden Globes and the February telecast of the Academy Awards. If the union decides not to grant the waivers, picketers could be the prominent feature of this year’s read carpet.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Background: The strike hits network pocketbooks
Columnist Nikki Finke, who writes about the strike on her blog Deadline Hollywood Daily, talks to NPR about how the strike is financially impacting the networks: “Game shows and reality shows … they’re not going to have the same ad rates [as late night shows. Networks] have lost a ton of money on the late night advertising that has gone out the window, because here’s one of the facts of life that your audience may or may not know: there’s such a thing as ‘give-backs.’ If a network promises [advertisers] a certain audience, and a certain size of that audience, they have to make good on it. So if suddenly you have a sea of repeats of Jay Leno and David Letterman, that means that you’re going to have to give back money. Now the moguls are going around and saying ‘We’re going to have a great fourth quarter for 2007.’ But that’s a little like robbing Peter to pay Paul, because they are going to have to pay for it dearly in ’08. That’s something that I don’t know if shareholders of these big media companies are aware of.”
Source: NPR
Nikki Finke provides up-to-date coverage of the writers’ strike on her blog, Deadline Hollywood Daily.
Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily
Reactions: Viewers look to the Web
According to PRWeek magazine, the standoff between writers and studios could be a boon to non-unionized, Web-based programs. Featured on sites such as ManiaTV.com, SuperDeluxe.com and NGTV.com, these Internet shows, or “webisodes,” have been gaining a certain cachet with younger more Web-savvy consumers. Nonetheless, Jack Myers, publisher of media analysis site JackMyers.com, points out that “the Internet alone can't replace the publicity impact of Letterman or Leno, or the format and content of mainstream, scripted TV. Nor can it take the place of advertisers' $64 billion in annual television budgets.”
Source: PRWeek
Historical Context: The 1988 strike and ‘Cops’
The 1988 Writers Guild strike lasted for five months from March 7 to August 7, 1988, and saw over 9,000 movie and television writers participate. The main contractual disagreements concerned the writer’s residuals for hour-long shows syndicated in the United States and abroad. The 1988 writers’ walkout is the longest in history, surpassing the 1960 writers-studios standoff by one day. An Aug. 8, 1988 article from The New York Times provides the details.
Source: The New York Times
“Cops” creator John Langley had been pitching his gritty, real-life show concept for five years before Fox finally picked it up during the 1988 strike. “A series with no narrator, no host, no script, no re-enactments sounded very good to them at the time,” Langley told the Associated Press. However, that strike didn’t release the same deluge of reality shows as has the current walkout. When the 1988 standoff began in March, filming on many sitcoms and dramas had already finished.
Source: International Herald Tribune
Related Topics: Strike stifles movie promos
Late night talk shows have long been the go-to platform for movie stars to promote their new films. Losing access to the national and predominantly male audience these shows attract has sent movie studios scrambling to readjust their marketing strategies. “Those shows are hugely important,” Variety magazine quotes one marketing and publicity executive as saying. “They are their own beast. It's not like you can make it up with morning shows and midday shows, because those are mostly watched by women. You are sort of stuck in a corner, and have to hope that the weight of everything else in your campaign will carry you through.”
Source: Variety
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