Now that it's day three, people are really starting to get antsy about this WGA strike. The buzz among industry peeps is that the strike is going to last "a long time." Whatever that means. But I do know that the strike is probably going to fuck up the airing schedule of one of my favorite shows- LOST. TV Guide reports that if the strike goes on into the new year, ABC may opt to delay the new season until Feb. 2009. That's a long-ass time folks. 2009? We could have flying cars by then! I'm not even going to remember what Jack's scruffy face looks like by 2008!
Not only does the strike mean trouble for LOST fans, it also means bad times for lit. agencies. An article in Variety today described how agents are getting screwed over: they are unable to sell specs, pitches or their writers' services. Perhaps the one good thing to come out of the strike thus far is that my old boss, Jordan Bayer of Original Artists, was quoted in this article. While the article says that a lot of boutique agencies will suffer a serious blow from the strike, Jordan says that OA will be A-ok because their revenue was up this year and they have planned for this dry spell by starting new ventures.
An interesting part of this article is the quote given by a "veteran deal maker"-
"Not one of my big writer clients favors this strike, and yet the media doesn't challenge the WGA's claim that 90% of its membership wanted a strike."
It's strange to think of the possibility that most writers actually disagree with what's happening right now... although I don't think Mr. Deal Maker can realistically speak for all writers, or proclaim what the media should or shouldn't do. Then, the guy goes on to liken the situation to "How people felt going into the war with Iraq."
I seriously don't even know how to respond to that comment, but it's the typical attitude of an entertainment exec to think that what is going on in his little world is comparable to a deadly, four-year global conflict.
No comments:
Post a Comment