The Wall Street Journal-20080204-Studios Set Stage for TV-s Return- Prospect of End to Strike Has Hollywood Scurrying To Get Shows Back on Air
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Studios Set Stage for TV's Return; Prospect of End to Strike Has Hollywood Scurrying To Get Shows Back on Air
Full Text (1058 words)The prospect of a settlement in the three-month strike by film and television writers is setting off a scramble to restart Hollywood's stalled production engine and get key TV series back on the air quickly.
Late last week, the leadership of the Writers Guild of America and top studio executives made significant progress toward resolving their labor dispute, people familiar with the matter said, setting the stage for what could be a quick ending to a labor stoppage that has idled much of Hollywood.
The rush is beginning already. Even as the strike dragged on, TV studio and network executives had been making plans to spring back into action. Now they face tough decisions on each series: Whether to race back on the air with as many new episodes as possible before the traditional TV season ends in May; extend the shows into summer; delay them until fall; or cancel them altogether.
In some instances, TV studios, fearing shortages of space and talent, are already booking directors and reserving studio and office space to shoot new episodes as quickly as possible, according to people familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, TV executives are facing a truncated development cycle for next season's new shows that could turn into a mad dash to lock down stars and shoot even a handful pilots for next season at the same time as completing existing series.
On the film side, where production cycles for feature films last for months or years, and studios spent much of last year stockpiling scripts, recovery will likely prove less daunting. But an end to the strike would allow the studios to resume work on some high-profile films that have been put on hold because of script problems, including "Angels & Demons," Sony Pictures' follow-up to 2006's hit movie "The Da Vinci Code," and Warner Bros.'s "Shantaram," starring Johnny Depp.
The new progress in the labor dispute has come via two weeks of informal talks between WGA leaders and a few top Hollywood executives, including Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger and News Corp. President Peter Chernin. According to people familiar with the matter, the two sides made a breakthrough Friday on a central issue: how to compensate writers for the use and re-use of their work on the Internet and via other new media.
It is unclear, however, what terms are on the table or how closely they match those in the contract the Directors Guild of America hashed out with Hollywood studios last month. Some of the people familiar with the matter cautioned that there is still work to be done, and that informal talks are continuing. The WGA sent an email to members yesterday urging members to "continue to show our resolve, solidarity, and strength."
The guild's negotiating committee is expected to be briefed on the progress at a meeting scheduled for today. The board of the WGA West and the council of the WGA East could possibly have a contract to consider this week. After their approval, any agreement would need to be ratified by the approximately 12,500 members of the East and West Coast branches of the WGA, although it is possible the guild would call off the strike sooner if the leadership felt confident in the deal.
An immediate beneficiary of the writers' return would be Disney's ABC, which is scheduled to air the Academy Awards, the year's second- biggest advertising draw after the Super Bowl, on Feb. 24. Writers had threatened to picket the gilded ceremony, raising the specter of a broadcast like the low-rated January news conference at which the Golden Globe awards were announced.
Meanwhile, several TV executives say that once writers return to work, it could take four to eight weeks or more, even under optimistic scenarios, to get existing dramas back on the air. If the strike were to end in the next week or two, most shows would probably be able to squeeze only four to six new episodes before the end of the season, these people say.
There may be some exceptions. Multicamera sitcoms, such as News Corp.'s Fox's "Back to You," are shot on existing sets and involve much more on-scene writing, which could speed turnaround time. In addition, some TV writers may take rumors of a deal as an excuse to start talking about or writing future scripts, which could speed their shows' return, although those actions could be construed as a violation of the guild's strike rules.
Before the strike began, broadcast networks had ordered a handful of pilots for new shows for next season, such as J.J. Abrams's "Fringe" for Fox -- a fraction of what they would normally have ordered by now. In addition, With existing shows likely to be rushing back into production at a time when they would normally be wrapping for the season, studios face a potential shortage of space to shoot pilots for new shows. That may lead to fewer pilots and more new shows being ordered without shooting a pilot.
An end to the strike now would help many cable networks dodge most of the negative effects of the strike. Several cable-channel executives say their summer lineups -- including shows like USA's "Monk" and TNT's "The Closer," -- can air on or close to schedule as long as writers come back to work by March or April.
Some parts of the film world are already back on track, as some of the smaller movie studios have signed interim agreements with the WGA that allow them to begin working with union screenwriters again; the first such deal was announced with United Artists in January, the latest were announced yesterday.
The UA agreement allowed the studio to begin restocking its scripts, something the studio needed to do more urgently than many of its rivals because it had almost no backlog of material. Shortly after signing the agreement, studio officials said they received "hundreds" of scripts from talent agencies but declined to provide an exact number. Since then, most of Hollywood's smaller studios and production companies, including the Weinstein Co., Lionsgate, Spyglass Entertainment, Marvel Studios and a host of New York-based independent film companies, have signed similar agreements.
These agreements have allowed screenwriters to resume work on scripts already submitted and to pitch new ones. The smaller studios are also hoping the agreements give them a competitive advantage.
