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[KvP]

Why the all-reality-all-the-time format doesn't hurt the networks as much as we'd like to hope it would.

[Hat]

Man I am going to be so mad if the 4th season of Battlestar Galactica gets pulled because of this. It was already kind of on the ropes to begin with, but its looking more and more like this might be the nail in its coffin.

I'm definately sympathetic to the writers though, it seems like writers just do not get enough props in Hollywood, and I hope the oversaturation of reality TV that results from this might just convince people of how shitty a genre of TV it really is for the most part.

[KvP]

As far as I'm aware, the front 10 episodes are in the clear, and the back 10 are in limbo, which is more or less where the show was before the strike.

[KvP]

Double post!

The directors have reached a deal.

Start that strike deathwatch!

[blanktom]

although i am glad, that news article really didnt go into enough detail.

i'm hoping its because the details havent been released and not because they dont really give a shit.

further note OH YEAH THAT MEANS HEROES WILL RETURN SOON AND LOST WILL BE ABLE TO STRAIGHT BROADCAST.

[Johnny C]

I can't read it but I assume it's talking about the Director's Guild Of America?

Don't power up your TiVos just yet.

[KvP]

It's not a crushing blow, exactly, but part of the WGA's strength is its solidarity with the actors' and directors' unions. Each deal the producers strike shrinks the ground the WGA stands on.

[Johnny C]

I remember reading an article in the Globe & Mail a couple months back talking about the Directors Guild contract negotiations going much better than the Writer's Guild negotiations and the Actors Guild negotiations. Let me see if I can find it.

Right, here it is.

And there's one more piece to the labour puzzle: The contract for the Directors Guild of America also expires June 30. Those talks are set to begin soon and word is a settlement will be more easily reached, but if the writers don't settle and the actors walk, a Directors Guild deal certainly will not save the day for Hollywood – or Vancouver.

Do you suppose the Directors Guild used the strike as leverage?

[KvP]

It's certainly a possibility. The Director's Guild's deal was a smarter and more reasonable one than what the writers have been asking for anyhow. It won't single-handedly fell the strike, problem is, the writers are already too deep into "making a stand" for this to have that kind of effect, but it could be the start of a downward trend. We'll have to see how it plays in the coming days and weeks.

It's going to be interesting to see how the 1500 DGA members that are also a part of the WGA will vote for the directors' proposal, because an affirmative would basically be a negative vote in WGA leadership.

[Alex C]

The whole situation is rather surreal for me; I don't really watch television nor do I care about it enough to have any value judgement about whether or not reality tv is any worse than scripted shows, so in a way the strikers are providing me with more entertainment (I find the ramifications and back business considerations interesting) now that they're out of work than they did when they were employed. I honestly feel somewhat guilty about it.

Anyway, I'm just going to go by my gut feeling and past experience and say that I always expect the guys with the fancier suits to win in any given American labor struggle. I really don't think the WGA has a chance in hell; rich people aren't rich because they give things away. They might get some concessions, I guess, but I don't really expect them to get anything but a pyrrhic victory out of this at best.

[KvP]

Eisner sez Strike is kaput, to be made official on Saturday.

[Lines]

Yay! I hope they got as close as they could to what they wanted.

[Alex C]

Rather unlikely; one of the most contentious points was internet revenue. To make a long story short, nobody can project anything about how internet revenue will pan out yet, so how can anyone really make an equitable deal yet? Nobody knows anything yet, and everyone accepted that except for the stupid Writer's Guild. The Actor & Director guilds agreed to a short term deal in which the internet revenue topic would be revisted shortly once things started to get a bit clearer while the Writer's Guild basically said "Nuh-uh! You're holdin' out on us!" threw a highly public tantrum and then were dumb enough to be surprised when the production companies didn't feel like signing away an as of yet unknown quantity of cash for the foreseeable future. I mean, I hope they get the money they deserve and all, but even coming from a family with a pretty strong pro-Union background I think they're a bunch of dorks.

[Dizzydes]

What are you on about!!!? have you ever watched anything on the internet? i used to watch colbert report on comedy centrals online service and for about 5 minutes of show there was at least one ad and your couldn't skip it, so we know exactly how internet revenue is going to pan out, as the younger generations who are pretty much wired to a computer at all times get older and form the majority of the population, more and more people will watch stuff on the internet instead of on the television. also on demand video is pretty much what everybody wants, scheduled programming is in its last decades, and current tv setup doesn't offer particularly good on demand services.

[Ozymandias]

Yeah, I'm sorry, I don't buy the "we don't know how it will pan out" argument.

A percentage or revenue is equitable no matter how it pans out. If there's no profit in the internet, it doesn't matter. If there is, they get paid for the work they did.

[KvP]

According to the WGA leaders, the deal is a flat rate for a certain amount of time ("promo time") and after a certain point the writers get a percentage. This is actually a better deal than the all-flat-all-the-time system the DGA got. The brass are saying the strike was a "unqualified success". Now it's up to the membership. If they greenlight it tomorrow, business will be back on Monday.

[BoutASouffle]

Strike is over. Yay.