October 19, 2007
As Writers’ Strike Looms, Stakes Are Higher for TV Than Film
"Movie executives generally consider screenwriters to be expendable. But television writers — and particularly the writer-producers who serve as show runners — wield considerable power over a television show, so much so that it often is not clear where their writing duties end and their producing duties begin. "
According The New York Times who reports on the implications if Hollywood writers go on strike next month.
"Dozens of producers who also serve as writers on some of television’s biggest hits, and are members of the writers’ union, would not be able to do at least half of their jobs. Whether they could perform any of their duties — or whether most television shows would have to shut down production almost immediately — is an open question.
All of which makes the immediate stakes far higher for television networks than for movie studios.
In the film business, once a script is completed and turned in, screenwriters rarely are intimately involved on the set with the production of a film. As such, film producers have been stockpiling scripts in anticipation of a writers’ strike.
Television series operate with more of a just-in-time approach to script inventory, however, with the writers, who are employees of a television series, often stepping in to make changes to a script between scenes on the set. " Read full article.
Related: - TV grids for strike
Image and related article ABCnews.
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/tv/archives/2007/10/017679.htm
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)