So, it looks like the writers union in Hollywood is getting ready to strike.
This has happened before. The last time was in 1988 and you can thank that one for the spread of reality TV. But the last time this happened, TV drama was episodic in nature. You could watch an episode of your favorite show without having seen the week before, or the week before that. Stories stood alone.
Now, many (if not most) shows are serial. You need to watch the whole season, week after week. Can you imagine just tuning in for a random episode of 24? or Lost?
So, if the writers strike happens, what happens to those shows? We’ve known the strike was coming for some time. Are those seasons scripted in advance? Or will we all be left hanging off a proverbial cliff?
Until writers are treated as true partners in the creative process of making films and television shows there will ALWAYS be animosity between them and producers. I recall that brilliant scene in Robert Altman’s “The Player” where the hotshot young producer (Peter Gallagher?) was saying that writers could be cut out entirely, just go through the latest newspaper for story/script ideas and adapt them into film projects. Writers are considered a necessary evil in the minds of movie executives, a posture that hasn’t changed since the early days of film-making. With that sort of mentality, conflict and, yes, strikes are inevitable…
Comment by Cliff Burns — October 21, 2007 @ 1:53 pm