Those of you who tune in to late night TV shows hosted by David Letterman or Conan O’Brien may find this week’s shows a bit familiar – that’s because they’re reruns.
The late night shows are the first to feel the massive impact of the Writers Guild strike that began Monday morning at 12:01 EST.
Believe it or not, people: Our favorite late-night hosts need a little help in the funny department. That’s where the writers come in.
Writers on both coasts are demanding greater residuals for the new-media outlets such as Internet downloads and mobile device downloads, as well as DVD sales.
And why shouldn’t they get them? After all, without these talented writers we wouldn’t have the material to make movie and television scripts.
On the West coast “Desperate Housewives” as well as a handful of sitcoms have halted production. Many cast members have joined the picket lines in support of their creative teams.
East coast shows like “Gossip Girl” and “30 Rock” will begin to feel the pain in four to six weeks when they run out of pre-strike scripts.
There is no reason why writers shouldn’t be compensated for their work – no matter what media format it inhabits.
Large corporations are arguing that new-media is too new to know whether it will make money.
The last writers strike was in 1988 and lasted nearly half a year. It ended up costing media companies more than $500 million.
The scary thing is, this could affect most of what you watch on TV, including news programs. Broadcasters need writers too. Perhaps we’ll find out who the real journalists are.
Movie companies will be able to hold out a bit longer than the rest. Most movie companies have scripts to last them the next year or so.
It’s time to admit that the Internet and new-media sources are changing the way we absorb movies, television, news and music. The writers strike is a perfect place to begin dealing out the dough, equally. Directors, actors, writers; everyone deserves a piece of the revenues no matter what medium they take shape in.
Look on the bright side – we’re looking forward to old reruns of Christmas movies all through December.
