Hollywood writers face tight deadlines
Los Angeles, February 14, 2008 "I felt giddy," Craig Sweeny, a writer for the NBC drama
"Medium," said about being back on the job Wednesday, a day after
the Writers Guild of America overwhelmingly voted to end the
walkout. "Then someone handed me a production schedule, and then I
felt scared."
TV writers face tighter deadlines than usual to salvage what's
left of the season for shows that went into reruns because of the
strike that started Nov. 5.
On its first day back, the crew at CBS' "CSI: NY" scrambled to
start pounding out two scripts from scratch in two weeks, about
half the usual time, so new episodes could premiere in early April.
Executive producer Pam Veasey tossed out a story premise for one
episode: "There's a fire, and it's clearly arson."
Under such a tight deadline, the writing crew had little time to
readjust to work after so much time off.
"It was like we were all sent to a really weird summer camp for
three months, but now we're able to come home," writer Samantha
Humphrey said.
Added colleague Peter Lenkov: "We want to deliver something
good to thank the audience for sticking with us."
Dates were announced Wednesday for some series to return to the
air, among them CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" on March 17, NBC's
"My Name Is Earl" on April 3 and NBC's "The Office" on April
10.
While many TV writers were back at work, their counterparts for
big-screen films were gradually easing into it, pitching new
scripts and resuming meetings on screenplays left in limbo because
of the walkout.
"We got calls last night to our agents saying, `Let's get back
to work,"' said Derek Haas, who co-wrote "3:10 to Yuma" and met
Wednesday with the director of a summer blockbuster he and writing
partner Michael Brandt had begun revising just before the strike
started.
"Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" screenwriter Harris Goldberg said
he was thrilled his phone was ringing again as development
executives checked in with him on an idled TV pilot and movie
script he wrote.
"After complete silence for three months, I got maybe six or
seven calls from people saying, `Let's go, let's get together,
let's get the ball rolling,"' Goldberg said.
The sudden collegial spirit was in contrast with the darkest
days of the strike after talks between writers and producers broke
down in early December. For more than a month, all both sides did
was trade insults, until top studio executives stepped in and
negotiations resumed.
Meanwhile, reality shows and repeats ruled prime-time TV, and
most late-night comics had to come up with their own jokes. The
Golden Globes were canceled because stars refused to cross writers'
picket lines.
Film production went on generally unaffected because of the
longer lead time for big-screen shoots. Yet a few major films -
such as Ron Howard and Tom Hanks' "Angels & Demons," a follow-up
to "The Da Vinci Code" - were delayed until writers could touch
up scripts.
Even now, labor uncertainty lingers. Contract talks loom for the
Screen Actors Guild, and while many in Hollywood are optimistic
that actors will reach a deal, they could walk off the job after
their agreement expires June 30.
Writers returned after guild leaders and producers came to terms
on a key sticking point - compensation for shows and movies
distributed over the Internet. Guild members are expected to ratify
the contract in voting over the next 10 days.
Along with the 10,500 writers who walked out, the strike
immobilized thousands of technicians, makeup people and other
production workers. The Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.
estimates the strike cost the local economy $3.2 billion in lost
wages and revenue.
New scripts are likely to flood studio offices in the coming
weeks. It will be a buyer's market, so studio executives may not be
in any rush to snap up scripts, said agent Toochis Morin, a partner
in the Brant Rose Agency.
"They'll be able to sit back and have the pick of what they
want," Morin said.
While writers put in long hours on picket lines, plenty of work
presumably got done on scripts they hoped to shop around once the
strike ended.
"The dirty little secret is, I suspect, people have been
working much of this time," said Phil Johnston, who had just
started writing a TV pilot for NBC when the walkout began. "I, at
least, have been writing almost every day in the exact same way I
was - not necessarily on the studio projects I was paid to write,
but I've been working on my own stuff all along."
Despite the financial hardship it brought, the strike was not
all bad, some writers said. People who usually lock themselves in a
room with a handful of colleagues or scribble away on their own at
home were out socializing with one another daily as they walked the
picket lines.
"There's a silver lining to it. It was a rare chance for
writers to meet each other face to face," said Brian Sawyer, whose
TV pilot with writing partner Gregg Rossen was on hold during the
strike. "We made friends out there. But we don't know yet if
they're real friends or just strike friends."
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Associated Press writers David Bauder and Jake Coyle in New York
and Sandy Cohen, Raquel Maria Dillon, Lynn Elber, Christy Lemire,
Ryan Pearson and Solvej Schou in Los Angeles contributed to this
report.