Canada and England writers have been supportive of the efforts here, for the most part. This said, some media moguls have turned around and hired (or tried to hire) some of their writers. That didn’t sit to well with the rest of us. Of course, it also didn’t sit very well with their own unions, either. A scab is a scab is a scab, Bob.
Reality shows are kind of facing an interesting issue: most of them are scripted. That said, most of them do NOT employ WGA writers. This is something we’d like to change, for the sake of the writers themselves. These writers they employ are called “segment producers”, are payed low wages, expected to work 16+ hour days, no benefits, no pensions and are terminated at will. They receive little or no credit for their work and no residuals. Part of our current negotiations involve some jurisdiction for reality shows and animation, ensuring that the writers who work on these shows get some protection too. They are making the Networks money, hand over fist, damn it.
Regarding shows that are filmed in Canada with Canadian crews – there are agreements in place there. These shows are currently affected, as the companies that are involved are considered “struck”. SciFi, for example, makes use of many Toronto and BC (and now Alberta) shooting facilities. The ownership, however, remains an American company. The writers’ product is produced under the WGA umbrella. And 'round we go.
**
SmackFu: ** Some of that depends on when the season writing and shoots started. For example, if you take the scheduling for L&O: SVU and L&O:CI, last year, you’d find that SVU started writing its new season in March and shooting in May. CI started writing its new season in July and shooting at the end of August. Why? SVU got its renewal in January, CI’s fate hung in the balance until way later and it got punted to cable (USA Network), where it is doing insanely well and kicking ass and taking names now.
Some of it also depends on the network’s decision to hold onto some episodes and spread them out. For example, Bones still has some unaired episodes. FOX has decided to spread them out over the next few months, to last to sweeps.
Status report for:
**The Unit: ** Expected to have 11 of 22, which I believe was indeed reached, with some struggle.