WHOOO! There Will Be Academy Awards!
Now is the lull before the actors go on strike this summer.
Damn, now I have to debate whether or not a few moments of Daily Show comedy and the prospect of awards for the Coens is worth the boredom and frustration of seeing the wrong movies win. 
I’m very curious to hear Elenfair’s thoughts on the settlement and how this ended, if she’s spending a few days sleeping before she dives back into work.
I admit I’m not the most knowledgeable about contracts and the nitty-gritty of the industry, but on first glance this strikes me as kind of low. Can anyone provide a better analysis on it?
I meant to add that, while the writers have been missed, it’s been fun to watch the late night hosts just screw around during the strike. Conan seemed especially good at it.
While we didn’t get absolutely everything that we went in looking for, we did get an excellent, fair deal. The progress we made on New Media is particularly exciting.
The flat rate springboard seems low, it is true, but it’s that 2% distributor’s gross (with no sunset clause, unlike the DGA’s agreement) that is the key to victory. The other important thing to note is that we also got the AMPTP to agree to release their financial information regarding New Media for the next three years: this is HUGE. We can actually get a true feeling for what the market actually looks like. When it comes to residuals, we usually run our own studies – when we are approached by broadcasters for rights, they tell us what the market value of, say, an episode/series is and pay us our 2%. Sometimes they’re honest. Sometimes they lie. Sometimes we catch them and it goes to arbitration.
With this concession from AMPTP, we’ll actually know what the market actually looks like. With the lack of sunset clause, it also means that in 3 years, when our next contract negotiation rolls around, we’re walking in with this 2% distributor’s gross set in stone AND an idea of what the market is actually like. And it’s not going away.
We made no progress on DVD sales (no surprise) or on the jurisdiction issues involving reality and animation – we really want to be able to protect these writers too because lord almighty, they could use some decent coverage for health, pension and wages. We’ll keep pushing. We made concessions elsewhere, too.
We came to agreements on matters of health coverage and pensions, a bunch of other things that would probably bore you guys to tears regarding New Media and separated rights, clips and access… and other provisions that really wouldn’t mean anything to anyone else. 
So there you go.
The strike has been lifted. We still have to ratify the contract, but since the vote to lift the strike came in so strong, I expect that the vote to ratify the contract will be equally in favor of this agreement.
Elly, your friendly scribe, back to work, hoping to salvage a season and a pilot and a Feature project.
Yay! Congrats! (And thanks, Elenfair, for the behind-the-scenes look you’ve been providing us.)
Yes! Thank you so much for all the information you shared in the strike threads. It was really interesting, and neat to have an insider’s view.
Congratulations on the new contract!
Hey! Elenfair! Get back to work!
Seriously, congratulations to you and all the other writers.
And now I get to turn into a complete vegtable in front of the TV again. I am so pumped!
(Yes, I’m pumped about getting to veg out. It does too make sense. Shut up.)
I find it a piece of personal irony that I decided to get rid of my cable TV a week before the strike ended.
Oh well, now I don’t have to feel bad any more about watching stuff online. Good on y’all for sticking it out, Elenfair.
Hooray, I am glad you are happy with the deal.
Now to the important questions.
Does Jon Stewart have enough time to pull off the Oscars?
Will Pushing Daisies go back into production?
Jim
Check out the link below for a list of what shows are returning and with how many episodes. It is constantly updated, so ctrl-refresh to see the current list.
I will ask Scott (Nimerfro) when I talk to him tonight. I expect so, yes, but they may only come back in the fall. All of our seasons are kind of up in the air until we find out for sure what the Networks have in store for us. Some seasons will be shortened. Some will be canned and start up again in the fall (especially for the new programs). Some were already canned for good, or not re-upped for a second half-season. NBC pushed some back for a return after the Olympics.
Things will be clearer by the end of the week, I’m sure.
I know CBS is going to be getting its cash cows back up and running soon (expect about 2 months for production to have stuff back on the air) and NBC will probably have its Tuesday-Thursday lineups back soon too. This may be true of FOX as well, at least when it comes to its big hits. I expect it to finish up the Sarah Connor Chronicles, for sure, as well as Bones and House, M.D. I don’t know if those two will see a shortened season. 24 was canceled for the season but may return in 2009.
On the USA front, expect original programing to go on as planned. They’re glad to have writers back. Most of its programing was complete, spare L&O:CI, which is being welcomed back with open arms. Expect a likely full season from Warren Leight’s team of misfits, which has been kicking asses since its move to cable this year.
On the SciFi front, Eureka was going back into production, last I heard from Paglia. Other than that, I have no clue what’s going on there. There’s been some changes in management, too.
As for the MausHaus (ABC), who knows! No one, that’s who! I’m sure the desperation will return and wrap up part of its season, but it will be short. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine.
Keep your ear to the ground, there will be more news in the coming week or two.
Thank you for the link:
Pushing Daisies: No new episodes until fall. (This makes me sad)
Chuck: No new episodes until fall. (I had already heard this)
THese are the only other regular shows I watch.
My Name Is Earl: Expected to shoot 8 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May.
Reaper: Three pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot 5 or 6 additional episodes to air in April/May.
Saturday Night Live: Returns Feb. 23. I catch this maybe a third of the time.
Why for the love of Og does this have to be:
CSI: Miami: Expected to shoot 8 new episodes to begin airing on March 24.
Gah, I hate this show, I wish it would die. I usually avoid it, but my wife will watch this piece of crap and sometimes I cannot avoid it.
Meanwhile my favorite show will start back up in April with March Previews; Yankee Baseball.
Jim
Ah, well there you go, our friendly poster Mahaloth gave us a very useful link.
I expect some of this may change over the next week still, with more precise numbers coming. Cash cows are returning, glee and merriment…
*Praise be the Lord!
*
At least we might see 13 out of the 16 eps we were supposed to get this season for Lost. I’ll take what I can get.
And it’s good to see Eureka going into production again, thanks for that tip Elenfair!
I wish Journeyman made the cut. It was really starting to roll in the last half of the season.
Congrats Elenfair on the strike mostly going your way. Thanks for all the info… your posts on the topic has been invaluable. Now write very wise one, write like the wind!
First of all, Elenfair, congratulations to you and your union - protecting your stake in the new media is a great victory.
Secondly, a question: when reading about what shows will return after the strike and how much, they all talk of “getting in (some number of) episodes before the season ends.” Is there something set in stone about a late-May end to the season? Why can’t, or wouldn’t, the networks be willing to extend “the season” into June or early July because the usual flow of business was interrupted from November through February? It’s not like, say, baseball, where when the players go on strike, you can’t extend the season past October because most baseball stadiums aren’t built with bad-weather play in mind and where the networks and sometimes the stadium authorities aren’t party to the dealings between the playes and owners (plus there’s competition from football after that point). In this case, the networks who will decide when programs get aired are the same entities that agreed to the new WGA contract - why not just have the writers complete full seasons and air the episodes later than May?
Cmkeller - there’s a couple of things at play.
a) there’s the overlap problem: we usually start writing the next season in June and start shooting it in August.
b) actor hiatus: the little buggers need their break, and it’s in their contracts. Plus, they always get their time off to shoot their features and their other projects.
c) the possible AFTRA/SAG strike: they still don’t have a contract, theirs come to an end in June.
d) Pilot season: we’re going to be trying to salvage something for pilot season, so we have a lot of teams overlapping things, too and some shift in staffing. Gnaaaargh. Not fun.
e) there’s also the matter of demographics: summer sucks. It really does. It’s kind of like December.
It’s really, really gratifying to see a labor action end in a victory. Congratulations, screenwriters.
How stupid do Bill Maher and Alec Baldwin feel now?
Out of curiosity, what have soap-operas been doing during the strike? They’re often rewritten the day before or of the shooting.
Elenfair, those reasons make enough sense.
New question, since you’re our resident insider: since Lost is almost certainly not doing a full 16 episodes this season, do you know if they plan to lengthen seasons 5 and/or 6 to compensate, or will they try to cram everything they had planned for this season into the fewer episodes, and seasons 5 and 6 will be the planned length of 16?