|
Post by beatie08 on Jan 23, 2008 22:44:57 GMT -5
STRIKE NEWS both parties decided to go back to the negotiating table as of today, however WGA president has ordered that there be a media black-out and that no WGA employees are to report any news to theThis was accepted and both parties decided to go back to the negotiating table as of today, however WGA president has ordered that there be a media black-out and that no WGA employees are to report any news to the media. According to a source, the strike could be over within a matter of weeks, a month at most
|
|
|
Post by katzz on Jan 24, 2008 8:41:35 GMT -5
From: Guerrilla Filmmaker Actor Heath Ledger as we all know died yesterday of as yet unexplained circumstances. I was never a huge Ledger fan, eventhough I did enjoy some of his films and am looking forward to "The Dark Knight," but for some reason the radical right just needs to find it in them to make fun of a man's death, as John Gibson did on Fox News, or stage a protest at his funeral. A radical religious group known to protest at soldiers' funerals are now going to protest at Ledger's, claiming God killed the guy because he played a gay man in "Brokeback Mountain." By Courtney Hazlett The Scoop updated 9:00 p.m. PT, Wed., Jan. 23, 2008 The radical Baptist church known for picketing the funerals of American soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq has announced that they intend to protest Heath Ledger’s stateside memorial service because he played a gay character in “Brokeback Mountain.” “You cannot live in defiance of God. He (Ledger) got on that big screen with a big, fat message: God is a liar and it's OK to be gay,” said Shirley Phelps in a statement sent out by the Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church. The only compelling reason to ignore Westboro Baptist’s reprehensible intentions is that highlighting the vast inappropriateness of their thoughts and actions only brings the church more publicity. However, if the members of Westboro Baptist get to speak their minds, every individual who feels that this is an affront to most basic standards of human ethics should be able to as well. “Wow, that should make his family feel great,” one person close to Ledger said angrily in response to the announcement. “I seriously don’t understand what is wrong with people. This is the last thing his family needs.” The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) told me, “We sincerely hope that Heath Ledger is laid to rest and his family is allowed to grieve in a private and peaceful ceremony.” On Jan. 22, GLAAD said that “Heath Ledger will forever be remembered for his groundbreaking role as Ennis del Mar in ‘Brokeback Mountain.’ His powerful portrayal changed hearts and minds in immeasurable ways.” Those close to Ledger agree. But moreover, those close to him want Ledger to be remembered as a man who loved his family and appreciated the career he’d had. To be fair, the people of the Westboro Baptist Church aren’t the only ones displaying poor taste. Fox News’ John Gibson on Jan. 22 opened his radio show with funeral music and mocked a signature line from “Brokeback,” saying, “Well, he found out how to quit you.” (When Gibson was contacted to explain his comments, he declined.) Enough is enough. It’s time to move past personal opinion and far-right-wing reactionaries and at the very least, show respect for a family that’s coping with a terrible loss. This column will begin moving forward Friday, but the impact of a Heath Ledger — a great actor, respected friend and doting dad — will not be forgotten. URL: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22813570/
|
|
|
Post by beatie08 on Jan 24, 2008 22:16:17 GMT -5
Wrong Post KAtzz i put the HEath Ledger Post in
STRIKE NEWS On Thursday 24th January 2008 an interview in the San Fransisco Chronicle states that there is a possibility for popular shows to be salvaged if they strike is to end within the next few weeks. Shows that run an hour may have up to half a dozen episodes before the season ends, and 20 minutes shows 6 or 7. However,the 3 month old strike has already ruined the pilot season for many of the major companies and it is unlikely that there will be many pilots commissioned for the 2008-2009 season.
Juggernaut shows like Lost, which has it's premiere Thursday 31st 2008 will only air 8 episodes due to the strike, however it is possible due to it's popularity that it will complete it's 16 episode season if the strike is to resolve soon.
SHOW UPDATE Real Time with Bill Maher .The sixth season premiered without writers on January 11, 2008.
|
|
|
Post by beatie08 on Jan 25, 2008 22:32:36 GMT -5
STRIEK NEWS the WGA had made an interim agreement with Lions Gate and Marvel Studios. This is an incredibly promising deal for the strike as Lions Gate is a very well known production company. However, the AMPTP has commented on these types of agreements as "meaningless", although talks between them and WGA are to continue over the weekend and many critics believe the strike can be over within two weeks
|
|
|
Post by beatie08 on Jan 27, 2008 22:21:57 GMT -5
Week 12 of the Writer strike and hopefully the SAG Awards are going ahead as planned and Neogations to end the strike at week 13
STRIKE NEWS High School Musical 3, are directly affected by the strike.
On January 14, 2008, two additional side deals were announced by the WGA- one with Media Rights Capital, a production company working on both features and television, and the other with Spyglass Entertainment. On January 25, 2008, another side deal was reached; the WGA and Marvel Entertainment Studios signed an interim comprehensive agreement
SHOW ON STRIKE Welcome to The Captain 6 All 6 ordered episodes were completed. Premieres February 4
GOOD NEWS AMC Mad Men 0 Lionsgate side deal made, production resumed on scripts for summer airing
|
|
|
Post by beatie08 on Jan 29, 2008 23:26:14 GMT -5
STRIKE NEWS the WGA gave the OK for the Grammy Awards to go on as scheduled
|
|
|
Post by Niemmy on Jan 30, 2008 4:21:22 GMT -5
Just as long as it dosen't effect the Scream awards! They are by far the bestest awards in the whole universe! the 2007 scream awards was just so cool!It makes the Oscars look like a big pile of poo! ;D ;D ;D
|
|
|
Post by beatie08 on Jan 31, 2008 0:25:52 GMT -5
STRIKE NEWS The Hollywood writers' strike against the major studios that began in November could be nearing an end. The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have been conducting informal discussions with a view to repair the almost three month battle. Negotiations between the WGA and major studios on a new contract covering 10,500 striking film and TV writers broke down December 7. Dispute between writers and studios over royalties from DVD and internet sales is the primary point of contention. The strike has forced studios to come to a stand still and TV schedules to be filled with reality shows. Without new substance, the movie calendar moving into 2009 could start looking rather slim. The Golden Globes awards ceremony was canned earlier this month after the WGA could not agree on a deal. In addition to the estimated loss of US$100m from the Los Angeles economy over the cancellation, the entertainment sector is still in limbo during the current award ceremony season. The need to reach an agreement is essential to an industry which has already lost over one billion US dollars due to the strike, as the cancellation of two ceremonies (the Globes and the forthcoming Academy Awards) could be financially catastrophic. High profile films, such as The Da Vinci Code sequel Angels and Demons, have already been put on hold and as the February 24th Oscar ceremony approaches, economists predict it could cost the city an estimated US$130 million, if abandoned. However, organisers are adamant the cancellation of the Globes does not mean next month's Academy Awards will not go ahead as originally planned. "We're not panicking. We're preparing our show, and we're moving forward," Academy president Sid Ganis told the Associated Press. "We're dealing with contingencies but we're thrusting ahead." Gilbert Cates, producer of the awards telecast, told The Los Angeles Times the show will go on. According to Cates, work is already underway with sets being designed and built and musicians and backstage personnel being hired. Cates says even without the stars, a glitzy show could be staged with vintage Oscar clips. "There are enough clips in 80 years of Oscar history to make up a very entertaining show," Cates told The Times. "We'd have a lot of people on stage." He declined say more but added, "I just hope that the actors are there. I pray that the actors are there. I'm planning that the actors are there." many publicists, celebrities and studio executives are still booking hotel rooms and LA-bound flights, The Oscar-nominee luncheon is still set for Feb. 4 at the Beverly Hilton and Vanity Fair is moving ahead with plans for its famous Oscar-night party. However, several high profile stars have been reported as saying they will not attend the awards ceremony while the strike is ongoing. The Scream Awards are best horror and sci fi and i never seen that Poor man killed in front of fans
|
|
|
Post by beatie08 on Jan 31, 2008 22:43:20 GMT -5
STRIKE NEWS The 12-week-old Hollywood writers strike is taking a heavy toll on prime-time viewership with television production largely stopped and the major networks airing more repeats, game shows and reality shows.
The five top broadcast networks were down a collective 17 percent for the week ended January 27 in ratings among viewers aged 18 to 49, the audience most prized by advertisers compared with the same week last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.
That is a sharp drop from earlier this season, before networks' supply of original sitcom and drama episodes ran dry and year-to-year ratings declines were running closer to 10 percent, network executives said.
Within weeks of the start of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike against major studios, work on most scripted prime-time shows ground to a halt.
The effects were largely unnoticed by viewers at first, as networks burned off a stockpile of original series programming, then filled their schedules with highly rated holiday specials and sports events through December and much of January.
Except for a handful of series the networks had saved for a winter "mid-season" launch, the cupboard of fresh episodes of scripted hits is bare.
News Corp's Fox led network rivals again in the latest weekly ratings race due to the smash hit talent contest "American Idol" and a strong debut of its lie-detector reality show, "The Moment of Truth." But Fox still saw a drop of 13 percent among viewers 18 to 49 years of age from the same week last year.
Walt Disney Co's ABC posted a 21 percent year-to-year slide in its 18-49 score, without fresh episodes for hit shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives." Its most popular program was "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition CBS, a unit of CBS Corp, saw a 23 percent drop in the 18-49 age group after exhausting fresh episodes for most of its popular "CSI" franchise earlier this month.
Both ABC and CBS are looking forward to an upturn with midseason premieres of new seasons of ABC's "Lost" on January 31 and CBS's "Survivor" on February 7.
Viewership for NBC, majority-owned by General Electric, was flat for the week compared with a year ago.
NBC, which had the fewest scripted hits among the networks to begin with, has been the most aggressive in rolling out new reality programming. It was helped by the popularity of the new "American Gladiators" series and an original episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
The 18-49 ratings for the fledgling network CW, a joint venture between CBS Corp and Time Warner Inc, fell about 46 percent year to year, according to Nielsen.
Efforts to end the writers strike got a boost last Wednesday as the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the studios, began informal talks aimed at laying the groundwork for official bargaining to resume.
The new discussions marked their first face-to-face talks since contract negotiations collapsed on December 7.
But even if a settlement was reached immediately, network executives say it would take weeks for the studios to ramp up production on new episodes of shows thrown off the air by the writers strike.
Yhere some hope soon that the wtiters strike to end this Friday
|
|
|
Post by beatie08 on Feb 1, 2008 22:56:05 GMT -5
STRIKE NEWS While negotiators edge toward agreement on the thorniest issues in the 3-month-old writers strike, many in Hollywood are nurturing new hope that an end is near for the walkout that has brought their industry to a standstill.
The Writers Guild of America and studio executives, beginning a second week of renewed talks, have made progress on the key issue of payment for Internet-distributed work, said a person familiar with the talks who was not authorized to publicly comment and requested anonymity. But hard work remains to be done, the person said.
The guild agreed last week to take proposals to unionize animation and reality TV writers off the table. Those demands had contributed to December's abrupt collapse of talks. With those out of the way, new-media compensation has become a major hurdle.
Even without official announcements coming from the closed-door talks, a strike-fatigued community showed it was ready to embrace optimism _ just not giddily.
``I'm like everyone else. I'm hopeful,'' writer Devon Shepherd, whose credits include ``Weeds'' and ``Everybody Hates Chris,'' said Tuesday.
``We're all just hoping that with time passing, cooler heads will prevail and people are seeing the bigger picture. The longer we stay out, it's not only hurting us but hurting the industry,'' he said.
The tone also was cautiously upbeat at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards, where stars gathered after the writers guild said it would not picket.
``Every single day, everybody is making a projection,'' said ``Big Love'' star Jeanne Tripplehorn. ``I think we're all more hopeful than in the past.''
Jenna Fischer, star of the ``The Office,'' echoed that perspective on the red carpet.
``It feels hopeful for the first time,'' Fischer said.
Away from the spotlight, however, uncertainty remained over what the guild and studio heads might achieve in the talks that began after a six-week negotiations impasse. The talks are the subject of a media blackout.
The guild's board of directors gathered Tuesday to discuss the status of the talks before meeting again with studio executives.
The primary corporate representatives have been Peter Chernin, chief operating officer of News Corp., and Robert Iger, chief executive of The Walt Disney Co.
The informal talks began after the Directors Guild of America reached its own deal with studios this month, and studio moguls urged the writers to join the informal sessions.
Compensation for work offered on the Internet also was a key issue during the directors talks, and is expected to be critical when the Screen Actors Guild begins negotiations. Its contract with studios expires in June.
The upbeat thinking about possible progress in the writers talks is being driven by more than the desire to get thousands of people back to work in New York and Los Angeles and stem losses estimated at $1 billion (euro0.68 billion) or more.
The film industry has a fervent desire to see the Feb. 24 Academy Awards, its biggest promotional showcase, staged in full-blown glory, without the threat of pickets. The guild has thus far refused to grant a waiver that would take the Oscars off the list of struck shows and allow writers to participate.
Waivers have been granted to the upcoming Grammys and NAACP Image Awards.
The guild's refusal to make a deal with the Golden Globes, and a decision by stars to honor the strike and boycott the awards, reduced that ceremony to a news conference.
``There's no day, other than the Super Bowl, that's bigger for American advertisers and therefore for American networks than the Oscars,'' said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment industry attorney and former associate counsel for the writers guild. ``Both the studios and networks have an enormous amount riding on a successful Oscarcast,'' he said.
In another development, CBS News staffers who are members of the writers guild have overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with the network. The contract covers 500 employees who work in New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago, in both TV and radio.
The deal provides raises of 3.5 percent annually plus a $3,700 (euro2,504.57) contract bonus. The contract, effective immediately, runs through April 1, 2010. Staffers had been working under an expired contract for nearly three years.
|
|
|
Post by beatie08 on Feb 2, 2008 21:39:50 GMT -5
GOOD NEWS FROM THE WRITERS STRIKE Hollywood's striking writers have made a key breakthrough in contract talks with film and television producers, leading to what could be a deal between the two parties by the end of next week.
Negotiators in the bitter dispute reached an understanding on how to deal with payments writers would receive when their work was streamed over the Internet, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources.
The report is the second sign of progress in one week in the screenwriters' strike that began on November 5 and has crippled Hollywood with TV production shutdowns and layoffs. It also has threatened to dim the lights on the Oscars on February 24.
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Times said progress had been made in the round of "informal talks" that began on January 23.
A spokesman for the Writers Guild of America, which has some 10,500 striking members, was not immediately available to comment. An official for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television
Producers, or AMPTP, which represents film and TV studios, declined comment, citing their media blackout.
SO I THINK THE STRIKE WILL BE FINISHED BY THE 13th Week LOLOLOLOLOL
|
|
|
Post by Niemmy on Feb 3, 2008 3:16:54 GMT -5
Yer that was the coolest ;D ;D ;D
Forever the optimist hey Beatie ;D
|
|
|
Post by beatie08 on Feb 3, 2008 23:15:28 GMT -5
STRIKE NEWS rumors continued to mount. Deadlinehollywooddaily.com reported that Peter Chernin had told fellow Super Bowl attendies that "the strike is over." However, WGA president Verrone has cautioned members that "we are still in talks and do not yet have a contract. When and if a tentative agreement is reached, the first thing we will do is alert our membership with an e-mail message. Until then, please disregard rumors about either the existence of an agreement or its terms.".
February speculation of an imminent end to the strike mirrored similar reports in mid-December which did not pan out. However, should a contract proposal be recommended by the negotiating committee and accepted by the WGA board of directors, the full WGA membership will need to review and formally vote for approval before the strike can be said to be officially over.
the WGA made a deal with four more filmmakers in New York City, thus getting closer and closer to ending the strike
On Sunday, February 3, 2008 it was announced in numerous newspaper websites that says that new episodes of television series could be produced as early as March, if the information that is swarming the media at the moment is correct. If the strike is resolved, shows like Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Private Practice and Brothers & Sisters could finish their seasons before the 2007-08 United States network television schedule ends. Unnamed sources say representatives of the Hollywood studios and striking writers with the Writers Guild of America reached a preliminary agreement around 9:00PM Pacific Time. The Los Angeles Times reported in Sunday editions that an end to the strike is imminent. On Sunday, the NBC nightly news speculated that this indicated a breakthrough had been reached concerning so-called new media
SHOWS IN STRIKE Beyond the Break THE N Season 3 has been confirmed, but unknown how many episodes have been written.
|
|
|
Post by beatie08 on Feb 4, 2008 22:52:56 GMT -5
STRIKE NEWS The ice appears to be cracking in Hollywood's long, cold winter of picket lines, shuttered productions and canceled award shows. As early as this week, the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike for three months, may be presented with a new contract. With two key industry events fast approaching — the Academy Awards and TV pilot season — the writers and the studios have had plenty of incentive to return to the negotiating table and get past the rancor that doomed the early talks. Thanks to a deal hammered out by directors, they have also had a road map to a contract.
Despite rumors and media reports of a deal struck over the weekend, WGA presidents Patric Verrone and Michael Winship e-mailed their members Sunday, saying, "We are still in talks and do not yet have a contract... Picketing will resume on Monday." The Alliance of Motion Picture Television Producers (AMPTP) also waved off reports of a done deal, though an AMPTP source said to "stay tuned."
WGA negotiators are expected to bring the union's board of directors a rough contract on Monday, the result of recent bargaining sessions attended by News Corp chairman Peter Chernin, Walt Disney chief executive Robert Iger and WGA negotiators David Young, John F. Bowman and Verrone. The negotiators have used the contract producers struck with the Directors' Guild of America last month as something of a template. That deal doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and grants the union jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.
Once the DGA deal got writers and studios back at the bargaining table, the WGA was the first to make concessions, dropping its demands to unionize writers on animated movies and reality TV shows. The studios, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, are offering the writers a slightly sweeter deal than they did the directors, paying more for shows that are streamed free on ad-supported web sites. The directors get a flat $1,200 fee for the entire first year of streaming, a prospect that underwhelmed many striking writers.
"The DGA deal had some positive elements, but it was, 'eh'," says John Aboud, a WGA strike captain and contributor to the strike blog UnitedHollywood.com. "The pressure on everyone has been building. The creative community on an emotional level can't afford to lose the Oscars, and the companies can't afford to lose them on a financial level."
If the WGA board approves the tentative deal Monday, contract language will be finalized over the next several days or weeks. If past Hollywood strikes are any guide, the writers may resume work before every detail of the contract is agreed upon. With less than two weeks to pen some Oscar patter and with plenty of productions anxious to resume, writers may want to start flexing their typing fingers.
The 13 week old Writers Strike will Finish on friday
SHOWS IN STRIKE THE N About A Girl 3 Three episodes remain for the 13-episode order. Second season not ordered. The Best Years 0 Has been cancelled by Global.
|
|
|
Post by beatie08 on Feb 5, 2008 22:41:32 GMT -5
STRIKE NEWS there was absolute choas when Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have been transformed into a bloodthirsty, if well-dressed mob. The trio appeared on each other's late-night TV shows Monday in a mock feud over who "made" Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee The fight began weeks ago, when O'Brien claimed responsibility for any success of Huckabee's campaign after the former Arkansas governor appeared on his "Late Night" show. Colbert took offense, having frequently touted the effect of the "Colbert bump" in the polls. Debating - as Colbert called it - the "transitive property of Huckabee," Stewart was eventually roped in, having hosted O'Brien on his MTV program "The Jon Stewart Show" in 1994. And after too many slights (O'Brien called Colbert the "temporary host" of "The Colbert Report"), the trio congregated Monday, roaming across three shows and two networks. Eventually, blowtorches, bricks, stunt doubles and even a little dancing were employed.
"My favorite comedy is comedy where nothing is achieved and there is no point," O'Brien said in a phone interview Tuesday. "That this whole Huckabee fight turned into an insane Marx brothers dance was fitting somehow." Pooling the hosts' combined talents had the intended upshot of filling time. NBC's "Late Night" and Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" are working without writers because of the strike. "Nonsense! That was never, ever the point!" contradicted O'Brien before relenting. "Certainly it was a source of inspiration. The fight itself is three people with a box full of props playing for about an hour." First, they got together on "The Daily Show," which airs earliest at 11 p.m. (EST), followed by "Colbert" 30 minutes later and "Late Night" at 12:35 a.m. "You want to tangle, Red?" Colbert snarled at O'Brien. Arranging it so they could make guest appearances and still host their own shows took some slight fiddling, O'Brien said. All the shows tape around the same time in various locations in Manhattan - though on Monday night's shows, the studios were shown as being down a single hallway. The trio put off the tussle until Stewart finished his show, only to reunite on "Colbert." Again, the fight needed to be postponed while interviews were attended to by the TV hosts. Later, across town at "Late Night," the feud culminated in an elaborate fight that ended only when the trio appeared to simultaneously knock each other out - the image frozen in a LeRoy Neiman-like painting. "Conan's claims on Mike Huckabee could not go unanswered," Stewart and Colbert said in a joint statement Tuesday. "We just hope the kids out there learned that sometimes the best way to resolve a conflict is with violence." For anyone watching, it was clear the three hosts share a certain comedic sensibility. Such playfulness would seem impossible with other late-night talk-show hosts; CBS' David Letterman and NBC's Jay Leno, for instance, have long had icy relations. "The three of us have come along in the same comedic environment," said O'Brien. "Our shows all probably have their distinct flavor, but this happened because the three of us knew we would like doing this with each other." While the rubble settled, Huckabee appeared by satellite to have the last word. "Let's be clear: None of these guys made me. This great nation made me," declared Huckabee. "So vote for me. God bless America and forget these three idiots." and theimage frozen in a LeRoy Neiman-like painting again.
WTH IS going on?
|
|