The talks between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers are not going well at all. In fact, they're going so poorly that everyone is beginning to imagine that a November 1st writers' strike really will happen. That means that short-term projects are being greenlit at light speed, with the hope of beating the deadline. But major studios have stopped taking spec scripts and writer's pitches until this is resolved.
"We are trying to get as much stuff as possible shoved through," said one studio VP. "It's as hot as I've ever seen it. And whether or not they strike on Nov. 1, we have to act as if they will."
On the feature side, studios are no longer taking writing pitches and are pretty much limiting themselves to making deals on fully developed packages. Warner Bros. and Universal, for example, have put out the word to agents: Don't bring in any spec scripts until the situation resolves itself.
"A strike on Nov. 1 is a real option," WGA West prexy Patric Verrone told Daily Variety on Monday. "What I'm hearing from our screenwriters and showrunners is that they're being asked to schedule additional table reads, prepare additional scripts and squeeze in more shows, which may be physically impossible in that amount of time."
On the TV side, the nets are scrambling to figure out how they'll fill primetime with no new scripted shows and trying to get pilot scripts completed as quickly as possible. There's also been a rash of series commitments in recent weeks, with nets handing out an unusually large number of six- and 13-episode orders.
Agents admit that the pace of feature dealmaking has stayed hectic in recent weeks -- but only for short-term projects. "Making any deals in long-term feature development has become really tough," one tenpercenter groused.
Producers and execs say available writing jobs have been drying up in recent days. "Unless you're a triple-A high-end rewriter, you're not getting an assignment now," one prominent producer said.
One agent noted that feature animation writing jobs may become a hot area for scribes in coming months since that arena's not covered by the WGA.
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As a result, an early strike could spell doom for some newer shows struggling in the ratings.
"If Fox has to shut down a show like 'K-Ville' in the middle of filming the seventh episode, they might just decide it makes more sense to simply cancel it," one agent said.
That's because keeping the "K-Ville" sets in place and its cast together would be costly. If the show were a hit, keeping the skein in a holding pattern would make sense, but given its weak early numbers, Fox might simply decide it makes sense to cut and run.
That decision would have a cost, too. TV shows generally need to produce 13 episodes to earn international coin. If shows such as "K-Ville" -- or CBS' ratings-challenged "Cane" or NBC's "Bionic Woman" -- wrap before they get to 13 segs, they'll likely end up a total loss for both the network and the studio that produces the show.
This is a nightmare for television viewers. If there's a strike, look for extra episodes of 20/20 and other news shows, more reality show episodes and the like. Talk shows which rely on comedy writers, such as Letterman and Leno will probably go off the air for a couple of months, as happened before. And sitcoms will be dead in the water.
