omg - series affected by the strike started to by script writers - now main stars are joining them to support their effort to get better pay.

affected shows:

Grey's Anatomy
24
desperate housewives
brothers and sisters
Kvile

and many more


http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/...r.ap/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- While writers picket in Hollywood and New York, the impact of a strike entering its fourth day was being felt beyond the east and west coasts.

In Louisiana, crews on the set of "K-Ville," a Fox police drama set in post-Katrina New Orleans, were filming the last episode written before the strike.

"I hope it ends soon," co-star Cole Hauser said Wednesday in between takes. "I think it's too bad for this show. I think we were just starting to get on a roll, and hopefully the writers and the studios will figure it out in the next 30 days to a month and a half."

The strike was also playing havoc with another show on Fox's schedule. In a press release, the network announced that "24's" premiere, set for January, was "being postponed to ensure that [the seventh season] can air uninterrupted, in its entirety."

Meanwhile, writers returned to the picket lines after their strike forced at least eight prime-time shows, including the popular NBC sitcom "The Office," to halt production. Watch stars join writers on the picket lines »

No new negotiations have been scheduled on the main sticking points between writers and producers: payments from DVDs and shows offered on the Internet.

One of the largest rallies Wednesday occurred outside the gates of the Disney studio in Burbank. About 60 people, including a number of powerful producer-writers known in the industry as "showrunners," joined the protest, even though the networks expected many of them to report to work as managers during the strike.

Among them was Greg Daniels, executive producer of the "The Office," who said filming stopped on the show after star Steve Carell refused to cross picket lines. Writers and actors from the show used their time on the picket line to make a video and post it on YouTube.

Sally Field, who won the best actress Oscar in 1979 for the pro-union film "Norma Rae," left the set of her ABC show, "Brothers & Sisters," to visit strikers outside the Disney lot.

Writers "are not being allowed to participate in the future of the business," Field said. "This can be a very lucrative field, but also incredibly insecure for all of the artists, writers, actors and directors."


At a Los Angeles studio, the cast of the ABC medical drama "Grey's Anatomy," which joined writers on a picket line, said they were shooting scenes for their last scripted episode.

Patrick Dempsey, Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, T.R. Knight, Justin Chambers, James Pickens Jr., Sara Ramirez, Eric Dane and Katherine Heigl spent their lunch breaks outside the Prospect Studios, where "Grey's" is filmed.

"We're supposed to be going until the end of May and right now our last shooting day will be Tuesday or Wednesday," Knight said. "As actors, we're paid a different way than the writers, but there's also the crew to keep in mind. They are out of work as of next Wednesday."

The strike began Monday after last-minute negotiations failed to produce a deal. The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said no new talks had been scheduled. Neither group offered further comment Wednesday.

Production of at least seven sitcoms has been halted because of the strike, and the hit ABC drama "Desperate Housewives" was scheduled to finish filming its latest episode because it had run out of scripts.

Along with "The Office," sitcoms that will stop the cameras include "Back to You," "The New Adventures of Old Christine." "Til Death," "Rules of Engagement," "Two and a Half Men" and "The Big Bang Theory."

Networks were expected to announce plans for alternative programming in the coming days.

The strike immediately brought repeats of late-night comedy shows, but it was not expected to have an immediate impact on production of movies. Most studios have stockpiled dozens of movie scripts, and many TV shows have scripts or completed shows in hand to last until early next year.

Writers have not gone on strike since 1988, when the walkout lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry more than $500 million.

OMG...They aren' getting paid enough for their popular series is it? T_T
Come on...give in to their demands...I want my HEROES!!

I'll say give the money to them!

Yeah. I think producers and directors are richer than script writers by god-knows how many folds

This, I have to agree

But judging by the greedy-ness of the producers / companies, I don't think it is gonna be that easy

What are we complaining of?
They strike bcos of not enough wages, and did we contributed any dough to them?

So what if the shows are postponed or canceled? Do we even has the right to complain or not? Since almost all of us just simply download the series directly down from the net... which including me

So I ain't complaining

give them their money

yea guys give them their money by buying the ori dvds instead of downloading rips lol.

I dont watch tv series anymore, I find none interesting.

I don't care shit about them. JUST GIVE US BACK OUR DAMN SHOWS.

At least they're gonna start talking again.

http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/james-hibberd/...s_to_resume.php

its attitude like this that causes strikes.

George Clooney is giving out his own money to pay the salaries of actors that are not paid because of this

well, if the producers of Friends can pay their actors millions per episode, i dun see why writers does not deserve what they are demanding. without them, even u have AAA superstar also doesn't help. so yea, my support to them.

Yeah saw that snippet in the Star. Which leaves me wondering, why not have an actors strike? Using the same logic, not everyone writes for mega-bucks, not everyone acts for mega-bucks.

The SAG (and DGA) contract is only expiring next year. You can be assured they're gonna want a piece of the pie as well.

If the current strike goes on till next year, we could potentially have all of Hollywood on strike.

its getting uglier !!


Hollywood writers talks collapse
By Peter Bowes
BBC News, Los Angeles

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7133973.stm

The strike is now in its fifth week

Talks between striking screenwriters and Hollywood producers have broken down in Los Angeles.
Now in its fifth week, the strike has closed down dozens of TV shows and delayed production on movies.

With no sign of a breakthrough in this dispute over pay, each side is suggesting the other is to blame for a lack of progress in the negotiations.

The dispute centres on how writers should be compensated for their work when it appears on DVD or the Internet.

The employers, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers blamed the breakdown on what it called an ongoing union strategy to delay or derail talks.

But in a letter sent to its members the Writers Guild of America accused the producers group of dragging its heels in putting new proposals on the table.

The Alliance said that wasn't the case and suggested the union had failed to respond to specific proposals regarding pay for work in new media, such as the Internet.

The increasingly bitter dispute has resulted in many popular TV shows closing down production.

America's late night chat shows have been off the air since day one of the strike, which is costing the industry millions of dollars.

Other entertainment workers, such as sound engineers and makeup artists have been laid off.

Over 500,000 pencils purchased by TV fans will be delivered to thenetwork bosses
OMGosh

Good idea. Makes strike so people nothing to watch then they rent/buy dvds.