Grammys, WGA Hit Sour Note
The Grammys will proceed without writers, as the Writers Guild of America has opted to not issue the award show a guild waiver for the telecast, Daily Variety reports.
The WGA also informed the Screen Actors Guild that any members will need to cross a picket line if they intend to show up to the Feb. 10 Grammys, the newspaper says.
Even though the Recording Academy hasn’t applied for a waiver yet, the WGA is firm in denying the request, the newspaper reports.

Studios Nix Deal During Strike Belt Tightening
CBS Paramount Network Television, Universal Media Studios, 20th Century Fox Television and Warner Bros. Television have canceled dozens of deals due to the writers strike on Monday, the Hollywood Reporter reports.
The cancellation of the deals will save the studio millions, but the move cut loose writers and non-writing producers including Hugh Jackman at CBS and Fox’s “K-Ville’s” creator and executive producer Jonathan Lisco, the newspaper says.

Writers, Media Rights Capital Make a Deal
The Writers Guild of America has struck a separate deal, in the same vein as its deal with David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants, with Media Rights Capital, an independent film finance and production company, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Media Rights Capital has worked with talent such as Larry David and Ricky Gervais, and finances several television, film and online programs, the Times reports.

Swag Threatened During Strike
The swag bag, the free stuff talent gets for showing up to an awards show, is becoming a threatened species as picket lines have deterred big stars from showing up to gift suites, the New York Times reports.
Gift suite promoters have been stretching their definitions of big stars, with the biggest hitter at the Golden Globes gift suite being a “Deal or No Deal” model, the Times says.
GBK Productions, one of six major gift suite planners, said it expects revenues to slide $100,000 from last year, the newspaper reports.

-Andrew Krukowski