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WGA Warns of Potential Delays to Start of Fall TV Season

Apr 6, 2017  •  Post A Comment

The Writers Guild of America is ratcheting up the pressure on studios as the threat of a writers strike continues to hang over Hollywood, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The WGA is “reaching out directly to advertisers, saying that a potential strike could lead to delays in the fall TV season and would likely harm ratings,” the report notes.

The article quotes a letter from David Young, executive director the Writers Guild of America West, sent Tuesday to media-buying agencies. In it Young warns of a possible domino effect should the writers go on strike.

“Any delay in the start of work has the potential to postpone fall season premieres and reduce the amount of new programming available to advertisers and audiences,” Young warns in the letter.

The deadline for a new contract is May 1, the report notes. Young points out in the letter that the last writers strike, which began in late 2007 and went on for 100 days, brought about a drop in ratings.

The Times adds: “Among the shows that will be hit almost immediately are the late-night talk programs that rely on writers to come up with jokes and witty banter on a nightly basis.”

4 Comments

  1. The last writers strike was before Netflix and Amazon were in everyone’s phone and living room. A strike will give me more time to catch up on binging shows I am behind on. The strikers would be doing me a favor. Also, people may realize that the NFL has live games on Thursday nights.

  2. If the writers go out, it’s going to last longer than it did in 2007. The broadcast networks are dying because nobody watches them anymore. There are so many alternatives now that viewers will easily find other ways to entertain themselves. The writers will be alone on an island as a result. I don’t think they are going to get the cooperation from the other unions either this time…and they will certainly not get any sympathy from viewers because there is no longer appointment television anywhere. Writers, brace yourselves for a long, long fight.

    • Amen to that. I hope that they will settle soon, but if they don’t… oh well…

  3. This will open up employment to other talented people who are not part of the over-unionized Hollyweird system … Since its Spring time … is it time for some cleaning ?

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