Strike threat spreads panic in Hollywood

[Omaha Steve]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2165289,00.html

Strike threat spreads panic in Hollywood


Desperate studios are rushing to hire A-list stars and finish films before a threatened walk-out

David Smith
Sunday September 9, 2007
The Observer

The bright lights of Hollywood could be about to flicker. America's film and television industry is facing a strike by actors, directors and writers which threatens to cripple its output and hit the production of major films in Britain.

The dispute is over pay, including awkward new questions about how much artists should earn from the internet when their work is shared or downloaded thousands of times via websites such as YouTube or iTunes.

The prospect of a stoppage, which would start next summer and cost millions of dollars, has prompted a production frenzy. Writers are racing to finish scripts, actors are under pressure to accept parts and producers are stockpiling material so they can maintain regular releases during a blackout. The scramble also applies to television: NBC has ordered 30 episodes of the fantasy drama Heroes to pre-empt a studio shutdown.

'I've never seen Hollywood in such a panic,' said Graham King, the British-born Oscar-winning producer of films including The Departed and the forthcoming The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt. 'It's created a stir: everyone is racing to get movies done before the strike. I'm looking at three or four movies and, if I don't start prepping them in the next few weeks, I'll have to wait until September next year. I'm in emergency mode. Everyone is panicked.'

The threat has made the battle for A-list stars in Hollywood fiercer. Leading actors have time to cram in two or even three films before any action, and their agents are working over weekends to ensure that deals are struck.

FULL story at link.

[zanne]

1. I wish the writers would go on strike.

It would no doubt improve the story lines.

[DBoon]

2. but many fashionable restaurants would close in the mean time

this may sound funny but it's true - a big hollywood strike really does this

[zanne]

3. Maybe we should go on strike...

Until they stop making such dumb-ass movies.