Brown: Writers Guild strike has real consequences
Your favorite shows may be in danger
By Jesse Brown (Contact)
Thursday, November 8th, 2007
The skies are turning dark. A storm is looming on the horizon. Panic will engulf the streets of America and we will be thrown into a dark age. The Writers Guild of America has officially gone on strike.
Why should we care? How is that going to affect our lifestyles? The WGA has gone on strike and who knows why. It could be money, actually. That is probably the main thing, but a lack of communication between the WGA and the Directors Guild of America and the studios has hindered any quick resolution to this crisis. So how does this affect us? Consider that most of the shows we watch could quite possibly be cut into shorter seasons due a lack of writers, which would ruin our appetite for our television addictions. It could be a long winter with no escape from our usual entertainment from life, our beloved television shows.
While it’s not certain yet whether some shows are going to be cut short, the outlook is bleak. Studios are preparing for the worst and they’ve begun to take steps to end various shows’ seasons with a conclusion, rather than in the middle of an arc. They’d have to wait until next fall to continue it.
“Heroes” has already filmed an extra scene that could cut the season short and “Scrubs,” in its final season, is going to lose six episodes to complete the series with a 12-episode seventh season.
Also, it is causing a dilemma with producers and writers who participate actively in their respective shows. For example, three of the actors on the popular sitcom “The Office” are writers on the show as well. So while they want to support the strike, they cannot because they are contracted to be actors as well, which could cause unpleasantness. Hopefully this wouldn’t ruin the performances. This writer’s strike is also going to affect late night television. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert could all see their show affected by this strike. While they are performers, they have to appreciate the writers of their show so they will certainly support them.
If this strike happens to last longer, it may have deeper wounds than ever. Quality in television shows and movies could go right through the floor. The studios will start buying more reality programs, which 90 percent of the time are complete trash. They will start buying scripts from struggling Hollywood writers, which could be good for them and maybe find a few gems in the mix, but big budget movies will certainly suffer. Paramount Pictures Studio have already rushed the writers of the “Transformers” movie to write a sequel, and hopefully that rush won’t harm the film as it may harm other films.
Let us hope that the strike won’t last very much longer, but if it does, it may be a dark age in the entertainment industry. At least, Jayhawk sports are providing entertainment.
Brown is a Lee’s Summit, Mo., junior in journalism.
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