While the WGA picket lines that have become important stops for local tour-bus drivers looking to show visitors to our fine city the stalled dream-making factories where their favorite films and television shows were once made have generally featured enough exciting musical performances, adorable striking babies,…
· The looming threat of a strike-induced cancellation of the Golden Globes ceremony has thrown the party-planning world into chaos: How can anyone commit half a million bucks to fill a venue with chocolate fountains, imposing mounds of peeled shrimp, and ice sculptures of prohibitive best actor favorite Daniel Day…
With Conan, Jay, Jimmy, and the rest of the late night gang announcing they're reluctantly headed to back to work without their striking writers, it seemed inevitable that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert wouldn't be far behind. They've released this joint statement on their January 7th return: "We would like to…
· The Writers Guild has decided to picket the Golden Globes, a move that may make the decision to skip the ceremony easier for conflicted members of SAG. However, the possibility is raised that WGA protestors could be set up far enough away from the Beverly Hilton's entrance that actors who decide to attend could be…
The AMPTP, while still officially suspicious of the newfangled, profit-deficient internets that have cleaved their precious Hollywood in twain, continues to take bold leaps forward in adapting its once embarrassingly outdated web presence into a tool that will better serve their information-disseminating needs. The…
With not even the prospect of some rousing Christmas-themed pickets (we think that the briefly spitballed "March of 1,000 Angry Santas" in front of the Warner Bros. lot would've been a winner) to look forward to during a planned holiday protesting hiatus, a frustrated WGA has decided to take action to compel the…
Once again turning to the revenue-deficient wasteland of the internet to get its message out to the public, the negotiation-averse AMPTP posts a reminder about how much money the Guild is costing everybody while its members mock up hurtful websites and grab-ass with Mr. Sulu on the picket line. That Doomsday Ticker…
Obviously affected by yesterday's launch of AMPTP.com, some striking writers' hurtful commentary on the 1994-era design of the studio coalition's web presence, the organization today unveiled the kind of "widget" that the kids demand from their favorite blogotubes: a Doomsday Ticker™ relentlessly tabulating the…
· Sean Penn's Into the Wild leads the Broadcast Critics Association awards nominations with seven nods, including best picture, director, actor, and writer. Meanwhile, the contrarian critics of San Francisco name Brad Pitt's little-seen outlaw-tone-poem The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford…
A press release from the "AMPTP" that landed in our inbox a little while ago invited us investigate the real reason that the studios had to break off negotiations Friday evening with a Writers Guild hellbent on destroying Hollywood with its greedy pursuit of a fair deal: to focus on a much-needed upgrade of …
During the media blackout that accompanied the resumed post-Thanksgiving negotiations between the writers and studios, no news was good news, allowing Hollywood a brief—and, as it turns out, completely misguided—sense of hope that things might get settled before the holidays. As Day 36 of the strike begins and…
The AMPTP's recent retention of a new PR firm to help them more effectively communicate to the public why the intransigent, greedy WGA should accept the incredibly generous terms of their groundbreaking New Econonic Partnership is paying immediate dividends; while the organization's previous attempt to have studio…
The media blackout that accompanied the resumption of contract talks between the WGA and the AMPTP forced our Hollywood StrikeWatch round-up into a brief hiatus, but as the two sides have decided it's time to start talking to the press again, we can put our bullet-pointed morning show back into production:
Though the super-secret contract talks that WGA and AMPTP officials are currently conducting in a hidden, maximum-security bunker inside a hollowed-out section of hillside behind the Hollywood sign seems to have temporarily inspired feelings of "cautious optimism" in members of the warring factions who've been…
· With talks between the WGA and AMPTP resuming this morning, a Variety strike poll reveals that respondents believe that the Writers Guild is doing a much better job of "representing its side of the battle more forcefully and more clearly" than the studios. Indeed, the Companies might have to resort to having lead…
Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Deadline Hollywood Daily is debuting a series of "Speechless" videos, in which an impressive roster SAG actors (Holly Hunter! Harvey Keitel! David Schwimmer?) , take to these revenue-deficient internets to silently express their solidarity with their WGA peers. Especially…
The picketers (and, we suspect, pretty much everyone else who works in Hollywood) are off for the day and en route to wherever they're celebrating Thanksgiving, but we've still got enough links for one last pre-holiday round-up:
· The studios once again take a shot at getting their side of the ongoing contract dispute onto the YouTubes, this time wisely choosing a more persuasive messenger than Leave the AMPTP Alone Guy.
· Bill Nye the Science Guy vs. His Fake, Gardening-Poisoning Wife.
· The paparazzi are failing to show proper respect for…
As Hollywood prepares to bury those still-nagging feelings of labor-strife-related dread in turkey, stuffing, and sweet potatoes, here's the morning's round-up of strike news:
As Hollywood breathes a collective—if cautious—sigh of relief following some happy weekend news, here's the morning round-up of StrikeWatch news:
