Writer's Strike?
 

So the WGA contract expired today, and with negotiations looking a tad worse for the wear, a strike isn't completely out of the question. It might be held off for a little bit until the contracts of the Screen Actor's Guild and Director's Guild of America expire June next year, but since the writers are now being backed by the Teamsters their bargaining power has greatly improved in the near-term.

In case all of the above sounds like foreign reporting, let me break down the basics:

Screenwriters live very tenuous existences. Writers can go years without selling consecutive scripts, so they'd enjoy it if the residuals from the stuff they actually sell comes back to them. Stuff like DVD sales and syndication and such. The studios aren't willing to give up enough residuals (especially in the area of online downloads) to appease the WGA, so complications arise.

What does this mean to you the viewer? Well here's a basic, if gloomy, overview, but there are already small tremors happening. For instance, you know how Heroes: Origins was going to alleviate the programming breaks? Well, it'd be kind of hard to make a show when there's nothing written and all those who could write won't. And hey, Whedon's coming back to T.V! Wait a second, isn't Whedon a writer...
D'oh!

Some blogs and such to watch the car wreck happen:
[url=http://unitedhollywood.com/United Hollywood[/url] - Written by the Strike Captains of the WGA.
The Artful Writer - The personal opinions of a screenwriter in the business.
Greed is Good: How Big Media Wants to Steal From its Workers - I dunno, I figured fifth needed something to be mad about outside of mothers screwed by health insurance.

This happened with the Battlestar Galactica webisodes, but I had no idea it was so prevalent. I think that, in the long run, this will work out for the better, but they better have Heroes written far enough ahead that it's not affected.

The plan for the strike is for lots more reality shows, I hear. Whoop dee doo. Although didn't Joss swear to never ever work with Fox ever again? I'd like to see why he changed his mind.

Hell, if they need some writers I'll go write for the shows.
Even if I got paid half of what they get paid I'm certain it's a ton more than 11,000 a year(That's thanks to my manager raise).

I'm more worried about all the properties being rushed into production to get ahead of the strike.

I've a bad feeling that 2009 is gonna be a year full of sucky movies.

I almost hope that Whedon never gets that series made.

I don't think my heart... nay my soul, can take another Firefly.

You mean like this one?

Well, some shows started writing earlier in the year for this season. Like in Behind The Eclipse for episode 3 of Heroes says they should have 14 episodes written. But that may actually account for it being not as good this season.

Meanwhile, it looks like it's likely that the writer's guild will walk out Monday now.

Yeeeeeeeeeah, I just watched Transformers on DVD today, and I'm not really sympathetic to any group whose member(s) could write such horrific dialogue.

Then again I'm not sympathetic to whatever cruel producer stood behind their chairs and whipped them, screaming, "INCLUDE MORE PUNS ABOUT 'MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE', CRETINS."

Actually, do even Independent filmmakers/writers become members of the WGA? Because while the lack of the bad schlock that is about 95% of Hollywood wouldn't really bother me, if it means there isn't going to be ANY schlock, good or bad, then I could see this being bothersome.

You haven't been paying attention the past two decades have you? :)

American cinema has reached the Planck length of banality- meaning that movies cannot physically become any more shallow without changing the speed of light and gravitational constant.

Whether this is the fault of writers or producers has yet to be seen.