Writers Return to Bargaining Table
Writers and studios heads have returned to the bargaining table after last week’s unsuccessful talks. CBS head honcho Leslie Moonves told an investor group that he was “not terribly optimistic” about the new set of negotiations.
The last studio proposal fell $21 million short of the the writer’s request.
The more telling figure involves the $20,000-plus that writers now earn for a single network rerun of a TV episode and the $250 the studios are offering for a year’s online reuse of an hourlong show. That represents the chasm between the old business order and burgeoning new media faced by negotiators as they try to end the strike, now in its fifth week.
CBS recently announced some scheduling changes starting in January 2008. Reruns of CSI and other crime dramas will be used to fill empty slots. Crime dramas typically do well in repeats
Reality shows are also expected to fill some of the dead air. Moonves said, “We are prepared to have a full schedule. We’re certainly not going to go dark.”
Showtime series such as Dexter and Weeds will be edited for CBS use as well. Showtime is a sister network to CBS.
writer’s guild of america, strike, csi, cbs
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