Citing fallout from the WGA strike, CBS Paramount Network TV has decided to follow the lead of ABC Studios by terminating a handful of overall deals—and Warner Bros. TV could be next.
Exact number of cuts isn’t yet known, though it’s expected to be fewer than the ABC trims. CBS Par has a much smaller roster from which to cut.
WBTV’s cuts have been expected since Friday. Nothing official’s happened yet, though insiders believe the studio could take action within the next 24 hours or so. It’s expected WBTV will trim just a few deals from its roster.
A CBS Par rep on Friday had said the studio hadn’t terminated any deals, but that obviously changed over the last 72 hours.
“Production companies in the entertainment industry continue to feel the impact of the ongoing writers strike,” CBS Par said in a statement. "As a result of this change in development and production activity, we have made a difficult decision to discontinue ‘overall deals’ with a number of writers and producers whose talents we greatly value and respect.”
--Josef Adalian
I wonder how long these companies are going to make cuts before they cough up money for the writers. This has been the longest writers strike in history and it looks like either they get what they want or we never get to watch our TV shows again!
Posted by: Curtis | January 14, 2008 at 03:51 PM
Curtis: "the longest writers strike in history"? That's just silly. So far it's only gone half as long as the 1988 strike.
Besides, Les Moonves just told an audience that he's "cautiously optimistic" that the strike will be over within several months. (There's nothing like a bold prediction -- and this was nothing like a bold prediction.)
Posted by: Stuart Creque | January 14, 2008 at 04:00 PM