Someone I know at Sarah Connor Chronicles tells me Warner Bros. laid off everyone yesterday to "make a point." Ew.

Fuck sake. I dare not open the show runners blog, then.

He hasn't posted about it.

My friend says one of the non-writing producers even tried to get them to keep him on since he was only doing cut notes and casting, but TPTB's scythe was the Great Leveler. Everyone goes. I guess they'll get someone else to edit the episodes for them.

What sort of point does that make? That WB is a bunch of dicks?

(no, I get it, just....what the hell.)

Yeah, I'm presuming this is a different situation from production simply being shut down, as that was an expected consequence.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES has been sold abroad. I know they're launching it big on Virgin 1, a new UK TV channel. So they need those episodes, and they've paid upfront for them. Obviously, if Josh is refusing to work on them, they're in a mess.

So from a business point of view, I can see exactly what Warners are doing. But still, they're really shitting in their own backyard long term.

eta: Somebody told me the Ugly Betty people are currently shooting draft scripts, as they have nothing else to work from. Heh.

I've been trying to figure out why this strike has felt so emotional to me (considering I don't really know anyone involved) and I think it comes down to two things:

1. I feel like I know these writers, even though I really don't, because of all the blogs, posts, and other ways they communicate with their fans. Like Allyson says in her book, I (and I think many of us here) love the writers for their sexy brains.

2. I know that writers aren't all artsy scarf people, but I really can't imagine anyone more unlike a writer than a teamster milk delivery truck driver or any other sort of teamster for that matter. So the solidarity is really cool to me.

Was this posted yet: [link]

Yesterday's screenwriters' ad in the trades.

A query on the WGA strike. At what level are decisions on contracts from the producer end made. That is could an individual show break from the producers and pay the writes what they ask without waiting for a settlement? Could a small production company like Mutant Enemy do that? In other words is the legal setup such that solidarity on management side against the writers is pretty much locked regardless of preferences by producers?

I'm guessing that Jon Stewart can't independently decide to pay his writers what the WGA demand, because he does not own the show in that sense. But what about all these branded, independent companies with a big name and a few shows? Could they break with management and just sign a WGA contract?

Typo, I think this op-ed by Marshall Herskovitz answers some of your questions -- very, very short answer, it sounds like production companies and individual showrunners have much, much less independence than previously, and that avenue is much narrower and more difficult than, say, a decade ago.