Nov 28, 2007 8:13 pm US/Pacific
No Deal Reached In Third Day Of WGA Negotiations
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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The two sides met Monday and again Tuesday in their first round of talks since the strike began Nov. 5.
CBS
Negotiations attempting to end the Writers Guild of America strike will be held for a fourth consecutive day Thursday, according to a source familiar with the talks.
Both sides have met daily since Monday in their first set of talks since the strike began Nov. 5 over pay for work distributed via the Internet, video iPods, cellphones and other new media.
Following the three days of negotiations as originally agreed to, at least one additional day of negotiations is planned. The guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the movie studios and television networks, have agreed to a news blackout on the talks. The site of the negotiations has not been disclosed.
The strike sent late-night talk shows into reruns and halted production on most scripted television series.
However, NBC's "Last Call With Carson Daly" will become the first late-night talk show to resume production. New episodes are expected to begin airing Monday.
Daly's decision to cross the picket lines drew criticism from the Writers Guild of America West. "We're disappointed in Carson Daly's decision to return to work," a guild statement said. "Mr. Daly is not a writer and not a member of the WGA, unlike other late-night hosts, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson and Jimmy Kimmel, who have all resisted network pressure and honored our writers' picket lines.
"We're especially appalled at Mr. Daly's call for non-Guild writers to provide him with jokes. We hope he'll change his mind and follow the lead of the other late-night hosts."
Daly sent an e-mail to friends giving a voicemail number where they can leave jokes that will be used on the show, according to the Web site, The Smoking Gun.
A study released today by the UCLA Anderson Forecast estimates the strike could cost the local economy $380 million if it lasts as long as the 22-week walkout by writers in 1988, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. had estimated roughly a $1 billion loss.
Although the strike has idled thousands of production workers, most of the job losses are temporary and production losses from scripted shows shutting down are mitigated by an increase in unscripted programming, Jack Nickelsburg, an economist with the UCLA Anderson Forecast, told The Times.
Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., told The Times that if the strike is settled soon, the impact will be limited. However, he stood by his estimate of a $1 billion loss in the event of an extended stoppage.
"We think it's a reasonable estimate," Kyser told The Times, citing the many businesses that benefit from the entertainment industry, which he said contributed nearly 7 percent -- an estimated $30 billion annually -- to Los Angeles County's $442 billion economy.
The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds, an international body representing guilds of professional screenwriters, declared today International Solidarity Day, with demonstrations in support of the striking WGA writers held in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris; at Berlin's Brandenberg Gate; Montreal; Toronto; Amsterdam; Auckland, New Zealand; and Sydney, Australia, a guild official said
Picketing was also held outside NBC in Burbank.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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