Though the striking Writers Guild of America was able to successfully put the kibosh on the 65th Annual Golden Globes this year (by threatening a picket line that the Screen Actors Guild said it would not cross), Academy Awards executive producer Gil Cates insists that the Oscars, which are slated for Feb. 24, won’t meet the same fate. “The show is going on,” Cates says. “I’m looking forward to it. We’re on schedule and, Hallelujah, I can’t wait until the 24th.”
Nevertheless, the uncertainty is making Madison Ave. antsy. “[The Oscar telecast] is something that advertisers count on as a launch pad, to introduce their products to a big audience,” says Bob Bernstein, chief media officer of Draftcb ad agency. “This is the biggest and most consistent TV property of the year behind the Super Bowl.” Last year, ABC, which has long broadcast the awards, sold 30-second Oscar spots for a reported $1.6 million each. This year, the network has pre-sold the spots at an even higher rate, according to an informed source, and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. estimates that a Globes-like scale-back of the Oscars could cost Hollywood’s local economy $130 million.
At this point, it seems unlikely that ABC and the Academy will actually make the unprecedented decision to cancel the Oscar telecast for the first time in history. However, the Oscars could look wildly different if no one’s writing words for anyone to speak. “I don’t know how they’re going to do it,” says longtime Oscar writer Bruce Vilanch. “It would be weird.”
Of course, the striking WGA and AMPTP could come to a resolution before next month, making the whole discussion moot. Unfortunately, with no new talks scheduled and the war of words between the two sides growing increasingly heated, no one is holding their breath for that rosy outcome.
(Additional reporting by Mike Bruno.)
Miramax is hosting a Golden Globes party after all!!!! Are the other studios going to follow their lead????
This is the sign that the Oscars need! It will completely streamline this 4 hour snoozefest by cutting away the fat – just read the nominees and winners and get to the next category. With commercials – the show could be a manageable 2 hours!
I certainly HOPE so. The WGA strike will point out to the American public how little they need award shows, the endless stream of melodramas that insult our intelligence, the raft of not-funny sitcoms that devalue our culture, and find other more meaningful entertainment that does not require WGA writers. What the WGA writers will prove is how little the American public really need them to be effectively entertained. So I say to the WGA – solidarity forever – and keep up the good work. I prefer better forms of entertainment than the mess that the WGA routinely serves up, and now the WGA strike will prove that America does too. Great job, WGA, in proving how complete expendable you truly are.
As the new year continues, I can’t wait to see what else the whining writers will ruin next. Go back to work.
Let them whine and strike and discover America does not need them at ALL.
The writers should read Mark Harris’s article here on ew.com. He makes a very valid point that the writers are screwing themselves over by not allowing actors to attend the now canceled Golden Globes ceremony. And I thought writers were supossed to be smart, guess not.
What are you all, a bunch of AMPTP socks or something? Everyone who has met with the WGA in good faith has come to a deal in a very short amount of time. The Globes are cancelled because NBC and it’s ilk are asshats. If the Oscars follow it will be for the same reason. Get over yourselves.
If the Oscars are cancelled because of the Writer’s Strike, I will personally cross the picket line and s*** will go down.
People see “writers strike” and think it’s all their fault. If you think writers make lots of money, check out what producers make! Millions more than the average writer. This is why most people in the movie industry stand by the writers in their struggle for fair pay.
I’m with J. Now if only we can also get rid of the equally useless directors and actors and just watch Peter Chernin, Bob Iger, Jeff Zucker and Les Moonves do sketch comedy every night of the week. That’s worth watching!
I am loving this! Award shows are a complete waste of time and money. This is so awesome!
Anybody else here think J’s a plant by the AMPTP? I mean, I know it sounds kind of ridiculous and pompous to think they would care about the message boards, but a lot of people seem to gauge the general public’s sentiment by comments on these boards. Just wondering. Just so we’re clear though, I am totally on the side of the writers.
To J: I’d love to know who,exactly,is going to provide you with your “better form of entertainment”, if not for a WGA member? I can’t see Les Moonves, Rupert Murdoch or any other studio owner/CEO getting out there and providing it. Not for them only getting six cents residual on a DVD.
All I want to know from the Oscars (and Globes, for that matter) is who won what. Drilling down to the essence of these award shows may be just what they (and the viewing audience) needed – a short show.
I officially am sick of the writers. When baseball players went on strike, it destroyed the game by making it about money. And now writers are doing the same thing, forcing people out of work and depriving gay men of the thing they live for–awards shows.
a very big part of me hopes the Oscars do get cancelled. I think it will be a hellofalot more exciting than the last few telecasts!