No Love Lost

When the trade papers come out with those “special issues”--like the Hollywood Reporter’s recent edition highlighting the Writers Guild of America’s 40th annual awards--they’re usually chock full of congratulatory ads. But that WGA salute in the Reporter looked anorexic--tributes from a few agencies, a computer store and the Directors Guild (a paltry half-pager at that). Could the writers’ strike have anything to do with it?

Everything, said marketing/sales director Lynne Segal: “Every studio and network was absolutely booked,” as well as production companies. But at deadline, just as the strike heated up, “they all pulled their ads. We got caught between a rock and a hard place. They also pulled their tables from the (WGA awards) dinner. It was unfortunate timing.”

Also costly: The 11 lost ad pages, Segal estimated, were worth about $20,000.