Survivors in a TV Strike Scenario

On May 11, two months into the Writers Guild of America strike in 1988, “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson went back to work, citing the economic toll the work stoppage was having on his crew. The next month, David Letterman restarted NBC’s “Late Night With David Letterman” without his writers--though Letterman voiced his support for their cause by calling producers “money-grubbing scum” and paying homage to his writers in Top 10 lists, as in: “No. 7, not available due to the writers strike.”

Neither Carson nor Letterman crossed a picket line, exactly--they were able to write their own monologues without violating WGA rules under a separate agreement with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists that allows performers to use their own material on air during a WGA strike.

Neither Letterman nor Carson’s successor, Jay Leno, is commenting on whether he will exercise the so-called AFTRA exception this time around, should WGA members vote to strike when their contract expires May 2. Leno, says a source, has told his staff he will honor a WGA walkout, and no one expects the other late-night network hosts to stay in production during a strike.

Negotiations between the producers and the WGA entered a fourth week Monday. The threat of separate work stoppages this summer by the WGA and the Screen Actors Guild, whose contract expires July 1, have cast a pall over much of Hollywood.

But in television, anyway--and particularly in the niche worlds of late-night, daytime and cable television--the specter of a work stoppage isn’t as far-reaching, given the volume of alternative programming that has sprung up since the WGA strike of 1988. Indeed, such is the proliferation of cable and unscripted programming since the last writers strike that it can be difficult to sort out which shows would be affected by strikes.

The Lifetime drama “Any Day Now,” for instance, is covered by both the WGA and SAG, but all of Comedy Central’s in-house programming, including “The Daily Show” and “The Man Show,” which employ a full complement of writers, are produced outside the jurisdiction of the WGA, meaning that the writers of those shows don’t receive pension and health benefits, nor are they compensated with residuals when shows are rebroadcast.

Coverages are not absolute; the game show “Jeopardy!,” for instance, is a WGA signatory. But generally speaking, prime-time dramas and comedies, syndicated series such as “VIP” as well as filmed shows on cable like HBO’s “Oz” are covered by the WGA and SAG.

Meanwhile, most non-prime-time shows and taped series--including the cheaper-to-produce talk shows, sketch comedy shows, game shows, sports and news programming that dominate cable TV--are under AFTRA’s jurisdiction, which means the programs can stay in production during strikes by the WGA and SAG. Under this scenario, for instance, a striking actor could appear on Bravo’s “Inside the Actors Studio.” The AFTRA contract covering all these shows expires Nov. 15.

The changed landscape can be seen in prime time too, where unscripted, staged series such as CBS’ “Survivor” have yet to reach a saturation point in popularity. Because they amount to “strike-proof” programming, popular series such as “Survivor” and Fox’s “Temptation Island” have a clear side benefit. On ABC, this trend is more pervasive, though “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” seen four times a week, is now a signatory to the WGA after coming under fire for deeming its writers “segment producers” to avoid paying health and pension benefits.

Soap opera fans, meanwhile, probably needn’t fear any interruption to the daily twists and turns of their favorite daytime dramas. Story lines are typically mapped out months in advance, say industry veterans, so if the writers go on strike, producers, actors and others will step in to craft the daily dialogue. And since the shows are taped, the actors are contracted with AFTRA.

“We know that the soaps will go on, and that viewers will get their new programming every single day,” said Linda Susman, editor of Soap Opera Weekly.

In 1988, Ann Marcus was head writer on “General Hospital”; as the writers strike dragged on, she watched as the show’s executive producer drove himself to exhaustion cranking out scripts.

Marcus, who is active in current talks as a WGA board member, said that soap writers are the “first people who are hurt by a writers strike, because they’re the ones writing stuff that goes immediately into production on the screen.” The dialogue might seem disposable to some, but Marcus says a strike would have a tangible effect on the shows’ quality.

“They’re going to get boring, and the writing is going to be terrible and people are not going to enjoy them as much,” she said.

Producers and writers of such soaps as “General Hospital,” “Days of Our Lives” and “The Young and the Restless” declined comment. The last major interruption in daytime drama came in 1995, when coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial preempted many soap operas.

At issue in the ongoing negotiations between the producers and the WGA are residual payments for writers when their work is shown on foreign TV, cable TV and via the Internet, and when videocassettes and DVDs are sold. Writers also want expanded “creative rights,” such as more access to film sets and editing sessions, as well as a reining in of the “film by” credit routinely given to movie directors.

Concurrent strikes by the actors and writers would have a devastating effect on the local economy, particularly damaging to Hollywood’s “below the line” workers such as costumers and grips. Already, the ripples are being felt, with networks stockpiling scripts of dramas and comedies and increasing orders on unscripted series.

In late-night, however, the show could go on. During the WGA strike of ‘88, Carson spent eight weeks on the sidelines before returning. For several weeks, he crafted his own monologue and introductions, then signed an interim agreement with the WGA that brought his writers back before the five-month strike was settled.

“Johnny just wanted to do his show. He didn’t have any big political motivation,” said Darrell Vickers, one of Carson’s writers at the time.

Two months later, Letterman resumed production of his 12:30 a.m. NBC program. “We’ve got nothing but time to kill tonight,” he said, and at one point cut to the control room, where Pete Fatovich, an associate producer, played “Lady of Spain” on his accordion. Fatovich, by the way, is back on staff at Letterman’s CBS show.