Wow. From Deadline Hollywood Daily, which has just been “Scoop Central” since this strike began:
No WGA Waivers For Globes Or Oscars
(Keep refreshing for the latest news and updates…)URGENT! The denials were announced tonight by the writers guild at the big WGA West membership meeting taking place right now at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association had requested a waiver for its NBC broadcast, but the WGA rejected it. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences had asked for a waiver to use clips from movies and past Academy Award shows which the WGA rejected. I’m told that once AMPAS asks to use WGA writers, that will be denied, too.
At the start of the meeting, WGAW president Patric Verrone introduced chief negotiators John Bowman and Dave Young to the crowd of striking scribes who gave all three men a standing ovation. The venue was 2/3s filled.
7:29 PM: The WGA West and East just made this statement:
“The Writers Guild has notified the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and dick clark productions that their requests for an agreement to allow writers to prepare material for the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards show have been denied.
The Guild has also denied a request from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a waiver in connection with the use of clips from motion pictures and past Academy Awards shows for use during the annual Academy Awards presentation.
In letters to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, WGAW President Patric M. Verrone described the Guild’s respect and admiration for both organizations, explaining that:
“Writers are engaged in a crucial struggle to achieve a collective bargaining agreement that will protect their compensation and intellectual property rights now and in the future. We must do everything we can to bring our negotiations to a swift and fair conclusion for the benefit of writers and all those who are being harmed by the companies’ failure to engage in serious negotiations.”
The signatories producing the Golden Globes and the Oscars are West Coast signatories. The WGAW’s Board of Directors concluded, reluctantly, that granting exceptions for the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards would not advance that goal.”
Keep refreshing through that site; she’s updating as information comes in. Wow. I’m not exactly surprised, but . . . wow.
Jon Stewart has got to be alternately laughing and shaking his head in sheer disbelief at his luck by now.
Aww, Jon… He would’ve been the only reason I watched the Oscars this year. Well it’s still a couple months away right? Maybe there’s still some hope there.
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Do you think Jon can pull out of hosting the awards show because it seems like he’s screwed?
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I’ve had that ‘Branson water fight’ montage in my head for a while now, specifically the guy saying, “…Madness!”
Off to read. Nikki Finke never sleeps.
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That’s some awesome leverage — these are the little things we sometimes forget about during times like these. Poor Jon — but, he’s a stand-up comedian; he’ll wing it and be brilliant. I bet the lines they feed the award show hosts will actually be funnier this year…and maybe the award shows will end on time for once. LOL!
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@Lisa Wait, if the WGA won’t allow the writers to prepare material for the Oscars, wouldn’t that include Jon and his staff?
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And will Jon cross the Oscars virtual picket line? My brain freezes imagining the strike will last that long. Perhaps the WGA playing hardball is the way to go.
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@ay,
I should clarify…if he does still host, though I imagine it’ll be difficult, he does so well with his interviews and unscripted material on TDS that I’m sure he’d still be hilarious. I’m not sure if his writers would prepare much material for the Oscars though…are there folks who work directly for the Oscars that do that? I’m not sure…
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There’s a lot of writing done for the Oscars, and a whole team of writers that does it. So, nobody will be preparing material for the show. If Jon does still host it, he’ll be on his own.
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@Ann G.
That’s what I figured. Thanks for clarifying. Oddly enough, you’d think this was such a huge story that it’d be everywhere on the Net today. Sadly, I haven’t seen one headline about it. Looks like NFZ and Nikki are the only ones with the latest breaking news.
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Jon’s been in tough spots before. Wasn’t he thrown the 2002 Grammys when Whoopi (who is apparently the new ratings magnet from her recent feuds on “The I-Do-Not-Care-to-View”) backed out at the last minute?
He probably has tons of stuff pent up from not being able to release it in the past few months. Okay,that sounded a little dirty (or maybe my mind automatically goes there), but I think you get what I mean.
Oh, and there’s an interesting little invite to have the Golden Globes at Alec Baldwin’s apartment from Alec Baldwin over at HuffPo.
@Lisa: MSNBC had been looping this story all morning, along with the Conan/Leno thing, tentative Letterman deal, Mike Huckabee’s ad, and Bill Clinton saying that the first thing he’s going to do when Hillary is elected is take George HW and go around the world and reverse everything that George W has done.
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I don’t understand this. How can the WGA deny the AMPAS permission to use clips from old movies at the Oscars?
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