Just to be clear: while the Writers Guild of America West announced Monday it has blocked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association from using guild writers on its Golden Globes award show next month, and said “no” to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences about using current and historical film clips on its Academy Awards broadcast, the Academy has for whatever reason not requested a waiver for using guild writers on the 2.24.08 Oscar show.
They should spare themselves the effort. In a 12.19 N.Y. Times story on the matter by David Carr and Michael Ceiply, it is reported that WGA chiefs directors have “already decided they [will] not grant a waiver for writers, including the prospective host Jon Stewart, to work on the show.
A guild spokesman told the Times on Tuesday that “the union planned to have picket lines around the Globes ceremony in Beverly Hills, Calif., set for broadcast on 1.13.08 on NBC, potentially leading to empty seats where there should be Hollywood royalty. He said the union had not yet decided whether to picket the Oscars.
“With those moves, Hollywood√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢s most cherished movie awards shows could lose much of their star power, viewers, advertising revenue and cachet,” the Times story explains. “Suddenly, the film industry is looking at its first real damage from a six-week-old writers√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢ strike that has mostly been chewing up the television schedule.
√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√Ö‚ÄúWe were surprised to meet opposition at this early stage,√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√Ǭù said AMPAS executive director Bruce Davis. “We thought we√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢d be Switzerland.√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√Ǭù