Studios eye UK scribes to replace striking WGA writers

By Karyn Chenoweth Nov 10, 2007, 17:16 GMT

Members of the Writer\'s Guild of America West, Laura House (L) and Mat Harawitz (R) in front of the NBC studios in Burbank, CA, USA, 08 November 2007. Writer\'s Guild of America members have been on strike since Monday and are demanding a greater portion of profits derived from DVD and internet sales. EPA/SEAN MASTERSON

There seems to be a way out of every loophole and predicament for the deeply pocketed corporate-owned Studios, who are prepared to go to the mat and beyond with the WGA strikers.

Far away from picket lines, the United Kingdom is home to many excellent screenwriters available and ready to work on movies backed by the U.S. studios.

Variety notes that the WGA has no jurisdiction in Britain. 

But the unspoken concerns are for the producers, agents and studio staff in London is how they can get their writers working without too much repercussion from their US partners.

Variety notes that The Writers Guild of Great Britain "has pitched in with its own opinion. "We are contacting the major U.K. broadcasters and producers, and the U.K. Film Council, asking them not to dump U.K. material into the U.S. market and not to dress up American projects to look as though they are British," said general secretary Bernie Corbett."

"Strike-breaking would at best be a short-term payday but would have a devastating long-term effect on a writer's U.S. career," said Corbett.

That depends, of course, on the attitude of WGA. As one London-based studio exec said, "It's still legitimate for us to be working on non-WGA contracts if the writer is rendering services in the U.K. But some people are freaking out that if you cross a picket line, and you are not WGA already, it may affect your ability to join the union in future."

British-based productions are almost always non-WGA, noted Variety, even the biggest ones developed by the U.K. arms of the studios or produced by companies with studio relationships such as Working Title (Universal), DNA Films (Fox), Marv Films (Sony) and Heyday Films (Warner).

None is a WGA signatory, and some have their own independent local financing, so technically they shouldn't be directly affected by the strike.

Meanwhile, stateside, the beat goes on as Bill Wrubel, a writer for Ugly Betty, emailed frontline reporter Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood: "Regarding the incredibly sh*tty coverage of the strike in the entertainment press, I have spoken to a bunch of writers who are cancelling their subscriptions to the trades.  Yesterday, outside Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, I briefly started the following chant: 'Variety and the Reporter stink. We get our news from Nikki Finke.' "

The trade, Below the Line, which reports on the production crew issues, has been front and center on their blog dubbed "Blog the Line" with daily coverage;  their reporter Mark London Williams has been posting daily updates from the front lines here on Monsters as well.

All this upset and fear the strike will last well into the summer has London buzzing with gossip that marquee American producers have been scouting for non-WGA writers for film or TV projects they would funnel through British production companies.

Variety notes that the Hollywood's majors have lodged discreet inquiries with agents and lawyers about the availability of their clients.

"It could be an extraordinary opportunity for British writers to get a shot at big studio projects that they otherwise would never get a shot at," confided one U.K.-based studio executive to Variety.

In the U.S., it's clear that WGA members shouldn't take non-union work. In the U.K., it's far from clear where to draw the line. A British writer, whether a WGA member or not, is surely free to write a local TV drama for the BBC or Channel 4. But what if that drama is sold to a U.S. network to fill a gap left by strike action? Or what if it's co-produced by HBO?

Variety notes a British agent's clarification, that "the rules are clear that 'any non-U.S. citizen can render services on non-WGA projects, as long as those services are provided outside the U.S., even if they are provided to a WGA signatory company.' "

The WGA is essentially powerless to punish non WGA foreign writers. Variety poses the question: "Do British writers care if they can't attend union meetings, so long as they get the financial benefit?"

A British agent said to Variety: "Maybe English writers haven't quite got hold of how important this is in Los Angeles. I don't know if anyone here has quite woken up to what it all means."