Category: Business

Writers strike could see last chapter
LOS ANGELES – The now 3-month-old Hollywood writers strike could enter its final chapter Saturday when guild members gather in Los Angeles and New York to consider a proposed contract.
If writers respond favorably, the walkout that has devastated the entertainment industry could end as soon as Monday. Writers were wavering between hope and skepticism as they prepared to learn details of the deal for the first time.
“The feeling is relief and optimism and excitement,” said Hilary Winston, a writer for the NBC sitcom “My Name Is Earl.”
Still, she couldn’t shake her lingering anxiety.
“I hope this deal made this three months worth it,” she said.
Writer Erik Oleson, who watched a deal for a TV pilot fall apart during the strike, was reserving judgment.
“I’m not going to drink the Kool-Aid and accept a bad deal. I’d rather continue the strike,” Oleson said. “We saw a press release but what matters is the fine print.”
If members show strong support for the deal, the union could quickly lift its strike order, allowing dozens of TV shows to return to production and putting thousands of actors, crew members and others back to work.
An end to the strike might also salvage the Feb. 24 Academy Awards show, which is now facing a possible boycott by writers and sympathetic actors. The writers union has given a picket-free pass to Sunday’s Grammy Awards.
The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, have not publicly commented on the proposed contract because of a joint media blackout.
Michael Eisner, a former Walt Disney Co. chief executive, told CNBC the proposed deal was good enough to end the strike.
“It’s impossible the writers will turn it down,” said Eisner, whose successor at Disney, Robert Iger, was among the studio chiefs who helped shape the proposal with leaders of the writers guild.
The most contentious issue in the talks was residual payments for TV programs and movies distributed on the Internet.
“Within the next five years, most American televisions will be connected to the Internet. The shows and movies you watch on your TV will be downloaded or streamed,” the union said in its strike fact sheet.
Some accounts suggest the proposed deal involving the 12,000-member union and the world’s largest media companies improves on a contract agreement reached last month by studios and the Directors Guild of America.
Directors won several key concessions on new media, including payments for downloaded TV programs and movies based on a percentage of the distributor’s gross.
The writers guild, however, has been seeking 2.5 percent of distributor grosses from Internet-delivered projects ó about three times what the directors guild got in its deal.
Writers also balked at the maximum $1,200 flat fee that studios agreed to pay directors for streamed, ad-supported programs.
Writers won’t vote Saturday on the proposed contract but will have a chance to voice their support or opposition at the closed meetings.
An e-mail circulated by a strike captain urged pro-deal members to attend so union leaders wouldn’t hear only from opponents.
Other e-mails to guild members said a favorable response by writers would be followed by a Sunday meeting of the guild negotiating committee to consider lifting the strike order and scheduling a formal membership vote by mail.
“I hope Monday is when this town gets going again,” Winston said. “If it’s not Monday, I’ll take Wednesday.”
Warren Leight, an executive producer in New York for NBC’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” doesn’t think writers will be swayed by high-profile colleagues who have trumpeted the directors deal as a solid template for writers.
“If the deal works, everyone is ready to go back to work. But it has to be discussed by 10,000 people, not by 30 show runners and wannabe A-listers,” Leight said.
Among the show runners ó industry slang for executive producers in charge of a series ó who lauded the directors deal was John Wells, whose credits include “ER” and “The West Wing.” He termed it, “Very good. For writers, for directors, for the future.”
A quick end to the walkout might result in TV viewers seeing a more new episodes of their favorite shows this season. A script takes about three weeks to write and about 40 working days to produce, so it could take as long as two months for the first new shows to air, Leight said.
But once a production has scripts and is up and running, episodes are worked on concurrently and an hour-long show can be produced within eight days, he said. That could allow an hourlong drama to return with perhaps a half-dozen new episodes, and a half-hour comedy to squeeze in as many as seven new shows for the rest of the season.
Networks, however, are likely to pick and choose among shows, with low-rated newcomers less likely to get deals for more episodes than a series like “Grey’s Anatomy,” which has a big, faithful audience.

Furry critters abound in Super Bowl Ads
NEW YORK – It was an epic battle of the creatures in the Super Bowl ads, ranging from the cute to the menacing to the inexplicably rhythmic. A band of lizard-like reptiles cutting the rug to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”? Hey, it’s the Super Bowl.
Much is riding on the ads, which are the most closely scrutinized of the whole year, as well as the most watched and the most expensive. This year’s 30-second spots on News Corp.’s Fox network broadcast were fetching as much as $2.7 million. The price edges higher nearly every year.
Last year the game drew 93 million viewers, a level that many believe could be surpassed this year given the strong matchup between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, as well as the Patriots’ chance to go for a record unbeaten season.
Using critters is hardly a new trick in the ads for the big game, but this year saw some novel and clever uses of animals durinmg Sunday night’s broadcast.
FedEx Corp.’s ad took a decidedly Hitchcockian turn when a corporate underling entrusts shipping operations to a huge squadron of carrier pigeons ó eerily reminiscent of “The Birds.”
When a tribe of giant pigeons winds up wreaking havoc by accidentally dropping huge boxes into traffic and picking up parked cars and hurling them through windows, a cool-headed supervisor decides that calling FedEx would be a good idea.
Toyota Motor Corp. took a stab at the critter theme with a clever spot for its Corolla model, boasting of the noise-blocking ability of the car by putting a young guy in the drivers seat next to a sleeping family of badgers that will gnaw his face off if awakened. The cannons firing around him aren’t the problem, but he would have been better off putting his cell phone on vibrate.
PepsiCo Inc.’s Sobe Life Water brand brought out some dancing lizards to bop along with Naomi Campbell to Michael Jackson’s ’80s classic “Thriller,” whose 25th anniversary edition is coming out later this month.
Elsewhere, job-search site CareerBuilder.com was back in the game ó not with the cast of monkeys it used for several years ó but with a jarring yet effective ad featuring a bored female office worker whose heart literally jumps out of her chest, struts down to the boss’s office and jumps up on the desk with a little sign saying, “I quit.” The lesson: Follow your heart, literally.
Anheuser-Busch Inc. was once again the largest advertiser in the game, with a series of humorous spots for its Bud Light brand and a heartfelt “Rocky”-inspired story of a Clydesdale horse that doesn’t make the first cut for the carriage team, but succeeds after a year of training with an unlikely coach, a Dalmation dog.

Source: Breakthrough in writers talks
LOS ANGELES – A breakthrough in contract talks has been reached between Hollywood studios and striking writers and could lead to a tentative deal as early as next week, a person close to the ongoing negotiations said Saturday.
The two sides breached the gap Friday on the thorniest issues, those concerning compensation for projects distributed via the Internet, said the person, who requested anonymity because he were not authorized to speak publicly.
A second person familiar with the talks, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to comment publicly, said that significant progress had been made and a deal might be announced within a week.
The people did not provide specific details on the possible agreement. Major points of contention include how much and when writers are paid for projects delivered online after they’ve been broadcast on TV.
The studios have been insisting that programs be streamed online for a certain period, deemed promotional, during which writers would forgo residuals. When payment kicked in, the companies sought to limit it to a flat $1,200 fee, while the guild wanted a percentage of a distributor’s revenue.
The Writers Guild of America did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade group representing the studios, declined comment, citing a news blackout agreed to by both sides during the talks.
Guild leaders have said they are fighting for a piece of the future, reflecting the widespread belief that Internet-delivered entertainment fare would inevitably claim an increasing and perhaps even dominant market share.
Although work remains to be done on elements of the agreement, prospects for a deal appeared solid, said those close to the situation. The tentative agreement would have to be approved by a majority of guild members.
The guild, whose 3-month-old strike has brought the entertainment industry to a standstill, began informal talks with top media company executives Jan. 23 in an attempt to reach a new deal covering governing work for film, TV and digital media.
Negotiations between the guild and alliance negotiators collapsed Dec. 7 after the alliance demanded that proposals for unionization of animation and reality shows be taken off the table. The guild refused.
During the negotiations impasse, the Directors Guild of America began its own talks with studio chiefs and swiftly reached a tentative deal that was announced Jan. 17 and covered some of the digital media issues key to the writers guild.
Major studio executives called on the writers guild to begin informal talks, which essentially are standing in for formal negotiations, according to those familiar with the situation.
The guild extended its own olive branch before the informal talks started by withdrawing the reality-animation unionization proposal and by deciding to keep pickets away from the Grammy Awards. It has since decided to allow the music ceremony to proceed with full union support.
However, the fate of the Feb. 24 Academy Awards has remained in question, with the guild so far declining to grant its blessing to the show. A union refusal to cooperate with the Golden Globes decimated the ceremony, which was boycotted by supportive actors.
Oscar organizers and producers have vowed they will stage some type of show, with or without union support ó but a writers guild deal would allow this ceremony to proceed in its full, star-studded glory, providing an invaluable promotional showcase for movie studios and their films.

Microsoft bids $44.6 billion to buy Yahoo
SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp offered to buy Yahoo Inc for $44.6 billion, in a bold bid to transform two ailing Internet businesses into a worthy competitor for market leader Google Inc.
In what would be the biggest Internet deal since the ill-fated Time Warner-AOL merger, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer sent a letter to Yahoo’s board on Thursday night to offer $31 per share in cash and stock.
The price is a 62 percent premium over Yahoo’s Thursday close, but only about a quarter of what the Internet company was worth at the height of the dotcom bubble in 2000.
Yahoo would give Microsoft dominance in Web banner ads used by corporate brand advertisers. It also attracts more than 500 million people monthly to sites devoted to news, finance and sports, and Yahoo Mail is the No. 1 consumer e-mail service.
The shares of Microsoft, which has a market capitalization of about $300 billion, fell 6.6 percent as some investors worried the world’s top software maker may be overpaying for Yahoo and could have a hard time getting a return on its investment.
Critics say the two companies have too many overlapping businesses — from instant messaging to email and advertising, as well as news, travel and finance sites — and both are weak in the Web search market, where Google dominates.
“They have to do it because they’ve tried everything they can do to fix MSN. Yahoo is the most visited site in the world, so it goes without saying that, given the current valuation, this is the perfect time for them to buy it,” said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
But he added: “Google is running away with the search market and that’s obviously the best part of the market. The likelihood that Google gets caught is slim to none.”
Yahoo said on Friday its board will evaluate the unsolicited offer. Its shares shot up about 48 percent to $28.33. The shares of Google, which has a market value of about $160 billion, fell 8.58 percent to close at $515.90.
TRANSFORMATIVE OR CULTURE CLASH?
Speculation about a Microsoft-Yahoo deal has swirled through the markets for more than a year, as investors looked for a joint stand against the ever more powerful Google.
Google’s share of the U.S. Web search market rose to 58.4 percent by December from 52.6 percent in January last year, while Yahoo’s fell to 22.9 percent from 26.9 percent, and Microsoft’s fell to 9.8 percent from 10.4 percent, according to comScore data.
Skeptics say Microsoft and Yahoo have very different corporate cultures and worry about a clash such as the one that marred AOL’s $182 billion purchase of Time Warner in 2001, which is seen as the worst merger in recent history. Time Warner Inc is now valued at only $57 billion.
The perception is that Yahoo, an iconic Silicon Valley company with a free-flowing, fun-loving attitude, may not fit in with the button-up, competitive Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker.
“Culture is the big thing where people have some concerns,” said Jupiter Research analyst Bobby Tulsiani. “If they have anything in common, they’re both tired of losing to Google, so they can agree on that probably.”
CEO Ballmer, in his most aggressive move to shape the future Microsoft, said the deal would transform its money-losing Internet division, which it sees as critical to growth, into a profitable pillar of its business.
“We have been losing money. Our plan here would be to not lose money in the future,” he said on a conference call.
Ballmer said Microsoft has had on-and-off talks with Yahoo for 18 months, but was told by management a year ago that the timing was not right — in an apparent reference to Yahoo’s then Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Semel.
Semel was replaced by Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang as CEO in June and resigned as chairman on Thursday.
“With the Semel roadblock now gone, there is reason to think this (merger) is now likely to happen,” said RBC Capital Internet analyst Jordan Rohan, noting Yahoo is running out of options in the face of a weakening business climate.
RICH VALUATION
Under the proposal, Yahoo shareholders can choose to get $31 cash, or 0.9509 of a share of Microsoft common stock. The deal in aggregate must consist of one-half cash and one-half Microsoft common stock, the software maker said.
Microsoft’s current stock price of $30.45 values Yahoo at around $30, or a rich 57 times forecast 2009 earnings, according to Reuters Estimates. In comparison, Google is trading at around 20 times forecast 2009 profit.
Some analysts said Microsoft was overpaying for a company that warned earlier this week it faced “head winds” in 2008, forecasting revenue below Wall Street expectations.
“To me, the premium seems exorbitant, for what is a dwindling business. I personally don’t see how the synergies of Microsoft-Yahoo is going to take on Google,” said Tim Smalls, head of U.S. stock trading at brokerage firm Execution LLC.
Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry said Yahoo is not worth more than $20 per share as its only worthwhile properties are Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Answers and Yahoo Finance.
But others said the price is low enough for rival bidders to emerge, noting Yahoo traded at $34.08 in late October.
“There could be a little more money on the table,” said Laura Martin, an analyst at Soleil-Media Metrics. “The company is in play. Yahoo will not be able to stay independent. Other bidders will emerge before this is over.”
Analysts cited Comcast Corp, Viacom Inc and General Electric Co among possible bidders, although they also said few companies had the balance sheet to compete with Microsoft or were as natural a fit for Yahoo.
As Yahoo shares are trading close to Microsoft’s valuation, it indicates few investors expect a sweeter offer.
ANTITRUST CONCERNS
Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith acknowledged other bidders could emerge, but said any attempt by arch-rival Google to acquire Yahoo would face insurmountable antitrust hurdles.
Antitrust experts said regulators would likely take a close look at a Microsoft-Yahoo deal, but as the two are dwarfed by Google, the deal will ultimately likely be approved.
Microsoft said the online advertising market is expected to reach nearly $80 billion by 2010 from over $40 billion in 2007. It paid $6 billion last year to buy online advertising services firm aQuantive as a bulwark against Google’s growing position.
The software company forecast at least $1 billion in annual cost savings for the merged entity, from synergies in areas such as combining engineering talent.
Bernstein Research said the deal appeared to be less about expanded business potential and more about cost-savings that can be wrung out of shrinking redundant operations.
“We are relatively comfortable with (Microsoft’s) estimate of $1 billion in annual synergies. It appears to us that the majority of the synergies are on the cost side,” said the note from Bernstein analysts Charles Di Bona and Jeffrey Lindsay.
Morgan Stanley and Blackstone LP scooped the prize banking job of advising Microsoft on the deal, according to sources familiar with the matter, while Yahoo is being advised by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Directors, Hollywood studios reach deal
LOS ANGELES – Hollywood directors reached a tentative contract deal Thursday with studios, a development that could turn up the pressure on striking writers to settle their 2-month-old walkout that has idled production on dozens of TV shows.
“Two words describe this agreement ó groundbreaking and substantial,” said Gil Cates, chairman of the Directors Guild of America’s negotiations committee. “There are no rollbacks of any kind.”
Among other things, the three-year agreement establishes key provisions involving compensation for programs offered on the Internet.
That issue has also been a key sticking point between striking writers and the studios, which broke off talks on Dec. 7.
In announcing the deal with directors, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, expressed hope that it would help end what it called an extremely difficult period for the industry.
It also called on the writers guild to engage in informal discussions to determine if there was a reasonable basis for returning to the bargaining table.
The Writers Guild of America said it would evaluate the terms of the directors’ deal. It also reiterated that it has been calling on the studios to resume negotiations.
“We hope that the DGA’s tentative agreement will be a step forward in our effort to negotiate an agreement that is in the best interests of all writers,” the writers guild said in a statement.
Writers previously said directors do not represent their interests.
The deal with directors gives their union jurisdiction over programs produced for distribution on the Internet and sets a new residuals formula for some paid Internet downloads that essentially doubles the rate currently paid by employers, the guild said.
In addition, it sets residual rates for ad-supported streaming and use of clips on the Internet.
“Our industry’s creative talent will now participate financially in every emerging area of new media,” the studio alliance said in a statement.
The deal was welcomed by others in Hollywood.
“I’m very pleased with the new agreement and I hope it helps speed up the negotiations” with the writers guild, George Clooney said.
Clooney has often commented on the need to resolve the strike to put thousands of people back to work in Hollywood.
The directors guild was well-prepared when it started negotiations Jan. 12.
It had spent $2 million researching the potential value of new media over the next decade and held a series of meetings with key studio heads to establish a basis for the formal talks.
Cates, who’s been involved in union contract negotiations for three decades, served as lead negotiator for directors.
He is also producing this year’s Academy Awards program, which is imperiled by the writers standoff.
Sunday’s Golden Globes were reduced to a news conference after actors refused to cross writers’ threatened picket lines.
NBC lost millions of dollars in ad revenue, and award winners were deprived of instant publicity that could have provided a box-office bump.
New media issues also were expected to dominate negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild, whose contract expires in June.
The directors guild said late last year that it would delay the start of talks to give writers a chance to come to an agreement with studios.
But the guild clearly lost patience after negotiations between the writers and studios broke off last month and the strike dragged on.
Among other things, the studios’ deal with directors says:
ï Programs produced for the Internet will be directed by guild members, with the exception of low-budget shows.
ï Residuals for downloaded movies will be increased by 80 percent over the current rate paid by employers. Those payments will be based on a distributor’s gross, which the guild said was a key point in negotiations. (Distributors’ gross represents the amount received by the company responsible for distributing the film or TV program on the Internet.)
ï Companies are contractually obligated to provide the guild “unfettered access to their deals and data,” the guild said, calling that unprecedented transparency.
ï For ad-supported streaming of Internet programs, an initial 17-day free window will be followed by a requirement that companies pay 3 percent of the residual base ó about $600 for a network prime-time drama ó for 26 weeks of streaming. Companies can continue to stream for another 26-week period by paying an additional 3 percent, or a total of $1,200 for one year’s worth of streaming. During a program’s first season, the 17-day window is expanded to 24 days to help build audience.
In their talks, the writers guild and studios have clashed over using a percentage of a distributor’s gross receipts to determine Internet compensation.
The guild said it sought that approach but was told by the alliance it was an unworkable and unacceptable formula. Instead, the studios offered a flat $250 payment for a year’s use of an hourlong TV show on the Web.
The guild balked, citing the $20,000-plus residual that writers now earn for a single network rerun of a TV episode.
Also at issue for the writers guild is unionization of reality and animation writers.
Talks broke down after the alliance demanded the guild take that and other issues off the table, claiming there had been an agreement to drop it.
The guild’s next move may be influenced by history.
There’s a lingering resentment among members over what they considered raw deals in the 1980s involving what eventually became lucrative home-video and DVD markets.
The writers guild home-video deal was shaped by a deal made previously by the directors guild, following an industry practice of pattern bargaining.
That created resentment among some writers guild members toward the directors.

EMI faces 2,000 job cuts
LONDON (Reuters) – Guy Hands, the private equity owner of EMI, plans to cut up to 2,000 jobs at the ailing British music company, in a plan to rebuild the group which has sparked fury from some of its biggest acts.
Hands, previously best known for investment in waste management and pubs, on Tuesday unveiled his plan to make the home to The Beatles more artist-driven after it was hit by online piracy, falling CD sales and a poor release schedule.
In the list of Britain’s biggest-selling albums in 2007, EMI’s highest entry was Lily Allen’s Alright, Still at 26.
The worldwide cuts will come at EMI’s troubled recorded music division, which has some 4,500 staff of a group total of around 5,500. The shakeup, in which between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs will go, is designed to boost its roster of talent and increase Internet sales while reducing costs by 200 million pounds ($393 million) a year.
In a bid to allow EMI’s labels such as Capitol and Parlophone to focus on finding new artists and promoting digital music, the company plans to bring its marketing, sales and distribution under a single division over the next six months.
But the plans have angered top-selling artists such as Robbie Williams, who questioned whether EMI would be able to devote enough time and money to promote his work.
“We have spent a long time looking intensely at EMI and the problems faced by its recorded music division which, like the rest of the music industry, has been struggling to respond to the challenges posed by a digital environment,” Terra Firma boss Hands said.
“The changes we are announcing today will ensure that this iconic company will be creating wonderful music in a way that is profitable and sustainable.”
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
The announcement follows a three-month review by Terra Firma which bought EMI last year for 2.4 billion pounds, or 3.2 billion pounds including debt, after years of speculation about the group’s future.
At the time of the purchase, Hands said EMI would look to increase its digital sales, keep the company intact and securitize its more reliable music-publishing assets.
But that last proposal, which would have allowed it to borrow against revenue from the publishing division, has been put on hold due to the credit crunch. Terra Firm’s management style has also drawn criticism from its artists and raised eyebrows within the industry.
British group Radiohead left last year, describing management as behaving like “confused bulls in a china shop,” while Paul McCartney quit, saying the company was “really very boring.”
And it has all been played out in the world’s press, keen to see if Guy Hands and his “suits” can turn the company around. He had to be escorted by aides past a scrum of journalists on Tuesday morning as he went to meet staff in central London.
One employee of four a half years left the meeting saying it had been “inspiring” but the rest remained silent.
Most industry insiders and observers accept EMI has struggled more than other majors and that a new approach is needed. It has continually struggled in the United States, the world’s largest music market, where it fell behind dominant Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group in album market share.
“Everything in the music business right now is potentially risky,” Mark Sutherland, global editor of trade publication Billboard, told Reuters.
“The industry is changing incredibly fast. Certainly this plan acknowledges those changes and attempts to address them. Whether that will be enough to turn around their performance remains to be seen,” Sutherland said.
“If they can get the artists to buy in then they’ve got a good shot for success..”

Report: Studios cancel writers contracts
LOS ANGELES – Four major studios have canceled dozens of writers contracts, effectively conceding that the current television season cannot be salvaged, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
The move signals that development of next season’s crop of new shows also could be in jeopardy because of the 2-month-old writers strike, the newspaper said.
January typically marks the start of pilot season, when networks order new comedies and dramas. But with writers not working, networks do not have a pool of scripts from which to choose.
20th Century Fox Television, CBS Paramount Network Television, NBC Universal and Warner Bros. Television each confirmed to the Times that they terminated development and production agreements. Studios typically pay $500,000 to $2 million a year per writer for them to develop ideas for new TV shows.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Barbara Hall, a writer and producer whose credits include former CBS series “Joan of Arcadia” and “Judging Amy,” told the Times, which said ABC executives gave her the news Friday. “I am not entirely sure what their strategy is, all I know was that I was a casualty of it.”
Overall, more than 65 deals with writers have been eliminated since Friday, the newspaper said.

Clooney’s Bid To End Writers Strike
George Clooney has offered to act as a mediator between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) union members and Hollywood bosses in a bid to end the strikes.
The writers have been on picket lines since November, bringing production on Hollywood movies to a standstill and causing a number of TV networks to release staff and air repeat shows.
The strike also forced the organizers of Sunday’s Golden Globes ceremony to cancel the event after actors threatened to boycott. But the Michael Clayton star has offered to set up a “mediation panel” to settle the WGA members’ grievances – and plans to ask Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and ER producer John Wells to help him end the dispute, according to L.A. Weekly.
Speaking of the strikes earlier this week, he said, “When the strike happens, it’s not just writers (affected)… Our hope is that all the players will lock themselves in a room and not come out until they finish. We want this to be done. That’s the most important thing.”

Idled Hollywood workers urge more talks
LOS ANGELES – The Hollywood strike is rewriting the holidays for idled workers.
With her income pinched, script supervisor Petra Jorgensen canceled an annual trip to Europe to see relatives. Set decorator Laura Richarz is bypassing pricey malls and fashioning gifts at home ó framing photos, sewing a shirt for her niece.
With the holidays under way and the strike entering a sixth week, “It’s going to be bleak for a lot of families,” said Jorgensen, who’s living off her savings.
The two were among hundreds of out-of-work employees and their supporters who marched down Hollywood Boulevard Sunday to call for a resumption of talks to settle the strike, which has sidelined many prime-time and late-night TV shows. Negotiations collapsed Friday between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, with the sides pointing fingers at each other.
The march Sunday was intended to draw attention to the financial plight of workaday Hollywood ó those employees whose jobs depend on ongoing productions, from caterers to set builders to hair stylists. With shows silenced, they too are struggling.
Marchers expressed growing frustration with the on-again, off-again talks, and fingers were pointed at producers and union writers. A central issue has been compensation for new-media distribution of work by guild members.
Pam Elyea, whose Los Angeles company, History for Hire, provides props for TV and movies, was forced to lay off six employees as expected work evaporated. If the walkout continues, she said, more could follow.
“I’m disappointed in both sides,” Elyea said.
The writers guild represents 12,000 members, but not all are on strike. About 2,000 news writers and others are covered under a separate contract.
Studios believe they can hold out for months ó a stalemate that could impact the regional economy along with the entertainment industry. Hollywood contributes an estimated $30 billion annually to the Los Angeles County economy.
Diana Valentine, a script supervisor for the FX drama “Nip/Tuck,” said she has been off the job since Nov. 21 and her husband is an out-of-work actor. She said both sides need to be talking.
“You cannot come up with a deal if people are walking away from the table,” she said. Without a paycheck soon, “I’m going to have to start renting out parts of my house.”

Leno Agrees To Pay Striking Staff
Talk show “host” Jay Leno has agreed to pay laid-off members of his Tonight Show staff – after he was heavily criticized for not offering to pick up their paychecks amid the ongoing writers’ strikes.
Unlike peers David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, Leno – who makes an estimated $27 million a year – had refused to cover the salaries of his show staff out of his own pocket after they were made redundant on Friday. But after facing a severe backlash from striking workers, the star has relented and agreed to pay his staff a week’s wages, according to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton.
The lay-offs at the Tonight Show are the latest casualties in the ongoing battle between the Writers Guild of America and producers over royalties. The strike immediately shut down the late-night comedy shows and has gradually affected the production of many network-produced prime-time series, including Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives.