Glimmer of hope in strike as Aus networks juggle
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
As Hollywood shows early signs of moving to resolve the ongoing writers strike, Network TEN is set to announce three new production for 2008 in coming weeks.
According to The Age TEN is looking at a new comedy featuring The Wedge‘s bad boy of sports Mark Warey (Jason Gann). Gann will be a busy boy, already developing a comedy with Foxtel and more scripts for SBS comedy Wilfred.
This week TEN also greenlit a revival for Good News Week and is said to be revisiting a once-rejected police show, Rush.
Head of Ten Programming Beverley McGarvey said, “People ask ‘are you panicking?’, but we’re fine, really.”
Meanwhile in the US there were signs for optimism. The Director’s Guild of America last week negotiated new contracts with the AMPTP, including gains on new media and internet streaming. It may provide the basis of a way forward with the WGA.
It’s not as much as the writers had hoped for but as many WGA members noted, it is probably the best the market will bear when studios themselves are unclear about the impact of new technology on their income streams.
For the first time in more than a month, the AMPTP explicitly asked the WGA to resume negotiations in a statement on Thursday.