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Impact of the Hollywood writers’ strike

The Hollywood writers’ dispute has buoyed the fortunes of reality shows such as American Idol still further. But what does this mean for the future of U.S. drama — and the people who create it?

The drama is over and the writers have won. Cue music and lights at celebration parties throughout Hollywood last week. Except that now, after a momentous three-month strike, the headaches may have only just begun.

It could be that we look back at early 2008 as a turning point for the TV industry, a date marking the moment when the Internet really upturned the way programmes are made and commissioned and when the reality TV shows so beloved of money-conscious executives became entrenched.

The consequences of yet more Simon Cowell-esque reality shows could be damaging for all writers.

Not for nothing has NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker likened the strike to a forest fire for the industry, which will have “devastating consequences” but can also “set the stage for robust growth.”

So what has changed? It is already clear that the pilot system that sustains U.S. television is under threat. Even before the strike had ended two weeks ago, Mr. Zucker decided that the system had to change. “We are in the middle of a wrenching analogue-to-digital transition marked by game-changing technological developments and profound shifts in consumer behaviour, all of which demands a re-engineering of our businesses from top to bottom,” Mr. Zucker explains. “We’ve needed to do this for quite a few years now, but there was no real sense of urgency behind it.”

He attacked the idea of spending “tens of millions of dollars every year creating dozens of pilots that will never see the light of day,” arguing that NBC could save around $50 million a year if it ordered fewer pilots and turned online to develop talent. The U.S. pilot system, in place since the 1950s, is so ancient and complex that it has become the stuff of legend.

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