The Writer's Strike is officially underway here in Hollywood and the late-night talk shows are the first casualties, resorting to reruns. "The Tonight Show" host Jay Leno supported his picketing writers by bringing them doughnuts and everyone in town is holding their collective breath that the Guild will quickly work things out with the Producers so everything can return to normal. The City of Los Angeles could face a loss of $1 billion in revenue if this strike lasts as long as the one 20 years ago (5 months).

Motion pictures, due to the nature of their lengthy production processes, are spared a bit of the agony for the time being. But if the strike lingers beyond a few weeks, there will be serious trouble for them as well. One of the immediate consquences, however, that is all the talk among insiders at the publicity junkets and press conferences is the fact that--without the talk shows in production--the celebrities can't go out and promote their new films. With so many important films coming out at this Oscar-esque time of the year, a lack of promotion could result in a serious lack of box office.

FRED CLAUS, BEOWULF, I AM LEGEND, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, MARGOT AT THE WEDDING and ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS are just a few of the features who could miss out on the chance to cozy up on the couches and gab with Leno, Letterman, Stewart et al.

Daytime soap operas will fare better, even though the genre has been suffering massive audience deterioration over recent years. Lower level production members of their writing departments (Assistants, production coordinators, etc) are usually themselves aspiring writers and know the storylines, characters and dialogue almost as well as their higher-ups. They may pinch hit in the interim along with other producers and established staffers.

Back during the last strike in the late 1980s, I was working on a highly anticipated situation comedy, "The Dictator." It starred David Alan Grier and BACK TO THE FUTURE star Christopher Lloyd in the title role...intended to be his big solo effort after his successful run on the series "Taxi." We'd shot two episodes when the strike occured and, even though six more scripts were already in various draft stages, production simply couldn't continue and, sadly, the entire series was scrapped. We all lost our jobs and a very funny series never aired at all! That's showbiz! (See previous blog)

Here's hoping for all concerned that this strike will be speedily ended!