The Strike Drags On
I spoke with a friend today about the current state of the film industry. In the fall, he called to say he had a film deal set up and it looked like he would directing his first feature in the spring. It was very exciting to hear. Then, the writer's strike hit and everything ground to a halt.
I certainly had personal knowledge that the writer's strike was slowing things down. We got our script out to an agent and manager but heard everything was very slow, slow, slow and no one was reading. So, we just redoubled our efforts on the films and started another script. Our plan, keep working until things open back up.
Then, today, we heard that about a thousand people might be laid off at Warner Brothers. This was followed by the rumor that Walden Media might shut down. On top of that, yesterday there was the news that the U.S. economy was on a downturn and it looks like we're heading into a recession.
It will be interesting to see what sort of impact this has on the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. Will the purchase prices be lower? Distribution deals more available because product is limited by the strike? Or deals less available because of caution at the studios? The same sort of questions we ask ourselves because the writer's strike is on ... will they be more open to new scripts because there is a dearth of product OR are all of the writers sitting home writing the material they've always wanted to write and the market will be deluged when the strike lifts?
If it weren't for bad timing, I'd have no timing at all.
