The writer-producers behind primetime's scripted fare were looking closely Thursday at the DGA's new deal with congloms -- and many liked what they saw.
It's a long way from the DGA deal to the Writers Guild/AMPTP negotiating table, but there's a strong sense among several showrunners that the WGA leaders such as WGA West prexy Patric Verrone and chief negotiator David Young have no choice but to use the DGA template as a means of getting talks restarted. Insisting on conversations about issues such as reality or animation would be, as one showrunner put it, "a disaster."
Another scribe said that if the early consensus holds that the DGA made a decent deal, WGA leadership will have no choice but to give up side issues such as reality and focus on modifying the DGA deal.
"If they get sidetracked onto other issues, both Patric and David know they would be chased out of town with pitchforks, not just by the WGA but by the town as a whole," said one top scribe-producer who's been a regular presence on the picket lines.
VIDEO GAME BIZ HAS EPIC 2007
The video game biz had what can only be described as an epic 2007, as huge sales for the Wii, "Halo 3," the "Guitar Hero" franchise, and a slew of other big sellers drove industry revenue up 43% to nearly $18 billion.
Best selling game for the year on a single console was Microsoft's "Halo 3," at 4.82 million units. Nintendo's mini-game collection "Wii Play" was no. 2 with 4.1 million units, followed by Activision's "Call of Duty 4" for the Xbox 360, which sold just over 3 million units, Activision's "Guitar Hero III" on Playstation 2 at 2.7 million units, and Nintendo's Wii exclusive "Super Mario Galaxy," which ended up no. 5 with over 2.5 million units sold.
"Halo 3" now stands amongst some of the top selling games of all time, with first year perf similar to chart toppers like "Grand Theft Auto" games "Vice City" and "San Andreas" and 2004's "Halo 2."
Amongst overall franchises, though, it was Activision's "Guitar Hero" that rocked the house. Between last year's no. 2, this fall's no. 3, and summer-release "Rock the '80s," "Guitar Hero" games generated over $820 million in U.S. sales according to the NPD Group. That's a record for any vidgame franchise in a single year.
Nintendo ended the year with a commanding lead on the hardware front. The red hot Wii, which couldn't meet demand over the holidays, sold 6.3 million units in 2007, compared to 4.6 million units of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and 2.6 million for Sony's Playstation 3.
JANE CLARK - DAILY SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL BLOG
WILDsound's Jane Clark is at the Sundance Film Festival and will write a daily blog detailing her adventures in Utah: meeting stars, parties and of course the films!
