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In the latest fallout from the writers strike, CBS has trimmed its development slate, letting go of about 20 projects, most of them dramas. On Friday, the network contacted the reps for the projects, most of which hail from CBS' primary supplier, sister studio CBS Paramount Network TV. Also affected are scripts from Sony Pictures TV, 20th Century Fox TV and ABC Studios. The list of terminated projects is said to include CBS Par's drama "Brothers Grimm," from writer Stephen Carpenter and Sean Hayes' Hazy Mills Prods., and a 20th TV-produced comedy from writer Barbie Adler. "Due to the ongoing...

Oliver Stone has set his sights on his next directing project, "Bush," a film focusing on the life and presidency of George W. Bush, and attached Josh Brolin to play the title role. The director has begun quietly shopping a script by his "Wall Street" co-writer Stanley Weiser. Pic will be produced by Moritz Borman, who teamed with Stone on "World Trade Center" and "Alexander," and Jon Kilik, a producer of "Alexander" as well as "Pinkville," the pre-strike project about the Army's investigation of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam that Stone expected to direct until United Artists pulled the...

Conceding that the current television season cannot be salvaged, four major studios canceled dozens of writer contracts Monday. The move signals that development of next season's crop of new shows also could be in jeopardy because of the 2-month-old writers strike. Typically, January marks the start of pilot season when networks order new comedies and dramas. But with writers not working, networks do not have a pool of scripts from which to choose. 20th Century Fox Television, CBS Paramount Network Television, NBC Universal and Warner Bros. Television each confirmed that they terminated development and production agreements. Such arrangements typically cost...

And one is not likely, according to a spokesman for the Writers Guild of America. "The [Recording Academy] has not asked the WGA for a waiver or interim agreement for the Grammys," said WGA spokesman Gregg Mitchell. "While no guild decision has yet been made regarding the Grammy_150 Grammys, if a waiver is requested for the Grammys, it is unlikely to be granted." The Grammys are produced by John Cossette Productions in association with Ken Ehrlich Productions, and are written by Ehrlich and author/journalist David Wild. Mitchell says there's been no decision yet as to whether or not the WGA...

LOS ANGELES — The Golden Globes, the ceremony known for getting Hollywood's awards season off to a rollicking start, will be reduced to a news conference Sunday by the writers strike and will likely draw picket lines and lack star power. Despite the revamped ceremony announced Monday by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Screen Actors Guild said it was encouraging its members to skip the show in support of the two-month walkout by the Writers Guild of America. "The WGA informed us they will picket the event on Sunday," the actors guild said in a statement. Patric M. Verrone,...

With the Golden Globes’ collapse, writers have struck a $75-million blow in their labour dispute, and the Oscars might well be the next casualty. The scribes aren’t celebrating, though, because no one expects this to end soon HOLLYWOOD – As symbols go, there probably isn't a more accurate one for the current crisis in show biz. It's a picture of Oscars host Jon Stewart with his fingers crossed, sheepishly hoping all is well, that adorns the new visitor's brochure of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The brochure was likely printed before the Writers' Guild of America (WGA),...

Longtime Hollywood publicist Julian Myers will turn 90 soon. And he worries the end may be near ... for Hollywood. Myers frets that the WGA stalemate -- with all of its acrimony, vitriol and job losses -- is a harbinger of ill things for the industry. "The strike impasse is speeding the end of Hollywood filmmaking and television production," says Myers, who has been working in the biz since 1939 and is still an IATSE member. "There are more union contracts coming up for renewal, and already unionists are crossing union lines. IATSE is urging its members to go right...

ABC Studios on Friday afternoon became the first TV studio to terminate overall deals under the force majeure provision in its producers' deals. In a major house-cleaning sweep, close to 30 writing and nonwriting producers -- most of them well-known -- who don't have active projects have been axed. The list includes the writing duos of Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia, as well as Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah, director Larry Charles, producer Sean Bailey, the producing team of Nina Wass and Gene Stein, writers Jack Kenney and Bill Callahan and actor-producer Taye Diggs, who landed a producing deal a...

The Hollywood writers' strike claimed its biggest casualty this past week when the threat of picket lines forced NBC to pare back the annual Golden Globes awards ceremony. The network will air an hour-long news conference Sunday night instead of the star-studded, hours-long dinner event that drew 20 million viewers last year. The upending of the awards season comes as more television shows air their remaining first-run episodes produced before the strike began on Nov. 5. Popular entertainers such as Jay Leno, meanwhile, have faced criticism for crossing picket lines and returning to work earlier this month after showing reruns...

NBC's efforts to salvage its Golden Globes exclusive fell apart Friday when the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. announced that it would allow all media outlets to carry live coverage of Sunday's news conference announcing the winners. The move by the association, which hands out the accolades, came after a financial dispute between NBC and Dick Clark Productions Inc., the company contracted to produce the original Golden Globes telecast. The decision means that the Writers Guild of America will not picket the event, opening the door to possible appearances by actors and directors. But it may be too late to restore...

Longtime Hollywood publicist Julian Myers will turn 90 soon. And he worries the end may be near ... for Hollywood. Myers frets that the WGA stalemate -- with all of its acrimony, vitriol and job losses -- is a harbinger of ill things for the industry. "The strike impasse is speeding the end of Hollywood filmmaking and television production," says Myers, who has been working in the biz since 1939 and is still an IATSE member. "There are more union contracts coming up for renewal, and already unionists are crossing union lines. IATSE is urging its members to go right...

Scrapped Golden Globe ceremony hits Hollywood hard --- REUTERS By Jill SerjeantTue Jan 8, 10:06 PM ET LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood scrambled on Tuesday to assess the fallout from the decision to scrap the glittering Golden Globe movie and TV awards ceremony and hold only a news conference that few stars are likely to attend. Caterers, limousine drivers, stylists, hotels and dozens of magazines and TV shows found themselves out of work when this Sunday's star-studded Golden Globes gala dinner and red carpet walk-up fell victim to the nine-week-old screenwriters strike. "There are a lot of people being...

The Hollywood writers strike can now claim its first awards show casualty. The latest I'm hearing from my sources as of a few minutes ago is that NBC will not be televising the Golden Globes as planned on January 13th. Insiders tell me also that the entire event, even if it were held untelevised, will be cancelled. And the Hollywood Foreign Press Association instead will merely make an announcement of the winners. I've not yet received any official confirmation of any of this. But insiders tell me that NBC Universal topper Jeff Zucker and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association which...

The Hollywood writers strike can now claim its first awards show casualty. The latest I'm hearing from my sources as of a few minutes ago is that NBC will not be televising the Golden Globes as planned on January 13th. Insiders tell me also that the entire event, even if it were held untelevised, will be cancelled. And the Hollywood Foreign Press Association instead will merely make an announcement of the winners. I've not yet received any official confirmation of any of this. But insiders tell me that NBC Universal topper Jeff Zucker and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association which...

Clooney boycott threat to OscarsJohn Harlow THE Hollywood star George Clooney is being credited with inspiring an actors’ boycott against film award ceremonies that threatens to reduce next weekend’s Golden Globe Awards to a shambles and is jeopardising the most important event in the Hollywood calendar, next month’s Oscars. This weekend the Screen Actors Guild announced that the 70 actors shortlisted for awards at the Globes will not be attending the ceremony in sympathy with scriptwriters who have been on strike for two months. Officially, television network NBC, which splits millions of advertising dollars with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association,...

Hollywood actors will not take part in this month's Golden Globe Awards in a show of support...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The union for striking Hollywood writers cried foul on Thursday over late-night TV comic Jay Leno writing his own jokes for his return to the air from an eight-week hiatus forced by the walkout. The Writers Guild of America said the host of NBC's "The Tonight Show," who is a WGA member, violated union strike rules by preparing the monologue he delivered on Wednesday for his first new broadcast in two months which, like most other returning talk shows, saw a bounce in viewership. Some 10,500 WGA members walked off the job on November 5 in...

NEW YORK - Advantage, David Letterman. Five of television's late-night funnymen return to the air Wednesday after two months, and while Letterman has his writing staff back, Jay Leno doesn't. NBC's Leno and Conan O'Brien and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel all said they were coming back reluctantly with the writers strike still on, and will be putting on shows unlike any they've done before. Letterman's production company worked out a separate deal with writers for his CBS "Late Show" and Craig Ferguson's "Late Late Show." Letterman's first-night booking was comic Robin Williams, with Bill Maher and Donald Trump due the next...

The Late Show With David Letterman snagged Hillary Clinton as a last-minute guest for his New York City show tonight. But it was unclear whether she appeared in person or by satellite from Iowa on the eve of the caucuses there. On the other coast, about 100 striking writers carrying signs saying "Mike Huckabee: What Would Jesus Do?" and "Huckabee: You Can't Deny This Cross" protested the Republican presidential candidate's decision to cross their union's picket line outside NBC Studios in Burbank even though he expressed "unequivocal" and "absolute" support for the writers' cause earlier in the day. He was...

Republican candidate Mike Huckabee will likely have to cross a picket line to appear on the "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. Huckabee thought the writers had an agreement with late night shows, but that only applies to David Letterman's show.