WGA To Picket Golden Globes

Union Fails to Cut Deal with Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Dick Clark Productions

By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 1/2/2008 8:11:00 PM

The Writers Guild of America, failing to reach an agreement with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the producer of the Golden Globe Awards, plans to picket the event Jan. 13, the union said Wednesday.

The WGA, on strike since Nov. 5, was apparently was unable to craft a deal with the foreign press group and Dick Clark Productions, which is actually producing the Golden Globes show, which will air on NBC.

“Dick Clark Productions is a struck company,” the WGA West said. “As previously announced, the Writers Guild will be picketing the Golden Globe Awards. The WGA has great respect and admiration for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, but we are engaged in a crucial struggle that will protect our income and intellectual property rights for generations to come. We will continue to do everything in our power to bring industry negotiations to a fair conclusion. In the meantime, we are grateful for the ongoing support of the Hollywood talent community.”

Earlier Wednesday, Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Jorge Camara issued a statement saying that talks had started last Saturday with the WGA to get a waiver for writers to work on the Golden Globes, so the show could go on as normal. Camara compared the interim agreement the Foreign Press Association was seeking to the one the WGA last week granted to Worldwide Pants, which produces Late Show with David Letterman.

 “We feel that the Late Show with David Letterman agreement is very reasonable, and hope and expect the WGA will agree to the same terms and ultimately permit the Golden Globe Awards to be broadcast as scheduled, without picket lines, on Sunday, Jan. 13,” Camara said.

However, the WGA later issued its statement saying it would picket the awards. The union also chided Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee for appearing Wednesday on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which returned to the air without its writers.

“The Writers Guild is disappointed that Mike Huckabee crossed the WGA picket line today at NBC,” the union said in a statement. “We welcome the statements of support he has made for striking writers, but we ask him to respect our picket lines in the future and urge the media conglomerates to return to the bargaining table to make a fair deal that will put writers and the entertainment industry back to work.”