Hollywood Under Siege: Writers Walk Out

After 11 hours of negotiation late Sunday night, the studios and the Writers Guild of America could not come to terms on a new deal that would've provided more revenue to writers for new media and reality shows -- among other issues -- and a work stoppage is now in place.

Writers will begin picketing as early as Monday morning in both New York and Los Angeles, according to CNN. The real question is, however, how will your favorite shows be affected?

Most programming is filmed weeks, many times months in advance. Shows such as "Stargate: Atlantis," "Flash Gordon" and even the upcoming "Battlestar Galactica" have at least half (if not more) of their upcoming seasons in the can or written. Since "Atlantis" is due for a mid-season break anyway, and "Battlestar Galactica" won't premiere its fourth and final season until April, there is a good chance that the strike won't affect those shows too much, unless the strike carries on for a long time. At worst, the second half of "Atlantis'" fourth season could be delayed in its premiere until probably spring time or maybe even summer.

"Battlestar Galactica" has scripts written up until about Episode 15, and production is to about Episode 10. BSG producer David Weddle told SyFy Portal last month that production would stop if writers walked out.

It is not clear of all the first season of "Flash Gordon" is written or even produced yet, although there is indications the show is still under production. A writers strike can halt production because no one is available to do rewrites. If any other unionized worker tries to write, they would be considered "scabs," and could lose their collective bargaining membership in their own union.

"Heroes" already has been suffering, with the reported strike-related cancellation of "Heroes: Origins," and reports that the 11th episode of the second season has had its ending reshot to make it more like a season finale. It seems likely that NBC will air that as a finale when the season starts.

"Lost" on ABC will experience a shutdown of its production in Hawaii, but since that show won't premiere until mid-season at least, it's likely that show could go at least into late spring before it may experience delays if the strike is prolonged.

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