According to former Walt Disney chief executive, Michael Eisner, the writer’s strike is over. Practically. According to Eisner, "It’s over… They made a deal, they shook hands on the deal. It’s going on Saturday to the writers in general."
Wait, so does this mean the thirty million reality shows are going off air? Because we were really starting to like the re-imagining of American Gladiators. Then again, it can only get better with writers…
Speaking live on CNBC’s Fast Money, Eisner at first hesitated to say whether or not it was possible that the writers still could reject the agreement, then he gave in. "A deal has been made, and they’ll be back to work very soon," adding, "I know a deal’s been made. I know it’s over."
We wonder if he knows a deal has been made and that it’s over? We just can’t tell.
The terms of the agreement have yet to be revealed, though most assume that it was a similar dealer that the Director’s Guild made a few weeks prior. Eisner continued to say that as a result of studio cutbacks, many of the writers who went on strike were unlikely to return to the same big-money contracts that had with studios.
This is where we were confused. Why, exactly? Is it out of bitterness? Loss of money from the studios? To us, it smells faintly of bitter execs unwilling to pay striking writers once they get back to work in an effort to punish them, hopefully, that’s not the case and Eisner is wrong — it definitely wouldn’t be the first time.
The coming weeks should be very interesting ones in Hollywood.
