Lost in its renewal seasons has always begun filmi...

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4920393039273628205.post-34218997814558333672008-04-17T13:58:00.000-07:002008-04-17T13:58:00.000-07:002008-04-17T13:58:00.000-07:00Lost in its renewal seasons has always begun filmi...Lost in its renewal seasons has always begun filming in the latter half of August AFAIK. Assuming about 10 days of filming per episode, with 2 days of weekend and the various holidays, 16 episodes would take about 200 days in my guesstimate, probably more. This math is not too accurate, but it works out to a late January start date of weekly broadcasts with no interruptions. A strike into the summer would continue the current halt in movie production-- the studios have already refused to greenlight films that can't be guaranteed to wrap filming by June 30. A strike into Fall and beyond would affect primetime television. In the case of Lost, a Season 5 with uninterrupted weekly broadcasts of new episodes would no longer be possible, a (potentially dangerous) hit for ABC's original plan to boost Lost's falling ratings. Regarding the importance of broad support for a strike, that's hard to gauge. Certainly the WGA strike has been draining to Hollywood, but SAG can entirely choose go its own way. The primary contention is not about wages. It's about residuals in new media distribution, a distribution method which is thought likely to unseat traditional broadcasting in importance. At any rate the acting stars (like writing stars) have wages far above the union minimums, although they certainly will be the most visible faces in the event of a strike. As to whether the networks in practice would pay the substantial costs inherent in greenlighting pre-production of their entire striking primetime stable (or even just their hit shows) in anticipation of a timely strike resolution is outside my knowledge. Certainly that groundwork needs to be completed before filming commences, so if pre-production doesn't begin until the strike nearly ends, any delay will only be that much longer.Santahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06116080475450174102noreply@blogger.com