Showrunners Outraged At Dumbass Emmycast Change: WGA Charges "Clear Violation Of Longstanding Agreement"
Once again the Academy’s Board Of Governors makes a boneheaded decision because of pressure from Hollywood powers-that-be. Only this time, I’m talking about the Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences, which bowed to pressure from the broadcast networks for a higher-rated Emmycast that screws writers from receiving live presenations of their awards. (Instead, the segments are taped.) Not only have the WGA West and East protested the changes (see way below), but now the TV showrunners are bitchslapping ATAS:
Los Angeles – Writers are overwhelmingly opposed to the short-sighted attempt by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to remove any of the live presentations of writing awards from the Primetime Emmys. The categories that the Academy seeks to exclude are key awards and must be presented live. WGA showrunners have issued the following letter of protest in response to the Academy’s planned changes to the broadcast:
We, the undersigned showrunners and executive producers of television’s current line-up of programs, oppose the Academy of Television Arts and Science’s decision to remove writing awards from the live telecast. This decision conveys a fundamental understatement of the importance of writers in the creation of television programming and a symbolic attack on the primacy of writing in our industry. We implore ATAS to restore these awards to their rightful place in the live telecast of the 2009 Emmy Awards.
Carter Covington, 10 Things I Hate About You
David Fury, 24
Alex Gansa, 24
Evan Katz, 24
Robert Carlock, 30 Rock
Michelle Nader, 100 Questions
Rebecca Sinclair, 90210
Claudia Lonow, Accidentally on Purpose
Mike Barker, American Dad
Jeff Melvoin, Army Wives
Ronald D. Moore, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Virtuality
Victor Fresco, Better Off Ted
Bill Prady, Big Bang Theory
Mike Kelley, The Beautiful Life, Swingtown
Mark V. Olsen, Big Love
Will Scheffer, Big Love
Hart Hanson, Bones
Stephen Nathan, Bones
Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad
Molly Newman, Brothers & Sisters
Matt Nix, Burn Notice
Tom Kapinos, Californication
Jane Espenson, Caprica
Andrew W. Marlowe, Castle
Chris Fedak, Chuck
Matt Miller, Chuck
Scott Rosenbaum, Chuck
Robert Munic, The Cleaner
Rich Appel, The Cleveland Show
Jennifer Johnson, Cold Case
Greg Plageman, Cold Case
Garrett Donovan, Community
Neil Goldman, Community
Ed Bernero, Criminal Minds
Carol Mendelsohn, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Naren Shankar, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Peter Lenkov, CSI: New York
Pam Veasey, CSI: New York
Rick Eid, Dark Blue
Doug Jung, Dark Blue
Matt Berry, Desperate Housewives
Marc Cherry, Desperate Housewives
Bob Daily, Desperate Housewives
Clyde Phillips, Dexter
Melissa Rosenberg, Dexter
Charles H. Eglee, Dexter
Maggie Friedman, Eastwick
David S. Rosenthal, Eastwick
Doug Ellin, Entourage
Thania St. John, Eureka
Jill Franklyn, Failure to Fly
Steve Callaghan, Family Guy
David A. Goodman, Family Guy
Mark Hentemann, Family Guy
Seth McFarlane, Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, American Dad
Chris Sheridan, Family Guy
Marc Guggenheim, Flash Forward
Luke Reiter, The Forgotten
Jason Katims, Friday Night Lights, Parenthood
Jeff Pinkner, Fringe
J.H. Wyman, Fringe
David X. Cohen, Futurama
Ira Ungerleider, Gary Unmarried
Michelle King, The Good Wife
John Altschuler, The Goode Family
Dave Krinsky, The Goode Family
Patrick Sean Smith, Greek
Shonda Rhimes, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice
Steve Peterman, Hannah Montana
Michael Poryes, Hannah Montana
Glen Mazzara, HawthoRNe
Adam Armus, Heroes
Garnett Lerner, House
David Shore, House
Brad Kern, Human Target
Jon Steinberg, Human Target
Colette Burson, Hung
Dmitry Lipkin, Hung
Michael B. Kaplan, I’m In the Band
Neal Baer, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Rene Balcer, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Walon Green, Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Samuel Baum, Lie to Me
Shawn Ryan, Lie To Me
Daniel Voll, Lie to Me
Janet Leahy, Life UneXpected
Kathleen McGhee-Anderson, Lincoln Heights
Carlton Cuse, Lost
Adam Horowitz, Lost
Edward Kitsis, Lost
Damon Lindelof, Lost
Matt Weiner, Mad Men
Holly Sorensen, Make It or Break It
Glenn Gordon Caron, Medium
Todd Slavkin, Melrose Place
Darren Swimmer, Melrose Place
Michael Royce, Men of a Certain Age
Gretchen Berg, Mercy
Aaron Harberts, Mercy
Liz Heldens, Mercy
Jeffrey Lieber, Miami Trauma
Steven Maeda, Miami Trauma
Eileen Heisler, The Middle
DeAnn Heline, The Middle
Steve Levitan, Modern Family
Shane Brennan, NCIS; NCIS: Los Angeles
Jeff Astrof, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Kari Lizer, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Andrew Dettman, Numb3rs
Ken Sanzel, Numb3rs
Greg Daniels, The Office, Parks & Recreation
Paul Lieberstein, The Office
Michael Schur, The Office, Parks & Recreation
David Hudgins, Past Life
Ellen Kreamer, Plummer
Jon Cowan, Private Practice
Stan Zimmerman, Rita Rocks
Michael Rauch, Royal Pains, Love Monkey
Shaun Cassidy, Ruby & the Rockits
Marsh McCall, Ruby & the Rockits
Tom Hertz, Rules of Engagement
Matthew Carlson, Sons of Tucson
Nancy Miller, Saving Grace
Neil Goldman, Scrubs
Al Jean, The Simpsons
Matt Selman, The Simpsons
Kurt Sutter, Sons of Anarchy
Michael Feldman, Sonny with a Chance
Steve Marmel, Sonny with a Chance
Steve DeKnight, Spartacus: Blood & Sand
Ann Biderman, Southland
John Wells, Southland
Danny Kallis, Suite Life on Deck
Eric Kripke, Supernatural
James Duff, The Closer
Jay Kogen, The Troop
Thomas W. Lynch, The Troop
Carol Barbee, Three Rivers
Eric Overmyer, Treme
Michael Hirst, The Tudors
Susan Beavers, Two and a Half Men
Lee Aronsohn, Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory
Jill Soloway, United States of Tara
Jeffrey Bell, V
Scott Peters, V
Jack Kenny, Warehouse 13
David Simkins, Warehouse 13
Roberto Benabib, Weeds
Jenji Kohan, Weeds
Todd J. Greenwald, Wizards of Waverly Place
Peter Murietta, Wizards of Waverly Place
Matt Dearborn, Zeke & Luther
Tom Burkhard, Zeke and Luther
Patric M. Verrone
John F. Bowman
David Chase
David Milch
Phil Rosenthal
Los Angeles – Writers Guild of America, West President Patric M. Verrone today issued the following statement regarding the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ decision to remove the live presentation of two writing awards from the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards telecast:
“This action of the board of governors is a clear violation of a longstanding agreement the Writers Guilds have with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences regarding their awards telecast. It is also a serious demotion for writing and a fundamental misunderstanding of the importance of writers in the creation of television programs. Last year’s Emmys suffered a tremendous decline in quality and ratings because of a lack of scripted material. That the Academy would then decide to devalue the primary and seminal role that writing plays in television is ridiculous and self-defeating.”
Michael Winship, president of the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), issued this statement in response to the announcement that the Emmy Awards will timeshift key writing awards:
“The writers are the storytelling stars of television, and we are disappointed that the Academy chooses to diminish our members’ invaluable and essential contribution to the medium. We ask that they reconsider the decision for this and future Emmy broadcasts,” says Michael Winship, president of the Writers Guild of America, East.
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