Oscars, Golden Globes denied WGA waivers

Deepening its conflict with Hollywood's studios, the Writers Guild of America late Monday denied requests for waivers from the television producers of the Golden Globes and Oscars to allow their members to write the awards shows.

The guild's denials are part of its strategy to sustain pressure on studios to return to the bargaining table and hammer out a new contract to replace the one that expired at midnight Oct. 31.

Dick Clark Productions and the Foreign Press Assn. had sought a waiver from the guild's strike rules to allow writers to work on the Golden Globes, which is scheduled to be aired Jan. 13 on NBC.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had asked the guild for permission to use clips from movies and past awards programs that could be shown during the Oscars on ABC in February.

However, Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West, rejected the requests in letters to the press group and the academy Monday night, citing the union's continuing battle with studios to negotiate a new contract. Writers are in their seventh week of a costly strike.

"We must do everything we can to bring our negotiations to a swift and fair conclusion for the benefit of writers and all those who are being harmed by the companies' failure to engage in serious negotiations," Verrone wrote in a letter to Bruce Davis, the academy's executive director. "Our board concluded, reluctantly, that granting a waiver for the Academy Awards would not advance that goal."

People close to the guild's board said the union also had decided not to grant any waiver that would allow writers to work on the awards show, although the academy has not yet asked for such a waiver.

The decisions were not unexpected. Granting waivers would undermine the guild's strategy of applying pressure on the studios by disrupting production of all sorts of television programming, from late-night shows and prime-time series to awards programs.

Upon hearing the WGA's decision, the HFPA released the following statement:

"The Golden Globe Awards, which has a long and friendly relationship with the Writers Guild of America, is obviously disappointed that the WGA denied its request for a waiver. However, we are encouraged by the fact that the WGA has announced that it plans to negotiate agreements with independent production companies. Therefore, we will attempt to reach some type of agreement with them on behalf of the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards, which will recognize and honor outstanding achievements in both movies and television programming made before the strike."

Writers are in the seventh week of a strike.

For all the latest writers strike coverage see The Los Angeles Times blog WGA on Strike.