Writers' strike hastens change in TV landscape

By Paul Thomasch - Analysis

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hollywood screenwriters should be back at work within days after their three-month strike, but that hardly means a return to business as usual for the television and advertising industries.

Those looking for a happy ending to the labor troubles can take comfort from the prospect of hit comedies and dramas returning to prime-time TV this spring following Sunday's endorsement of a labor deal by union leaders.

Beyond disrupting the TV schedule, however, the strike shone a spotlight on broad issues facing the industry: how commercial time is bought and sold is badly outdated; show development is too costly; and, most troubling, audiences are shrinking.

"The strike kind of moved the industry from a state of evolution to one of revolution," said David Scardino, the entertainment specialist with media buying firm RPA.

"People have looked at this strike as an opportunity to smash the old models and come up with new ideas," he said.

NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker could be included in those ranks. Against the backdrop of the strike, he said the majority owned affiliate of General Electric Co wanted to largely exit the business of developing shows through pilots, a move that could save $50 million a year and dismantle an established business practice in Hollywood.

Networks use pilots -- essentially test shows -- to decide whether to move ahead with TV series. The trouble is that pilots are expensive and often lead nowhere.

"The excess and waste that is inherent in the Hollywood system of making pilots and marketing them is just crazy," Zucker said in a speech last month.