How Will the Writers Guild of America Strike Affect the Academy Awards Broadcast? Will Jon Stewart Cross the Picket-Line?

The Writers Guild of America is involved in a protracted strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, a strike that may lead to a boycott of the Academy Awards presentation ceremony. As it did with the Golden Globes, the WGA has refused to grant a waiver allowing WGA members to write scripts for the Oscar ceremony. This means that there can be no scripted talk on the show. Furthermore, since the WGA likely will picket the Academy Awards as a symbol of the continued control of the industry by the producers they are fighting over a new contract, other Guild members are unlikely to cross the picket line.

The Screen Actors Guild will honor the picket line, meaning that the glitz that is the tail that wages the Academy Awards (itself the tail that wags the larger dog of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences), will be lacking. Few if any nominees or stars would dare cross the picket-line, particularly as the WGA's settling its strike on favorable terms will benefit SAG when it is its turn to renegotiate its contract.

One of the major sticking points in the contract negotiations is compensation for "new media," which includes content distributed digitally, via DVDs and on-line via the Internet.

Best Actor nominee Viggo Mortensen, who was in Boston in January to participate in the taping of populist historian Howard Zinn's The People Speak, told the Boston Globe, "I have a feeling they'll solve it. I hope they do."

Mortensen, a leftist and an activist, said, "I'm sure my mom would like to see me on TV and so forth, but if there's a strike I'm not crossing the line."

Jon Stewart, who was signed on to reprise his gig as Oscar host, also is unlikely to cross the WGA picket line. He has been a strong supporter of the writers strike.

The Academy Awards ceremony, scheduled for February 24, 2008 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, may still be saved. The Directors Guild of America has reached a tentative agreement involving the same issues under dispute by the WGA with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.