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The Writers' Strike's $3.5B Price

Posted Feb 14, 08 10:28 AM CST in Business,  Arts & Living 

(Newser) – With the writers' strike settled and Hollywood returning to work, Newsweek asks entertainment industry economist Mark Young what toll the strike took on Los Angeles. Based on lost productivity and uncollected taxes, Young pegs the hit at “around $3.5 billion … it's still a little too early to assess what the actual damage is going to be.”

Within the industry, Young thinks the strike could shake up the series pilot process and business model for advertising sales. And when will things get back to normal? “You can't just expect new television shows to come out in the next couple weeks. There's probably going to be a five-to-eight-week lag. Who knows if the crews of these shows are still intact?”

Source Newsweek

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Writers Guild of America member Bradford Winters unpacks his laptop and papers in his New York office as he goes back to work on a new NBC television series "The Philanthropist," Wednesday Feb. 13, 2008....   (Associated Press)
Eddie Gorodetski, a writer on CBS's "Two and A Half Men," walks to work at Warner Bros. Studios, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008, in Burbank, Calif. Members of the Writers Guild of America members voted overwhelmingly...   (Associated Press)
Writers Guild of America board member Nancy De Los Santos, who's also a film and television writer, waits for a news conference to start Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008, in Los Angeles. Union leaders representing...   (Associated Press)
Writer Moira Walkey-Beckett greets drivers from the sidewalk of The Walt Disney Co. building in Burbank, Calif. Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)   (Associated Press)
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