The Writers' Strike's $3.5B Price

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?” (More Hollywood writers' strike stories.)