BURNING STRIKE QUESTION NO. 4: Will the strike screw up next TV season, too?
In January, networks are traditionally hard at work greenlighting the 75 to 100 scripts that will be shot for fall-schedule consideration. (Twenty-five to 35 of those might become series.) But say sayonara to tradition this year. If the strike isn't settled before mid-February, ''any resemblance to pilot season as we know it would be over,'' says a top studio exec. In various time-crunched scenarios, the networks will likely order fewer pilots, some of which will be presentations (think: mini-pilots). Other shows will skip the pilot process and score direct-to-series orders. But if the strike isn't resolved before March, the networks will have a doozy of a time meeting the May deadline to announce their fall slates to the advertising community. Not that the networks will be left completely empty-handed: Most have already shot a few pilots or plan to, as some scripts were ready before the strike. In any case, the work stoppage should help revolutionize pilot season: Industry insiders have been wanting to move toward a year-round development schedule, with a focus on fewer script orders and pilots. ''Our plans were to do this anyway,'' says a top network exec, ''but this accelerates it and in some ways makes it easier.'' Seconds the studio exec: ''If it hadn't been this strike, it probably would've been a bad economy in the next year or two that would've driven us to reevaluate the way we do business.'' —Dan Snierson
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