Scribe Strike May Shake Up TV Biz

TV bigwigs are looking on the bright side of the scribe strike, they say, vowing to finally make overdue changes to boost the bottom line. Slashing costs, staggering show debuts, and making network TV look and act more like cable are notions that have been kicked around for years. Now may be time to do them: "This is a great opportunity to come up with a model that makes television healthier," one exec told Variety.

Other ideas include nixing pilot season—"If we go to year-round development, it lowers the cost of production," says one exec—and cutting press tours and upfronts to save money. Worse for writers, more studios plan international co-productions—or so they say. "A gigantic and powerful tractor beam will attempt to pull this industry back to the same-old same-old," says a studio head. (More Hollywood stories.)