Simpsons and The Strike
It’s hard to say what, exactly will happen to the Simpsons as a result of the current writer’s strike. The nature of animation is different than live action shows like House or The Colbert Report. That is, the shows are written far in advance, the voice acting is recorded, and then, they’re outsourced to South Korea to be animated. Once the shows are done, more voice acting is recorded to tweak the episode. So, it’s likely that a good number of this season’s episodes have already been written. If the strike is a prolonged one, it will likely cut into the end of the season, or it may disrupt next season. Either way, the potential damage my take awhile to surface. Typically, a writer’s strike effects talk shows first, as those are quite often recorded and aired soon enough. Typically, the Daily Show, for example records in the afternoon and then airs that night. Most sitcoms and dramas have episodes on the shelf, so one is guessing that’s the category The Simpsons might fall into.
However, of the current writer’s strike, there is a stronger Simpson’s connection at play. The head of the writers guild used to write for Futurama. As it turns out, writing for animation used to be a non-union job. So, if this strike happened in 1995, for example, The Simpsons wouldn’t have been effected at all, and the show would have gone on without hindrance. Today, however that’s certainly not the case. Via the Wall Street Journal:
When Patric Verrone went to work as a nonunion writer on the animated television series “Futurama” in 1998, he helped lead a drive to win guild representation for writers from all four of Twentieth Century Fox’s prime-time animated shows: “The Simpsons,” “Futurama,” “Family Guy” and “King of the Hill.”
Nearly a decade later, the 48-year-old Mr. Verrone is the head of the guild — and on the brink of leading his union’s film and TV writers into their first strike since 1988. Mr. Verrone is president of the Writers Guild of America West, which, along with the WGA East, was set to walk off the job this morning, barring a last-minute settlement or delay, in a strike that could momentarily halt the Hollywood entertainment machine.
December 5th, 2007 at 6:16 am
[...] and animated comedies and dramas do. Still, I have often asked myself what I would do when the strike ever touches The Simpsons. New episodes are always welcome, but since the show is so old now, watching it in syndication or [...]