Los Angeles - Representatives of the striking screenwriters have thrown a spanner in the works of the Hollywood awards season by refusing to issue a waiver for the Golden Globes Awards show scheduled for January 13.
The decision means the Hollywood extravaganza, which is seen as second in importance among the awards only to the Oscars is likely to proceed without the benefit of a professionally written script and with the unseemly image of striking writers picketing the red carpet.
The decision by the Writers Guild of America also bodes ill for the Oscars, which follow less than a month later and will also need a waiver if the show is to progress as planned.
The Golden Globes are organized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which on Tuesday said it would work with WGA representatives to find a solution to the impasse.
'The Golden Globe Awards, which has a long and friendly relationship with the Writers Guild of America, is obviously disappointed that the WGA denied its request for a waiver,' the group said in a statement. 'However, we are encouraged by the fact that the WGA has announced that it plans to negotiate agreements with independent production companies. Therefore, we will attempt to reach some type of agreement with them.'
WGA West President Patric M Verrone justified the hard-line stance.
'Writers are engaged in a crucial struggle to achieve a collective bargaining agreement that will protect their compensation and intellectual property rights now and in the future,' he said. 'We must do everything we can to bring our negotiations to a swift and fair conclusion for the benefit of writers and all those who are being harmed by the companies failure to engage in serious negotiations.'
The strike by more than 10,000 members of the WGA is now in its eighth week and is estimated to be costing some 20 million dollars a day. The dispute centres on royalties for work distributed over the internet and other digital media, and has halted production on dozens of top TV shows from Desperate Housewives to The Office, as well as several high-profile movies, including a planned sequel to The Da Vinci Code.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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