LA Screenings: How The Writers Strike Is Impacting This Year’s Event

deadline.com:

The last time a writers strike impacted the LA Screenings in 2008, the world was in recession and studios pared back their spend on glitzy marketing and all-singing, all-dancing parties and soirees.

We are not quite at that stage, but, in 2023, these conditions have an air of familiarity. Studios execs are under way with planning for their annual international TV buyer showcases following this week’s Upfront presentations, but there is a sense of uncertainty from all sides heading into the week, as pickets spring up and shows shut down.

With U.S. studio shows currently on the back burner, learning exactly what will be ready when has become a key question for execs arriving in town.

The stresses are different this time around, notes Dermot Horan, Director of Co-Productions and Acquisitions at Irish public broadcaster RTÉ. “The last time there was a strike, more of us were reliant on network programming, which is written very close to transmission,” he says. “Studios in the modern day have been buying up international drama companies, so we’re not as reliant on that network programing anymore.” He points to Australian romantic comedy series Colin From Accounts, commissioned for Foxtel streamer Binge and sold globally by Paramount, which was the talk of last year, adding: “Back in the day that would be sold by a company like ABC Commercial [the sales arm of Australian pubcaster the ABC].” Deadline has spoken to a handful of buyers, who are comforted by the pivot the studios have made to international content, meaning that even if U.S.