Networks get shows back on the road

BURBANK — As the city continues to calculate the economic fallout from 100 days of out-of-work writers, studios quickly began getting back to work as prime-time television shows prepare to return.

On Tuesday, 92.5% of Writers Guild of America members voted to end the strike. A decision to ratify the terms of the agreement, which doubles the amount television and movie writers are paid for projects streamed online and gives the union jurisdiction over programming created for the Internet, is expected by the end of February, guild spokesman Gregg Mitchell said.

The exact economic toll felt by Burbank is still being calculated, but officials found that the strike did have an effect on the city, said Scott McGookin, economic development manager for the city.

“It’s so difficult to quantify, but for the restaurants, small businesses and support industries in Burbank, those people were very much affected,” he said. “We know everyone felt it. It was a blip to the city, but not to the individual. For them, it was significant.”

Some guild members returned to work on Wednesday, including Dave Mongan, who writes for CBS’ “Without a Trace,” on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.

“CBS wants us up and going ASAP, so we’re working insane hours — and weekends — to get production going very, very soon,” Mangan said.

His return to the writers’ room provided a much-needed boost to his family’s sagging finances.

“[My wife and I] are very happy that I’m back at work,” he said. “We were lucky enough to have some money saved up — enough to cover our new mortgage. But it hurt to burn through a lot of that over the past few months. Thankfully, we’re back and hopefully will be working steadily for a very long time.”

“Without a Trace” is due to return in April, along with other shows forecasting a spring comeback, said Brian Ford Sullivan, who edits the entertainment website, www.thefutoncritic.com.

Web traffic to Sullivan’s site spiked sharply during the walkout, as people’s hunger for all things writers strike proved insatiable, he said.

Sullivan’s readership nearly doubled in November, when the strike began, from 47.5 million readers in October to almost 87 million during the initial stages of the work stoppage, he said.