Sales of DVD’s continue to grow
photo by natalie jenkins

The ongoing writers strike in Hollywood is forcing TV fans to find their fix elsewhere. And DVD rental stores and DVD distributers are profiting from the absence.

“The strike is going to affect television right now.” said Erik Tait, a comedy writer and Humber graduate, who also works in the development department at 3V Films in Venice, Calif. Tait notes a huge resurgence in reality television and expects it to continue.

While others can see benefits from the writers strike. “There are definitely more people coming in and renting DVDs of their favourite TV shows,” said Joey Picken a Blockbuster employee. “There’s nothing good on TV and it’s great for business.”

A survey released two weeks ago from new-media consultancy company Interpret has found that 27 per cent of respondents are spending less time watching network series and 12 per cent are watching less cable and satellite series. The decline in TV viewership is seen mainly in dramas and sitcoms.

Interpret’s survey showed 43 per cent of respondents say they are spending more time watching DVD movies and 23 per cent say they’re watching more TV-DVDs. Another 26 per cent say they are spending more time playing video games.

The strike makes scripted programming more valuable than ever, Interpret CEO Michael Dowling told Reuters. As top shows disappear from primetime, viewers may go back and view critically lauded TV series they missed the first time around, play more video games or watch more movies on DVD.

The strike by 12,000 writers was called over the issue of residuals from new media – they want to be paid for material reproduced on websites, cellphones and podcasts.

Ryan Belleville graduated from Humber’s comedy writing and performance program and sees the consequences from the writers’ point of view. “Writers’ just want their piece. Every day the strike goes on, people lose money and people lose jobs.”