Writers for a Fox Cartoon Walk Out

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/arts/14arts-WRITERSFORAF_BRF.html?ref=arts

By BRIAN STELTER
Published: June 14, 2008

The writing staff of “Sit Down, Shut Up,” a Fox animated series about a high school scheduled to begin next spring, walked off the job on Wednesday. The writers, who had been working without a contract for weeks, expected to receive the benefits recently negotiated by the Writers Guild of America, but the studio producing the series, Sony Pictures Television, said that another union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, would have jurisdiction over the show instead. It was one of the first confrontations between writers and a studio since the crippling three-month writers’ strike was settled in February. “We thought there would be no more shenanigans like this,” said John Aboud, a writer for the series. He noted that the writers union contract had covered every Fox animated series since 1998. Sony said the production of its animated shows has been covered by agreements with the theatrical stage employees union for at least 10 years. The conflict has arisen because this is the first animated series Sony has produced for Fox.