British debate backing WGA strike

LONDON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- British entertainment industry players are quietly discussing how the Writers Guild of America strike impacts their operations, Variety.com reported Friday.

Although the WGA officially has no jurisdiction in the United Kingdom, the strike has raised the question of whether local writers can or should work on projects involving U.S. partners.

"We are contacting the major U.K. broadcasters and producers, and the U.K. Film Council, asking them not to dump U.K. material into the U.S. market and not to dress up American projects to look as though they are British," the Writers Guild of Great Britain's general secretary, Bernie Corbett, told the entertainment industry trade paper. "Strike-breaking would at best be a short-term payday, but would have a devastating long-term effect on a writer's U.S. career.

"It's still legitimate for us to be working on non-WGA contracts if the writer is rendering services in the U.K.," one London-based studio executive said. "But some people are freaking out that if you cross a picket line, and you are not WGA already, it may affect your ability to join the union in future."