Seriously? OMG! WTF?

Twelve writer’s from America’s Next Top Model have apparently gone on strike due to the fact that the show’s producers denied them entrance into the Writers Guild of America, West.

In response, the writers walked away and started a (peaceful) protest outside the office, where they were joined by some WGA members and also SAG member, Alan Rosengerg.

Membership in the WGA certainly has its benefits–health insurance, pensions, payment standards, residuals and actual credit for being a writer. (The Top Model writers currently hold other titles, like “story producer,” it being a reality show and all, and don’t see any of the money that comes from the rampant repeats on VH1.)

America’s Next Top Model heads to the CW in the fall, which, along with a handful of new shows, will basically be airing a collection of favorites from UPN and the WB, including Top Model, Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars and 7th Heaven.

“We have no interest in jeopardizing our positive working relationship,” the strikers said in a joint statement. “But what we are asking for isn’t unreasonable. There is a double standard being applied as our peers in dramatic television work under the protections of a WGA contract. We should too.”

In the case of an unscripted series like Top Model, writers hammer out story outlines, edit footage into workable plots and, yes, even feed people lines sometimes. Much like writing a script, only without the good actors.

“If you shoot hundreds of hours of footage, if you didn’t edit it into something, you’d have something” nobody would want to watch, WGA spokesman Gabriel Scott said. “That’s all storytelling.”

 Top Model Gossip

The dozen writers on "America’s Next Top Model" may walk off the show as early as today. The scribes have threatened the job action after the fledgling network denied their request for representation by the Writers Guild of America West. The guild staged a protest Wednesday with about 25 demonstrators outside the production offices of Anisa Prods. and 10×10 Entertainment in Los Angeles and have planned another protest today. WGA spokesman Gabe Scott said all the "Model" scribes have signed authorization cards to be represented by the guild. In response, the CW and exec producer Ken Mok have told the WGA that it should ask the Natl. Labor Relations Board to conduct the election — a process that would probably take at least a year to complete. A CW spokesman had no comment Thursday about a possible strike but exec producer Ken Mok said in a statement, "We have advised the WGA that we feel the process established under the Natl. Labor Relations Act is the appropriate process to be followed if employees wish to be represented by a union. The process permits an impartial government agency, the Natl. Labor Relations Board, to conduct a secret ballot election so that all affected employees have an individual right to express their preference as to whether or not they want to elect a union." "We once again ask that the WGA follow the procedures provided by law," Mok added. "If, after doing so, the NLRB decides that the WGA is the exclusive representative of our employees, we would be happy to sit down and negotiate with them."

Varitey 

Supermodel-turned-TV presenter TYRA BANKS will become the first beauty to ask editors not to digitally enhance her appearance when she appears on magazine covers. The 32-year-old is fed up with the message being sent out to young girls when they see flawless women in magazines, and she wants the world to see her without the benefit of computer technology. Instead, Banks will use make-up and hair extensions to achieve beautiful looks. A member of the star’s company, Bankable Productions, says, "Modeling is an unreal business, but Tyra wants to make it more real. "She always tried to get heavier women to take part in AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL – although the industry continues to reject them and the few that get through are magically transformed into waifs by magazines."

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