Oscars organisers vow show will go on

Organisers of the Oscars insisted the show would go on next month despite the Golden Globe ceremony being cancelled due to the Hollywood writers’ strike.

Without special agreements with the Writers Guild of America, awards planners cannot hire union members to work on their shows. And nominees and other celebrities from the Screen Actors Guild have said they would stay away from the Globes to show their support for the writers.

No-one wants to be seen crossing the picket lines.

Gil Cates, producer of the Oscar broadcast, said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will put on its Oscar show on February 24 as planned – with or without the writers.

“We are going to do it,” he said.

“I can’t elaborate on how we’re going to do it, because I don’t want anybody to deal with the elaboration in a way that might impact its success.”

He said the show was “the most unique show on American television” and added: “It has been on through wars and through presidential assassination attempts.

“It would be shameful if the Oscars were in any way impacted.”

Sid Ganis, academy president, said: “We’re not panicking. We’re preparing our show, and we’re moving forward.”

But Harvey Weinstein, whose former company Miramax was a frequent Oscar winner and who now runs the Weinstein Co, said: “No matter what anybody says, if the WGA goes on strike and SAG is in support, then there’s no Oscar show. It’s as simple as that.”

He said it was more likely that the guild would ultimately agree to let its writers work on the Oscars.

But Patric Verrone, WGA West president, said the union would turn down any request from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its members to work on the Oscars.

The WGA went on strike on November 5 over writers’ shares of potential profits from programming on the internet and other new media.

Talks between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke off on December 7.

On Monday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association cancelled the televised Golden Globes dinner, a pre-cursor to the Oscars, and announced it would be replaced with an hour-long press conference on host channel NBC instead.

Globes spokesman Stephen LoCascio said it would consist of film clips, with awards probably announced by on-air talent from television news and entertainment shows.

No nominees or other stars are expected to show up, he said.

The Globes’ Cecil B DeMille Award for lifetime achievement to Steven Spielberg has been postponed until next year.

Parties by NBC Universal, the Weinstein Co, E! Entertainment and other outfits after the Globes have been cancelled.