• WSJ (paid subscription required), Monday, November 14, 2005 12:45 PM

Hollywood writers, historically perceived as the lowest level of talent in the industry's complex food chain, are fed up with the way products are forcibly inserted into their scripts. Actors aren't happy with the practice either. In a white paper set to be published today, each of these group's respective guilds say they want to negotiate a code of conduct that, according to the Wall Street Journal, would disclose "at the beginning of each movie and TV program... the advertising that has been woven into the script. They also want the studios to put limits on the use of such advertising in children's programming." The Writers Guild notes that the practice has gotten out of hand, to the extent that sponsor's products are not just shown on-camera but are actually being woven into plot lines. Example: The way Burger King products were written into an episode of "The Apprentice" reality TV series. But, says the Journal, "Network and studio executives argue they have no choice but to pursue such sources of income as technology makes it easier to skip traditional advertising methods such as TV commercials."

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