L&K NewsBits

• Quiet on the set

Vancouver's film and television production industry is shutting down, a result of the U.S. screenwriters' strike, which enters its 11th week on Monday. By the end of January, all U.S. television series shooting in Vancouver will have run out of scripts and ceased production. And there is no happy Hollywood ending in sight.

The impact on the local production industry is expected to be devastating, with estimated losses in excess of $100-million and some 5,000 people thrown out of work if the strike doesn't end soon, according to Peter Leitch, president of North Shore Studios and Mammoth Studios and chair of the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of B.C. “It's not going to be pretty,” he warns.

This is usually the time when television series return from their Christmas breaks, and studios in Greater Vancouver begin buzzing. Not this year; There are just two live-action TV series still shooting here, and they are down to their final scripts. Men in Trees is scheduled to wrap on Tuesday and Smallville is slated to shut down Jan. 23. Both were originally supposed to shoot until mid-April.

Read full article here.

• X-Ray Vision doesn't work in Vegas

TMZ reports "Superman" aka Dean Cain was playing some blackjack last night in Sin City, but from the look of his stack of chips, he wasn't using his superpowers!

TMZ shot Mr. Cain playing cards at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, where he was slappin' down up to $500 a hand on blackjack. A source inside the casino tells us that by the end of his sitting, the black chip stack ($100s) turned to reds ($5s). Damn that kryptonite! Superman was in town for nightclub queen Amy Sacco's 40th birthday party at Body English.

We caught Dean later that night, and it seemed to have worked out!

• Pencils2MediaMoguls received 700,000 pencils!

According to Kryptonsite, The Pencils2MediaMoguls campaign is now over, with over 700,000 pencils going to the studio moguls to let them know we want them to make a fair deal to get our writers back to work.

Their final delivery will take place in New York on January 14.

An announcement of the people who will be getting phone calls from Erica Durance, Laura Vandervoort, and Michael Rosenbaum has been made.

Congratulations to:

Gregory Roberts (Michael Rosenbaum Phone Call)
Braemon Loomis ( Erica Durance Phone Call)
Jachin Rupe (Laura Vandervoort Phone Call)

Source: Global & Mail | TMZ | Kryptonsite | Pencils2MediaMoguls