As time goes on, the writer’s strike is really starting to have an increasing impact in Hollywood… which is good for the writers, but bad for everyone else. Although some talk shows have attempted to return to business as usual without their writing staff, a lot of other industry events are taking a major hit. Case in point, the Golden Globes have been forced to essentially cancel this year’s ceremony after actors refused to cross the WGA in order to attend. Instead, the winners will be announced in an hour-long press conference on Sunday, January 13th. The conference will be covered live on NBC News, and will probably appear on NBC’s website at some point as well.

Obviously it’s good to hear that the winners will still get recognized for their achievements, but the lack of a ceremony to broadcast on primetime TV is going to be a pretty big loss for NBC. The other issue here is that it that the almighty Academy Awards will likely face the same roadblock next month. The Oscars are currently scheduled to air on ABC on Feb. 24th.

Producer Gil Cates seems hellbent on pulling off a televised event of some sort, no matter what happens. A cancellation of the Oscars would be a major blow to studios, as it gives a huge promotional boost to this year’s films and the stars who headline them. Will this give the WGA more leverage at the bargaining table? Personally I wouldn’t care if we missed out on another overblown Oscar ceremony, but it’s certainly nice to think that a settlement may happen within the next month or so.