John M. Graham <74166.3727@compuserve.com> asks:
> Why then, was the deadline for Claudia to make up her mind left
> so short? Is the problem the lack of reruns (meaning you have to
> get further ahead in case you fall behind without the planned
> holds in the countdown)? (Also, will Claudia appear in 501 aring
> as 422, and how does she get paid for 422, since that whole
> residual problem raises its ugly head?

"With the exception of 501 (airing in the 422 slot), you should have
about 2 extra months to get the episodes in the can. They won't, after
all, air until January, when they previously aired in November. Why
then, was the deadline for Claudia to make up her mind left so short?"

Because you can't just come in and shoot one episode, then tell
everyone, "Okay, we're taking a break for two months." The moment you
begin shooting, the clock is ticking. SAG regulates the span of time
you have the actors, equipment is rented...on and on. We had to come
back in time to shoot 501/422, and it's going to be close as it is. It
takes 52 days of post to finish an episode once it's filmed, so with
501/422 shooting August 18th, just do the math to see how close this is
going to be.

And once we pull the trigger on 501, we have to go immediately
into 502. And on and on.

Even if this were not an issue with the 422 business, we would
*still* have to start shooting in August because of the schedule of
holidays, and TNT's desire to run S5 *straight through* without reruns
or breaks. That means you have to start early and be finished with a
lot of shows, and vault them, to be able to then run through them all
sequentially in 22 weeks.

jms