Sunday’s MTV Movie & TV Awards might really have to lean on its pre-taped bits

In a bit of unfortunate timing that would be much bigger news if we were talking about… most other awards shows, the MTV Movie & TV Awards are being held on Sunday—which will be nearly a week after the Alliance Of Motion Picture And Television Producers refused to give the Writers Guild Of America a fair new deal, leaving the WGA no choice but to go on strike and bring Hollywood to a standstill. As is the case with most things in life, writers are very important to awards shows, since you need writers to whip up snappy banter or punch-up new jokes or give famous people something to latch onto so they don’t embarrass themselves (and everyone else) by trying to improvise.

But, according to one “production source” on the Movie & TV Awards who spoke with Variety, they have “contingency plans” in place in the likely event that the strike isn’t resolved by then. The source said they’ve been “discussing” what to do if there’s a strike “for quite some time,” and “the nature of live events and live shows and live programming is to be able to pivot when things come up.”

That sounds pretty cold, but host Drew Barrymore was a little more sympathetic to the plight of the striking writers, saying “our respect and solidarity is not only intact,” but that “we are covering ourselves so that we can do the appropriate thing.” She says that “everybody’s intentions are in the right place,” since the point of the show is “to celebrate people in everything that they do” and it all “begins with the writing.”

Variety says there are “several short films” ready to go that were made before the strike started, so they’re all fine, but any other scripted elements can’t be updated or revised with the writers on strike. That would presumably mean that those pre-taped segments are going to be more crucial than ever. The unnamed source insisted that they made plans to avoid this, but there’s a chance the show will just be Drew Barrymore walking out onstage and saying “here’s another pre-taped comedy routine,” which would be kind of fun and would be a nice plug for the importance of writers.

The Variety story also has an interesting note about how the Golden Globes got completely derailed by the 2007 WGA strike, since no stars wanted to show up and cross a picket line and the WGA even refused to give permission to even air clips from nominated movies and shows. Variety doesn’t think that will be an issue this time around, if only because the strike just started, but there will be other big events that need writers as time goes on. Even if the Movie & TV Awards end up okay, the stakes are high and will only get higher for the AMPTP.