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Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) West have signed a petition to protest the time-shifting of several awards during the upcoming broadcast of the <I>61st Primetime Emmy Awards</I> on September 20.<p>Last week, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) announced that eight awards would be given away 45 minutes prior to the live telecast. These awards will be videotaped, and video clips will be included during the telecast. "Our job is to make an entertaining show that appeals to the maximum number of people but, most importantly, maintains the integrity of the Emmy brand," <font color=yellow>Don Mischer</font>, the executive producer of the ceremony, said in a teleconference on Thursday.<p>Members of WGA West circulated a petition that received more than 150 signatures protesting the pre-taped awards. The petition reads:<p><dl><dt><dd><font color=yellow>We, the undersigned showrunners and executive producers of television's current line-up of programs, oppose the Academy of Television Arts and Science's decision to remove writing awards from the live telecast. This decision conveys a fundamental understatement of the importance of writers in the creation of television programming and a symbolic attack on the primacy of writing in our industry. We implore ATAS to restore these awards to their rightful place in the live telecast of the 2009 Emmy Awards.</font></dt></dl><p>Showrunners for two members of the <I>CSI</I> franchise signed the petition. <I>CSI: Crime Scene Investigation</I> executive producers <font color=yellow>Naren Shankar</font> and <font color=yellow>Carol Mendelsohn</font> added their signatures. <font color=yellow>Pam Veasey</font> and <font color=yellow>Peter Lenkov</font>, showrunners for <I>CSI: New York</I>, also signed the petition.<p>The original information is from <A class="link" HREF="http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=emmys09&articleid=VR1118006856&cs=1">Variety</a> and the <A class="link" HREF="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gdZYquCkhax758t3m92KQpgt3LKQD99P14RO1">Associated Press</a>.<center></center>
