The American motion picture industry has announced this year's nominations for best picture and other Academy Awards. And the Academy for Film Arts and Sciences says the ceremony will go on as usual even if an ongoing writers' strike puts a wrench in the works. VOA's Ruth Reader reports on the nominees and the effect of the strike on the ceremony next month.

Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson in 'There Will Be Blood'

Another best picture nominee -- "Atonement" -- has seven nominations, as does "Michael Clayton," including best direction and best actor, with George Clooney in the lead role. No film dominates the nominations and eager movie buffs will just have to wait until the big night for answers.

Writers on strike

This year the Golden Globes, pared down to a glamourless newscast, drew in roughly a quarter of the viewers it did last year. Advertising Age's TV Editor, Brian Steinberg, says with advancements in technology advertisers cannot afford to lose their audience. "Advertisers last year spent about $28 million on Golden Globes. So it's a good chunk of change, not a huge amount for networks' bottom line by any means, but you know you don't want to lose that kind of money especially at a time when people are using DVRs to skip past advertising."

NBC television network lost an estimated 10 to 15 million dollars in advertising after the show was reformatted to accommodate strikers.

Brian Steinberg

One major market to lose advertising opportunity is fashion. Many designers cash in on free advertising by loaning out dresses to stars for such celebrity-driven events. Without the red carpet, designers, especially smaller independent designers, lose a major advertising venue.

And for the Oscars, the stakes are raised. ABC charges $1.6 million per 30-second television spot. Last year advertisers spent $80 million for advertising during the Oscars -- more than double the amount spent on the Golden Globes. But, if the strike continues, the Oscars could suffer the same fate as the Golden Globes.

Steinberg says the advertising industry was having problems with television before the writers' strike. "Before the strike came along there had already been concern of erosion of ratings, of people watching TV in other places like the Web, and iTunes aren't measured well for advertisers. There are concerns about people time shifting with DVRs and passing through ads and not watching them. This is one more chink in the armor of the TV business."

For now, the Academy of Film Arts and Sciences says the show will go on as planned. Already the Writers Guild of America has denied the Academy's request for show clips from the previous year. The guild also is not allowing Jon Stewart to cross picket lines to write or host the show. Talks between the writers and the studios are planned to resume this week.