WGA Screenwriters: Take The Survey!
Posted by Craig Mazin on 05 Nov 2009 at 08:53 pm | Tagged as: WGA Issues
If you’re a WGAw screenwriter, you should have just received an email from the guild inviting you to take an online survey. While I can’t print the link (the survey is for Guild members only…each of you gets your own link…), I can strongly urge you to take the five or ten minutes necessary to fill it out.
Online, of course.
The survey centers around economic and employment issues. Is it easier or harder getting work now? More hoops to jump through? Are you still getting paid your quote? Are producers demanding more free writing? How about one-step deals?
Here’s why it’s important that you respond (you can do it anonymously if you so desire, and it’s done through a secure website). Even though screenwriters kick in a disproportionately large amount of dues dollars, we are often underrepresented when it’s time for negotiations. It’s easier for the guild to do outreaches to rooms of TV writers at a time, and it’s the threat of shows going dark that drives a strike. All that adds up to a screenwriting constituency that is all too often ignored.
That’s why it’s crucial that we make our voices heard within our own union. If you’re a screenwriter, I don’t have to tell you that the town has changed over the last year. Let’s arm our leadership and staff with as much of our feedback on this situation as we can give.
Sarah Singer at the WGA did a really nice job putting this survey together, and she reached out to a number of writers for input on the kinds of questions that needed asking.
So fill it out, wouldja? Think of it as a prerequisite for complaining months from now! See? Now you’re interested…
Once you’re done, if you want to come back here and praise it or critique it (constructively, please), then leave a comment. I’m sure Sarah and the Guild will be watching this page.
I didn’t get it, and when I looked up why, it’s because it went out solely to screenwriters and to longform writers. Just FYI.
I am a longform writer who wants to take the survey. Where can I find it?
Eric Podell:
It’s not publicly available online. You need to get an email from the Guild with a specific link for you. Call the Guild, ask for member services, and request an email. They probably don’t have yours on record, is my guess.
There is a certain techie tension between the phrases “specific link for you” and “anonymous”, but presumably WGA staff are honorable etc and mean “we could, but we won’t” or even “a 3rd party is doing it and we told them not to pass that on to us in the results”.
Why is the guild doing this? Because they’re hemorrhaging money and trying to figure out what’s happening?
The BOD gives the ED a payraise while the staff is being laid off so it makes perfect since to waste money on a survey to find out what’s wrong.
Off subject –
With all the lively discussion on Schrodinger’s cat during the strike did you happen to catch “A Serious Man”?
Also off-topic: I see the Teamsters may be on the verge of organizing the composers. A usually reliable online friend tells me that WGA turned down that opportunity to pursue “reality”. Wtf? “Low-hanging fruit” anybody?
I got the survey and was a little confused that entering your name is “optional” but there is a unique URL for each person… is it anonymous or not?
W
“I got the survey and was a little confused that entering your name is ‘optional’ but there is a unique URL for each person… is it anonymous or not?”
Most likely the unique URL is to ensure only that one individual only submits one set of survey responses. It’s unlikely that the database for the survey maintained the link between the member names and the e-mail ID URLs once the mailing list was generated.
But that’s just based on standard practice. Perhaps this e-survey was done differently.
I think the deal is that the links are specified for WGA members only, rather than for specific members.
Sorry for the confusion.
Took the survey. Why is the question. In reality, I’m starting to think really doesn’t give a shit what I think–the merry-go-round goes on without an exit point–it’s all a show.
Well, whatever. I filled it out. We’ll see if it makes any difference…
W
Mazin, you significant bitch! Tell me something…
Can the guild do anything about the info they’re inevitably gonna find out? It’s fucked, free-writing has gone beyond anything anyone’s seen before, cattle-calls, 1 step deals, more free work once you get the deal…
and What? What can we do about it?
You answer me right now, goddamnit. Because I look to you for guidance.
Has anyone seen CM lately? He’s not been staring at a blank screen for two weeks stuck in an infinite loop or something, right?
Geo:
Sorry bro…on a deadline.
Couple more weeks, then I’ve got a massive backlog of stuff to talk about…
Man’s gotta pay the bills! Work some fortified eggnog in there somewhere. . .