Welcome, Wall Street Journal Readers
There’s a really nice profile of The Artful Writer in the Wall Street Journal today. I think I can declare victory if I get away with calling the AMPTP’s proposals “nuts” and still get a nice quote from their spokesperson.
Getting dubbed “Hollywood’s Must-See” ain’t bad either, and it’s probably the first and last time I’ll earn that moniker.
I did want to add a slight bit of context to one quote. I said:
When it comes to union matters, I am the only game in town on this right now…
That’s mostly true. WriterAction is also out there, but they’re WGA-members-only, so in terms of public blogs, I’m the only game in town for this stuff.
At least, the only one I know of. Apologies to anyone else doing any serious coverage of this stuff. If you are, I’d love to know about it (and possibly offer a link).
Meanwhile, here’s the latest.
Things are getting worse.
The WGA rhetoric has now turned toward DVD residuals, which is utter nonsense. Everyone in the negotiating room knows that DVD residuals are the epitome of a sailed ship. Harping on doubling that rate is as pointless and absurd as the companies’ proposal to tie residuals to profit.
The fact that we seem to be moving backwards in terms of the seriousness of rhetoric is deeply disturbing. With weeks to go, tensions have steeply mounted. Furthermore, the companies have essentially initiated a lockout on feature writers. They’re not spending any more money on feature writing (so we hear) until a deal is struck.
I am growing quickly impatient with our side’s inability to knuckle down on the only topic that matters. DVDs, jurisdiction over animation and reality, product integration…all of it should be pushed aside. We’re beyond the point where red herrings and posturing are at all valuable.
If the AMPTP won’t grow up and talk like adults to us, then it’s incumbent upon us to claim the high ground. If we won’t, then saying “well they were acting like asses too” will serve as cold comfort on the picket line.
More to come.
Are there a set number of negotiating days or will/can they negotiate up until the 31st (or the strike vote ratification)?
The optimist in me sees it this way, once one side comprimises the walls will crumble and East Germany will be free from tyranny.
We just need a compromise.
I can’t beleave they didn’t mention me in the article.
We can negotiate up to the 31st…and we can negotiate after if both sides agree to it.
I’m sure we writers with spines - however many THAT is - want to see the Guild fight for the best deal they can get, but…
As someone who served in the military when the Wall fell (yep I’m THAT old, and it was an incredible moment I’ll never forget) would you mind not comparing a fight over money to a near- interminable war fought under the threat of nuclear holocaust? Or any other shooting wars?
And if you must, please do so in a satirical way.
‘Coz the analogies don’t compare.
Thanks.
Craig —
Am I missing something? You say you wish our side would knuckle down on the only issue that matters… and then dismiss DVDs, jurisdiction and product integration. What is the “only issue that matters?”
WSJ said:
Do they mean WA, Craig? Why didn’t they say WA? And what blog?
I so confusedid.
Travis,
Which side did you fight for again? Stasi anyone?
Lucky for me, I live in a free society where I can compare my body hair to the jungles of Vietnam and my beard trimmer to Agent Orange.
I’m sorry this is lost on people with spines.
As someone who spent six months guarding the borders of Democracy from one-third of the axis of evil I want to say that my penis is The Wall — and it will never fall!
Er, or something like that.
I suspect the whole debate would benefit from a serious reduction in testosterone, talk of who is bending over for whom, and who’s got the most balls.
John:
Internet downloads.
Steven,
It would suck to have a crumbling penis and to have the pieces displayed on the mantels of tourists around the world.
I think you should reconsider your analogy, possibly altering it to be more… satirical.
Thanks.
Doubling our DVD residuals will never happen, but it’s a popular issue with WGA members. We’re not trying to negotiate anymore - we’re trying to band everyone together for a strike.
Makes perfect sense.
If you want to strike.
Craig, I am under the assumption that their answer/ploy/mantra on negotiating internet downloads is: “We need more time to research.” That sure didn’t stop them from loading up the internet and Verizon cellphones with entire episodes of current, scripted tv.
First- Craig, is there ANY way at all that the AMPTP is actually serious about the idea of tying resids to profits?
I mean, picture it. Just for the sake of illustration, lets say the AMPTP gets its way on that one.
How in God’s name could that lead to anything BUT “pay by litigation” for writers?
I.e. they say the film didn’t make money, so we owe a pittance, or even zero, the writer calls a bullshit flag on the play, sues to open the books, both sides’ attorneys hire forensic accountants, and the writer eventually gets paid whatever the court decides.
Courts are notoriously unpredictable when it comes to settlements of that kind (and often choose to teach ‘ol Goliath one hell of an expensive lesson for trying to beat up on David), so how could that POSSIBLY be in their interest as a new industry standard practice?
Secondly - no ‘fense n’tended but I gotta say that givin’ up on DVD resids as a “sailed ship” very well could be a HUGE mistake.
Yeah “the web is the future”, but it’s a fact Craig, “the future” hits L.A. about ten years before it worms its way into homes in middle America.
Even I still own, and use on occasion, a VHS tape deck. I didn’t exactly run right out and re-buy DVD copies of all the films and TV shows I had on tape, and don’t particularly feel the need to.
ALL of my relations living out in Pa. just got around to buying their FIRST dvd player LAST YEAR.
None of them own flat screen TV’s yet.
None of their kids own an iPod.
None of them have a high bandwidth connection to the internet, and most of them aren’t going to get one anytime soon.
They have BASIC cable - only - and I’m tellin’ ya, and you’d better believe it, there is just NO WAY IN HELL they’re going to pay double what they’re paying now for basic cable to get a high speed connection.
To all too many of them “the internet” is a place where pedophiles stalk kids, “The Government” watches and records every move you make, “there’s too much porn”, you risk identity theft with EVERY purchase you make, and every single solitary problem they ever have with their computer is suspected of being caused by “a VIRUS!”
So yeah, “the internet is the future”, but believe it, “the future” hasn’t arrived yet for one hell of a lot of the country, and it really is possible that it could take 10 to 15 years (i.e. the most of the life of the upcoming contract) before downloading films, TV shows, and other content, makes anybody more money than the sale and rental of dvd’s.
So all I’m saying is I’m not at ALL sure that dvd’s, and the resids issue, are yesterday’s news and something the Guild should just cave on in order to get a better deal on “the future”.
Yeah “the future” is important, even critical, but so is the present. Caving on dvd resids could very well wind up to be every bit as costly a mistake as allowing ourselves to get screwed on ‘em in the first place. This doesn’t impresses me as a “one or the other” issue. Are you really so certain that BOTH issues don’t belong on the table?
I’m not - (yet), and if you are, I really would like to hear why, seriously, I’m not being rhetorical here.
Craig, do you ever wonder why the management spokesperson and the Wall Street Journal are saying such nice things about you? Because you are reinforcing their current strategy— which is to drive a wedge between the moves of the negotiating committee and the membership.
Look, you can say “nuts” about their proposals as often as you want, and they’ll still come over here and plant a big wet one on your mouth because it’s not about proposals to them. They know their proposals are nuts.
It’s about how to get the guilds to accept the DVD formula for internet downloads. And the only way they can do that is by backing up as far as they can from the DVD formula to “negotiate” us— the Guild— down to the DVD formula. That’s why they are where they are— asking for ALL residuals to become monkey points. That’s literally how far they have to back up to get what they want.
So why doesn’t the Guild just call them on this? Because to call them on their negotiating game-playing does nothing but satisfy righteous anger. It does not advance the cause of getting the best rate on anything.
In other words, the currency of the moment has nothing to do with beginning proposals. It has to do with assessing leverage. And that’s where you come in.
You are hurting the Guild’s leverage— that is why management and the Wall Street Journal are so enthusiastic about your web site. You are creating a division between the negotiators and the client— the Guild membership— just as the Guild is trying to create a division between their negotiators— Nick Counter— and their client— the CEOs.
Unfortunately the CEOs don’t have a web site, or we would be doing the same thing.
Management also has the added Halloween advantage of coming on here in disguise— lucky them— pretending to be writers, or interested web-surfers, and undercutting the unity of writers, and continuing to drive a wedge between writers and leadership.
You do this because you are a thoughtful person with strong and worthy opinions. They do this because they are worthless bastards who want us to accept an inferior rate on Internet Downloads from now into eternity.
The only problem is we are in thick of negotiations; and you have just been splashed onto the Wall Street Journal.
Mike, Love your argument, but I’d like to see the statistics. My relatives in Iowa and Virginia, not your big wage earners, mind you, do have broadband internet connection. Hell, their connection is a hell of a lot better than mine, right here in the entertainment capital of the world.
I have to think that the country is a lot more wired than you believe. Now, whether they’re going to move from DVD to downloads, I don’t know. But they’re not using VHS in any of the households I saw. They can’t even rent them at their video stores.
Anyway, after all that, I don’t know what I think about one issue being greater than another. So on that we agree.
Anon I
I agree with Craig that a defacto lockout is in effect for our feature writers, as evidenced by today’s Variety. Is this not an illegal labor practice since we still have a contract for three weeks? Can’t we file a complaint with the NLRB? Can’t we score some P.R. points on this?
Also, why are all the WGA strike meetings at 6 or 7 PM? Does the Guild assume that none of its members have jobs? I do, and it’s hard to get out by 9 yet alone 5:30 or 6:30. I know the Guild staffers want to get home, but come on, we’re on the verge of a strike and the Guild staffers are worried about missing “Gossip Girl”? How about at least ONE MEETING AFTER 7 PM. This is an insult to our membership and evidence that the staff will not be there for us during the strike.
I don’t buy the wedge argument Anon.
The more information Guild members have, the better.
The more we talk about what’s going on, and think about it, the better.
A well informed membership, that’s involved, educated, and dedicated, is a MORE formidable opponent at the table, not less.
Yeah, they get to make their decisions within a tightly sealed black box, and we don’t.
But there are very serious advantages to open and informed debate, and if we can’t rely on the solidarity of the few, we’d dammed well better take advantage of as many brains chewing over our options as we can.
The advantage we have is that, as a group, we’ve got a pretty good idea of what we’re thinking. They, on the other hand, have to deal with the fact that, as a group, they’ve got very little idea of what they’re thinking.
It would be naive to think for even a split second that there aren’t very serious divisions within the ranks of the AMPTP.
The difference is that WE know what our divisions are, whereas they can only guess at the hidden agendas competing for dominance among their own membership.
Right now tonight there are members of the AMPTP sniffing out rumors, watching for “tells” and reactions, reading between lines, and making flat out guesses as to what’s running through, and what’s “really” behind the thinking of their own membership.
The pretensions of “unity” of a “smoke filled back room” can come at a ruinous price.
The studio trolls and (Nick) Counterspies on this website make me laugh. They’re so obvious and make about as much sense as the notes they usually give. It reminds me of the realtors who troll on housing bubble blogs, telling us that everything will be okay.
The truth is that the studio execs and their AMPTP bootlickers are big wimps. If they had balls, they would have gone a lot further than just no more residuls. If we writers work on a show that loses money, not only should we not get residuals, we shouldn’t even get a salary in the first place! That’s right, we should only get our weekly wages if the show turns a profit.
Plus, on my show we get free tortilla chips from Smart and Final! They have never once taken this out of my paycheck! If they started making writers pay for their own chips and ramen, they would have enough money to abuse more children in New Mexico. I should be a studio exec. In fact, I would, but I’m capable of tying my own shoes so that rules me out.
No way do the studios let us walk out. Writing is a tiny part of their production expenses compared to what it was in 1988. Plus, they’re all owned by huge corporations now and huge corporations don’t like labor unrest — witness the caving going on by GM and Chrysler this month. They are letting Mr. Counter have his way for now and indulging his “Trust me, guys” posturing, but if it looks like we’re really gonna walk they will get to the table in a hurry, you’ll see. Does anyone really think they will shut down production and lose billions for the TINY amount of money the writers are asking for? In the past, the problem with the studio chiefs was one of pecker-swinging — they’re so obsessed with being macho and not caving that they got backed into a corner and they were gonna show us! Now it’s all about Wall Street, and their stock prices will drop like a Kid Nation nielsen share if they shut down production. Again, even if they gave us EVERYTHING that we are asking for, this would be a tiny blip in their overall costs of production. They’ll probably pay Vince Vaughan more to do Dodgeball IV than it would cost them to pay us everything we want for three years. AND THEY KNOW THIS.
They are bullies — the bullies who cry the loudest of everyone when the picked-on kid finally hits them back, and in this case they are crying to Variety about Patric and David. “Mommy, I was just joking around, but Patric and David are being REALLY mean and threatening to strike!”
We are asking for nothing and they know it. If Nick Counter blows this for them he will get fired in a flash. And then he and McLean can finally go on that honeymoon they’ve been postponing.
Somebody help me understand, why are DVD residuals a non-issue? Aren’t they trying to take them away? The idea of residuals by litagation sounds like a nightmare. I very much like my residual checks. They come in very handy. It seems just as important as the future internet issue.
Anon - point taken.
But here’s a scrap of weirdness. I live, literally, about a mile and a half from midtown NYC (in Union City NJ where you can actually own and make use of a car).
I can’t get a high bandwidth connection. The phone line infrastructure in our town is simply too old to use for data transfer. Too much noise, due to too many old wires, running through too many antiquated pieces of equipment.
That leaves cable. But our cable company, the ONLY cable company licensed to operate in our little berg, insists on home inspections for extra TV sets. If you can’t be home, for the entire day scheduled for your inspection, they cut the service until you can be.
Which is why nearly everyone in our town switched to satellite as soon as it became available.
Bottom line here - you’re right. We should see about digging up the stats.
In keeping with my other argument for the advantages of open and informed debate, I’ll see what I can dig up.
I’d appreciate your doing the same. In fact it might be a good idea for a few more of us to look into that question.
How many households actually have high bandwidth access right now today?
How quickly has that number been growing? We should try to find “limit values” for that, as in what are the optimistic projections, and what are the pessimistic projections? We should also site sources.
Some sources are going to have obvious agendas in plumping that figure up, while others will probably have reason to down play that figure.
I’m on it.
If management had any balls, Noah, their come-out offer would be: any writer working on a show that doesn’t make money will be taken out behind the Disney animation hat and shot. (In deference to Travis— by non-military issue guns.) In the case of teams, the two writers will be hobbled.
“Plus, they’re all owned by huge corporations now and huge corporations don’t like labor unrest — witness the caving going on by GM and Chrysler this month.”
Um… Chrysler has caved, just yet.
But I get your drift- they will cave, of course, because big Corporations don’t like Labor unrest, they want their work force to feel included, and well compensated- Just like the CW did w/ Americas next top model, and Fox did w/ temempations.
That’s exactly what big corporations want. Whirled Peas. no matter what it costs.
Here’s the thing. We know the studios are pigs. Big pigs. They’re greedy grubbing bastards. They take huge salaries. There’s too many of them in the jobs. They take huge stock bonuses and as someone posted about, what we’re asking for is a blip compared to what Brad Grey makes as a bonus. My question; Where is the guys like Speilberg and JJ ABrahms and David Kelley and Zemeckis and Lucas on this and why, esp Speilberg, aren’t they getting in there and sticking up for their talent brethren. I mean, c’mon Speilberg is a god liberal Democrat, he’ll stick up for anyone’s right’s who not his own kind that aren’t as fortunate as him. Why isn’t he getting in Sumner and Moonves and Katzenberg’s face and telling them to knock off the shit and pay the talent a piece of the new medium and if they can’t make it profitable, don’t go there?
Why isn’t the top of the food chain, the Clooney’s and the Penn’s and the Beatty’s and the Speilberg as ready to rip out the throats of these pigs as they are to take on the concervative republicans and the polluters? Answer? Money. They don’t want to take on the bosses. This doesn’t account for Speilberg. He’s just a pig.There’s no excuse for him. Clooney and them are still scared it could all go away.
I agree with your contention that the more information Guild members have the better, Mike. I would go even further: the more we argue about it, the better. Writers don’t really know something until they argue it to the point of vomiting.
To this I say: fuck yeah.
And if there weren’t a completely excellent Writers Guild only web site called WRITERACTION.COM, I would even argue that the public display of our arguments— along with whatever management-masquerading-as-writers arguments get swept along with them— is just the price of a well-informed membership.
In the same way, if, by some freak of venue booking, the only place we could hold our informational meetings was in Nick Counter’s living room, I would still argue that we do it— because the value of a well-informed membership always trumps keeping internal argument internal.
But of course there are more places to hold a meeting than Nick Counter’s living room and there is a WriterAction web site open to all Writers Guild members. And there is a furious argument going on there about these very issues right now.
This argument of course doesn’t have the advantage of wrapping itself around one member’s opinion. It doesn’t have the advantage of one writer’s opinion being highlighted with little brown squares— because all the writer’s arguing there are arguing equally. And of course it is not a web site being glorified by management or the Wall Street Journal.
Why? Because it doesn’t serve their purposes. It only serves the writer’s purpose.
I’m WGA, and I have written for the studios for a few years. But I’ve got a few unproduced specs in the drawer. If we strike, am I in compliance with the guild if I bridge the time/feed my family/stretch artistically by raising $1M in independent cash and direct an indie based on one of my specs? assuming i retain full ownership of both the spec and the LLC throughout production, and don’t sell the entity until the strike is over.
thanks.
It’s interesting the way the “they’re huge conglomerates” arguments cuts both ways.
One one hand, we’re a drop in their bucket, so MegaCorp, Inc. can’t really be threatened by puny writers striking.
OR.. Strike Foraday above argues, we’re just so piddly to the megaconglomerates that it’s easier to just acquiesce and go on with business than put up a fight. Somehow, I suspect they’d rather rely temporarily on the profitability of their other divisions’ markets to weather the storm than establish any kind of precedent on labor relations with us… I dunno about giving in on DVDs, animation (even though it’s covered by an other guild in feature world), and those other things at this point. Because I’m thinking a strike is inevitable, there will follow a long war of attrition, mounting pressure, ancillary businesses will die, everyone in the fight will get worn down, the public will get REALLY sick of game shows and reality television, and after all THAT, some serious negotiating will begin. At that point, we gotta have SOME stuff we’re ready to throw overboard, just as the other side will (ie, rollbacks). I think that revisiting DVD is our ballast to be chucked when things get serious. AYAAWAYAAW,
We already gave in on DVDs, animation, and unionizing reality TV. Those are battles lost and, quite frankly, distractions to a less than intelligent body of union members (not to mention the low-brows of the AMPTP).
The NC should have gone in there with one point: we want a cut of New Media. And then haggled, jawed, and, yes, even walk out until that percent is met.
Instead, people are going to starve while Mr. Verrone woos agents and holds onto wars lost.
Anonymous wrote: “Um… Chrysler has caved, just yet.”
So anonymous, I guess not only are you ugly, but you’re uninformed, too. This is from the Wall Street Journal, a few hours before you and I posted: Chrysler and the UAW agreed to a tentative labor pact that includes a health-care trust fund.
Why would you assume that I was wrong and not you, when you’re the idiot?
And what’s with the Whirled Peas reference, you hack. I didn’t know the WGA covered bumper-sticker writing.
Look, I’m not trying to be mean here, you retard, but it’s embarrassing to me as a WGA member to have another member demonstrating their stupidity like this. Do you really think that attempting to shut down Top Model and Temptations — shows on which editors can at least piece things together somewhat — is the same as shutting down all scripted tv and feature work? I mean seriously, I can’t believe you would say that in public.
It’s obvious that you never went to college, so I’ll spell it out for you: corporations care about profits. If labor unrest affects their profits, especially long-term, they will care. I mean, seriously, I can’t believe I have to explain this to you. You might be the dumbest person who has ever posted on this website. And development people post here sometimes, so that’s saying something.
Craig, I don’t think the DVD ship has sailed. I mean, it’s sailed, but we can still get helicoptered out to it. Sure it’ll all eventually be downloads, and DVDs will go away — but that’ll take a while. As you know, studios are still making more money from the DVDs of features than from their theatrical exhibition. So there’s still quite a bit of money out there and will be for while, even if it slowly dwindles.
Um… mr. stikeforaday? a tentative pact that “allows the company to hire new workers at lower wages and reduced benefits compared with what existing workers get,” hardly constitutes caving. In fact, some may argue that it was the UAW that caved. And only after a couple of hours. (according to the WSJ that you’re so happy to reference.)
But I’m the non college attending, uniformed ugly, dumbest hack. you ever didn’t meet- so what could I possibly know.
You seem bitter, everything ok w/ the home life?
One more thing, this is a public blog on the Internets. I’m not a WGA member, but I do, infact, write copy for bumperstickers.
I’m wondering, former cartoon writer that I am, if the WGA can make their prohibition of writers working on animated features during a job action stick.
If somebody is a dual card holder, and writing on some epic at Disney or DreamWorks, and the WGA disciplines her or him for doing it, doesn’t the WGA run the risk of getting blown out of the water if her or him subsequently takes the Writers Guild to court over its action?
Just asking.
Steve,
They can kick you out on your ass if you violate their rules.
Anonymous: I see, because the UAW didn’t reach a deal you’re happy with, that means you weren’t wrong to incorrectly berate me for saying they hadn’t reached a deal when in fact they had.
And yes, if you must know, my dog has cancer — but that doesn’t mean you’re not a retard.
Anonymous: I see, because the UAW didn’t reach a deal you’re happy with, that means you weren’t wrong to incorrectly berate me for saying they hadn’t reached a deal when in fact they had.
And yes, if you must know, my dog has cancer — but that doesn’t mean you’re not a retard.
Steve, you bring up an interesting situation. This is from Variety:
The WGA’s effort to ban work for fully animated features is likely to be controversial, since nearly all of the work in that area is covered through a different union — the Animation Guild, which operates as Local 839 of the Intl. Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees. The WGA’s asserting that its members can’t perform new work for feature animation, including negotiating for new work, on any project even if the producers’ deal is through the IATSE.
Steven Hulett, longtime business agent for the Animation Guild, said, “Any union can discipline their members for violations of internal rules and policy. But I can’t imagine our union attempting to prevent someone from joining and working for another union. So good luck to them.”
Under the WGA strike rules, writers with existing Animation Guild agreements are expected to be allowed to continue work, though that must be cleared with the WGA in each instance. Scribes will be banned from working on primetime network animated series already covered by the WGA.
What — did Steve Hulett think he wouldn’t be found out so easily? What a dope!
Some thoughts.
First of all, I don’t think the DVD rate would be acceptable for Internet, so “Anon Anon” is sorely mistaken if he thinks I’m somehow going to be cheerleading that position. Frankly, he or she is just sorely mistaken.
Second, saying “the DVD ship has sailed” doesn’t mean that DVDs are no longer popular consumer items. They are. It means that the residual rate for DVDs is in cement, and there is no yardage to be gained there. 20 years of banging our heads against that wall is proof.
The fight has to be about the future.
Third, this prospective “ban on animation writing” is pure nonsense. I’d like to have a labor lawyer explain to me how the WGA can restrain me from writing for an area their collective bargaining agreement expressly does not cover…and another union does cover.
Ridiculous and unenforceable, IMO.
Why is the DVD rate set in cement. It’s set in cement in a deal that will expire in three weeks. If that’s what we want and have the leverage to get, it will change. I assume you mean, “They will agree to change that rate over their dead bodies.” But maybe you don’t understand how collective bargain works.
As a viewer, I definitely think writers should get higher residuals and overall better pay for your work.
But - - and not to sound selfish - - if the strike lasts 22+ weeks, then what is the chance that my beloved programs such as Heroes, Lost, and 24 will never return for additional future seasons (or to wrap up their current storylines)?
Are we really looking at a situation where these primetime successes will NEVER return to the airwaves to produce future original episodes?
No, androgynous, I really do understand how collective bargaining works. It’s you who doesn’t get it.
The deal expires every three years. Quite right. And every three years, for the past quarter of a century, our Guild has asked for a better home video residual rate, and every three years, we not only don’t get it, but we agree to a deal that doesn’t give it.
So too has this occurred with SAG and the DGA.
In our industry, collective bargaining has always operated by pattern. Patterns are set by one union or another, and those bargaining patterns are followed. This is why SAG, the DGA and the WGA all have the same home video residual rate (essentially), even though they are three different unions.
Pattern bargaining rules the day.
Pattern bargaining says that the home video rate is 1.5-1.8% of 20% of gross, and that’s that. Of course we could change that if we had “the leverage,” but we don’t, we won’t, and so it’s absurd to talk about it as if we did.
Precedent matters. By repeatedly agreeing to a particular rate, we have not merely swallowed it, but assented to it, and that’s what bears through in pattern bargaining.
This, by the way, is why it’s essential that we set a favorable precedent for internet downloads. Set a good rate now…and let the pattern follow.
Hear hear! This is the first I’ve read of the WGA thinking they can enforce a strike order on feature animation covered by IATSE whose contract is in effect until 2009.
In fact, this whole ambiguity within the feature animation needs to work itself out. Currently some fully animated films are covered by the WGA contract. Most are covered by the Animation guild. It seems pretty random as far as I can tell. I did read somewhere that all major motion picture animated features last year were written by WGA members. Meaning some people have dual-citizenship. AYAAWCraig,
Nice write up in the Wall Street Journal. You blog is not the go to place for anyone who wants to know about the strike.
So how does the studio lock-out of screenwriters effect you and Ted Elliot and other influencial WGA figures recently signed development deals with the studios before the strike build up?
Seems like you’re great position to weather the strike. You can use the time to write an original, knowing it will be bought the minute the strike is over. That must give you some comfort during these tough labor times.
I’m trying to remember which studio you made those deals with? Am I wrong, or was it Fox?
And Fox is owned by… who? And who owns the Wall Street Journal these days… ? Just curious.
J. F. Lawton
So what makes internet downloads so different to DVD? I know you think its the way of the future and because its new and virgin territory there’s a chance to make a good deal, but after 20 years of accepting the dvd deal, what is going to change? If everyone was sitting back happy to accept the dvd deal when it was a very well known factor, when you knew the numbers you were talking about, why is everyone ready to jump up and do something about internet downloads when it’s such an unknown situation and no one can really predict where it’s going to go.
Craig,
We need some educated predictions to belay or ratify our fears… I hate the unknown and much prefer to follow the wisdom that is you…
Some questions to get you started:
Are mommy and daddy separating? Or will they be back to their muffled bed squeaking come Nov.1?
Did this “saber rattling” idiocracy happen prior to the ‘88 strike? I was seven at the time and all I remember is my hankering for puddin’ pops.
And if ‘88 is too distant in your memory, perhaps another reader could break down the pre-strike ‘88 build up.
J.F.,
Intriguing… the actus reus cannot be denied. But mens rea, now that is the question… one without the other a crime does not make…
Five words:
“Hal Gurnee’s Network Time Killers” What’s up with the anemic Wikipedia entry? AYAAWI think you’re missing my point, Craig. I definitely think your heart is in the right place about the goals of the negotiations. I’ve read enough of you to know that we would agree, almost down the line, on what this contract should look like.
My problem is that the spokesperson for the AMPTP and the Wall Street Journal are praising your web site. And I don’t think they wipe their asses in the morning without a three-step plan. They are doing this because you play into their strategy of the moment: let’s call it: their three-step ass-wiping strategy…
Attempt to create discord between the negotiating committee and the members. Make the issue the people not the proposals. Drag the internal WGA debate into the public sphere where management can not only access it, but affect it through incognito postings.
Don’t get me wrong. I think you are thoughtful person, and like AMPTP spokeswoman, Barbara Brogliatti, I admire your “passion” and the “striking way the light hits your profile.” (I made that last quote up.) I also think you are sparking great debate. But, at this strategic moment, it is, and should be, great internal debate.
Of course this is a strategic argument and not a free speech argument so do with it what you will.
My goodness, J.F., you have cracked the case! This Murdoch-orchestrated puff piece in the Journal will drive additional traffic to Craig’s website, which will then enable Craig, Ted and their co-conspirators at Fox to—
Um…
…well…
…what was it again? Be evil together, or something?
I appreciate the way you’ve respected my intelligence by couching your theory entirely in innuendo and letting it trail off with a raised eyebrow and a pregnant pause for me to fill in on my own, but I have to confess, I’m less intelligent than you give me credit for. Could you outline your Conspiracy Org Chart in a slightly more detailed manner for us slower types? Forewarned is forearmed, don’tcha know. I’d hate to get blindsided by a sinister plot as well-orchestrated as this one surely is.
Read all about it… (But not in the Wall Street Journal) … AMPTP Troll Revealed. The poster’s “Um…” construction gives it away.
It’s the same person writing about how the studios will never cave and also above, as “Fairy tale!” slamming Craig.
If someone on this site isn’t WGA, they’re probably an industry troll. The internet exists for people who need to get a life, but people with no stake reading this blog just for fun? I don’t think so.
Craig, you say it is I who do not understand how collective bargaining works and then you provide a lecture about patterns. Well, if you want to talk about patterns, the pattern has been two decades of wimpy Guild leadership and industry-kissing McLeanism and sell-out-even-his-own-writers John Wellsism. That pattern has been broken. Finally. And if you don’t believe it, just spend an hour in a room with David Young. He means business and he knows what he is doing and he is going to kick some ass and get what he wants — or at least find out where the studio chiefs’ line really exists. As a writer and WGA member, you should be cheering David and Patric for this, but instead you are blinded by your own fog of ego. It’s time for this union to fight to the finish. That’s what it’s about and it’s about time.
“I want Fairy Tail”,
First, your name is highly offensive. Fairies are children. Freaky little children.
Second, J.F., no matter how ineloquently, points out an interesting connection and quite succinctly illuminates Craig’s and some of the other Fox writers’ hypocrisy. Their deal guarantees them cash on the other side of the strike and the strike guarantees them time to earn that cash without distraction. A win/win by the looks of it. No wonder Mr. August is keeping his mouth shut.
I’m all for survival of the fittest, but hypocrisy gives me cramps.
Next time, Fairy Tail, pick on someone your own size…. And that goes double for fairy children…
To answer Sheperd’s question, the strike would only effect writing-for-hire. If you’ve already written a spec that’s sitting on the shelf and you want to go out and package it and find financing, you’re free to do that.
Craig, I love you, I love your site, but I really wish you’d take negotiation comments over to writeraction. All members have access to that site and can discuss the issues candidly there. A forum like this where anybody can post anonymously posing as WGA is not the place to be discussing guild issues at a time like this. Take advantage of the publicity to promote your new picture; not to air your differences with the negotiating team in public.
I understand the history of the video/dvd formula, but I agree with those who think it’s a fair issue to bring to the table. When the formula was made twenty years ago, vhs costs were many times higher than today’s dvd’s. I don’t expect that we’ll get double the current rate, but it’s not unreasonable to expect that there might be some kind of counterproposal that involves an incremental increase.
None of the issues the guild has brought to the table are, to my mind, inappropriate or out of line. The committee has put forth a very reasonable proposal and hopefully the AMPTP will soon stop posturing and get down to the business of negotiating a fair deal. They know that they’re going to have to cough something up for internet downloads. What they gain by delaying that step through several months of a strike or even through several years of postponement isn’t worth the trouble and animosity it will engender with members of all guilds, and eventually the viewing public that will have to endure endless reality shows.
I love a good conspiracy theory, but I think the conspiracy theorists should get their conspiracies straight.
If Craig and Ted and John August have sweet deals that allow them to ride out the strike typing up a guaranteed-sale spec, thus losing no income, then they should be conspiring to promote a long and devastating strike, not avoid one.
It ain’t like the old days. Back then our conspiracy theorists might have been whack-jobs, but at least they a consistent logic.
Going in reverse…
Kat:
I love you too. But I don’t bother with WriterAction anymore, because talking to the same fifty people is boring and unproductive. Frankly, I have no problem with people posting anonymously in here. It’s not my choice, of course, but if that’s how they feel like expressing themselves, so be it.
It’s the ideas that are the thing.
SML & JF:
First off, I’m going to be busy shooting and then posting my movie until the end of March. Thus, if we go on strike on November 1st, I won’t be writing a spec. Not for Fox, not for anyone. So let’s dispense with that theory.
But to put a finer point on it, under the Fox deal, I’m guaranteed $300,000 for a spec. No more, no less.
My normal quote is in the seven figures.
Point being…that 300K ain’t buying my silence or assent or political beliefs or anything. Because it doesn’t matter that much to me. The point of the Fox deal is to get a movie made. That could run into serious cash.
But like I said…I can’t even think about writing that spec until this coming spring.
Beyond that, I could certainly weather a strike without taking any serious financial hit. And yet, I’m generally an advocate against a strike.
So, the calculus, for those of you into baiting people, is:
A: You’re a rich writer who is against a strike because you’re a greedy pig who wants more money now, and you’re willing to screw your fellow writer for it, or
B: You’re a rich writer who is for a strike because you’re a greedy pig who wants a bigger piece of the residuals pie, and you’re willing to screw your fellow writer for it
The important thing is to presume guilt and work your way backwards from there, right?
Androgynous:
Yeah, you really don’t understand pattern bargaining. The “pattern” isn’t a pattern like “writers keep getting screwed,” but a formalized pattern of proposals, counterproposals and accepted deal terms.
I’ve spent far more than one hour in a room with David Young. I’ve spent many many hours in a number of rooms with David Young. I have nothing against David personally. I just don’t think he’s a very good E.D. The rest of your comments devolved into jingoism. C’mon, dude, this is a labor-management negotiation, not a NASCAR race.
Gotcha:
Oh boy. Soon we’re going to resemble the AICN Talkbacks where anyone who disagrees with a particular view is labeled a “plant” and that’s that, huh?
Anon Anon:
Naturally, I cringed when I read Ms. Brogliatti’s comment, because I understood your kind of fallout would result.
Of course, there’s something positive to be sussed out here, though, right?
I’m saying their proposal is insane, and an AMPTP representative is praising my sanity.
Meaning…….?
Ya dig?
So sure, you can just knee jerk this one, but if we’re going to play the “if they say anything nice about you, then you suck” game, I think we might as well just hit the bricks now and start striking.
I’ve heard a number of people in the union make the “don’t talk publicly about any of this!” comment. To that, I say, “Gee, liberal-leaning folks, I thought a free and public exchange of ideas was a cornerstone of the Enlightenment.”
The last thing anyone should support at a time like this is a culture and atmosphere of silence and repression. The Guild is entitled to confidentiality, and they invoke it regularly (as did I when I sat on the Board).
I, as a member, am both entitled and obligated to speak my mind about my union. If they can’t handle it, then something’s gone terribly wrong over there.
What’s the bumper sticker say?
Dissent Is The Highest Form Of Patriotism?
Kat,
First, I’m non-union and was steadily working my way towards the union up until a week ago (when, abruptly, the materials on potential assignments dried up).
This negotiation affects me too. You strike and I can’t work.
And that’s why I appreciate Craig’s forum. It allows me to obtain info and voice my opinion. In fact, I wish there was more info spilling from this site.
Second, I hate this elitist BS. All informational aspects of the WGA should be available to all. Their forums should be public or at least accessible for a fee just like their registration services are public for a fee.
Third, the WGA is guilty of posturing too.
Young and Verrone don’t give two hoots about DVD resids. It’s a supposed bargaining chip just like the rollback is a supposed bargaining chip for the AMPTP. Both have no chance in hell of happening and both will be struck down as soon as the negotiators (on both sides) grow some balls and compromise.
But, as most know, ball growing is difficult for most humans, especially Americans, and that is why I fear starvation and no Santa Clause at Xmas.
Craig,
I have no doubt where your loyalties lie (with the working writer of course).
But I found J.F.’s analysis intriguing, but not necessarily incriminating.
I suppose jealousy, a little envy, and a dash of fear have forced me into calling you a hypocrite. And, perhaps, I would not have if the fox deal was not a fresh memory and your vote for the strike was a “no.”
Craig,
There’s a ton of stuff to talk about, but what stands out is you repeating that you get seven figures for writing. Is that nine millions dollars, or one million? Frankly, I don’t believe either.
I don’t know for sure, but I’m willing to bet you never got seven figures on a script writing deal. (If you did, I’m underestimating how corrupt this business is.)
I got seven figures for my original screenplay for Under Siege. (Exactcly one million. I have a copy of the check.) I got seven figures for my production rewrite on Chain Reaction (much undeserved). I’ve come close to that a couple other times.
On exactly what script and what production did you get seven figures for? Harvey gave you a million for Scary Superhero Movie 2? You got seven figures on Opus? And if you refuse to answer that, why do you keep telling people you get seven figures for writing? Why would you be afraid to talk about it? Are you confusing yourself with Ted Elliot?
I’m glad you’re rich (or say you are) and so you don’t have to worry about the problems of little writers who actually have to make a living when the WGA is acting insane. I’m sure those little people who are worried about paying their rent appreciate the advice of someone who isn’t worried about money because they are used to getting “seven figures.”
And you struck a deal before the strike to take a lot less. You’ll only get $300,000 when you deliver a new script while giving striking writers advice about the strike. And you think you might have trouble finishing a script because you’re so busy.
But it must be good to know that money is waiting for you.
Hey, here’s an idea. I’m sure there are a lot of writers that for 50 grand would write you a script during the strike and be really happy for the money. So you could net $250,000 for doing nothing. Just something to consider.
J. F. Lawton
Fairy tale,
Why don’t you ask Craig about what is happening with the “Foriegn Levies?” Aren’t there some new computers solving everything? They have been promised for years. (But don’t really appear on the WGA books.)
He always has something to say like “what me worry?” when the issue is published in the New York Time, Variety or the LA Times, but for some reason it always fades away unless someone is actively trying to expose the crime the WGA is committing.
The WGA is helping the studios steal our foreign taxes. This has been going on for at least a decade. Craig knows about it, and helps cover it up.
JF
J.F.
Damn bro. I like your style.
QUESTION…
I read in Variety today that, as part of the WGA’s “rules,” any nonmember who works during a strike will be banned from future membership in the Guild. I am well down the road on my first paid writing assignment, a movie scheduled for nationwide theatrical release in 2009. One of the express reasons I, a nonmember, got this break was that a strike possibility loomed with the WGA. The director (a DGA/WGA member) called me about the project a month ago. Now I read that unless I walk off the job — a move which I, lacking the legal protections of a striking guild, have no right to do — I will be denied future membership in the WGA. The question is:
Are they f*cking kidding?
I want membership in the Guild for all the obvious reasons, but I also can’t blow this for equally obvious reasons. Thoughts?
QUESTION…
I read in Variety today that, as part of the WGA’s “rules,” any nonmember who works during a strike will be banned from future membership in the Guild. I am well down the road on my first paid writing assignment, a movie scheduled for nationwide theatrical release in 2009. One of the express reasons I, a nonmember, got this break was that a strike possibility loomed with the WGA. The director (a DGA/WGA member) called me about the project a month ago. Now I read that unless nonmembers walk off their jobs — moves which, lacking the legal protections of a striking guild, they have no right to do — they will be denied future membership in the WGA. The question is:
Is the Guild f*cking kidding?
I want membership in the Guild for all the obvious reasons, but I also can’t blow this for equally obvious reasons. Thoughts?
Sorry for the double-post — the adrenalin spike from the day’s news must have caused a convulsive post. (-:
Craig, you are right. the more the membership is informed the better. But… having spent many hours round negotiating tables with management, I’ve learned (often the hard way) that the best deals tend to be made when the negotiators have a few tricks up their sleeves, and the opposition can only guess as to what these might be. I don’t know all the ins and outs of your dispute - but doesn’t there come a point where once a general consensus is reached (and it seems to me there’s no one in the WGA who would argue with your premise that management’s current stance is nuts)- that you just have to trust the guys battling on your behalf? Even if, as you mentioned in a previous post, you have to hold your nose while doing so? At the very least it keeps management guessing.
J.F. , I’m a huge fan, by the way, and my daddy told me never to discuss money, but it’s quite obvious Craig is a seven figure guy. The SM franchise cemented that easily. I’d guess in the 2M range and that’s just his writer’s fee. Superheroes has franchise written all over it. I say congrats, Craig, it’s good work if you can get it. And I appreciate how concerned and passionate Craig is for all writers. Even if I disagree with him from time to time. And I appreciate all the backtalk, especially your point of view, you did write one of my favorite movies of all time, and I get a little giddy whenver I see your name. I find this blog very insightful and helpful. So, please, everyone, thank you and continue…
Prediction: The rollbacks come off the table. We agree to the same DVD residuals. We gain some Reality jurisdiction and we table the internet discussion ‘til next time. Can we live with that? To avoid a strike?
“Prediction: The rollbacks come off the table. We agree to the same DVD residuals. We gain some Reality jurisdiction and we table the internet discussion ‘til next time. Can we live with that? To avoid a strike?”
We were already offered status quo plus tabling internet and turned it down, leading to the current rollbacks offer.
We’re not getting reality jurisdiction because we’ve already said the only reason we want it is to shut down television and make a strike work.
A non-WGA writer can work for a non-WGA signatory during a strike without fear of being banned from future membership because the WGA can only strike against WGA signatory companies.
J.F.
Your statemes about Craig are flirting with the boundary of actionable libel. Thus, you might want to couch your statements as nothing more than your opinion. Less, the only other defense at your disposal - if damages are to be found - is that no reasonable person could possibly interpret your statements to be an assertion of fact.
In otherwords: the J.F. is nothing but a joke defense.
lt
J.F., you are underestimating how corrupt this business is. I make seven figures per script and I haven’t had a hit in years. The studio’s are loaded with money and ALL WRITERS SHOULD MAKE SEVEN FIGURES PER SCRIPT and we should all work towards that goal. Ideally, anyway.
Is there anyone who believes that writers are compensated fairly for their work? Relative to the amounts that the studios are making from that work?
It seems to me that every three years, these negotiations are not about whether the writer will be screwed over, but the degree to which they will be screwed over. If the degree of screwage is sufficiently small, then the writers accept it like obedient little puppies and go back to their work and hope that maybe the next time they can attain fair compensation. I guess even unfair compensation is better than working in another industry.
I suspect that if we ever found out truly how much the studios make, and how much writers (and other talent) make in proportion … well, this is the reason for Hollywood accounting. Keep ‘em in the dark. Irving Thalberg and all that.
Sorry to interrupt, but I have an URGENT QUESTION.
I need to contact Harlan Ellison. It is an EMERGENCY.
Are any regular readers of this board friends with him?
If I am a WGA writer working on a (not Guild-covered) reality show, and there is a strike, will or can the WGA demand, suggest, or ask politely that I stop working and honor the strike? I saw what the Guild is saying about animation writers and I wonder if anyone expects them to ask the same of reality writers.
I can tell you from experience that many reality writers are already WGA members. Wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, the Guild ask them to stop working and support the strike? And shouldn’t the Guild even make a request to non-WGA reality writers to stop writing and support us since in theory, if we can gain reality jurisdiction it will lead to a better world for ALL reality writers?
I mean, and I’m serious if possibly naive, shouldn’t the Guild at least ASK all WGA members to not write, “produce” or even direct during a strike? We haven’t gone out in 20 years — it’s a time for solidarity. The more people who refuse to do entertaiment-related work of any kind, the more power we will have.
Also — and here’s my even dumber question — any chance the studios and networks use scabs? Would they try to keep sitcoms (all five of them) running, etc?
Craig. Just so we’re clear on my argument. I am not suggesting there is any conspiracy or collusion or any of that adorable JF nuttiness on your part. I think you do what you do here because you love the guild. I don’t even think it; I know it. And in fact you are more critical of the guild because you really care about the guild.
It’s like the mother who is most critical of her beloved son. It’s heart-warming really. Except when the son goes in for a job interview, the mom should really shut the fuck up.
Similarly, it should be pointed out that your go-to position of criticizing the guild’s negotiating stance is— here’s a stunner— undercutting the guild’s negotiating stance.
That’s why you’re getting the shout-out from the AMPTP spokeswoman.
If this were 2004, that would simply be irritating. But given that 2007 is, to my mind, the most important negotiation in the last twenty years, and possibly in the next ten— and I think you agree— I’m not sure what the up-side is here.
You argue above— “I�ve heard a number of people in the union make the �don�t talk publicly about any of this!� comment. To that, I say, �Gee, liberal-leaning folks, I thought a free and public exchange of ideas was a cornerstone of the Enlightenment.�”
Yes, but I’m not one of those left-leaning folks. I’m a pragmatist as I think you are— which is the only reason I’m writing to you. So please let’s not bring up “the enlightment” or “patriotism” or any sentence that might contain “our forefathers faught” okay?
Take it as a given you have the 1st Amendment right.
The question is whether it is smart. I clearly don’t think it is. I think it is being used by management. And I think this public area is being used by management stooges to sow dissent.
(By the way, management, just a quick note— because I know how much you love notes: when you’re trying to sound like a professional writer, use fewer exclamation points.)
Don’t give away all our secrets!!!!
I wonder if this has any relevance. It certainly sounds familiar.
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/headlines/2007nealefirstmove.html
I think that crazy dude in the last thread who accused me of anti-Semitism is Harlan Ellison.
Mike K, I think the AMPTP got ahold of that article. They’ve done a great job of anchoring their position, leaving us writers to become emotional and doubt all strategy and leverage that we did/don’t/could/won’t have. Very interesting.
——->
Wow, excellent article, Mike K. Oops. Forgot. !!!!!!!!!!!
Craig, please read it, love it, live it. Don’t just understand the strategy, be the strategy.
—————->
No, I think both sides have a pretty good job of anchoring positions. Just my observation, Mr. or Ms. Anonymous at 9:45.
Craig’s web site can be a bit deceptive because it’s not reflective of the Guild as a whole. It’s reflective of Craig’s opinions, and people’s reactions to Craig’s positions. Some of those people are actual WGA members, some are not, and some are masquerading.
But, as a whole, writers are anchored— because they know what’s at stake. Yes, Craig is trying to drag the guild off its negotiating anchor. But even Craig is only doing that because he doesn’t understand the strategy— or doesn’t agree with it.
But you’d better fuckin’ believe the Guild as a whole is anchored.
Will everyone leave Craig alone? I am not a Craig insider — hence no beige box — heck, I don’t even know the guy! But he has a website. Even if it is hurting the Guild overall IT IS HIS RIGHT TO BE HERE AND DO THIS. That is the point. It is also his right to dissent. He says he voted to authorize. He obviously wants the best deal possible. If you don’t agree with America’s leaders does that mean you don’t want what’s best for America? You know you hate it when people make those arguments against the Democrats but now you are doing the same thing to Craig. Let anyone post here — Guild writers, non-Guild writers, Counterspies, whoever — I say bring ‘em on! (Note the use of only one exclamation point because I am a WGA member. Don’t believe me? How come the contracts and residuals departments are so fucking important that they can’t even answer their own fucking phones and make us wade through thirty levels of voicemail to get a human? Satisfied?)
If Messrs Verrone or Young are reading this, how about a meeting later than 7 PM some time? Huh guys? I know your staffers have kids or porn to get home to but that is real B.S. and an insult to those of your members who work and pay your salary.
A strategic observation from way out of left field. In my day job as a career coach & resume writer, I’ve been working with a number of executives in different industries recently who are ALL bumping up against an arbitrary salary/earnings barrier that wasn’t there (from my experience) 5 years ago.
These particular executives are akin to field officers, in that they are really the ones who are driving the baseline revenues of the companies they are working for…yet, right now, they are calling me because their employers are being inordinately tight-fisted.
From my perspective based on 15 years observation, when companies properly acknowledge and compensate the people who are in the field and making them gobs of money, those people stay and continue to help the company thrive. When the companies close their fists based on some outside perception that is the thing to do - the first thing that happens is these wickedly talented executives call me (or someone like me) to figure out how to either get the fist to open up or figure out an exit plan.
I’ve seen this cycle at least two times before in the last 15 years; both times, the outcome has been that great companies that drove the industry lose the people who are underpinning their success, there is some kind of collapse within that particular industry and the industry comes crawling back 3-5 years later, trying to rebuild and offering everyone and sundry the moon to come work for them (not really ever realizing the problem is acknowledging their true troopers).
I’ve been predicting the media-entertainment industry would be swept into one of these cycles sooner or later since 2000 (when, to my mind, the powers that hold the purse strings became enamored of technology over story and lost their primary focus). I believe this industry is impacted more slowly than other industries because there are so many who want to get “in” - with so many fish swimming upstream, it is not immediately apparent that there is really a systemic problem underneath.
As an additional note, usually when this kind of “stupid behavior” on the part of the companies happens, it is because there is some outside influence that is perceived as authoritative. My first encounter with this was what I call the “hatchetmen of Harvard” when, in the early 80’s, Harvard (and other Ivy League schools) turned loose on the world a few classes of MBA graduates indoctrinated in the theology of “cut cut cut” - let good people go, thinking that was the way to increase profits (ha!).
People and their creative input is the least expensive and most valuable asset in any company. Writers don’t get paid nearly enough, mostly (I think) because the writer-norm personality tends to be introverted and non-confrontational (except when pushed too far, when they tend to try to win battles instead of wars). (As a writer, I can say this - ha! I’m trying to become more clever but in truth, if you push the right buttons on me, I’ll also behave in this terribly non-self-serving fashion - ha ha!).
So (for a possibly nut-so idea) I’d say on a brainstorm level, has anyone tried getting agents and managers to go to bat for you in all this; to become involved somehow. They ARE clever (hopefully) in the ways of business and they have vested percentage-based interest in how all of this turns out.
Otherwise, recognize that studios seem to be working off some outside authoritarian business model (that seems to be in a lot of industries right now) with an emphasis on getting their creative / field / front line people as cheaply as possible (which will truly cost them in the long run) and that they are not behaving rationally or ethically. (if they are working off the same model I’ve seen in other industries - I have some guesses as to where that model came from, but it really doesn’t matter, it is the manifest/material at hand that one must deal with).
fwiw.
————>
Thanks for the thoughtful words, Ken Tucky. Yes, will everyone please leave Craig alone? He’s a human being! You’re lucky he even performs for you, you bastards! Leave Craig-ey alone!
Okay. Got that out of my system. Just an additional thought or two, Ken. This is not about the right to speak out. Can all the people who want to argue about whether Craig has the 1st Amendment right to write what he wants raise their hands and step outside for a second so the adults can talk.
This is about whether it’s smart to do so— at this moment— in the heart of negotiations. Given that Craig wants the best deal for writers— something I sincerely believe— is it smart to be publicly playing into management’s hand in this way?
How is Craig playing into management’s hands?
Let me return to their three-step ass-wiping plan.
Attempt to create discord between the negotiating committee and the members. Make the issue the people not the proposals. Drag the internal WGA debate into the public sphere where management can not only access it, but influence it through incognito postings.
And to this, let’s add a fourth step. Attempt to drag the Guild off its anchoring position.
————>
I think that’s worth a lot, Karen. Thank you. The creative unions have definitely been a budgetary item under control for the last decade or so. And I think it’s partly for the reason you explain, and partly because creative types have lost their strategic appreciation of collective gains, and how they are a good platform for individual above-minimum negotiations.
Yes, very few working writers deal with minimums these days, but when we, as a group, make a collective gain— for example in Internet Downloads— then we, as writers, can use our individual clout to gain something else.
Regarding those making the arguments that writers are far too small a portion of their budgets for the studios to care about a strike either way: you’re right. They don’t really care about the writers. They care about the precedent. If we get a good deal for internet downloads, SAG gets a better one. And for every show that has 5 or 7 writers all season, every episode has 8 or 10 co-stars—that adds up, and quickly. If they can get us to come down on DVDs, they might be able to get the DGA and SAG to come down, or at least not go up. Writers, as always, are the low rung of the totempole without whom nothing else gets done.
I also make seven figures per script, as long as we consider the numbers after the decimal point to count as “figures”.
J.F.:
I’m sorry my success mystifies you. Yes, I got seven figures for Superhero!
I hope this doesn’t destroy your world view. It shouldn’t. I have a decent track record when I write spoof movies.
Karen, interesting observations. As far as writers hooking up with agents…It won’t happen, because agents generally consider their bread buttered by studios, networks, etc, not the people who hand them 10/15%. If asked to choose a side, agents will generally sell their clients out if it means a confrontation with management.
Also absolutely unenforceable.
Anon Anon:
I appreciate your point. However, I believe that our current leadership is a bit, um, askew.
Public pressure is the only pressure that seems to work.
Accountability is a good thing.
Trust me when I tell you that I filter myself HEAVILY in here.
Heavily.
Hey, J.F….that oughtta send you spinning in circles! Don’t forget your foam towel.
Craig, I think you and your site are great, but you gotta stop the bullshit about your quotes. We forgave you once, but you’re pushing your credibility.
Also, I don’t believe in the conspiracy theory at all, but when I saw that mention in the WSJ, I did think that advertising this site was only going to hurt the WGA. I almost felt like I was outed to serve someone’s agenda. I can’t stretch this out into a conspiracy like J.F, but I definitely come down on the side that the article hurts us more than helps.
SML:
I struggled to understand your response at first, but luckily I have a Postmodern Adolescent Douche to Standard English Dictionary on hand.
The translation may not be exact, but it reads:
“I’m into insolence, South Park, and being dominated by women”.
Wow - I like South Park too - hey, it looks like we have something in common after all!
J.F: Do you really think Craig founded this site to help fledgling writers as part of some overarching evil scheme? He’s been nothing but ridiculously helpful to me, answering numerous questions both trivial and otherwise.
The Rupert Murdoch/Republican connection is interesting, but the fact is that the Fox Sunday night line up includes some pretty subversive satire that is at odds with Republican beliefs.
Craig: I have an idea to help prove you are not, in fact, a Sith Lord: why not have your assistant videotape you voting to authorize a strike?
Travis,
You so funny. You should write for a living.
Oh, Anonymous, FORGIVE ME AGAIN!
(sob)
I’m a talent agent for a boutique agency.
Chardkerm: how incredibly insulting and yet sadly, typical.
The AMPTP strategy has, at least in the last 15 years, been to make guilds fight to regain perceived lost ground. That the WGA is not engaging them on this residual policy is heartening. It shows recognition of a pattern.
That said, the position that projects don’t make a profit is a burden for the creative side to absorb is ridiculous. Stop paying outrageous prices with backend points for elements that do not guarantee success. If the WGA did ever decide to engage on their proposal, I would suggest they attempt to put spending controls into the hands of the guilds. After all, if residuals are based on profitability, then the guilds have a definite interest in a project becoming profitable.
Finally, there is nothing wrong with playing for the future. I agree with Craig that downloads are the most important negotiating point. Of course, the guilds could have gotten internet jurisdiction 3 years ago when every studio didn’t think there was a profit to be had there.
Are dvds a dead issue? Maybe. If the formula can be tweaked up, good. But I would not expect a doubling. And I would recommend against if it meant caving on internet. Full episodes of television on the internet is not promotion. No one I know watches a show online and then goes home and watches it again on television.
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I’m glad you appreciate my point. I like when my point is appreciated. You add “However, I believe that our current leadership is a bit, um, askew.”
Yes, which is why we have elections. Once a year actually. Which is why we have Guild only forums: the informational meetings, the WriterAction website— where, yes, it’s true, writers aren’t talking about important things like how much money Craig is making, or how to get ahold of Harlan Ellison— but where hundreds of active WRITERS GUILD MEMBERS argue these exact issues daily, hourly, minutely.
It’s true, your Point of View in those venues won’t be magnified through the helpful hand of the AMPTP spokeswoman or the Wall Street Journal, but the worth of your arguments will rise and fall on your ability to persuade and move other writers, and only other writers.
To my mind, you have used the AMPTP soapbox to give your minority opinion more weight in the eyes of the public. And you have done this at the expense of actually getting what you want on the contract.
Interesting how the tone on artfulwriter became much more shrill once we heard WSJ readers might be looking on. Reminds me of the SAG members who spend ten minutes doing warmups before they speak at a Board meeting. The Guild didn’t schedule a big meeting at the Palladium this time around, and artfulwriter.com has helped fill the void. We have reached that point in the evening where the speakers are repeating themselves, members are locking into positions, and the room is beginning to thin out. I’m one of those who does view the current leadership as amateurish and Bush-like in their belligerency and tactical ineptitude. But that’s not the point I want to make. Rather, to those who criticize Craig for welcoming all points-of-view and for being so forthright himself: this is the internet. Maybe you’re so incensed because you don’t understand it and you realize you will be out of the industry in five years. Ideas emerge from the bottom-up on the internet. Bad ideas fall by the wayside, good ideas rise to the top and carry the day. Just check the political blogs sometime. I understand the impulse to circle the wagons and invoke Guild security when members criticize the leadership for playing it wrong or wonder about their motivations or game plan. But this isn’t 1960 or 1985 or even 2000. Nowadays, when so much of the membership is online all day, looking for excuses to avoid facing that next scene, people chat back and forth. A public forum is not just a reality, it is inevitable. Craig and Ted have provided a healthy one. I would feel that way even if I disagreed with them on the negotiations. So, my suggestion to those who don’t like it: have more faith in the membership and less in the leadership.
Dear Anon anon:
You don’t want Craig to dissent, yet you dissent from him. You complain that the AMPTP is thrilled with this forum as a fomentor of internal dissent, and then you dissent more than anyone else on here. If you didn’t keep posting your dissents, there would be a lot less dissension. What’s that I hear? Oh, you have a First Amendment right to dissent? Oh, please.
Is anyone posting anonymously on this site actually John Mackey from Whole Foods?
Some valid questions have been raised, today, and they’re worth zeroing in on.
That isn’t meant as an attack on Mazin. But his track record is not that of an A list writer, not by any means.
Then the WSJ article. The WSJ is a very conservative tool of big business. It long ago lost any claim it had to being a legitimate news source, and is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox, the studio where Mazin and the others have their deal.
Mazin regularly attacks the Guild leadership, and is voting for a strike, a strike the studios all want.
If we take Mazin at his word that he gets seven figures per script, then something’s going on that we’re not privvy to. A co-writer on a pair of Zucker brothers comedies, no matter how big they hit, does not get seven figures for a script. It doesn’t happen. So there’s something else at work here, and if someone were to perceive an agenda that was being controlled by pro-studio interests, they would not be a conspiracy theorist.
Lastly, I should like to say this - the odds of the Wall Street Journal writing such a glowing piece about a screenwriters’ blog that was pro-union or standing up to the studios are non-existent.
If you don’t ask yourself what’s going on here, you’re a fool.