I'm Hearing Things...

Wow.

I’m lighting a prayer candle, crossing all fingers and toes, and putting on my lucky bunny slippers. This would be joyous news.

B

Hear hear.

You’re such a tease.

I’m also getting the prayer candle out. I hope it’s the right one.

I’d say I’m not holding my breath, but I do look good in blue.

Woot.

As much as I was looking forward to you going all Norma Rae, good luck.

As I have mentioned before, progress will have to be done: that is, progress of all sides to realize the inevitability of their eventual irrelevance. The WGA strike will be averted; publically, it will be to have fine programming such as Lost continue and to keep an even flow of the film departments in certainties.

Privately, all sides, to quote Richard Gere in “An Officer and a Gentleman”, “have got no place else to go.” We all know in the deepest of our thoughts what is coming for our ourselves, and our world. In short, it is not a time of rationality, but rather irrationality in the face of looming conflicts and perpetual wars. Perhaps the entertainment industry, once the eventual destruction occurs, will unite in not becoming the tool of leaders and their financiers they appear to have been since all this crap started at least six years ago, triggered on 9/11.

Maybe the next wave of ideals will come from this, not to scare an already scared-to-catatonic populace, but to enlighten and expand the minds of all individuals. Let us all hope that the public blame does not fall onto the innocent, as it is likely to be.

Regarding the actual deal to come forth, have any of you considered the fact that it was already made weeks, if not months ago? Ever think that the sides in this dispute are being played like a rubber ball by individuals that attempt to break the ball, yet in the last second have it still intact for another day?

Hoping peace, for now, is at hand

Lax24

Weird, this is the opposite of what Variety is saying (not to say that you’re wrong and they’re right, just thought it was worth mentioning):

“Working writers on average earn over $200,000 a year. All they have to do is earn $31,000 to qualify for a full year of coverage in the finest health care plan in the country. And they are among the few employees in the world who get an “additional annuity” in the form of residuals beyond their initial compensation.”

“It makes absolutely no sense to increase the burden of this additional compensation,” he added. “Their DVD proposal would more than double the cost to producers.”

“Instead of working toward solutions that would give the industry the flexibility it needs to meet today’s business challenges, the WGA leadership continues to pursue numerous unreasonable proposals that would result in astronomical and unjustified increases in our costs, further restrict our ability to produce, promote and market TV series and films, and prohibit us from experimenting with programming and business models in New Media,” he said.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975256.html?categoryid=2821&cs=1

Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The Variety article was yesterday with an update about the meeting tomorrow. Craig’s post about “whispers” is referring to something he’s hearing today, so let’s try and keep the optimism alive.

ABIO:

Actually, the whispers I’m hearing are different and beyond what I’ve read in Variety.

And more promising.

But…they are whispers nonetheless.

If you’re hearing what I’m hearing… I’m hearing the same thing.

LA Times online has been reporting since this AM that back channel discussions were afoot prior to parties meeting with the federal negotiator tomorrow.

Undisclosed people, undisclosed locations. Off the record, no media waiting outside the door. Thus no need to issue kabuki PR attacks to be reflected/distorted/fragmented thousandfold over this, the new media battlefield.

(They used to call such dealmaking environs ‘smoky back rooms’, but you can’t smoke in LA anymore, so…)

Sounds maybe like the kind of environment that could foster a solution.

We all hope you’re right, Craig.

Someone speculated why the agents have been so quiet. It’s my hope that a few of the ones I know who are working behind the scenes might be yielding some possible solutions for consideration.

There’s got to be a formula we can all live with for the next few years that can keep us all gainfully, according to the AMPTP, or ungainfully, as per the WGA, employed.

I dunno, Craig… I know the content of one of those back-channel conversations that occurred last night and it was not good. At all. The negcom member was blown away by how hardcore anti-negotiations the CEO was. And hostile to boot. Hopin’ and prayin’, though.

Craig, or anyone else less, hearing rumors about our Governor making calls?

I wouldn’t doubt at all that there is quite a bit of division among AMPTP members. Some stand to lose a lot more than others with a strike. CBS’s exposure is enormous, whereas New Corp’s is not.

Let’s hope there more conservatives than hawks when it’s all over.

So the strike isn’t on? Dammit, I just sold my house.

This is probably a stupid question, but I’ve never really heard/read an explanation for why the WGA is asking for a doubling of the home video residuals.

One thing that doesn’t makes sense to me is I read repeatedly, and I don’t think it’s in jest, that even under the existing formula writers don’t receive residuals. From Ken Levine’s blog:

“There are no less than fifteen box sets of TV series with my scripts in them. I haven’t received a dime.”

If that’s really true then what good is doubling the rate? Isn’t 2x nothing, still nothing? Someone needs to fill in the blanks.

Second, it would be useful in the PR battle to explain why the WGA feels it’s due a greater percentage. To me the “we got screwed 20 years ago and want to make up for it” isn’t a great explanation. In the vast majority of news coverage I see it’s simply reduced to “WGA wants to double their share of residuals” when, from what I’ve read, the explanation should be “We only agreed to the existing rate 20 years ago because it was a nascent industry and we wanted to support it’s growth. Obviously it has been a huge success and the time has long since past that our original sacrifice be recognized with a fair rate.” (of course it does beg the question why wasn’t there language built into that original contract that committed the AMPTP to revisit this issue at regular intervals to adjust the formula accordingly?)

These are always no win situations because they will be widely perceived as rich people fighting with richer people (or as the say during sports strikes, millionaires fighting billionaires).

IMHO it’s important for the public to understand the genesis and rational of the demand for fair compensation if you want to get them on your side.

WHO CARES IF THE PUBLIC IS ON YOUR SIDE?!?!? This is getting ridiculous. Endless posts about getting the “public” on our side. 99% of the public doesn’t care, and the other 1% doesn’t understand the issues. This is an extremely narrow power struggle over extremely obscure issues. So WHO CARES about the public? Yeesh.

If the whispers are true, then it means there have been substantial compromises…and logic says they are on both sides. So you won’t be disappointed (as writers always seem to be, and which is how we got here to begin with)…so you won’t be disappointed, start making your own private lists about what you would give up and still approve the deal. And that is the challenge you all will face because it is much harder to stop a strike than to start one.

I’m fervently chanting over my bundles of alligator teeth, rattlesnake skins and frog entrails at the moment.

Please. Please. Please.

Find a compromise.

What if a “compromise” meant .5% resids for both DVDs and new media? Would that disappoint you? Or is it good enough for now?

“start making your own private lists about what you would give up and still approve the deal.”

I’d give up demands in physical DVDs, jurisdiction, and creative rights — in short, anything but the internet.

A deal with no rollbacks (they’ll have to pry my first class tickets from my cold, dead hand) and anything reasonable for downloads and streaming would be emminently satisfactory.

Rumors tend to have no validity, as Craig as qualified what he’s heard as “whispers,” and I’ve now heard from a few people that any chatter about progress being made is absolutely wrong and we’re poised for a long and bitter strike. There is no middle ground, only the prospect of scorched earth.

While I hope to be proven incorrect, neither side has shown statesmanship and brought out the long knives far too early. The WGA wants to show the maximum damage they can cause and the AMPTP wants to prove they can weather our worst for a year.

I’ve heard from my source on the other side that no one is particularly impressed by the federal mediator. That’s too bad because an objective third party could truly help this cause.

There should be a media blackout tomorrow, but we’ll either hear late in the day talks are continuing or they’ve broken off. If it’s the latter, then we’ll all be pounding the pavement in the worst way for a long time to come.

One of the biggest problems we face, unlike 1988, is two other unions with individual negotiations waiting in the wings. We’re the front line, the example, the fall guy. If we were to do well, then DGA and SAG could make hay. Therefore, common sense dictates that the ultimatum is to make us suffer, accord us with zero.

It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and offer obervations as I’m doing, so you can take it with a pound of salt. Still, I hate hearing from someone I know at the AMPTP that the opposition considers the writers as “crazy.”

Personally, I think causing harm to this business is the ultimate madness and it appears it’s going to happen. Rodney King’s plea for us to “all get along” wasn’t particularly eloquent, not did it work.

I’ll happily eat my words if I’m proven incorrect tomorrow, but the CEOs of the major entertainment conglomerates have already shown the world they don’t care about the concept of “artful writing” by the sort of “product” they foist upon the world.

Nick Counter’s press release was actually deftly crafted. The semantics were well chosen and the message was that we children, who clearly don’t understand fiscal reality, are already getting paid more than we deserve.

Great, can’t wait to see all the funny You Tube commercials from writers whose films and TV shows are in the can.

if the amptp really think writers are “crazy’ for the main issues, then we’re really screwed and we should be looking for other jobs.

I hear just the opposite… So light all the candles and say all the prayers you want… but I’ll see you all on the picket line next week. D.

But I lit the prayer candle…

To Lax24

You attribute your long quote to an actor. The screenwriter of record for An Officer and a Gentleman is Patrick Day Stewart.

It seems to me that this is the sort of thing someone who supports writers might deem important.

Actors SAY the words that writers WRITE.

Woops!!!

I meant Douglas Day Stewart!!!!!

WHO CARES IF THE PUBLIC IS ON YOUR SIDE?!?!? This is getting ridiculous. Endless posts about getting the “public” on our side. 99% of the public doesn’t care, and the other 1% doesn’t understand the issues. This is an extremely narrow power struggle over extremely obscure issues. So WHO CARES about the public? Yeesh.

How many ads do you see with, “From the writers of…?”

Many? Any?

Your problem isn’t that the public doesn’t care about the writers strike. Your problem is the public doesn’t care about writers. With the strike, if it happens, writers have a chance to open the window of opportunity and explain who they are (and why they’re fighting the producers) and help the public understand…make them care.

And…writers mightmightmight start building a fan base of people who write in and ask for more of what AnonymousNumber57 writes. Hmm, and if folks want more of AN57’s writing, maybe it’s worth more than AN57’s been getting paid.

Pipe dreams, I know.

Susan p.s., I also find it funny that someone, maybe more than one someone, would write things like, “Who cares what the public thinks?” I’ve always thought of the public as the (audience)consumer of my (writing) product.

Once yet again, I stand corrected.

Nevertheless, today is effectively D-Day for all those involved in the contractual dispute. That is if it is an actual dispute, and not a passion play where the outcome has been known to those involved. Now I live on the East Coast (New York), so this has yet to take place. However, we do know that collective punishment will be handed to the sides by our leaders and their financiers; a tactic perfected by this current leadership without remorse.

Expect a no-strike edict to be issued out by the mediator, signed by the current Bush Administration under previous laws passed (Taft-Hartley.) That will be the first move in this meeting to reprimand the writers and the corporations. Afterwards, expect the sides to receive an advanced fair warning on the upcoming false-flag attack on Los Angeles and the entertainment industry’s studios and offices, which may come as early as tommorow: that would reference the Guy Fawkes Day inversion I spoke of in my first post. In truth, the offices were cleared so that prized material possesions were not destroyed in the ensuing destruction.

Finally, the deal that has already been made and finalized by the financial conglomerates and noted insiders in Hollywood and our leaders will be presented for official signatures. This will have to be signed by both sides, else the mediator grabs the arm of any of the side and writes the signature for them; a threat relaized in “The Dead Zone”, written by David Cronenberg from Stephen King’s novel. Yet still, the missiles will soon be flying, first perhaps in California, but ultimately into Syria, Iran, Russia, China, Pakistan, and almost every other perceived “enemy of the week” our leaders and their financial leaders deem attack-worthy.

The ulterior motives are in place, and our leaders are madder than ever, not to mention more desperate. In their minds, the disputees will come to rue the day they ever pissed off their masters. Thus, both sides will lose their wars of contractual dispute. Who knows; maybe our leaders will more or less nationalize and governmentize the industry to their whims like in the Second World War. Considering the Third World War is imminent, they will do this as further punishment and subjugation.

It has come to this stance, and all sides of this dispute have willingly fallen into our leaders’ trap for their ulterior measures of war and economic plunder. This is no different than two children being called upon their shit by their parents in the outset of a dispute over a possesion. Now then, how does it feel to be belittled into little more than pawns?

Hoping for sanity and clarity,

Lax24

Nick Counter: “Working writers on average earn over $200,000 a year. All they have to do is earn $31,000 to qualify for a full year of coverage in the finest health care plan in the country. And they are among the few employees in the world who get an “additional annuity” in the form of residuals beyond their initial compensation.”

Uh… Tom Freston’s exit package from Paramount/Viacom: 84.8 million. Ovitz’s severance from Disney was what, 100 million?

That’s not the entire “Big Six” sharing those costs. That’s one company each time. What’s the entire cost of EVERYTHING we’re asking for? I bet the three-year total isn’t as high as those two parachutes.

Anonymous,

I completely disagree with you about the need to wage a successful PR campaign. As Verrone said at the WGA meeting Wednesday night, the Guild should only care about getting their message to their membership, the people across the table and THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY AT LARGE. In my mind, I think it is painfully obvious that the WGA is totally losing the third part of the battle. I haven’t spoken to one below the line worker who isn’t furious about this strike. And these aren’t uneducated people, these are intelligent, thoughtful folks who have many writers as friends. These are Teamsters who have said there is no question they will cross picket lines, or simply go around them. These are sister Guild members.

These people will be out of work and could be picketing with the WGA, but they won’t be. Why? Because writers have traditionally thumbed their nose at “below the liners.” Because writing staffs are viewed as bloated and overpaid. Because the writers cheered in delight when a strike was called Friday night rather than meet the moment with the mature solemnity due the prospect of putting thousands out of work.

Despite the validity of the WGA’s cause, both financially and morally, a majority of their working colleagues view them not as righteous but self-righteous, not as “strike necessary” but “strike happy,” and are convinced that writers see them not just as below the line but below consideration.

This strike would end in a week if the streets were filled with all those people out of work. But they’ll be sitting at home fuming, looking for other jobs on non-Guild projects. The AMPTP will not feel the maximum pressure of mass organized labor but the minimum pressure of a select few, and will be emboldened each time a 2nd AD gives the finger to a picket line.

And how many out of work SAG actors have been organized to join the fray? Most of them “support the cause” but 95% of them will be sitting on their hands until June. No WGA strike captains for them. And why isn’t Verrone doing a press tour, appearing to debate issues on every news outlet possible? Don’t give me that hogwash that media is owned by the AMPTP and the WGA can’t get access. Where are the billboards? Where are the celebrity spokespeople? Where is the quippy slogan? 12,000 thousand writers and not one decent strike slogan?

This strike, at least when it comes to recognizing the importance of outreach, is a total failure of leadership thus far by the WGA Negotiating Committee. Their membership, rather than praising the NegCom like rock stars, should demand more.

Where’s the WGA press release in response to “we all make 200,000 dollars” stating how much Murdoch, Geffen, Redstone, Stringer, Parsons, Bewkes, Spielberg, Grey, Zucker, Immelt, Katzenberg, Moonves and Nick Counter himself make? Seriously.

If Variety won’t print it then the WGA should at least get it on their own website and on Nikki Finke.

Or better yet, buy another full page ad in the trades, because Variety seems more than willing to cover both sides of this argument as long as one side is willing to pay for the privilege.

I’m one of those SAG actors that Tony S. speaks of. I’ve had a pretty decent career for over 35 years in this business. I support the WGA, but I am also very disturbed by the actions of the leadership of your union. I believe you showed your cards far too early in this ‘negotiation,’ and are far too eager to hit the bricks. And when it gets right down to it, I don’t think your membership has the stomach for how ugly this thing could get if it drags on and on and begins to unravel right before your eyes. The AMPTP is a big beast. It’ll be hard to slay. Any of you who read this website who may have ‘clout,’ I would urge you to work your phones today and keep this unnecessary action from destroying careers and lives.

It’s not true that WGA writers are among the only workers who get an “additional annuity” after their initial pay.

Photographers get money each time a photo is used. Poets and novelists recieve money from reprints and anthologies. Playwrights receive money when their plays are produced. Even comic book writers make money from reprints.

Also: getting public support for the WGA is absurd. The public rarely supports strikers: be they miners, auto workers, or cops.

The networks & studios are merely using the old tactic of trying to demonize workers in the press instead of addressing the issues.

The public’s primary concern in this dispute will be the pop culture they consume. When tv quality disappears and/or fades, the public will look for someone to blame. Ultimately, being the recipient of blame matters more to the networks than the writers.

As for winning the hearts of the rest of the industry…

I had dinner last night with a group of about 20 actors, casting types, below-the-line, etc. I was the only writer in the room. Lots of questions, verging on angry, about the strike. “What the hell is this about anyway?”

And I pulled out of my pocket 4 pennies and dropped them on the table. “This is what it’s about.”

Talked about the 4 cents we’re asking for on DVDs. Talked about 2 1/2 cents on internet (harder to pull a half a cent out of your pocket). Talked about the profit the studios are making.

By the end of the evening, the whole room was avidly in support of the strike, asking what they could do to help the writers.

We have a message to get out. We just need to do it so people hear and understand.

AOC (#39)—

That’s as good a teaching example as I’ve yet heard.

That would make a great billboard.

WHAT THE WRITERS GET FOR EVERY MOVIE SOLD:

(four pennies)

WHAT THE STUDIOS ARE OFFERING AS A COUNTER

(no pennies)

B

Mark,

Many writers agree: the leadership of the union has been disturbing to us, too.

And believe me, very few writers want to hit the bricks. The big meeting Thursday night was carefully packed with supporters—less than a quarter of the members.

The AMTP is a big beast. But so is the WGA. Writers are forced to join it to work, then give it money. Now strangers are deciding my economic fate.

My feelings are simple: I don’t want to strike. I want to work to feed my family.

Greedy bosses suck. Scabs suck. Not working sucks.

But if I’m in a union, i’m in full support of my brothers and sisters.

You might have similar feelings in June.

Y’know, Howard Gould’s speech from Thursday night should be run on Youtube. Then, maybe SAG and DGA members would realize that after us, the AMPTP is coming after them. If re-runs go straight to internet download, at the reduced % they want us to take, we will lose up to 90% of our normal residuals. No residuals = a huge reduction in Guild dues which = the destruction of our health and pension funds. Then bye-bye Guilds. All of them. The WGA just happens to be the canary in the coalmine, the first one up. That’s “what the hell this is about”.

Rumor at work was that the agencies thought there was a last-minute deal. But if it’s the agents negotiating, their own megalomania could get in the way of a realistic assessment of the possibility of averting the strike.

At least one show has their own writers planning on trying to turn around the caterers, and the actors as they show up.

www.wgastrike.info

I agree with the other posters who have mentioned that the strike plan itself is faulty. How in the hell are you going to encourage the teamsters from crossing your picket line if you show up to said picket line at 9 am? Are writers that out of touch with production that they really believe that 9 am is when the day starts? Try 5 am for teamsters and 6 or 7 for the rest of the crew. Coming in late and leaving early not only means that no one will even know you were there, but it looks so lazy and half-assed. If you must strike, at least make it count for god’s sake! I swear, I would support this strike more if I didn’t think it was doomed to begin with because of stupid ideas like this!

Sorry, I don’t mean to be anonymous. I am actually the wife of an IATSE member that will be on set at 6:30 a.m.

Dammit, Craig, POST SOMETHING! You’re killing me! I come here for the straight dope and rational analysis and I’m getting nada. Don’t leave us hanging. Oh, sure, so you just happen to be directing a movie right now, like that should ever intervere with your posting :)

Which writers “cheered in delight” on Friday when the strike was called? Because I certainly don’t know any of them.

Unfortunately, Jack M. and chardkerm, the DGA is no ace up the WGA’s sleeve. On the contrary, every scenario I’ve read has the AMPTP turning their immediate attention to the DGA to strike a deal once the WGA hits the line. And, as for SAG, we’ve become about as irrelevant as writers in this business. They’d just as soon animate us or put a dog and pony show on the air. And they could care less who will write it.

I’ll second AOC (#39) and Brett N (#40).

If the WGA had the money for those embarrassingly narcissistic billboards touting Aaron Sorkin’s pullquotes, then they should have the money for this.

Let’s get that up on Sunset… NOW!

Chard —

Don’t overlook one critical element — the AMPTP will open negotiations with the DGA by Thanksgiving if the WGA strike looks prolonged in any way. The DGA won’t be be saddled with your terms and percentages, but you’ll be saddled with theirs IF THEY CLOSE BEFORE YOU DO. As a DGA member myself, we often take the management position and are usually eager to get contracts worked out before they run out. Once again, we’ll jump at the opportunity to open negotiations with the producers. The DGA realizes that we are scheduled to talk after the WGA, but that doesn’t mean we won’t come to terms before you wrap up WGA negotiations. Don’t think the AMPTP hasn’t planned this. You could easily get blindsided if you are not unified and make a huge show of solidarity from the get-go. If you hope to succeed in your position, you must force the issue NOW.

Another thing I was reading of concern… Why are pickets not going to begin until 9am? Why only four hour shifts? Does that mean the “strike” will only take place from 9am - 5pm? Banker’s hours? Are you kidding me? Get you memberships out there early — it’s Monday and everyone takes a 7am crew call, guys!!!! — and stay until the crews and cast go home (8pm). Be visable to the crews, and make the industry realize you are serious in your efforts.

Another suggestion, IMO, would be to get the showrunner hyphenates out there early and out there late. If they have to honor their contractual commitments, fine. But, they can come in and walk the line for an hour or two in the morning before they hit the set, perhaps for some time at lunch, and after they leave the office. Let them demonstrate that they still support the intentions of the membership and are unified with the Guild.

Pickets will be up in two 4 hour shifts, from 9am to 1 and from 1pm to 5pm. Guild leaders are well aware of productions hours and there is logic to the strike plan (if it comes). Your captains will explain to you why the hours have been chosen and why the leadership feels this is most effective. Guild members who are in contact with their captains are more informed than many who are posting. I don’t mean to be rude about the postings, but calling the leadership lame and incompetent isn’t helpful, especially if you’re not in the loop of why things are beginning to unfold as they are. Can we just all take a deep breath for a couple days and not start with the doom and gloom and blame before anything really has begun? It’s hard, I know. There’s a lot of fear, but adding to it via blogs isn’t really helpful to anybody.

Shreve, I see your point about being undercut by the DGA. But what I can’t see is the AMPTP giving them a download rate that is much better than ours. Even if the DGA gets to keep 50% of their normal re-run residual (let’s say as compared to our 10 or 20%) seems to me it would still trickle down and erode the basics (health, pension) by way of reducing the dues paid.

”The AMPTP is a big beast. It’ll be hard to slay.”

Not if they have no content to put out. And that is the heart of the issue. Yes they can get by on reruns for a time. But soon the audience and therefore the advertisers will lose patience.

And 88 was the biggest example of bad timing for a strike imaginable. This isn’t. That’s a big difference.

Just found out that the picket times were brought up in meetings yesterday. Turns out that the teamsters asked us not to do early morning pickets.

as for the DGA, in my experience they have always undercut WGA negotiations by cutting their contract 6 months early, during WGA negotiations. We tried to start 6 months ago, but the AMPTP always knows DGA has different issues and they push us back and wait for the DGA to come in with contract they like better than WGA’s. Now, I think this okay. DGA is there for the DGA members to get what’s best for them. Power to them. Usually WGA leadership folds and just goes along. That’s an issue of past WGA leadership that has saddened the members and marginalized us in labor negotiations. This year is different. Let the DGA cut the deal they want. That’s their job to rep their members. We, at this moment, are holding strong for the deal we think is best for WGA members. That’s our right.

as a small business owner in the industry, if this strike causes my business to go under, the WGA will have earned my eternal animosity. maybe everyone should wear purple shirts that say “i don’t get residuals” and you can see how many people your guild is affecting. sure you can say “without writers you wouldnt have a business in the first place” but without producers money you wouldnt have jobs to write. the ol’ chicken and the egg riddle. the fact is we all need each other to exsist. remember that.

OK, Tinker, if there’s a reason why the hours have been chosen, and if posters here aren’t in the loop, then how about you tell us what reason leadership could possibly have for starting picketing when everyone will already be prepping the third set-up of the day? My captain hasn’t explained jack fucking shit to me, and doesn’t have an answer for three-quarters of the things I’ve asked. So please, INFORM me.

That’ll teach me not to reload the page and check new comments before I post. Interesting factoid, chardkerm. I wonder why they requested that.

Chardkerm, then how are the teamsters really going to show their support if they can drive right through the non-existent picket lines? Is it that they support the strike in theory, but would rather be able to feed their children?

Metinker, I realize as somone who is not in the WGA, I am not getting all the inside information. But, do not expect people outside the WGA who are not in favor of this strike to TRUST your leaders just because you are asking them to. Your leaders are putting my husband out of a job and not because of pension or health care but because of “extras”. Extras my husband will never see. So, I apologize if I am not quick to give your leaders the benefit of the doubt and question their strange and outwardly curious tactics.

SMALL BUSINESS OWNER ANONYMOUS…Trust me, we all feel horrible about how a strike affects EVERYONE in this town. But pinning it on the WGA is just plain wrong. To use an analogy, if a monster corporation like Walmart comes in and slowly renders your business obsolete, you eventually will have to close your doors. Well, that’s what the AMPTP (the rep of multinational giants) has in mind for us. They want the Guilds to go away. And they have been trying to achieve this by cutting the heart out of our income. Residuals. If this succeeds, then the Guilds will cease to exist. For most of us, our livelihoods are at stake.

Natalie - I’m not asking people outside the guild to trust the guild. I’m asking people in the guild to check with their captains. As for your statement that guild leaders are putting your husband out of a job… I’m sorry you see only blame for the Guild. I wish you would consider the AMPTP is part of this. They are the ones who said if digital delivery is on the table for DISCUSSION, then there is nothing to discuss. They threw down the glove, drew the line in the sand and yet, it’s WGA fault. WGA agreed to have the LA Mayor try and help and why maybe he’s not the greatest man to do it, at least we left the door open for further discussions. AMPTP said no thanks. At every turn, they are roadblocking an agreement. In many circles in town, it’s thought they want a strike. They have no denied this. Writers don’t want to strike. But we want a bad contract less. It’s a very difficult situation for all and I just fundamentally disagree with the perspective that it’s the guild leadership that is putting your family out of work…

Metinker:

I have a huge beef with your posting that it’s not helpful to criticize the union leadership due to not being in the loop.

That is oppression, my friend. And you are attempting to rationalize your oppression by saying the critics are ignorant.

THAT is preciesly the kind of comment and self-serving logic that turns people against the WGA.

You don’t encourage support by attacking critics. You are merely attacking.

I’m a union man, through-and-through. But that means believing in the very freedom of expression that you are trying to squash.

Tactics of oppression are tactics of greedy cowards and bullies.

And it is those very people that the WGA is protesting against.

Jack -

I’m sorry if you interpreted my post as oppression of free speech. That is not my intent. I’m in no way trying to silence people or control speech in any way. I have no power to do that. I was merely suggesting that before people post something they should check in with their captains so they can have more up to date information. If you are not guild, that is not an option for you, of course. And it is simply my opinion, not a dictate, not a shout down, that we should try and keep the rhetoric down. I PERSONALLY don’t think it’s helpful to be criticising the guild on a public forum. But that’s not me oppressing you. That’s just me expressing my own opinion. And it’s not some tactic to oppress, I’m just one lone voice expressing my own opinion - as you are. And I celebrate Craig for letting us have a forum to get our thoughts out.

I also agree that the AMPTP wants a strike. Which is the EXACT reason I think this is all in vain. They can hold out a lot longer than you. In fact, that is what scares me the most of all. It is blatently obvious that the producers want a strike! Is that supposed to make me feel better? Both the WGA and AMPTP are at fault, but the WGA called for a strike - the AMPTP did not lock you out.

Sorry, that was me again.

Someone just told me the DGA will be asking for favored nations as far as any gains we might get, irrespective of their own negotiations, which just hangs us out all the more.

Sound feasible?

They usually do.

Metinker, yes I’m a dues-paying guild member, and working for a TV show. The “captain” of our staff was appointed at the last minute by a WGA rep who came to speak to us. He appointed the captain as an afterthought, as he left the room, leaving behind unanswered questions, WGAW badges, and WGA t-shirts.

The guild is not giving “my captain” information. The guild website offers little info. This blog and the LA Times supplies more info than the guild or the website. It’s all being played close to the vest.

Please explain why you don’t think it’s helpful to criticize guild leadership on a public forum.

Here’s my final question: If there’s a strike, do the union leaders who are negotiating still draw a salary?

-jack

‘I also agree that the AMPTP wants a strike. Which is the EXACT reason I think this is all in vain. They can hold out a lot longer than you. In fact, that is what scares me the most of all. It is blatently obvious that the producers want a strike’

Which is exactly why we should have one. It’s about resolve. The AMPTP are used to a bunch of roll over pussies. They want a short strike and a cave. They think they’re going to get it.

I don’t think they are.

Guys, I know tensions are high right now, but there’s a productive way to raise issues and an unproductive way. Here is the unproductive way:

“Are writers that out of touch with production that they really believe that 9 am is when the day starts? Try 5 am for teamsters and 6 or 7 for the rest of the crew. Coming in late and leaving early not only means that no one will even know you were there, but it looks so lazy and half-assed.”

Here is a more productive way:

“Are there reasons for beginning pickets at 9 am that I’m not aware of? Can anyone shed some light on why we’re not starting at 5 am?”

And here is your answer, since you asked so politely:

We can’t go into detail, but yes, there are very good reasons, and they’re designed to cause a maximum amount of work stoppage for the companies. Think for a second about where the Teamsters’ trucks are kept at night, and how easy it would be for the companies to bring in scab drivers if we stop the Teamsters from coming IN to work.

Are we clear? Can we maybe modify our tone now, #44?

Jack M:

Our union leaders are volunteers, and they draw no salary at any time.

Ed:

The AMPTP has shown a willingness both in our history and the recent past to weather very long strikes (ours in ‘88 and the recent SAG Commercial strike). Your point of view on this bespeaks of wishful thinking.

Furthermore, they won both of those strikes.

The real danger here isn’t for them. It’s for us. The long strike and then cave is what we have to fear the most, and it’s what the AMPTP has shown a willingness to endure.

Regarding the PR battle…

This morning I was driving on a back road in Georgia. I stopped at a boiled peanut stand and made small talk with the woman while she scooped up my peanuts. When she found out where I’m from and what I do for living, this old, mostly toothless woman in the middle of nowhere said with disgust, “I here’d y’alls is goin’ on strike. As if’n y’alls didn’t make ‘nuff money already.”

Yeah…

Thanks for the info about the union leaders.

A long strike and then caving in will only play into the hands of the AMPTP. When this has happened with other unions in other fields, it signalled the decline of their power. I don’t want that to happen to WGA.

I’d rather live tight, cinch my family’s economic belt, than provide the AMPTP with the power and confidence to break this union. They’ll use that to attack the other unions.

Old story. Simply put: bosses don’t like to share money with the workers. A union threatens bosses more than anything.

If there’s a strike—we must outlast the AMPTP.

Jack M,

I too am on a tv show and my strike captain has been an amazing resource. She has gone to a bunch of meetings and gives us weekly updates. Any questions we have she has answered or contacted someone who can answer. We also got the pins you mentioned and we put them to use when a big chunk of our staff got up at 4am on Tuesday to hand out flyers.

I’m sorry if your captain is not up to snuff, but the information is out there.

Craig 71,

re: Ed…

That’s what I was trying to say, but you said it in a much more pleasant way.

A war of attrition is not a war we want to fight. And IF (notice the if people) we’re going to cave, why not cave now? A hypothetical question…

I’m anti-caving, anti-war, pro getting what we want, pro keeping as many of us alive as we possibly can and only sacrificing our members if we must. I’m also pro education and I appreciate your and others’ measured opinions.

68- Jack M - I’m a strike captain and a showrunner, and I’ve been at the captain meetings, I’ve made the calls and I’ve sought out the info. If you are in a situation where you need info and help, reach out to me if you want and I can be of assistance.

Peter

actually, what Nikki F is reporting is that John Wells is talking to people on both sides - not that he has been “brought” in. It’s probably very unofficial precisely to bypass the officialness that isn’t working.

It’s no wonder that the studios are happy to discuss with John Wells:

“(I still marvel at the way Wells ran for WGA president in 1999 and won even though he was a preeminent TV producer, split the Writer’s Guild into haves and have nots, then failed in 2001 to stand firm on any of the hard issues so as to ensure no strike would interrupt his own productions. As if that weren’t chutzpah enough, shortly after the WGA contract was resolved, Wells quietly informed his West Wing writers that the provisions in their own contracts for increased pay and promotions would not be honored in the 3rd season. The timing made it almost impossible for them to find new jobs.)” — Nikki Finke

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/vote-is-in-for-wga-east-over-90-yes/

I know John Wells — Know him to be a good and honorable man and yet, it’s true… His past record is less steller for writers than one would like. He’s probably not the guy to broker this peace and he did let down the guild last time… but I do like the idea there is hope and there someone trying to avert the strike.

I think taking Nikki’s facts with a grain of salt is probably a good idea.

She doesn’t appear to be a member of the WGAw either.

Fair point, Craig.

Mr. Wells could be a face the AMPTP finds friendly and if (emphasis on if… again) it’s the WGA’s voice coming through his mouth, it could be a huge win for us.

I like this move. It’s sneaky.

The AMPTP find Wells friendly for the same reason writers don’t. He’s double-crossed writers too often in the past.

I’m confident that this time our negotiating team will know how to use him, instead of the way we got used by him, the last few times.

Craig is correct to be careful about relying on Nikki Finke for information. She is not a member of the WGA or any other Hollywood union. She’s pretty good about snooping out stories, but she usually flavors them with a marked disdain (if not outright) dislike of the people she covers.

Her perspective on the business usually boils down to “Look at these idiots!” And it’s unfortunate that she’s been proven correct on that assessment many times. But that doesn’t make her an impartial or even a completely reliable source.

I personally long for the days when Anne Thompson wrote the “Risky Business” column for the LA WEEKLY. I’m dating myself with that, but her work, particularly around the 1988 strike, was outstanding. I have trouble reconciling that with her current column in Variety.

Please, “Lax24” in Comment # 8, and everyone else here— don’t ever attribute a quote to an actor or a character in a movie. The line was WRITTEN; in the case of your quote, Richard Gere SPOKE (or performed) the line; it was created by Douglas Day Stewart, whose screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award in 1983.

I know it’s hard, and sometimes a chore, to look it up, but “here’s lookin’ at you, kid,” and “I’ll be back” weren’t the spontaneous creations of the memorable actors who read the lines.

I know it’s more convenient to write “As [actor name here] says…” but let’s give credit where it’s due.

Re # 70, Chillax — the reason to start a picket at 9 AM is not to catch the drivers at the studio gates, but to stop them after they’ve checked out their trucks and gone to location on a first run. Then, if they choose as a matter of personal conscience, to honor our picket line, THEY STILL GET PAID! (a half day, to be sure, but not zero, which would be their rate if they stopped at the studio gates).

And sympathetic Teamster location managers will know which off-lot locations are vulnerable to well-organized pickets.

God Bless 399.

‘Ed:

The AMPTP has shown a willingness both in our history and the recent past to weather very long strikes (ours in �88 and the recent SAG Commercial strike). Your point of view on this bespeaks of wishful thinking.

Furthermore, they won both of those strikes.

The real danger here isn�t for them. It�s for us. The long strike and then cave is what we have to fear the most, and it�s what the AMPTP has shown a willingness to endure.”

Absolutely agree. This time, after a 20 year gap, we have to show we mean buisiness.

Saying you mean business and being able to take care of business are two different things. The guild has put its members in a dangerous position and all the red tee shirts and picket sings in the world aren’t going to get them out of it. Right now, the best hope is that some politician gets the AMPTP to be more generous than they intended to be…or that the DGA gives the WGA a face saving way out. By the time the SAG contract is up, the AMPTP will have a year plus of shows in the can…and remember they can always recycle scripts and make remakes…and the audinece will love every trailer they see and pay the same $10 bucks per ticket…and no strike has ever reduced overall viewship…and if the viewers leave the networks, well that’s why the networks have been buying up the new media.

Right now, all your hopes are riding on luck.

I have it on good authority that the AMPTP and the DGA have already been engaged in “back channel” negotiations.