NPR - Air Talk Report

All that was there was an 18 second commercial asking me for money…

How appropriate. Perhaps, for the WGA strike fund.

The audio is in two parts. After the ad, it continues.

I think it was a RealPlayer issue…

(Heh, Craig sounds funny)

Craig,

Nice interview. Frank’s question was great.

If we’re going to settle anyway, why not settle now? Why stretch this out, risk the livelihood of so many, just to compromise or have the DGA compromise for us?

The scary, realistic thought is, found precedent in the WGA’s history, we can’t win a war of attrition.

If the WGA strikes, it better be willing to die along its soldiers.

As I’m always apt to do, I was reading my favorite Chinese newspaper on line. There’s a lot of worry and ‘gnashing of the teeth’ over there. Here’s what the headline said:

“Don’t strike! For all our sakes!” This quoted from one frightened video pirate, Lin Lee (alias). Pirates from all around the country got together on Thursday night in Hong Kong to hold a midnight, candlelight vigil.
Video pirates implore the powers that be in Hollywood, “Please, for everyone involved with this possible strike-resolve your differences and make sure there is no disruption of our 2.3 billion dollar industry!” Overall, amongst all the pirates assembled, there is a somber feeling of doom. One Ang Lee (alias), holding multiple, xeroxed faced copies of “Live Free or Die Hard”, yelled out in the middle, “give the writers what they want! We call reality TV coasters over here, as that’s what those disks are only good for over here!” When asked what contingency plans the pirates had in place, one pirate, Bruce Lee (alias) scoffed and said, “so far the only plan we have in place is to repackage our extensive catalog of older titles with new made up names”.

Sorry guys, just trying to lighten the mood plus I always wanted to write for the Onion.

Forgive me, I’m kinda new to this but wouldn’t it be better for the writers if they waited till june to strike when they have the muscle of the SAG which has a lot more clout over hollywood? Unless I’m missing something striking now does not look like a logical option, the actors are still working and networks probably have enough scripts stockpiled to last them int January maybe even february, the writers run the risk of running out of gas by that time.

Good interview. I think I found a new Hal Gurnee Network Time Killer, just in case Letterman tries to go it w/o the writers again…

AYAAW

Craig,

I’ll be hosting a live (free) conference call interview with a panel of WGA Writers for an audience mainly of aspiring screenwriters this Tuesday at 5:30 pm. Would you like to speak as a guest?

Chris Soth HollywoodByPhone.com

Sorry, Chris, but I’ll be directing.

Just a quick note from a Teamster: despite our union’s published “support” of the WGA, the rank and file members of Studio Drivers Local 399 will be crossing any and all WGA picket lines.

Yes, I understand that the WGA sent five of its blowhards to the most recent General Membership 399 meeting, where they begged for our support in the name of “brotherhood.”

Well, let me tell you something, “brother,” we have very keen memories, and remember when the WGA rolled over our last picket line.

Our Secretary-Treasurer may have promised not to cross your line, and unless you throw-up a picket in front of Teamsters headquarters, he won’t have to.

As for the rest of us? Lookout, brother! Freightliner coming through!

Mr. Skip Loder,

Although I’m sure you’re righteous in taking offense (for we tend to be a nebbish and sometimes disrespectful lot), WGA members have never had the “legal” right to honor other union picket lines.

I believe few entertainment guilds have this “legal” right (save for your teamsters).

But know that this is a problem the WGA is trying to remedy. It is one of 26 demands we’re fighting for. From the WGA contract proposal:

“The right to honor other unions’ picket-lines is key to union strength and solidarity. Writers should be able to follow their own conscience and beliefs when they encounter a picket line. There are other entertainment unions who have honored our picket lines, and Guild members should have the right to return that show of solidarity without company reprisal.”

I wonder if Skip Loader knows where Teamster headquarters is without looking it up. Just something about that post doesn’t sit right with me.

Skip Loder is, to put it politely, full of crap. Some Teamsters are not crossing, others are. But all of the ones I’ve talked to are agonizing over the decision, and none of them are treating the decision as cavalierly as he claims to be. I smell a rat.

The huge corporations control everythig. We’re all serfs.

Shaun,

Thanks for the comic relief. It made my day!

I agree with the others whose sh&%$ detectors red-lined when reading the Loader’s post above.

From Kate Purdy’s most recent post over on HollywoodUnited.com, here’s a letter that reflects a far more thoughtful, truer picture of what’s at stake for the Teamsters and what being “brothers in arms” is truly about:

[I’m pasting in the text here, rather than a link, to balance the load above, if that’s cool, Craig.]

“I received this letter from a Teamster. It lays out why New Media and Union Solidarity are both issues we need to stand up for right now.)

‘I am a teamster. A location scout on a TV show. My small corner of Warner Brothers Television is far removed from the writers’ offices. I make a fraction of what they do, work more hours, and my family’s schedule is ruined every time they write “EXT: NIGHT.” I’ve been on my current show for 10 weeks and I just met my first writer.

Yet if the next time I see him he’s wearing a red shirt and carrying a placard, I will not cross his line.

Why?

I could just say “Teamsters don’t cross picket lines.” I could just say “I need a vacation.” I could just say “I believe in the rights of the working man.” While that is all true, the real reason is more complex. I believe this is the opening round of a long battle that every union member in Hollywood will have to face as our contracts expire.

The digital world is not in the future, it is here now. It is now possible to watch Television and Movies entirely on the internet, and the network sites, with ads galore, are proof. This is not a hypothetical. It is profit-making reality. If the writers are denied fair payment for reuse, I do not believe the Directors, Actors and the rest of us will fare any better when our turn comes.

Yes, I said the “rest of us.” While I don’t receive individual residual payments for my work as a teamster, my pension and health fund does. As the distribution stream goes digital those residual payments will slow to a trickle, and the fund will suffer. When the time comes I plan on being old, sick, and in need of Health Care. And the WB doesn’t want me to have it.

So no, I will not be crossing any picket line. And I ask you to join me. Not for the writers. Not for Me. Not for my kids. Not even for you. For all of us. Because that’s what it’s going to take. All of us.’

(The Teamsters are an amazing union who I highly admire. I understand that there are bills to pay and mouths to feed. I understand that some sacrifices for some people will be too big to make. In terms of the legality of what the Companies can do, and the letter threats Teamsters are receiving – reach out to your union’s legal department. They’ll be able to guide you.)”

Thanks, Kate…and thanks a million, Teamsters…

ok, sorry, back from picketing futures…
i was wondering about the East-Pirate Connection.
if there were a way to raise awareness of how much people stand to lose,
i think it worth considering this point. digital downloads of movies are already free,
anyone w/ dsl can watch, right now, American Gangster, sans middle man…

is it the time to take a stand

All the Teamsters on my show have already told us they will not cross any picket line under any circumstances. This has led to the bizarre scenarios I mentioned in previous threads of the studios trying to direct the teamsters and crews to a back gate while the picket line is in place at the front gate.

I believe this idea of sneaking the crew and drivers through the back door is doomed to failure for two reasons. One, the Teamsters will likely honor the picket as applying to the whole property and not just the main gate.

Second, I am hoping that the WGA will mobilize enough people to properly picket each backlot. This means covering EVERY GATE and EVERY ENTRANCE from 6AM to 6PM Monday through Friday. This is the only way to be sure any impact has been made.

Teamsters and the rest of us in the crew have received memos from our employers warning us that we will be replaced if we do not cross the lines. And likely, many people will be fired and replaced.

This will likely be a long strike, particularly if the producers refuse to settle before the TV season is irretrievably lost. I mark that time as the beginning to middle of February. If the strike isn’t over by then, one sweeps period will be lost and there won’t be time to make enough new episodes to have any momentum built before the May sweeps. And the pilot season will also have been lost. At that point, the studios will simply wait until June to deal with the writers, by which point they will already have a new DGA contract and likely a pending SAG contract as well.

I hope that the strike is settled earlier, but the only way this can happen is if the membership really mobilizes and has a big impact on the immediate bottom line. If the strike only happens from 9-12 and 1-4, it could be going for a very long time.

I keep hearing this idea that the AMPTP will just wait it out until June when they have to bargain with SAG. The way I see it the only way this works is if they’ve broken the WGA at that point by getting enough writers to scab or go fi-core. Because up till now SAG (my other union) has made it pretty clear that they are prepared to fight the same battle over the same issues. Why would the studios bleed out the TV business only to face another strike that will absolutely shut film production down and hurt them even more? I can understand the strategy if they’ve broken the WGA and can hang its dead body at the studio gates going into SAG talks but barring that it sounds like a fairly self-destructive strategy.

The DGA is the wild card, of course.

The AMPTP isn’t just going to wait it out until June. They will have a contract with the DGA likely before February, and this will likely wind up being the pattern for both WGA and SAG, unless WGA can get a contract before then. The only way that happens is if the WGA strike is strong enough to compel the studios to negotiate. If the strike isn’t perceived as strong, the studios will not pay much heed to it. Having the Teamsters observe the strike (many at the expense of their own jobs and livelihoods), and having many crew choose to go along with the Teamsters may help the studios’ perception of the problem they now face.

DLW is correct that the studios’ strike strategy is to break the WGA before the SAG talks begin - effectively leaving SAG with the option of either a bad contract or a second long strike and the possibility of a complete year of turmoil in the business.

By the way, I’ve heard people say that the 1988 strike was ended because of the “Writers’ Coalition” of hyphenates who threatened to cross the lines. This is not what happened. The “Writers’ Coalition” (a group of 22 hyphenates including Stephen J. Cannell and I believe Stephen Bochco as well) actually EXTENDED the strike because they convinced the AMPTP that the WGA was divided and vulnerable. Anne Thompson wrote some brilliant pieces about this in the LA WEEKLY at the time - particularly her summations in early August 1988, where she carefully laid out the whys and the wherefores. I truly miss the incisiveness of her writing from that period. She was a smart and fair-minded journalist. Nikki Finke, on the other hand, is a lot edgier and angrier. She gets some information right, but her disdain for her chosen subject can be a little hard to take.

Make no mistake, though. If the TV season is completely lost, the networks will not just roll over in February or March and say “Uncle!” They’ll punish the WGA by leaving them out while they write new contracts with the other guilds, including SAG. This isn’t mature behavior, but it would be understandable, from their position.

strike one.

Good point, Working AD. I just hope the AMPTP is betting the differences of opinion they’ve read about on blogs like this will quickly turn into fractures and we prove them wrong.

Unfortunately, I think it’s too optimistic to think many members of other unions, other than the odd director or radical actor, will honor WGA picket lines. If the Teamsters do stay out in decent numbers it could definitely soften the moguls up a bit but that would probably be mostly reflected in a quicker and slightly better DGA deal, one that will likely be the template for what we wind up with.

In the interest of keeping the town working, I’d settle for even token improvements in new media, give up on DVD and then begin a Manhattan Project on unifying all of the unions on their shared interests so we can revisit these issues with genuine strength.

Does someone know whether the Studios can replace Teamsters who honor the picket line with scabs? Or do they have to replace them with other Teamsters?

If the Teamsters aren’t on strike, are the Studios contractually able to hire scab drivers?

From what I’ve heard, the writers will actually picketing some location shoots. From what I recall, that hasn’t happened before as far as scribes doing so.