Monday's Variety article about the resumption of WGA-AMPTP talks contains this doozy of a sentence: "But during the past week, WGA leaders were also quietly pressured by a number of high-profile screenwriters and showrunners to get back to the table."
Uh, Earth To fabulist Dave McNary: It wasn't the WGA but the AMPTP which kept refusing to go back into talks -- that is until early last week when Counter quietly dropped a demand that his side wouldn't return to negotiations until the writers strike was stopped or at least suspended for a few days while talks proceeded. Either McNary is clueless -- or being clued in by propagandists. (See my previous: Variety's Strike Disinformation Campaign.)
so is there anyone we can trust? how is it that something like variety or the HR can be so consistently wrong or slanted like this (and not be named fox)? it’s just discomforting not knowing where to turn for fear of who’s profiting from what’s being published. it’s like one big puppet or magic show and we’re just being dragged along for the ride.. now i’m just waiting for Counter to start levitating and i’ll be set
Comment by this sucks — November 19, 2007 @ 12:48 am
The idiots at Variety and its sister publication Broadcast & Cable have been fan and viewer bashing as well. I guess they figure that fans don’t have subscriptions to their print editions but apparentely they are too isolated to realize that smart viewers fans can find and read their websites for information and see anti-fan articles written by Brian Lowry at Variety and Ben Grossman at B&C.
Their screeds will be remembered and are not being tolerated at all. Too bad for them they cast their lot with what will be the losing side…even ad buyers are 90% in favor of the writers…read this per Media Life magazine:
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Television_44/Latest_strike_score_Writers_3_bosses_1.asp
Thanks Nikki for your exhaustive coverage
Comment by anonymous — November 19, 2007 @ 6:45 am
Yes I have got to say this entire strike has really illustrated how Variety is in the hands of the major studios.
I think most everyone knows Joe Adalian is a kiss ass to those in power and sorry Joe but your articles are usually slanted towards studios and companies. Dave McNary is somewhat better but hasn’t been during the strike. They’re not subjective. Cynthia Littleton doesn’t even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as these two writers or in the same breath as Variety. She is objective, smart, great, well respected (unlike the latter who are simply used) and should be back at the HR.
Nikki, it takes balls to do what you do, and I can honestly say you’re a real journalist the likes of which we haven’t seen for a long while in this business. Sure coffee cups have been thrown against walls when people have read what you’ve wrote, but it’s been the truth. May the coffee cups continue to fly.
I’ve seen it, you’ve seen it, verbatim press releases from the studios reprinted by Variety with a few “unknown sources” thrown in. They have a batphone directly connected to every studio press department.
Comment by variety unsubscriber — November 19, 2007 @ 6:57 am
Yeah, my scalp started to itch with anger when I first read that last night.
But then I figured — if this is the coverage that the AMPTP needs to start negotiations again, fine.
Only the Studios would believe such a rickety, hastily- constructed story anyway…
Comment by ChezTreus — November 19, 2007 @ 6:57 am
Why is it slanted to say high profile Guild members urged the WGA to get back to the table? Is it because they left out low profile Guild members who want the same thing?
Comment by low profile Guild member — November 19, 2007 @ 7:44 am
Nikki, your graphic should be the words “Daily Pravda” done in green with the same lettering as our wonderful trade-paper. Any graphic designers out there?
Comment by Ent Worker — November 19, 2007 @ 8:03 am
Let’s not leave the LA Times off the list of idiot strike reporting. From today’s paper, Scott Collins writes in an article entitled “Simplifying the WGA Strike”… “More to the point, writers may be aiming their rage cannons at the wrong targets. Any reader of In Touch or Us Weekly knows that compensation for the top stars has soared in recent years. Many movie stars insist on “first dollar gross” deals that translate into tens of millions of dollars before any other soul sees one dime. And some of the TV stars who’ve been photographed carrying picket signs lately also happen to take home paychecks that would make their network bosses weep with envy.” I would like to know just how we writers are supposed to turn our “rage cannons” against individual actors?
Comment by cauldronofburningrageworktoo — November 19, 2007 @ 8:04 am
Low profile Guild member,
The reason it’s slanted coverage for Variety to say High Profile writers urged the WGA to get back to the table is because the WGA never left the table. The AMPTP walked out when we went on strike. They said they wouldn’t come back, until we put the strike on hold. Now they’re coming back. The high profile writers have supported the strike.
Hope that clears this up.
Sincerely,
High profile Guild Member
Comment by Anonymous — November 19, 2007 @ 9:00 am
I don’t know why I’m still speechless every time I read another slanted, or worse, misinformed Variety article on the strike. It’s shameful. It’s disgusting. And it’s just wrong. And it’s an epidemic in the entire field of Journalism. You can’t get the whole story from one source anymore. Sadly, those days are over. Everyone’s trumpeting a side. And Variety’s side is the suits.
Comment by AVarietyofbullcrap — November 19, 2007 @ 9:02 am
From the beginning of the strike, Dave McNary and the shills at Variety have printed scandalous lies, rumors and innuendo - all in support of the AMPTP’s agenda.
They’ve fooled NO ONE in the industry and long after this strike is over, when the studios and networks have forgotten how Variety bent over and took it in the integrity kiester, writers will have not forgotten.
I encourage EVERYONE to cancel their Variety subscriptions. Why subscribe to a trade that doesn’t report news accurately anyway? Let’s make an effort to get those whores run out of the business for good.
Comment by Fuck Variety — November 19, 2007 @ 9:04 am
Glad someone mentioned what a toad Brian Lowry is - his writing skills are on par with 9th grade remedial English, truly embarrassing. He’s unprofessional and a jerk.
More importantly, this strike is bringing into focus the long standing problem of journalistic bias in today’s media. The bias extends beyond Variety (to which we ceased subscribing long ago.)
The problem with news reporting circles back to the same problem in the film/tv biz. News is in the hands of a few Big Conglomerates who self-servingly filter info.
The current strike is spotlighting this issue, but it’s been going on for a long time and it’s on all issues, not just entertainment industry issues. The problem has only grown worse in the past 7+ years (code for Bush.)
Don’t rely on any major news outlet for the real story on anything. Fair.org, Factcheck.org, etc help keep stories straight.
And, of course, Nikki Finke.
Comment by execgroup — November 19, 2007 @ 9:15 am
I don’t think you should be slamming Scott Collins for reporting that a lot of the problem may be stars/directors with first-dollar participation deals, since it may be true.
The NY Times had an article on Nov 12 which reported that Roger Smith (identified as a former film exec) had spent six months on a study which found that the studios really were losing money on some films where they had give away participation points or first dollar gross to the biggest stars and directors. They were handing those deals out to the big names pretty freely for a while (don’t know if they have wised up yet).
The inference was that AMPTP members had made REALLY bad deals in the past with some major stars/directors, and they couldn’t/wouldn’t get out of them easily. Instead, they figured they would make it up by taking from the little people (too spineless to tell Spielberg or Tom Hanks to get lost?). Hence no increases on DVDs, no actual $$ for internet, or even, the dreaded suggestion of rollbacks.
That sounds pretty plausible to me, and if true it means the WGA really should be directing some of its ire towards the biggest players in town. (It is also true that just because the AMPTP are starstruck wussies, there is no reason the WGA/SAG/DGA rank and file should have to pay for their boneheaded business mistakes in perpetuity.)
BTW, my main reason for posting this is that I just don’t understand why anyone who says something which might be uncomfortable or unpleasant for the WGA has to be completely flamed and insulted. None of this is so clearcut that we can’t all benefit from an exchange of ideas and information, but I see less and less of that in the comments as the weeks progress; instead there is more and more pointless vitriol.
(Married to a long term WGA member since before the 1988 strike, so please don’t bother sending me hate mail.)
Comment by Spouse is Non-Pro — November 19, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
Although it is factual, is anyone debating that the WGA was the entity who refused to negotiate months and months and months ago — to start the negotiations so close to expiration that the ’strike at all costs’ platform upon which Patric was elected could be fulfilled?
Comment by Right ... its never the WGA — November 19, 2007 @ 6:02 pm