I’m glad you’re not MY agent, because you don’t get your facts straight.

You say David Young wants to make the WGA into the AFL-CIO West. FYI, the WGA East is part of the AFL-CIO but the WGA West is not, and has not shown any interest in affiliating, although hopefully after this strike they will, because it will give them greater leverage and more support from other unions in the future.

You should be on writers’ side in this pal, AS YOU ARE LEGALLY REQUIRED TO BE.

You also said: “But, most of you need to realize the THREAT of a strike was the biggest piece of ammunition the WGA has.”

Again, wrong. If the Guild had not walked out on November 5th, not only would we have looked weak, but we also would have convinced the AMPTP that we were afraid to actually play the strike card. Look, we threatened to strike, told them we were definitely going to walk that night without a deal, they tricked us, got DVD off the table, then did not offer anything. Then they used THE EXCUSE that the WGA East technically struck at midnight eastern time to walk away from the table. If they wanted to really reach a deal, they would have. They would have stayed there. It was the middle of the night in New York. No one was out picketing. Nothing happened except that the AMPTP did exactly what they planned to do all along which was walk at midnight and blame it on the WGA East. If you really think that if the East had waited, that the AMPTP would have stayed and reached a deal, then you must be a pretty crappy agent. (I suspect you are anyway.)

Has your agency found that naivete is something they look for in an agent? I really doubt that. I bet every agency is currently thinking, wow, who’s this idiot posting this stuff? And since most agents I’ve encountered are pretty damn smart, they must be thinking that you’re not even really an agent at all.

In fact, I think it’s pretty much clear at this point that the rest of the agents in town are right, and that “Agent at another agency” is a studio exec or a flak.

Whatever you plan to say in the future, we agree with you. Mkay? Now go away.

“For better or worse, there will be tangible financial records of the revenue that the strike costs the Companies, and that information will be in the shareholders’ hands the next time a contract comes up and the CEOs want to play cowboy.”

These are public companies and as a result, their books are open to all stockholders and other investors, including Joe Blow. While this quarter might look fine on the surface, a good financial analyst will look much deeper into the numbers and their impact on the next quarter and the year itself.

pb

Sorry, the WGA did do a 3rd party study on the internet distribution. Ours is just not as studio friendly as yours is rumored to be. The DGA has very different needs and the majority do not get residuals, so don’t expect a deal from you studio friendly Guild to have much of an effect on the strike We will keep fighting to get a fair deal.

Anonymous,

“and then, only if an appropriate basis for negotiations can be established.” ?

Means, “You’re not allowed to pull the same bullshit you are pulling on the WGA.”

And with all respect to “Agentatanotheragency”

You’re an agent, thanks for tooting your own horn. How incredibly unusual. Yes, agents can save everything, they are like the new Gods.

It just means that the WGA leadership is doing their jobs…it’s a compliment really, these doubting thomas type posts

I have heard plenty of people, including Gavin Polone, say that the WGA’s maximum leverage lay in the threat of a strike. I have not, however, heard any of them say how they could have done more with that leverage. It certainly seems to me like the writers did as much as they could to threaten the strike as a means of improving the offer the AMPTP was offering. And all the AMPTP did was repeat their tactic of responding to good faith with bad faith. Why didn’t the threat of the strike work? Because the Companies were legitimately unafraid of what a strike would do to them? Or because they legitimately thought the strike would never happen? It’s got to be one of the two, or a combination thereof. By striking, the WGA proved them wrong on one of those points, and the longer the strike goes, the more it will prove them wrong on the other point. For better or worse, there will be tangible financial records of the revenue that the strike costs the Companies, and that information will be in the shareholders’ hands the next time a contract comes up and the CEOs want to play cowboy.

I think this just gives them a “Well, we tried,” excuse. An “appropriate basis for negotiations,” concerns me. I hate to be a downer but when the DGA is handed a shitty proposal, they’ll take it and then they’ll turn to us and say that their 50 member team who did the research for the last year told us that this is an “appropriate basis for negotiations.”

When we tell them it sucks and we continue to strike we’ll look like the unreasonable “organizers” by all.

Someone tell me I’m wrong.

Viacom Kicks ‘Jackass’ to the Net

By Nat Worden
12/13/2007 12:45 PM EST

A new Jackass is flouting Hollywood’s conventions.

The third installment of the Jackass movies, spin-offs from the former MTV show starring Johnny Knoxville and his band of hooligans, will bypass movie theaters altogether and go straight to the Internet.

Jackass 2.5, a combination of unreleased footage from Jackass Number Two and new content, was announced Thursday as a joint venture between Viacom’s Paramount Pictures and MTV Networks.

The fresh dose of gross-out stunts will be available for fans free of charge at Blockbuster.jackassworld.com from Dec. 19 through Dec. 31. After Christmas, DVDs of the film will be available for purchase on the site and at major retailers, and it will be available for rent at Blockbuster stores and on the company’s Web site.

The film will also be available for download at Apple’s iTunes, Amazon and other online destinations for a price.

“We are very excited to be able to deliver Jackass 2.5, the first feature-length movie from a major studio which will debut free on the Internet,” said Thomas Lesinski, president of Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment, in a statement. “The Jackass movie is the first of several features that we plan on distributing online and as the digital world evolves, Paramount will continue to turn digital distribution of content on its head.”

“Hollywood directors hold talks due to writers strike”

Then the first line of the article:

“Hollywood directors said on Thursday they would delay opening contract talks with major film studios until at least January to give striking screenwriters time to restart their own stalled negotiations.”

Ah, so you mean “hold” as in “hold off”. Good job mainstream media.

A calm, rational and strategically sound move by the DGA to begin their negotiations. This should come as no surprise as they have Ken Ziffren, a professional dealmaker, crafting their proposals and guiding their strategy…kinda makes you wonder what it would be like if the WGA had hired one of those, doesn’t it?

2)And Kathy Obrien, yes it’s good that the DGA has done its research. What is unfathomable is why they refused to share their research with SAG and the WGA. No wonder so many writers and actors fear the DGA will not cut a strong deal. They all too often have thrown in with the AMPTP at everyone else’s expense. And yes, they have the same .3 per cent deal on dvds as everyone else.

3) Not one writer, on either coast, is happy with the deal on the table, and the illusion of a new economic partnership. No matter how much spin Craig (Tokyo Rose) Mazin gets, the writers are still united.
Today, in a sleet sstorm, the largest picket yet in New York. We are holding the line.

WGA East on the line