Beginning with this advisory, DHD will allow comments that relate to the pre-strike stories I've been posting here. Since the current Writers Guild of America agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers expires tonight at midnight, and this is so important to everyone connected with Hollywood even in a remote way, I want to provide a forum to express your opinions, rants, sorrows. You can comment on every pertinent post.
But I own this website, so I also reserve the right to enforce some rules: Keep it pithy. Stay on topic. Be intelligent. Agree or disagree but don't make it personal. Don't impersonate Jeff Berg or Steven Spielberg or Barry Meyer or make wild unsubstantiated claims. Remember that your comments will reach a big national and international audience of DHD readers so don't just argue one-on-one. Fine to post anonymously, but try to ID yourself generally, like, "I'm a writer", "I'm a producer," "I'm a wannabe" so people know your POV. Your comments won't be edited but they also won't post automatically. I have to approve them first. And I plan on being picky. There may be some unavoidable delays...
Finally, I wish to thank all my wonderful tipsters who keep updating DHD on the WGA-AMPTP news, and all those kind people who have praised DHD's even-handed coverage during this pre-strike. (Roger Ebert is worried I'm working too hard!) So, now, be the first to opine ... and click "refresh" to see the latest comment.
i’ve never been so angry, so ready, or so sad simultaneously.
Comment by slk writer — October 31, 2007 @ 5:35 pm
First, let me say how refreshing it was to read fair, objective and timely commentary on the negotiations.
Second, I think this is going to be a tough one. Writers are told they are essentially powerless, but the indignity and erosion of the deals over the past few years has produced some pretty committed writers.
Tell you more after our meeting tomorrow!
Comment by Mark Palmer — October 31, 2007 @ 5:39 pm
Nikki,
I love, love your site. Let’s all hope the strike never happens, and if it does - it’s short!
writer/director
Comment by Martin Kunert — October 31, 2007 @ 5:45 pm
Great coverage, keep up the good work!
Comment by Tyler Pietz — October 31, 2007 @ 5:47 pm
TV writer here. Boy today was fun! There was this article in Pravda, I mean Variety, about how basically every show in TV is AOK for a strike, and executives are even relieved they can replace expensive scripted shows with cheaper-to-produce reality fare. Then a threatening letter from my studio via my agent warning me that validating my script with the WGA will invalidate my contract. Then, a lovely FAQ put out by said studio encouraging me to quit the WGA and scab.
I don’t know what strategic genius on the studio’s side is behind all these moves, maybe the same guy who planned Dunkirk or Gallipoli (look it up kids) but if he was looking to stoke this writer’s strike-time resolve at the last minute, he did a bang-up job.
Comment by Norm A. Rae — October 31, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
I’m a writer.
Keep up the great work, Nikki.
Comment by Alex Perez — October 31, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
As controversial as this sounds…I want this strike to last as long as humanly possible. 6 months. Great! 12 months. Even better!
Writers have been the butt of jokes far too long. Every time I meet a crazy/irrational/monosyllabic producer, I feel like holding up a blank sheet of paper and asking him: “Can you produce this?”
It’s high time producers/studios/whatever’s who can’t write to save their lives, realize they can’t go on feeding on our talent and dreams without proper renumeration. If the AMPTP continues to be irrational (72 rollbacks? 72 f-ing ROLLBACKS!!!) they deserve to be brought to their knees and spanked like the spoiled hedge-fund kids they are.
I’m all about fairness. Just be fair, set the mammoth egos aside and this will all go away. Fairness, the AMPTP do not have that word in their lexicon (most won’t even know what a lexicon is). I know, I know, cheap shot.
If the AMPTP remains obstinate, I guarantee this strike will make the one in 88 look like a day at the beach. Expect the WGA strike to be long, protracted, entrenched and brutal. Heads will roll, billions will be lost and the industry will forever be changed…and at the end of it all, writers will still get only a modicum (another word they won’t get. I know, second cheap shot) of respect.
In case you were wondering, I’m not an industry vet with untold millions stashed in the Caymens. I’m a relatively new scribe working in LA for the past two years. And yes, I’ve been threatened by producers; I’ve had signed contracts broken…not once but twice…and I had to put my own money into a project or the so called producer would’ve pulled the plug (basically screwing everyone involved). Yup, nice guys all around.
In the immortal words of Kirsten Dunst: Bring it on!
ANGRYWRITER
Comment by angrywriter — October 31, 2007 @ 5:55 pm
I saw the FAQ from Graboff (passed around at our writers’ room). After reading it, any show-runner or hyphenate would have to be an idiot to push out one last episode. Graboff made it clear that until production stops, all hyphenates could be held liable should they refuse to do A-H. In other words, the sooner production stops, the less legal threat we’re under.
At this point it’s clear that the studios want to force a strike. It’s not at all clear they’ve made a wise decision.
Comment by r — October 31, 2007 @ 5:58 pm
I’m a TV fan with friends who work on all sides of the biz. I’m not a fan of reality shows (been there, done that) and if I want game shows I can become a Wheel watcher once again. But I do like a lot of the characters I’ve been following — Jim and Pam, Gil Grissom, Betty Sanchez, Jack, Sawyer, and Kate, and of course McDreamy. If I can’t find them on TV there’s no way I’m tuning in. And without them on TV what’s going to lure me in to check out new shows and fall in love again?
Comment by Ms. TV Fanatic — October 31, 2007 @ 6:01 pm
Dear Nikki,
I am a TV writer/producer. I have read your columns/blogs for a long time, and have always found them well-sourced and reliable. But you should know that right now, in the face of the possible WGA strike, you have become an indispensable source for some of us. As far as I can see, you are the only media source who accurately and carefully presents the facts about the contract negotiation. Even though the guild tries to get its point of view across through the usual outlets,
articles in the LAT and NYT (and certainly the trades) fail to make use of the information. Today’s lame Scriptland column (or whatever it’s called) in the LAT stresses how upsetting a strike would be for writers, which is of course true, but never bothers to quote anybody involved on the importance of the issues.
I believe that you have consistently seen that this contract negotiation and tried to report it straight. For us, this is vital
because the contract proposals the AMPTP is pushing are a wedge into the Walmartization of Hollywood. The Writers Guild works constantly to unionize unprotected writers — reality, animation etc, while the companies are actually trying to foist upon drama and comedy writers a toothless deal that makes us more like the unprotected groups we are trying to incorporate. Since everyone knows that digital downloading and streaming of media will soon be the predominant delivery system for content, creating an unremunerative model now will move us toward a less and less viable source of income for the future. All of us.
Thank you for seeing this, for talking about it and for keeping on top of it the way you do. My fellow staff members at LIFE (NBC) read and talk about your column every day. I hope that’s happening all over town.
Best,
Marjorie David
Co-Executive Producer, LIFE
Comment by Marjorie David — October 31, 2007 @ 6:01 pm
As someone who doesn’t know if he’ll have a job past Friday, someone who doesn’t get residuals, someone who’s paying for his own health insurance, I’m absolutely terrified– and furious at both sides for knuckle-dragging and stoking their own egos. The YouTube video with the writers ever-so-hilariously working “menial jobs” — ones that I might find myself being forced to take — was the last straw. I agree with most of the WGA’s concern, but their intrangisence and emphasis on such side-issues as reality TV has put me off their side just as much as the producers’ arrogance has with theirs. With the B.S. residuals roll-back off the table, I thought we’d have two weeks of both sides getting down to brass tacks. Instead, we get the weekend prior to the strike deadline without negotiations and arguments about chairs and seating arrangements. A pox on both their houses for creating this mess.
Comment by Average Joe — October 31, 2007 @ 6:02 pm
Well done, Nikki. Your coverage is more balanced (and much more interesting) than Variety. And a big thanks to the Companies for being such ham-handed bullies that they’re driving even moderate writers straight to the picket lines.
Comment by Ashley — October 31, 2007 @ 6:06 pm
Average Joe, you gotta educate yourself.
Who kept unreasonable rollbacks on the table from July onward? The studios.
Who removed ONE of those rollbacks at the last minute, and stamped their feet when they weren’t greeted with laurels? The studios.
Who refused to negotiate over the weekend? The studios.
The studios are the ones playing head games and stoking their ego. The writers are trying to ensure their very livelihood in the digital age. If the studios won’t give us 1% of digital when it’s still nothing, they won’t give us 1% of it when it’s everything. Period.
Comment by Norm A. Rae — October 31, 2007 @ 6:23 pm
The famous DVD formula!
Okay…so exactly how much overhead does the studio need for an electronic download? The studios asked for the right to pay for the cardboard box, the plastic case and the magnetic tape back when this all started…why do they get to keep claiming that deduction? This is why we’re all willing to pound the pavement fo a long long time.
Comment by mark aplmer — October 31, 2007 @ 6:25 pm
Let’s remember what happened to media companies during the 1988 strike. For example: Disney. At the beginning of March in 1988, Disney’s common stock was trading at $5.33. By the end of May of that same year it was down 14% to $4.60. This drop was in spite of better earnings. The stock didn’t recover until mid-June when the cutbacks started to reach the bottom line and Disney declared 10 cents per share earnings. The stock should have been higher, but it was discounted because of its labor issues. If studio management doesn’t bother to show up to negotiate, it won’t be the unemployed writers, or messengers, or florists, or caterers who ultimately judge them. It will be Wall Street that decides whose heads should roll. Wall Street doesn’t know who John August is, but they know who Bob Iger is. We don’t like Disney when it is trading at $28 and it should be trading at $40. FMR, State Street, Barclays Global, CALPERS don’t like it either. Perhaps management should bother to get involved in the negotiations. If the real desire is to control costs, showing up would be a good start. The strike price of your options is at stake.
Comment by Paul — October 31, 2007 @ 6:27 pm
AND! If you want a look at what awaits us writers at the end of a “three year study,” just read Nikki’s latest entry on the AMPTP’s flat refusal to consider upping home video residuals. Hasn’t that “business model” matured yet? Don’t you think, after ten years of DVDs fattening your bottom line (and killing the syndication market), writers can get a payment not based on VHS cassette manufacturing costs?
No, you don’t. What we got at the inception of home video is what we will get now and forever, if you have your way. And what we get at the inception of digital is what we will get now and forever. You are doing a marvelous job of reminding us of this, AMPTP. Keep up the good work, not giving an inch on DVD is just what we writers need to remind ourselves of the importance of getting digital residuals and separated rights *now*, not later.
Comment by Norm A. Rae — October 31, 2007 @ 6:30 pm
Nikki is able to report this without an agenda other than the truth. She must get mad props for bringing the agents into this. There has been virtually no talk of the impending double cross the agents were bound to do “their clients”. It’s important we focus on what agents are advising their clients and what they are telling their studio partners. This is a very rare opportunity to see where agencies see their future.
Some ideas I want to seep into the ether so we can start to take this into our hands. As usual the threat of a strike and the actual strike will produce little
to nothing for writers. Scraps. The WGA is ineffective in it’s current form for the mass changes that must happen. The only union which works and is strong is the one with no name. The Union between the Studios and our/your agents. Your Agent doesn’t think he works for you, you are not the source of his income. You are completely interchangeable, he works for the studios, they pay him, not you(in his mind). This is why when it comes to a strike despite superficial talk the agent does not have your back.
What other line of work has “strong” unions and then requires you to have an agent? Can you imagine a coal miner with union and a agent or if teachers had
agents and such. I realize this does not transpose fairly, but think about this. In this day and age of corporate globalization and synergy it’s natural to dissolve our union and agent into ONE. I think if we empowered these unions to do this we would have much more power. The Union should be with our/their lawyers and managers making
our deals and in addition to what we do, help us find work. Cause let’s be honest, we all know we do 80% of the so called work our agent gets credit for. Right now us hyphenates are dived not only from agent and studio, but by separate unions to our detriment. There should be ONE creative union which reps directors, writers, composers so on. We must come together. This way we could get rid of agencies as a whole and they could do what they really want, be satellite producers and ambassadors for the studios so let them, but not without 10%! This would be the best change to the matrix since the end to the studio system. Thoughts?
Comment by The Hyphen — October 31, 2007 @ 6:31 pm
The studios want a war. They want to kill the Union.
They may be killing themselves.
Nikki, you have done a great job–keep it up but please get some rest.
Comment by A. Writerriterh — October 31, 2007 @ 6:32 pm
So, there it is. The AMPTP has come out and flatly said they’re not negotiating on DVDs or internet downloads - the only issues that really matter to us. So much for staving off a strike. This one will be long and ugly, Folks. I don’t forsee any possibility of a deal before the end of January at least. Good luck to the rest of the writers out there. I only hope I can finish and sell my novel before Christmas.
Screenwriter-turned-novelist.
Comment by Striking Writer — October 31, 2007 @ 6:36 pm
I am asking this question honestly. Because I simply don’t understand.
Is the AMPTP saying that the proposal to increase the DVD residuals from POINT THREE PERCENT to POINT SIX PERCENT (or about $.12 on an average $20 DVD) and request for a palty 2.5% from the gross of new media to be the proposal of such “magnitude” that it “alone is blocking us from making any further progress” ??
That’s it? That’s doing it?
Are reasonable people really supposed to believe that those scant requests will somehow inhibit the development of this revenue stream?
It seems completely obvious that they also see this as a potentially huge revenue stream and simply don’t want to share it.
It just doesn’t seem possible that they can’t afford this. Are we really supposed to believe that all of the fat on their end has already been trimmed so that these scaps simply can’t be tolerated?
I think they just don’t want to pay it. Because…well, because they don’t want to.
And if that’s the case, a strike seems to be the proper response.
Comment by Jimmy Miller — October 31, 2007 @ 6:36 pm
Since we’re all writers here — it’s reMUNeration, not renumeration.
Comment by blue pencil — October 31, 2007 @ 6:54 pm
Jimmy, I don’t necessarily disagree, but remember that whatever increase the AMPTP agrees to with the WGA will be multiplied by four due to pattern bargaining with DGA and SAG, who get one and three (or is it four?) times the WGA residual pool. So you’re talking about 50 cents of residuals on a DVD. And given the pressures on the wholesale price of DVD (due to Wal-Mart, etc.) that isn’t such a tiny slice…
Comment by Mike S — October 31, 2007 @ 6:55 pm
I am a manager. I rep a couple guild writers, but mostly emerging (read non-guild) writers who don’t even make enough to be in the guild and these are the writers who will ultimately be punished the most if they cross the picket line. I don’t support the AMPTP but at the same time I think the WGA leadership has their own agenda and is pushing it through regardless of the consequences. Has anyone thought about the ripple effect of what will happen if there is a strike? What about the gaffers? and grips? and location managers? and caterers? and the waiters and restaurant owners? And the hundreds of other businesses that depend on the entertainment industry to make their livelihood? It seems that none of these people have a say at all, but will bear the full brunt of a strike. Also, I am curious if anyone realizes that with more and more people going to the internet for user-generated content what will happen if there is a strike? There will be a stampede to UGC and the internet in general, and it might be very hard to convince viewers to go back to the tube after the strike.
Comment by Hopeful but Worried — October 31, 2007 @ 7:07 pm
Mike S - I see what you’re saying. And I understand that concern.
But three times .6 is only 1.8 percent. We’re still talking about pennies. I know every penny counts, and that they have to profit. But is this an unfair demand?
And the AMPTP is saying that the acceptable residual level on downloads is zero.
Is that fair?
And remember, these numbers are what the WGA put out a while ago, and they were certainly done with the expectation of negotiating down to less. I bet if the AMPTP agreed to .45 on DVDs, and 1.2 percent on new media, there would be no strike.
But the AMPTP is saying they won’t even negotiate these numbers.
I just don’t buy it.
Comment by Jimmy Miller — October 31, 2007 @ 7:09 pm
I’m a writer. I’m not looking forward to the day after midnight, but let’s be honest. The much-maligned WGA was and remains at the forefront of labor issues in this town. It is high time to understand how equity and comfortable lifestyles are forged, and that there is a need to stand up and fight for it every now and then. So let’s do that.
Comment by Martin — October 31, 2007 @ 7:12 pm
Union Member since 1991. Big project with big star will go down the tubes if we strike. Striiiiiiiiike!
My Grandfather was a founding member of the IBEW (electrical workers). My Uncle, no high school or college, took my dad’s slot and had an Upper West Side condo and long career wiring NYC skyscrapers. He retired to HIlton Head South Carolina with full union health care.
That’s a union. That’s what the WGA must aspire to and fight for. My granddad had his head busted open a few times walking the picket. Does anyone think Jeff Zucker will draw blood?
I’m walking the picket.
Comment by Bozo1987 — October 31, 2007 @ 7:12 pm
Uh, Mike S., the decrease in manufacturing costs of home videos has decreased WAY more than 50 cents per unit since the DVD (VHS) formula was first applied. They would still be way ahead. Oh, and the manufacturing costs for downloads? Zilch.
Comment by Klaatu — October 31, 2007 @ 7:18 pm
A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine heard the following from his lawyer. That the DGA had already told the Companies that their residual rollback plan was a dead letter. They wouldn’t even come to the table as long as it was on it. But he also heard that the Companies had already decided they would not give one penny on DVD residuals. Not one.
Rock. Hard place. We all know the drill.
Comment by Harley — October 31, 2007 @ 7:19 pm
Let’s review the producers’ negotiating strategy:
The producers spend all but two weeks before the contract expiration with the following proposal on the table: Roll back the residuals system, to be replaced by one that depends on the same funky studio accounting that makes net points a running joke in every Hollywood office.
Then, the day before contract expiration, state that they will not negotiate on the three fundamental points of contention between the two parties.
Sounds to me like a de facto lock-out.
Comment by A Writer — October 31, 2007 @ 7:29 pm
Klaatu, manufacturing coasts for downloads are indeed ‘zilch’ but hosting costs are not, especially once you’re talking about movie-length HD video with millions of simultaneous streams, which consumers will expect to be glitch-free.
Again, I don’t disagree that the WGA deserves more, and I think the AMPTP should negotiate. I’m just trying to inject some real-world financial perspective, which I sometimes think is missing from this conversation.
Comment by Mike S — October 31, 2007 @ 7:35 pm
Klaatu: another thing, while you are correct that the manufacturing costs of DVDs has decreased by more than 50 cents since the introduction of this formula, the wholesale price of VHS/DVDs that the studio earns has plummeted even more, proportionately speaking.
Comment by Mike S — October 31, 2007 @ 7:41 pm
A key stumbling block of the (non-)negotiations over the past few months has been that the WGA proposals have been rational (e.g. “four more cents”), while the producers’ have been ludicrous (no residuals of any kind until the unicorn-like “net profit” appears).
So now that it’s time for each side to pull back “one of yours for one of mine,” as a writer I lament that we didn’t put AMPTP-style crazy-ass rollback-y stuff on the table to begin with:
1. Writer will own the copyright of the tv show or movie after one year.
2. Writer’s fee will be 25% of the production budget; 22.5% on budgets over $200 million.
3. Writer can move the production to another studio or network at any time if writer feels that the project’s artistic integrity is in danger.
Then, just as the producers got the big PR boost last week from their “grand” gesture of leaving the residuals alone, the WGA could have gotten screaming headlines with “Writers to Concede Ownership of Copyright to Studios”
Comment by The Schwartz — October 31, 2007 @ 7:42 pm
I’m a reader and can tell Hopeful but Worried that yes, writers are thinking about collateral damage as much as those of us who work on the fringes. (And don’t forget, a lot of studios still use non-union readers.) Those of us who have been around for awhile remember 1988. And remember that bookstores closed, restaurants closed. A lot of people lost their livelihoods and then their houses. And in the end, the same issues that are cropping up now were tabled. Can you say “The Missouri Compromise?” Producers seem to think that writers (and actors and directors) are expensive inconveniences. I hope they find out differently. I may not have a job tomorrow morning, but I support you my brothers and sisters. Strike.
Comment by kat — October 31, 2007 @ 7:43 pm
I’m a writer. First, your reporting has become an indispensible resource — the only reliable place to go.
As for the negotiations: what we are seeing here is a subset of the wildly skewed version of free market capitalism that now exists in the United States. If management were really concerned with the welfare of “the town,” they could take, I dunno, a $40 million bonus instead of a $48 million dollars one and pay the writers and extra penny or two on the digital downloads. But they have been infected with a sickness, the sickness of greed, for which there is no cure.
Comment by a — October 31, 2007 @ 8:15 pm
I’m an avid or “rabid” fan of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. I believe that a long strike could have a negative affect on the 2008 elections. I believe they have had a tremendously positive impact on this nation’s psyche. They’ve kept us sane when we wanted to go beserk during the last 7 years. They’ve given us an outlet for our extreme frustration with our “leaders”. If you go on strike, you take away the little ray of sunshine that we have. Yes, I believe you should get paid more, a lot more. Stephen and Jon are writers too, but for the good of our country, I beg you to to continue negotiating if at all possible. If you strike, I support you and wish you a speedy return.
Comment by Shirley L. — October 31, 2007 @ 8:31 pm
Nikki,
I’m a writer. Today I spent an hour in my dentist’s chair getting my teeth cleaned. I b*****d and moaned about the possible strike. He removed plaque from my molars. At the end of my garbled monologue my dentist, who is a conservative Republican born under Communist rule in the former Eastern Bloc and a man who cleans the teeth of many Hollywood producers and executives, nodded his head and said, “Sometimes it’s right to take a stand and this is one of those times.” I proceeded to rinse out my mouth and pay him with my WGA insurance. He wished me “good luck” and told me to check out the latest Harry Potter movie.
Rock on, Nikki. Rock on.
Comment by Doublepunk — October 31, 2007 @ 9:01 pm
What other line of work has “strong” unions and then requires you to have an agent?
Um, I’ve always thought that the Major League Baseball Players Association was the strongest/most successful union out there, and I’m pretty sure most baseball players have agents.
Comment by Anonymous — October 31, 2007 @ 9:09 pm
Nick Counter has been doing this for too long, if the CEOs were allowed to negotiate directly then a deal would get done, that’s why there’s so much dissension on the producers’ side.
Comment by Pat — October 31, 2007 @ 9:37 pm
Point taken, however I said “strong” union, meaning not strong. Baseball players and sports agents in general are there for their clients and work hand in hand with the union. Our industry is not like that. Pitchers, short stops, catchers, national and american leauge all share the same union. We on the creative are split. Writers are so happy to get signed and so happy to get what money they can, I am afraid we don’t confront our reps enough and demand to have over all better representation, hence my goal of getting rid of them and designating this power to our Union, manager and lawywers. If our Union can set the rules for how and when we work, then let them also get into personal contracts for each job. This way they will have more power and we will have more say in our own unions, this will also make it easier for us that are hyphinates to make deals and create an work place that is rewarding for people who write, direct, edit, compose or any mix of those. And it will make sure you can keep more of your earnings, when you have more than one union, a manager, agent or even two if you compose, you lose a lot of you money and don’t get the bang for your buck.
Comment by The Hyphen — October 31, 2007 @ 9:55 pm
“There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part, you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop! And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!”
Mario Savio, 1964
True then, true now. I’ve been a professional screenwriter for 30 years, and Mario was a good friend of mine at Cal Berkeley way back when. The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers are clearly forcing this strike, so what’s the point of putting it off for another week or two? If the WGA thinks that will help us win the PR war, then they are wrong. If we intend to stand up and fight for our rights, then the sooner we strikek, the better. Aside from Nikki’s columns, we will never get a fair shake in the media, so we’re only kidding ourselves. If we blink, then the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers will own us forever. Let’s strike now and let them know that we are serious. If the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement by now, another week or two won’t help. We need to clog the wheels of the machinery that Mario spoke so eloquently about.
Comment by Story Writer Guy — October 31, 2007 @ 10:00 pm
Pat, are you speaking from experience? Are you a part of the dissension?
Comment by Jimmy — October 31, 2007 @ 10:04 pm
Klaatu, manufacturing coasts for downloads are indeed ‘zilch’ but hosting costs are not, especially once you’re talking about movie-length HD video with millions of simultaneous streams, which consumers will expect to be glitch-free.
That is why we are only asking that ourpercentage be based on 40% of the gross revenue (up from 20%). We’re not even asking for a percentage of the total.
An, in the case of iTunes, the hosting is paid for by Apple and we’re asking for a piece of the studios’ portion only. So, yeah, costs are zilch. It’s extra money for the studios.
Klaatu: another thing, while you are correct that the manufacturing costs of DVDs has decreased by more than 50 cents since the introduction of this formula, the wholesale price of VHS/DVDs that the studio earns has plummeted even more, proportionately speaking.
Yes and sales have increased astronomically. The bulk of the DVD business is sales now, not rentals. They are making more money from DVDs than ever. Plus, TV shows weren’t even sold on DVD back then. More extra money for the studios.
Comment by Klaatu — October 31, 2007 @ 10:36 pm
I am tired of hearing the “impact on the industry” argument used against the WGA. Do not blame writers for the collateral industry damages connected to the strikes. Blame the studios. They have the money. They have the power. And without the writers to begin with, there would not be an industry. Nearly everyone works off script - anyone who does should be fully supporting the writers who craft the stories on which they work.
And for the record, pennies on the DVDs should not be the issue stopping negotiations. Shame on Nick Counter. And shame on the studios. I’m about to lose my job, and I’m not alone. I’ll get you a g*dd*mn chair myself.
Comment by StudioAsst&AspiringWritier — October 31, 2007 @ 10:54 pm
Without agents, you would all work for guild minimums because so many of you are so desperate to work and take any job and any money offer that comes your way.
Do the words “I just want the work” sound familiar?
Comment by Agent — October 31, 2007 @ 11:01 pm
Here’s a question for writers: If you know the potential for a strike is coming why do you take so many more jobs leading up to the potential strike date? Doesn’t that empower the people you are striking against? Aren’t the studios in a position to say: go strike, we’re set with material for 4 months. Call us then when you’re broke and ready to cave on every one of your demands.
Comment by Agent — October 31, 2007 @ 11:04 pm
I’m a screenwriter who discovered this website two weeks ago. Since then, I have read it occasionally, then daily, and now hourly. I just finished reading all the comments to all the articles. Ms. Finke, thank you, not only for your fine fair and balanced reporting but for creating a forum in which the common working men and women of the disparate unions and varying points of views can express their opinions.
I have no idea how I will get through the next six months, but I know this: Mario Savio had it right, and Story Writer Guy has it right. No one wants a work stoppage, but the untenable demands by the AMPTP have made every writer I know, including the reclusive and passive, sick at heart. Like it or not, it’s time to lay down our pens, raise up our voices and strike.
On the DVD issue, “A Screenwriter” wrote in one of the other forums:
“Hey - you’re all missing the point on the DVD download argument, and looking at the wrong thing.
“This isn’t about movie downloads.
“It’s really about TV show downloads: Currently, when a TV show goes into repeats, there’s an established formula for what writers get paid, which is a fairly healthy second payment on the episodes they wrote, and so on, into syndication.
“As TV moves into streaming media - where first run shows are available on the net either simultaneously, or a few days later, the producers are suggesting that these fall under the category of DVD sales - a mere pittance per sale - as opposed to the “real” money paid for either a rerun, or syndication.
“So what you’re not taking into account here is the real economic picture, which involves not just the WGA, but SAG and the DGA as well: As all TV goes online (and/or on-demand,) the syndication and second-run payments that used to help keep the gardeners, restaurants, talent agencies, dentists, stock brokers, valet car parkers and insurance agents afloat will disappear, or be severely reduced, under the DVD formula.”
He’s so frickin’ right, it’s scary.
Comment by Ed H — October 31, 2007 @ 11:20 pm
Agent: We take the jobs because we hope there won’t be a strike. While negotiating and under contract we continue to work hard and in good faith.
We don’t want a strike. We want to work. We like to work. And we work hard. Writers are the only people on a TV show with no turnaround times in their contracts.
And yes, we may go broke. But the studios may run out of material first and get a lot of pressure from their shareholders. Despite the success of American Idol and Dancing with the Stars, simply plugging in cheap reality fare isn’t a surefire workaround. The biggest reality hits of the new season are Kitchen Nightmares
and Child Abuse Nation with 6-7 shares. What was the last hit reality show to launch?
Comment by Klaatu — October 31, 2007 @ 11:37 pm
Excellent job reporting this. You deserve major kudos for your tough frankness and truthful reporting. (Maybe some sort of Pulitzer or something..:)
I think the WGA has failed. Yes, I support them as a writer but they lost the negotiations. I believe writers are naive if they believe they can “bring the studios to their knees” as I’ve heard many mutter through bitterness. It is wishful thinking and imho, will never happen. The studios have always held the power - for the past 80-100 years and will continue to do so. There is a slight chance the writers may get some of what they want at the end of this, but my gut tells me they won’t.
A strike hurts the writers more than it hurts the studios. They lose jobs, homes, families, careers. I wish for the best but I am just skeptical.
I think the WGA needed much more savvy negotiators, obviously. Negotiating 101 says to ask for wayyyyy more so then it can be knocked down to what is acceptable. Don’t start with your floor because you have nowhere to go (DVD 8 cents). I don’t know the ins and outs, but I do know that since there’s a strike the negotiations failed.
Also, the WGA is very exclusionary. There are tons of writers, some good some bad, who are on the fringe of the WGA and have ZERO loyalty to them and see them and the writers as elitist and exclusionary and have no problem “scabbing.” (Although not technically a scab since not in the WGA). The WGA stopped their new writer training program. The studios could tap into this and who knows — maybe it will lead to not another SAW XV or comic book adaptation (although that’s probably more the studio’s fault than the writers)…
This feels like it could be historical. Unless there’s a last minute hail mary and one side capitulates and resolves it quickly. Who knows what will happen? Maybe the WGA will be destroyed, maybe a new, second guild will be created, maybe the studios will say — here you go, here’s your 8 cents… maybe the WGA will grandfather in all the non-WGAers who don’t scab this time (instead of what they did in ‘88– the other way around).
In this town, it’s everyone for themself and it will be interesting to see what happens.
Comment by Gene Gauntier II — November 1, 2007 @ 12:06 am
Klaatu: but that’s iTunes, which offers such a woefully small licensing fee to networks that NBC has left, and I suspect others may follow suit, since they are making so little off of it. (See the recent article in THR about this.) Meanwhile, the broadcast TV industry is hemorraging audiences, and if there’s any chance that television can support the kinds of expensive scripted shows that employ WGA members, it’s going to be through massive development of an online infrastructure (which will probably be ad-supported, not pay-per-download). This is going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and will take maybe five years.
None of which is to say that there isn’t a number above the AMPTP proposal that would be fair and sustainable. My point is only that a) scripted television is in deep crisis, with audiences dissolving and syndication value eroding; 2) Online distribution might be able to save it, along with the thousands of WGA members it employs; 3) this transition will entail a lot of upfront costs without much immediate return. And all of this should be taken into account in the WGA’s negotiating position.
Comment by Mike S — November 1, 2007 @ 12:17 am
Gene Gauntier II
AMEN. Preach on. I believe if the union is destroyed (something I DO NOT WANT), we can still then create a much more inclusive and powerful model. It’s outdated and just not equipped to deal with these big global companies. Right now we have something interesting a shifting of power, where it goes who knows. But when you shake a tree all sorts of things drop to the ground and often end up growing up to be stronger than the tree they came from. Let’s hope that happens
Comment by The Hyphen — November 1, 2007 @ 12:18 am
My colleague is correct: “Do the words “I just want the work” sound familiar?”
If writers weren’t so desperate to begin with, they wouldn’t find themselves in the position they’re in today. None of us would.
The bottom line is that writers need us to do what they’re afraid to do themselves and that is to play hardball and schmooze with producers and the idiots at the studios, who a majority of the time don’t know a good project when they see one, or when they don’t see one for that matter. It is our job to sell and push your stories and ideas and talent in order to make you money so you can live by doing something it is that you love. While there are very few of us at the agencies that are very creative, we are still the true tastemakers in this town. The studios don’t know what they want until we tell them what they want.
While we do consider the studios or anybody willing to pay for your services as clients in addition to you as well - we really do stick our necks out with your best interests in mind. You don’t have to sit through the calls, breakfasts, lunches, meetings, coffees, drinks, double drinks, dinners, festivals, sometimes back to back festivals, etc. with some of the most boring people you will ever meet in your lives who mostly just go on about themselves and their “visions” so that we can slip a shot in just to land you work and all of us a pay check.
I mean, this isn’t your grandfathers Hollywood – we deal with all the former Wall Street guys, hedge fund managers, lawyers, etc. who make up a majority of the ranks at these places today (and it helps that most of us come from those places as well) – so that you don’t have to! Do you think it’s bad getting notes from these guys? Try pretending you like them! Trust me…we earn our ten percent.
Comment by Agent — November 1, 2007 @ 12:44 am
Wow, wow, wow. Can I just invite “Gene Gauntier II” and “The Hyphen” to return to their full time job of opening Nick Counter’s mail?
I hope every single WGA member and aspiring WGA member reads their posts, because they are pathetic last gasp testimonies to the sad “pro-studio” side of the argument. How either of these commenters could be actual WGA members and in reality hope for the dissolution of the WGA is beyond comprehension. They are exaggeratedly retarded studio shills completely incapable of making their case in a way compelling to the opposing side, being us, the good guys.
I sure hope the AMPTP finds the decimation of the entertainment industry as we know it worth more than the one percent of the future the people who write everything are asking for. Because that’s what they’re going to get. Let’s not even get into the way they employed reality TV to destroy the syndicated and international market, and thus long term profits, all for the sake of frenetic short term gain.
Comment by Norm A. Rae — November 1, 2007 @ 12:52 am
Agent Said
“While we do consider the studios or anybody willing to pay for your services as clients in addition to you as well”
Ummm no, you work for US only! This is why the agents must be stripped of their power, which is excessive and not used for our benefit! Oh what a hard life we could never handle meals, meetings or telephone calls without you. God knows anyone who writes about life could never lead it on their own.
I really can’t believe you even feel that comfortable saying this and at this time! Writers, please wake up. While I recognize I might be a young and cocky writer who wants things to change, I have to make up for the more establish writers who have been beaten into submission from agents and producers like this. This culture is not your friend, it’s a cage.
Comment by The Hyphen — November 1, 2007 @ 1:26 am
First, Nikki, you’re the best! I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, “Thank you”.
Secondly, I have to say it’s about damn time you writers stood up for yourselves! Shame on you for just giving away the “poonanni” (credit) for so long. I say strike, and when you do cross those yellow picket lines…smile and know you stand for the integrity of your craft. The next generation of writers are depending on all of you AND this current battle. The system is corrupt, broken, and in dire need of re-tooling, for both sides. I for one see this as a very exciting time in the history of Hollywood.
Gen Y TV Programming Exec.- Wannabe
Comment by Gen Y TV Programming Exec.- Wannabe — November 1, 2007 @ 3:16 am
get your P.R. machine to stress to the media that the DVD/streaming rates (or non-rates) are the key. Explain the numbers. When the (if the) media reports the history of the DVD rate, and the fact that the studios call streaming our shows “publicity”, you will see more popular support. Get a clear message out about this.
Comment by A DIrector — November 1, 2007 @ 5:30 am
First of all, thank you for your coverage Nikki.
For once, you’re writing like a true journalist and not some skilled gossip/journo hybrid. Your annoying/cloying “toldja!” moments not withstanding, your true abilities as an amazing journalist shine brightly with your coverage of this strike, and though I initially scoffed at one of the poster’s suggestion of a pulitzer, the more coverage I read of yours versus what Variety/Hollywood Reporter/LAT etc. is reporting, the more I agree. Keep up the good work.
Comment by Anon — November 1, 2007 @ 5:50 am
If you’re so aware Norma Rae, maybe you could learn to read.
I never said I wished for the demise of the WGA, on the contrary! I HOPE the WGA succeeds!
I was only musing about the possible outcomes of a prolonged strike…
Comment by Gene Gauntier II — November 1, 2007 @ 7:05 am
Kat,
I am just curious (and I am asking this in all seriousness) if you remember the last strike being so devastating and had a net gain of zero for the writers - why do you think this one will be any more positive?
Especially now that there are so many more options for audiences on where to get their entertainment from?
Comment by Hopeful but Worried — November 1, 2007 @ 7:42 am
Klaatu: but that’s iTunes, which offers such a woefully small licensing fee to networks that NBC has left
Actually of the $1.99, $1.44 goes to the studios. This is compared to an estimated 57 cents in advertising revenue per viewer on television.
And, NBC left because they want to a) charge more, b) distribute it themselves (and keep an even greater percentage), and c) include advertising, possibly even in versions you pay for.
Furthermore, online distribution has the potential to make it unnecessary for the studios to rerun their product using TV real estate, sell the shows on DVD, sell the shows internationally, or syndicate the shows. All of those are ways writers (and actors and directors) receive a good part of their salary. If current distribution methods will be replaced with Internet (and other electronic) distribution, then residual formulas must be adjusted accordingly.
, and I suspect others may follow suit, since they are making so little off of it. (See the recent article in THR about this.) Meanwhile, the broadcast TV industry is hemorraging audiences, and if there’s any chance that television can support the kinds of expensive scripted shows that employ WGA members, it’s going to be through massive development of an online infrastructure (which will probably be ad-supported, not pay-per-download). This is going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and will take maybe five years.
None of which is to say that there isn’t a number above the AMPTP proposal that would be fair and sustainable. My point is only that a) scripted television is in deep crisis, with audiences dissolving and syndication value eroding; 2) Online distribution might be able to save it, along with the thousands of WGA members it employs; 3) this transition will entail a lot of upfront costs without much immediate return. And all of this should be taken into account in the WGA’s negotiating position.
Comment by Klaatu — November 1, 2007 @ 7:43 am
I’m an entertainment law attorney.
Let me see if I understand this correctly. California is not a “Right to Work” state, so if your job has a union, you *must* join that union or you can’t keep the job. Then, that union (the one you don’t want to belong to) goes on strike at your job (the job that you like and don’t want to strike). Under the union’s rules (the same union that you were forced to join) says that if you don’t honor the strike and cross the picket line, we will kick you out of the union (i.e. get you fired from your job) and fine you. If you don’t pay the fine, we are going to enforce the fine in the California courts.
So, at the end of the day, this poor person has the following choice: (1) Go along with the union that he was forced to join and “voluntarily” leave work for an undetermined period of time (and not get paid) and honor the picket line or (2) cross the picket line and keep working at the job you like and risk losing the same job and having the union sue you in civil court.
Can someone remind me again how unions are good and protect the interest of “working people”?
Comment by David — November 1, 2007 @ 8:09 am
Dear Hopeful but Worried.
For me, it seems as if the writers MUST commit themselves to fighting for fair compensation–they need to finish the fight they started in 1988 and which was postponed a few years ago. It was horrifying to me that at the end of the 1988 strike, you had a guild that was splintering into the haves and have nots (I seem to remember the phrase “KayPro Writers”). There was a real sense that the Producers were out to crush the Guild. They certainly crushed the guild’s spirit. And the result? Writers lost out on their fair share of vhs and dvd and so forth. Nicholas J. Counter’s approach to bargaining (a concept he does not appear to understand) is nothing new. He’s pretty much the same guy in 2007 he was in 1988. He’s doing a fine job for his people. Producers got their fair share. So, yes, I expect the strike to be devastating. But until the producers feel the financial pinch, they aren’t going to budge. They clearly feel they’re being held up by a bunch of outlaws. And unfortunately, history has shown that if they can just wait the writers out, they’ll get their way. And the writers will get nothing. If it isn’t different this time, it probably never will be and writers will have to resign themselves to being undervalued, underpaid and underappreciated.
Comment by kat — November 1, 2007 @ 8:27 am
Dear agents,
You don’t create anything, so what use are you really? So you negotiate bigger paydays for us, huh? I thought my lawyer did that. As for “tastemakers,” you’re dreaming. I’ve never met an agent yet who had taste. All you care about is selling. Unless you’re at the very top of the writer food chain and making $500K a week on production rewrites, agents hardly notice you’re alive. I’ve had films made and sold big payday specs and like most every writer I know IT’S ME who finds the jobs. IT’S ME who uses MY RELATIONSHIP to sell MY MATERIAL. It’s ME who has the TASTE, INGENUITY and wherewithal to produce popular and timely screenplays. Agents are blood-sucking parasites who don’t care about art, only money. You overvalue yourselves and without us, you’d be selling (cheap) real estate in Pomona and scrambling for dates instead of preying on desperate actresses.
Comment by Agent Shmagent — November 1, 2007 @ 9:35 am
“Can someone remind me again how unions are good and protect the interest of “working people”?”
Sure, David, I’ll invite you over the next time I get my pension statement, or health fund statement, or a little green envelope in the mail (that’s a residuals check) or even the next time I am given basic credit for my work. Then you can learn why the pain writers endured in the past for my benefit was worth it, and why I must endure pain for the sake of those who come after me.
Comment by Norm A. Rae — November 1, 2007 @ 9:51 am
Nikki, great coverage.
Writers, I am rooting for all of you. You have been working under unfair conditions for far too long when it comes to distribution and this needs to stop right now. I hope and pray that you not only get the deal you deserve, but also stop all new television programming including reality through the courts because reality TV writers deserve guild protection as well.
I am saying this because CBS’s Les Moonves wouldn’t mind seeing the season cut short due to a strike.
Comment by Jessy S. — November 1, 2007 @ 10:04 am
Sounds like you have a very healthy relationship with you agent. If you’re so unhappy, get a new one. This may be news to you, but there is more than one agency in town. Or better yet, go without an agent. Let’s see how many execs take your call. Let’s see how many times your name is mentioned for open writing assignments. Let’s see how many of your specs get read. And most of all, let’s see how your pay plummets. Once again, without an agent you would all be working for minimums. And without the guild there would be no minimums. Maybe if you worked closer with your agent and involved them in the negotiating process, this would all be done.
Believe it or not, there are still plenty of agents out there who protect their clients. I would agree that most of them wouldn’t know a good script from bad or the same when it comes to acting talent. But that’s not our job. If someone wants to hire you, it’s our job to find him. And it’s us who negotiate in your best interest. Remember we only get 10%. Not a lot compared to 90%.
Comment by Agent — November 1, 2007 @ 10:16 am
Agent,
I had a great relationship with my agent, but I fired him anyway because he didn’t DO ANYTHING. Why? Because in that effort to get more than 10%, you represent 40 clients. Last time I checked, 40 X 10% is a lot more than I make. Granted, not all those writers are working, but the majority are. That’s a pretty healthy payday. When’s the last time one of your contemporaries pulled into the garage in a beater? Never. And FYI, I can get my spec read my any company in town. I can get my spec read and bought by any studio in town. I am on lists all over town. You know how much I miss my agent? Never! that’s 10% more for me on jobs gotten by me on relationships forged by me on writing written by me. Do I really have to tell you, in the years I was coming up, how many times agents lied to me? How many times they cashed my check and then did nothing to earn it? So you can send a check out to forty producers. That qualifies you to earn 10% of something I’ve worked 3 months to a year on? For forty phone calls? Why do you think writers jump from one agency to the next? Because their agents are bad people? No. It’s because your job begins and ends with the phone sheet. Agents give terrible notes, if any. Agents give terrible financial advice, if any. Agents do not fight for quality story notes. They don’t fight against unpaid rewrites. So, explain to me why you deserve that 10%?
Comment by Agent Shmagent — November 1, 2007 @ 11:48 am
To David, the entertainment lawyer: If you have health care coverage, it is because unions fought for employer coverage (now if they would only fight for universal coverage!).
But the bottom line is this: If a writer (or actor or director or grip) works in a closed shop (a must-join job), chances are they are also enjoying the benefit of said job: health care, paid vacations, safe work conditions, pension, etc. So if the organization that enforces compliance with those workplace conditions says to strike, it’s a good idea to do that.
Meanwhile, the line producers who are not members of any unions are stuck in the middle: If you strike, we stop working, and neither the producers nor the writers really care what we have to say. On the other hand, rather than a pox on both houses, I say a blessing on both and may you call sit down, break bread together and get the additional percentages you want on DVD and other media formats.
Comment by NYC Line Producer — November 1, 2007 @ 12:04 pm
I am an aspiring writer and I have no connections to Hollywood or the film industry. But I am currently a union member with OPEIU Local 153.
I am glad that this forum is here. I have been following this strike, and this blog is such a good resource on this topic. I don’t think the other media outlets are really reporting on this matter properly. Nor are they preparing the general public for what is about to happen.
One of the main misconceptions people have about labor unions is that we LIKE to strike. But any union member will tell you that striking is the last thing ANY union member wants to do.
Even though this impending strike will prevent me from finding out how the hell Jack got off the island, if Blair and Serena can remain BFF’s for long, or if the writers of Heroes will finally get their show together, I support my fellow union brothers and sisters.
Every union member deserves a fair contract!
Comment by BronxGuy — November 1, 2007 @ 2:42 pm
Staring at the screen, reading the comments of fine hard working people.. I am a 30 year vet in the industry.. In post sound. I recieved the Thomas Short letter today via E mail.. and didn’t feel good about it at all.
Living through the 88 strike.. I shake my head and wonder , when will sanity return? How bout a rollback on bean counters that work for the studio management and make a fine spread sheet of things they think they might understand.
Working in sound.. I wonder, will I have to cross the line tomorrow, seeing some faces I know from the Teamsters..seeing other faces of writers that I don’t..
That I KNOW work just as hard and deserve every penny that they are entitled to.
I guess it boils down to based on who’s opinion what a product ( that should read art ) is worth, and how much PROFIT MARGIN the studio must maintain, to look good on the books and to the share holders.
Today seems to be that calm before the storm. As the two camps square up to do battle for the greenbacks.
I’ve seen some people leave the lot today with their boxes of stuff.
Things have changed so much..
It used to be, we were a service group in post sound. All about helping the project get finished in the filmakers vision.
Now were a profit center. Rate carding our time to make sure the show was charged “properly”.
This is in the Below the line world.
The politics are confusing enough down here.
I have NO IDEA what happens above the line.
I like many of you will feel the fallout.
I wish all the writers the best of luck during these trying times.
Comment by Vigman — November 1, 2007 @ 6:18 pm
What you risk reveals what you value. - Jeanette Winterson.
I’m an actor/wannabe writer who plans to (wo)man the picket lines in support of the WGA (when I can take time off from my day job). I do so to march for my future.
I’m a coal miner’s granddaughter. I’m the daughter of two teachers. I know for a fact that unions CAN BE the only thing standing between the American worker and institutionalized slavery.
Even though I believe negotiations have devolved into a pissing contest of sorts, the ultimate goal is worth the risk. Writers are devalued enough that if we back down now, we’re signing our own monetary death warrant.
This is Thanksgiving, and the AMPTP is pointing writers to the kiddie table.
Everyone knew this was coming. I do wish all concerned well and hope the strike will be of short duration.
Thanks, Nikki, for keeping the message clear.
Comment by Sam — November 2, 2007 @ 9:03 am