Here's Striking WGAE Xmas Statement (I'm Sure AMPTP's Isn't Far Behind...)

Dear Fellow Members of the Writers Guild, East:I write this to you two nights before Christmas. It’s tough as hell to be on strike during the holiday season. Not only are we staging outdoor pickets and other events in the throes of winter’s cold, we’re without work and paychecks at a moment when gift giving and good times are very much on the minds of everyone around us, especially our friends and loved ones.

Yet we know that what we’re fighting for is worth it, that we’re exchanging our temporary stress and discomfort for future gain and security, not only for ourselves but those who will follow us as wordsmiths and storytellers.

The widespread pain and hardship of this strike would cease instantly if the studio and networks heads simply would realize the need to have their representatives return to the table and bargain a contract fairly and respectfully. We’re ready any time, any place, to sit down to negotiate -- even as AMPTP members take off on holiday jaunts to Vail or Aspen or wherever it is moguls mogul.

Until then, the Guilds, East and West, continue to take actions that make our strength and position in the entertainment industry clear. This week, for example, a waiver was denied for writers to work on the Golden Globe Awards, as was a waiver for the use of film clips on the upcoming Oscars (the Oscars have not yet requested a waiver for writers). However, an interim agreement for writing services was granted for the Independent Spirit Awards, demonstrating Guild support for the independent film community.

What’s heartening is that despite the length of this strike, our solidarity remains intact, strong and committed. At events such as Monday’s Time Warner picket, honoring our daytime writers, and Tuesday’s Foley Square rally, at which the writers and stars of crimes shows presented a mock indictment of those who deny us an honest deal, we continue to demonstrate that our resolve and faith in the justice of our cause are as powerful as ever.

Even as we continue to show our strength in New York and Los Angeles, the word keeps spreading across the nation. On Thursday, Writers Guild members from Maryland and Washington, D.C., with allies from SAG, AFTRA, AFSCME, the Teamsters and other unions rallied at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The following day, writers and their supporters in the Atlanta area picketed the midtown “campus” of Turner, Inc., owned by Time Warner. Thanks to everyone who participated.

This week, a new USA Today/Gallup Poll reported that 60 percent of Americans support the Writers Guilds in their fight against the media corporations (only 14% backed the AMPTP). According to USA Today, "Six weeks into a strike by television and movie writers, public sentiment rests firmly against the studios."

None of this would be possible without the Writers Guild, East, staff, many of whom have labored long and hard to make all of our strike events successful.

What’s more, I’d like to thank all of you for your continuing tenacity, patience and goodwill. I am so very proud to be counted among your number.

My holiday wish is that the New Year brings a just resolution to this conflict, that we can resume our lives of creativity and productivity knowing that with right on our side we have done our utmost to get the deal we merit and deserve.

Happy Holidays. Happy New Year.

In solidarity,
Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

« Weinraub Play To Be Performed In LA   EXCLUSIVE: Attempt Fails To Restart WGA-AMPTP Talks; Outlook Very Grim »

21 Comments »

  1. To those below the line, stay strong and safe this holiday seasoning!
    Good Luck!

    Comment by punky rabbit — December 23, 2007 @ 11:32 pm

  2. How do you sleep at night, Nick Counter?

    Thousands are out of work because you walked away from the bargaining table over two weeks ago and counting. By walking away you guaranteed there could not be a settlement by Christmas.

    Instead of coming back to the table to find a reasonable solution you launched a website where you gleefully run a ticker bragging of how much money you’ve cost the working people of Los Angeles. You try to put the blame on David Young, but when you’re the one who walked away from the bargaining table, while Mr. Young and the rest of the writers negotiating team is ready to meet with you day or night, it’s pretty clear who is to blame.

    And then you have the gall to not even show up to the L.A. City Council meeting on the damage your actions have taken.

    Again, all of Los Angeles wants to know, how do you sleep, Nick Counter?

    Comment by Out of work below the line worker — December 24, 2007 @ 12:34 am

  3. “…wherever it is moguls mogul.” You’ve got that right. The AMPTP have lost touch with their customers, with reality, and with what is ethical. Get your fat, exfoliated asses back to the table.

    I am a member of the public and I firmly support the WGA. Their cause is just.

    Comment by Suzanne — December 24, 2007 @ 12:36 am

  4. A few years ago I was out on a walk. It was winter in LA. Something made me look up at an oak outlined against the grey sky — and I literally gasped at the tree’s hideousness: Every bend, elbow, and joint of its branches were swollen into huge, diseased bulges. The joints were obscenely out of proportion to the spindly branches. It was as if the swollen joints were sucking the life out of the branches, swelling into grotesquery. It was the ugliest oak I’ve ever seen — and as a native, I’ve seen plenty.

    I immediately thought: This reminds me of the business. The executives, agents and moguls suck life off the talent, overrating their importance to the business as they hyperinflate their paychecks. Their job is to be stabilizing “middlemen”, yet, they deem themselves more important than the creatives they vampire. They have created a diseased business model by starving out the creatives who do the true work of the industry.

    The executives need to remember their place. They are bankers and bean counters with too much power, drunk on the industry’s glamour. The internet has long exposed their previous “mystique” of backalley dealmaking. Their hyper-attenuated sense of ego is fed by their proximity to the creatives, not by their true power. Their real job is to “strengthen that which remains” of the Hollywood business model. This means going after illegal downloads, counterfeit dvd sales, not that which gives the business life itself: the writers.

    I’m beginning to think the mistake was made back in the 30’s when screenwriters gave away copyright to the studios. I’ll bet a good legal case could be made to get these rights back; if Disney can remake law to keep Mickey Mouse’s copyright long after it expired, why can’t the writers keep copyright on their scripts? This ownership would pull a lot of power away from the studios. I’d be curious to know if the Guild has any interest at all in that argument or if they are content with the generations of bloodsucking as well.

    The diseased greed of the joints on the branches of this Hollywood tree will eventually kill it… but good stories and good storytellers will always find an audience. The internet is the great equalizer: middlemen need not apply.

    Comment by Coopered — December 24, 2007 @ 1:24 am

  5. yeah, no shit. Have fun watching American Idol get a 90 share, Moonves and McPherson. Hope its worth it.

    Comment by strike capn — December 24, 2007 @ 7:53 am

  6. punky rabbit, take your platitudes and shove them.

    I will tell my mortgage bank to “stay strong” and the gas and electric and insurance too. What a jerk. Go organize folks on their own backs, not mine. WGA has officially completely blown this situation. They should have listened to Mr. Lourd about the moment of maximum leverage, because come next week they have no leverage at all. Great job, assholes.

    Comment by IATSE JE — December 24, 2007 @ 8:28 am

  7. What a load of horseshit! If you were at all in touch with the below-the-line men and women affected by the strike, instead of the insular community of writers you surround yourself with, you would see how little support there really is out there for the strike.

    The more this proceeds, the less support you will have.

    Comment by Truth & Consequences — December 24, 2007 @ 8:30 am

  8. To those who wonder how Nick Counter sleeps at night, he’s like most people in Hollywood.

    He doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself and money.

    Is anyone seriously surprised?

    I don’t see this ending until June. At the earliest.

    I hate to be a pessimist but have any WGA members considered that the studios will simply bypass them and seek non WGA writers?

    That there will NEVER be an agreement between WGA and AMPTP?

    I know WGA writers think they’re the best writers in the world but we all know that’s not true considering the shitty movies that are churned out each weekend.

    Until writers put their money where their mouths are and distribute their own material (like they’ve been threatening to), I don’t see them getting control of this or their careers.

    After all, there are only so many places a writer can sell their work.

    But there are a lot more writers willing to sell their work.

    Supply and demand and all that.

    Comment by Ruby Redlips — December 24, 2007 @ 8:55 am

  9. IATSE JE, TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES…If the future of your health and pension was threatened, would you go out on strike? Well, guess what, it is. An 80-90% cut in residuals means, a montrous loss of dues, which supports health and pension. No health and pension, no union. Wake up. You’re next.

    P.S. If you only have balls enough to attack the WGA for this strike, then you have no balls at all.

    Comment by chardkerm — December 24, 2007 @ 9:56 am

  10. Hey Ruby,

    So you think there will be non-WGA writers hired to write Lost, The Office, 24, Ugly Betty, etc? Of course people who aren’t in the Guild could have the talent, but they don’t have the experience of having worked on or run a show. Episodes cost over a million dollars each and won’t be put in the hands of people who haven’t done it before (there’s a lot of lower level WGA writers would love if the studios were more open to the less experienced, but it’s not the case.) The studios need their writers. And the writers need the studios (as they don’t have the millions to make the shows.) And since what the writers are asking for is only a 10% raise over the next three years (matching the rate of inflation) a deal should be easy to find.

    Oh, and as to the shitty movies that come out each week, you do realize it’s the studios that decide which scripts get made, right? There’s a ton of amazing scripts out there (by both WGA members and people hoping to be) that aren’t deemed commercial enough out there. Don’t blame the writers for the fact they don’t get made. (And most execs at the studios would themselves rather make the more interesting fare, but they don’t have greenlight power.)

    Comment by Realist — December 24, 2007 @ 10:05 am

  11. The studios are trying to break ALL the unions.

    Keep up the fight!

    Comment by Teamster — December 24, 2007 @ 10:09 am

  12. Ruby,

    The studios have always looked for non-WGA, new writers. If they see writing they like they hire them and the writer becomes a member of the Guild. They’re just aren’t that many talented new writers out there. So this scenario of yours doesn’t make sense. It’s like saying the studios will hire only non-SAG actors and this would improve the quality of acting on screen.

    Comment by Barry — December 24, 2007 @ 10:21 am

  13. Rudy redlips — if the AMPTP could conduct their business with non-WGA writers, they would. But they can’t. You know why? Because if you think movies are shitty now (and by the way, there are a lot of great ones — rudimentary thing to have point out, but jeez), you can’t imagine how shitty they’d be if penned exclusively by non-WGA writers. AMPTP knows this. Otherwise, they’d be moving on. A truly good film/TV writer is a rare thing, and most of them are in the WGA. Trying to have ALL movies and TV written by scabs? Ain’t gonna happen.

    Comment by Bill — December 24, 2007 @ 10:24 am

  14. Below-the-line folks shouldn’t whine any more than writers should. Yeah, that’s you IATSE JE. Who guaranteed you work and income? There’s no tenure in Hollywood. You think you’re entitled to a regular, consistent income more than anyone else in this town? Even without a strike, there are no guarantees here. Anyone who buys bus fare out should know that. What if the show you’re working on gets canceled? What if you can’t land another movie gig? At least you (probably) have hard job skills - carpentry, electrician, whatever - unlike most creatives, who are generally useless outside of their limited domains.

    As for organizing on “your back” - who’s doing that? A set of people don’t want to take a contract that sucks. If you’ve made yourself dependent on those people, tough for you. When the sub-prime went to shit, a ton of mortgage lenders went out of business. That’s how life works. If you want to be independent, start your own business (like so many are urging writers to do). Or - gasp - go get another job, like writers should do before THEY whine. This is a contract that sucks. Writers don’t want to - and shouldn’t - take it. So everyone else should figure out alternatives until a reasonable deal comes along. And those who maintain that there are NO OPTIONS for work here should move to Fallujah or Sierra Leone for a month to learn what hardship really is.

    Comment by Whiners — December 24, 2007 @ 10:39 am

  15. Well, I see that the AMPTP whores are working overtime. Give it a rest, you clowns. We’ll see who wins this one in the New Year.

    Comment by Screenvet — December 24, 2007 @ 10:40 am

  16. punky rabbit, take your platitudes and shove them.

    I will tell my mortgage bank to “stay strong” and the gas and electric and insurance too. What a jerk. Go organize folks on their own backs, not mine. WGA has officially completely blown this situation. They should have listened to Mr. Lourd about the moment of maximum leverage, because come next week they have no leverage at all. Great job, assholes.

    Comment by IATSE JE

    Happy Holidays to you, too!
    I’m in the same boat as you (I saved just in case), though not as incredibly fearful and bitter; but because we have fairness on our side I’m confident the WGA and all the Unions (you don’t think this strike won’t be used as precedent by any corporation who wants to destroy the wages & benefits of its workers?) who are affected by this will win.
    You might want to define HOW the WGA has blown this situation. I think by negotiating w/ individual companies (not just Letterman, others are coming to the table as well. There will be an announcement this week according to an article in the LA Times)and holding the Awards shows hostage (that’s right,HOSTAGE. The AMPTP’s holding our future hostage, so back at ya, bitch!) they’re doing a fantastic job.
    Punky Rabbit, I appreciate your optimism & solidarity if others don’t.

    Comment by e — December 24, 2007 @ 11:22 am

  17. Dear Iatse Jr:

    Do you get paid by the post, or by the week? Like I’ve said all along, I don’t mind the AMPTP paying a hundred grand a month for shills, but at least hire people who are good at it.

    The writers are supposed to agree to the dismantling of their union because of the collateral damage? Sorry, doesn’t work that way. Every person out of work is AMPTP’s fault, aka the people who walked away and refuse to negotiate.

    IATSE and all other unions will benefit from WGA being the first union in a generation to show a spine. Just because Tom Short is a wussy doesn’t mean all unions should be. DGA has already benefitted enormously from WGA’s courage.

    What you should really do IATSE JR/Paid Shil is go to Tom Short and tell him to stop prolonging the strike. If he would let animation WRITERS belong to the WRITERS guild as is their RIGHT then this strike might never have happened in the first place.

    What you need to do IATSE JR is start a recall campaign to recall Tom Short. When that’s underway, then get back to us.

    Thanks!

    Comment by anon wga member — December 24, 2007 @ 12:18 pm

  18. Okay, so the paid shill waited two minutes before posting one comment as IATSE JR and then another one as Truth & Consequences. Then you went to Starbucks and came back and posted again as Ruby Redlips.

    The most glaring thing that has happened since Fabiani & Lehane were brought on is that the shills have gone from knowledgable industry staffers to inside-the-Beltway political shills who know nothing about the business and it shows:

    “I know WGA writers think they’re the best writers in the world but we all know that’s not true considering the shitty movies that are churned out each weekend… there are a lot more writers willing to sell their work.”

    As anyone with even tangential experience with this business knows, the studios would rather air the thirtieth awful pilot of a showrunner they know and can work with than air something original by a newcomer.

    Plus, I’ve been in this business for 20 years — I’ve NEVER heard execs blame box office or bad movies on the writers. They know damn well that THEY are the ones to buy the scripts and that THEY are the ones who can note stuff to death.

    Think how bad Ruby Redlips and others must have been at politicall shilling that they can’t get a job during a presidential election year and instead have to take part-time work posting on blogs.

    I bet their parents must be very, very proud! (What does your grandson do, Mildred, works in Washington, right? No, Ida, he couldn’t cut it there, but that’s all for the best — he now has a four-figure job in Hollywood posting pseudonymously on a blog! We’re all SO proud of him.)

    Comment by howdy failures — December 24, 2007 @ 12:31 pm

  19. When confronted with an opinion that doesn’t jibe with your own, always scream “shill”.

    Douches.

    Comment by Non WGA Writer — December 24, 2007 @ 3:59 pm

  20. The other thing I can’t stand is when all the posters with anything critical to say about the WGA are labeled “shills,” or assumed to be all the work of one person using many pseudonyms.

    I’ve been accused of being someone I’m not. It’s silly. Wake up & smell the coffee. There are some people out there who are growing frustrated with the WGA. They should be allowed to post on this site without being labeled “shills.” Contrary to popular belief, this isn’t a WGA site. (Hell, Nikki even said this site would remain objective at the start of the strike, but it’d hard to believe if you were to read her posts today.) All opinions should be welcome here.

    And I SWEAR to God, I’m not a member of the AMPTP, nor a mogul-in-training, or Fabiani, or Lehane!!!

    Comment by tv staffer — December 24, 2007 @ 6:34 pm

  21. People,
    If all opinions weren’t welcome here, your posts would be deleted like shit through a goose.
    And before you start bitching about your free speech being threatened, aren’t the post calling you shills part of that mix?
    Stop trying to dictate… ANYTHING!
    Say your peace! Everyone has that right until Nikki and HER sight says you don’t!
    Merry Christmas!

    Comment by e — December 25, 2007 @ 9:46 pm

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