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!!!

Douches.

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.)

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!

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.

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.

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.

Keep up the fight!

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.)

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

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.

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