Comments on: HOLLYWOOD CEOS FINALLY GET SERIOUS! Moguls Return For Informal WGA Talks; Writers Abandon Reality & Animation; Grammys Won't Be Picketed; Can Oscars Be Saved? Tick-Tock...

By: Gregg

Gregg — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:35:27 +0000

When the strike is settled, and it will like all strikes be settled. The writers will have far fewer shows that will employ writers. There will be 15 to 20 percent fewer shows, because those slots will now have reality programming on them. Partially because of the writers strike. The DGA unlike the WGA had a very good plan, and did the research “before” a strike vote. Perhaps the writers should see if they could hire the DGA team to help with intelligent negotiations that will get this town and many thousands of people back to work!!!!

By: aitchee

aitchee — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:51:44 +0000

Reality and animation were non-starters from the git-go. The WGA will never get jurisdiction over them for many reasons. Never ever. Nor will they get a deal that’s better than the DGA’s. Never ever. Not today, not tomorrow, not last October, not next year. What an expense of spirit this pointless exercise has been. The membership should be looking ahead to replacing their “leadership.” No matter what they get this time, they’ll have no credibility with the producers next time.

By: Daniel A

Daniel A — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:46:35 +0000

I am not a member of the WGA, I am a member of SAG and IATSE Local 80.

I do not agree with IATSE International’s stance of non-solidarity with the WGA. Our president is a gutless wonder who has no respect for the needs of west coast entertainment workers. His constituency is comprised of all the stage mechanic locals scattered across the rest of the country, he does not represent us.

It is typical in a negotiation to begin by asking for more than one expects to get. It is like haggling with a Tijuana carpet salesman over price, he asks for $75, you counter with nothing, by walking away and wind up paying $30 or $35.

In our scenario who is the tourist and who is the TJ vendor, the WGA or the AMPTP?

I don’t know, but the AMPTP did walk away. I guess they didn’t really want the rug in the first place.

Reality and animation can not be organised with out the willing participation of those writers themselves. If they staged their own strike and walked off the job in pursuit of representation by the WGA, then you would have something to talk about. Right now would be a good time for them to do that, because they are in a highly leveraged position. But they would have to collectively grow a huge pair of fuzzy ones overnight, which is not likely.

Your negotiators probably know this, which is why they waited until now to pull reality and animation off the table. They sacrificed a pawn to entice a crook, I mean rook. But organizing this segment remains a real threat to the AMPTP, even in the absence of a new contract.

By: rock alien

rock alien — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:57:46 +0000

animation off the table? canll me cynical but it’s only because i’ve seen how the media corps work this stuff. hasn’t the guild wondered if films like the
“Simpsons Movie” and even “300″ and “Beowulf” will in the future be catogorized as “animation” films and therefore not be subject to writers gettin their fair share? hell, at some point all producers have to do is a little software “painting” and poof, all films can be named that way.

By: Hopeful

Hopeful — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:12:39 +0000

Settle!

By: pat cracks

pat cracks — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:59:22 +0000

yea nikki, why don’t you take a break and jump off a bridge thanks

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:45:00 +0000

Why oh why would they give up on reality and animation?????

By: CM

CM — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:45:48 +0000

Taking reality and animation jurisdiction off the table, effective bargaining tactic or not for the WGA, is a sad day for those uncovered writers. It’s kind of liking bidding farewell to the slave ship as it disappears into the mists on its way to Fremantle.

By: cindy

cindy — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:49:30 +0000

Gee, Beyonce says she will perform at the grammys no matter what, and all of a sudden “no picketing at the grammys” Another example of picking who gets “waivers”
I applaud Kates who will go on with the Oscars no matter what, and I will be really interested which stars care about their fans!
The WGA better do a reality check and see how the public sentiment has totally turned. The public is tired, in this economic mess we’re in, tv is an escape, the oscars, the awards shows. Many, many people are much worse off than you, take a look around. You have horrible leaders, get back to the table and negotiate.

By: shanna

shanna — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:28:19 +0000

It’s disheartening to see the WGA taking yet another thing off the table before negotiations even begin again. I hope this is not a trend. Continue to fight. The WGA has so much support right now, especialy since they aren’t stopping the Grammys.

By: chris

chris — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:27:33 +0000

Reality and animation were put on the table just so they could take it off..Verone neens to go!!!If they wanted to be union they would be..DGA was way better prepared than wga..Get it together guys..My family is suffering….

By: Reality Editor

Reality Editor — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:26:36 +0000

Thanks for dropping reality. We have no interest in your help. By all means, I’m for your strike and getting a fair piece.

But I’m glad you lost Reality TV - and for the people thinking, oh reality is just Survivor and American Idol - it just goes to show how out of touch some people are. That’s not a BAD thing, I’m just saying that there is a lot more Reality TV out there and trying to unionize would kill work for a lot of people.

Please go about striking for your own content.

By: Everett W.

Everett W. — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:13:24 +0000

The WGA was never, ever, ever going to get the AMPTP to agree to reality and animation unionization. It was well past time for the WGA to drop that demand and work towards actual attainable goals.

By: John

John — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:29:40 +0000

Reality and animation aren’t a defeat… they were never seriously intended to succeed. They were only put up as negotiating pegs that the WGA could eventually drop to say ‘See, we’ve dropped some of our demands’ as they are now doing. If I were the producers, I wouldn’t accept a deal until sympathy strikes are off the table as well (at least for the term of this contract) — it’s just unfair to bargain for the right to go right back out on strike next week for another guild after having a long protracted strike this time… maybe if there hadn’t been a strike like this the sympathy strike provision would be reasonable… i’d expect that to get dropped as well for any final deal… hope you guys get a decent compensation package in the deal. The way I see it, either a) as someone said, the producers got rid of all their tv development/pilot contracts they wanted to and now they are really ready for a deal (PLEASE) or b) now that the DGA has settled, they have to at least pretend to negotiate for a little while, or are seeing if the WGA will cave (not expecting that) so that they can walk again after having appeared to be reasonable.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:25:52 +0000

I guess one of the big questions here, is if this goes well and an agreement is reached, is it too late to salvage the current TV season? Can shows be rushed back into production? Or, is this season already in the toilet?