DHD CONTEST: Dark Knight Predictions!
Here is the most up-to-date sales info regarding Batman: The Dark Knight:
7PM: With two hours still to go until the clock strikes midnight ET, Dark Knight has reached MovieTickets.com's Top-5 Pre-sale List of All-Time:
1. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
4. Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert
5. The Dark Knight
5 PM: Fandango, the nation's leading movie ticket sellers, says it appears to be selling between 9 and 10 tickets per second for the pic. More than 2,000 sold-out showtimes. Add that to MovieTickets.com’s 1,600 and you’ve got close to 4,000 sell-outs performances! I'm told 1,700 of the sell-outs are for showtimes between 12:01 AM and 8:00AM Friday. Even the number of locations in North America where the comic book caper will be playing -- 4,366 -- is an Industry record. There are sold-out shows through the weekend from Washington D.C. to Puyallup, Washington, and in towns like Bozeman, Montana and Fitchburg, Wisconsin. I can report that 6:00AM shows are scheduled in big cities and small, from San Diego to Hazelwood, Missouri, and Tigard, Oregon, etc.
As of 5PM, Dark Knight is No. 8 on MovieTickets.com's Top-10 Pre-Sale List of All-Time, which includes IMAX ticket sales. And it should move up a couple spots by midnight, if not more.
Fandango COO Rick Butler says: “Friday is pacing to be our biggest ticket-selling day in company history. It’s very possible that we’ll break our hourly ticketing record by tomorrow morning.” Currently, Dark Knight represents 94% of ticket sales on Fandango.com, the nation’s leading movie ticketing destination.
As of 9AM today, MovieTickets.com already has over 1,600 performances sold out in North America, including over 300 in LA and NY alone.
As of 10AM today, Dark Knight is currently No. 9 on MovieTickets.com's Top-10 Pre-Sale List of All-Time, which includes IMAX ticket sales. It's currently ahead of two Spider-Man blockbusters (Spider-Man 3 and Spider-Man 2), three Harry Potter films (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
Dark Knight snagged 88% of tickets sold on MovieTickets.com Wednesday. As of 9AM, it has accounted for 87% of all tickets sold today.
'Dark Knight' Speeding Towards Friday: Selling, Selling, Selling ...Nearly Sold Out
All these events and deals in entertainment media technology were made since January 2008 when the DGA-AMPTP deal tried to set “the template” for all the guild negotiations:
• February 4, 2008—Cablevision offers Universal and Warner Bros. movies on demand the same day they debut on DVD, as long as viewers purchase the movies on disc.
• February 20-21, 2008—CBS and NBC begin streaming classic shows from their libraries online in their entirety.
• February 25, 2008—ABC and Cox Communications begin work on a video on demand (VOD) system that disables fast-forwarding of commercials.
• March 11, 2008—Apple and Lionsgate agree to allow iTunes users to make digital copies of selected movies to watch on computer, iPod, iPhone or Apple TV.
• March 12, 2008—Fox and NBC launch Hulu.com, a website that allows users to watch movies and TV shows for free with "limited commercial interruptions."
• April 2, 2008—NBC announces it will produce short, original episodes of The Office, Chuck and Heroes specifically for the Web, beginning in Summer 2008, along with an original online-only show called Fears, Secrets & Desires.
• April 13, 2008—Yahoo expands its online video presence and ties to big media and entertainment by acquiring for $160 million the online video platform Maven Networks, which has deals with CBS Sports, Sony BMG, News Corp.'s Fox News and other content providers to help manage, distribute and monetize their video platforms.
• April 16, 2008—Over ten billion online video views in the U.S. in February
2008, a 66 percent gain versus February 2007.
• April 17, 2008—Networks are acquiring the rights to new content to make the leap from Internet to television as NBC has signed up the series Gemini Division, and Channel Five has picked web drama Sofia’s Diary.
• April 28, 2008— Warner Bros. TV Group says it is resurrecting its WB Network TV brand as an ad-supported video network that will offer a mix of new programming and old series aimed at women viewers.
• April 30, 2008—Sezmi opens up a new set-top box with one terabyte of storage, a broadband Internet connection, and an antenna.
• April 30, 2008—Time Warner says it will release all of its DVD titles on VOD on a day-and-date basis this year.
• May 1, 2008—Hulu launches a YouTube channel of its own, bringing NBC back to YouTube.
• May 1, 2008—iTunes goes “day and date” with DVDs with new releases and catalog titles available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studio.
• May 2, 2008—Disney-ABC Television Group begins research in collaboration with Nielsen Co. regarding inserting multiple commercials into ad breaks for primetime series on its broadband player.
• May 7, 2008—NBC streams free, full episodes of The Office & 30 Rock to
iPhones in unprotected Quicktime format.
• May 13, 2008 – Bob Iger states at a New York media conference that he expects Disney to pull in $1 billion in digital revenue this year.
• May 15, 2008—CBS purchases CNET Networks making it one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the United States, with a combined 54 million unique users per month, and approximately 200 million users worldwide.
• May 19, 2008—NetFlix Web-to-TV set-top box debuts with a price tag of $99.
• May 28, 2008—Blockbuster Inc. announces its intended launch of in-store kiosks that will allow consumers to download movies onto portable devices in two minutes.
• June 1, 2008—CBS says it will unveil a new video player that has new ad
targeting (using a content and advertising engine CBS picked up in its acquisition of Last.fm), content sharing and HD.
• June 2, 2008—A study suggests marketers should adopt VOD sales as VOD ads are more effective than broadcast ads. The reason is viewers are more likely to recall a spot seen in an on-demand context than they would an ad on linear TV.
• June 3, 2008—Sony PlayStation launches an original, unscripted monthly series.
• June 4, 2008—CBS will stream its shows online at Yahoo TV, running pre-roll advertisements.
• June 5, 2008—All BBC TV channels are being prepared to be made available online.
• June 10, 2008—Disney to stream movies online, offering them for free based on an ad-supported revenue model.
• June 10, 2008—HBO buys stake in Funny or Die, signing an additional
development deal as well.
• June 10, 2008—NetFlix set-top boxes sell out in less than three weeks.
• June 11, 2008— GoTV Networks, which produces and syndicates original and partner programming via mobile and broadband technologies, enters into a strategic partnership with talent agency CESD to combine GoTV's production studio with CESD's talent roster.
• June 12, 2008—Warner Bros. Television Group announces that its content will be distributed through branded channels on Dailymotion, Joost, Sling Media, TiVo and Veoh Networks.
• June 16, 2008—Weeds delivers 2.5 million Apple downloads.
• June 18, 2008—YouTube experiments with full-length video, enabling YouTube to offer more ads per view and other ad opportunities.
• June 19, 2008—Fox airs Rescue Me five-minute minisodes on FX and the Web in order to rekindle audience interest in the show due to the hiatus during the WGA strike. The minisodes don't connect to the new season.
• June 23, 2008—British commercial broadcast giant ITV reports a surge in its Internet activities with a four-fold rise since its launch in video catch-up, which allows viewers to watch shows they've missed that week since its launch.
• June 24, 2008—ABC syndicates content to Veoh and moves its prime time to the Web.
• June 27, 2008—Sony to create new movie download service directly to TV that utilizes the Bravia Internet Link.
• June 30, 2008—Google tests new ad-based content monetization model with Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy and uses its AdSense advertising system to syndicate the program to thousands of Web sites that are predetermined to be visited by the target audience.
• July 15, 2008—Netflix and Microsoft announce a deal that will allow Netflix
subscribers to stream 10,000 movies and TV shows to Microsoft’s Xbox consoles for viewing on television sets, beginning in Fall 2008. The deal doubles the number of movies and shows available on Xbox for download.
UPDATES with AMPTP response today.
We already know that SAG offered a counter-proposal to the AMPTP's supposed "final" offer. For once, SAG and the AMPTP agree on the reasons why. Today, the AMPTP said the Screen Actors Guild's chief negotiator told the Big Media cartel's negotiating committee that he could not accept AMPTP's offer because the digital media "landscape has dramatically shifted in the six months since the DGA" reached its deal. The Screen Actors Guild also gave that reason today -- and explained why by issuing a very intriguing White Paper on its website entitled, "It’s Not New Media – It’s NOW Media" showing why the AMPTP's latest New Media offer isn't good enough. It's an index of significant events and deals in entertainment media technology made since January 2008 when the DGA-AMPTP deal tried to set “the template” for all the guild negotiations. "The index shows a sizable increase in technology investments, new deals, unique platforms and dramatic market forces at work," SAG says.
For its part, the AMPTP said today that SAG "ignores the truly seismic shifts we have all seen over the last six months in the rapidly deteriorating economy, the worsening credit crisis, and the skyrocketing price of energy." This, even though most Big Media moguls said publicly at Camp Allen that the downturn wasn't affecting their biz. But the big actor's union answers that charge in its White Paper. It also quotes a Forbes article written as recently as June 2008 explaining why pricing for display advertising next to user-generated content has collapsed. And rates on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube etc have fallen 45% since February 2008. "Most of the momentum now is for ads within full episodes run on the TV network sites, such as NBC and Fox’s Hulu, ABC.com and CBS.com. It’s a format advertisers understand,” the magazine said.
So what's the AMPTP's next argument? That SAG members are losing out by continuing to be paid under the old contract during this stalemate when they could be earning under the new one. Not very persuasive that -- especially after the AMPTP continually chided the WGA for NOT having continued to negotiate instead of striking! Sure sounds like SAG has the most leverage by just waiting, and waiting, and waiting...
Here's the full text of an email SAG sent its members today:
Dear Screen Actors Guild Member,
I want to tell you why your national negotiating committee has not accepted the June 30 offer put across the table by the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP) For one reason and one reason only: It’s not a good offer. It doesn’t address enough of your priorities (as outlined in past SAG Contract 2008 Reports), particularly in new media.
The AMPTP ‘s current offer to SAG, which is nearly the same for new media as the deals that the DGA, WGA and AFTRA accepted, has come to be called “the template.” Some of you may be wondering why we don’t just agree to the template established by the other unions. The template doesn’t protect actors, and while we may be the last union to come to the table, we still have the obligation to address the issues that are most important to you.
We have had the extra time to effectively assess the impact of rapid technological and marketplace changes, and after careful analysis, we don’t believe the template works for SAG members. In the six months since the Directors Guild of America reached a deal with the AMPTP, the landscape in digital media has dramatically shifted. The seven global conglomerates that own the motion picture studios and television networks are so confident in digital media prospects, that they are putting up huge dollars to fast track their technology deals.
The DGA and WGA represent writers and directors, not actors. Their resolution of the new media issues may work for them, but they don’t address your specific needs. The DGA and WGA agreed to allow producers to make new media productions entirely non-union, at the producers’ option, for projects below budgets of $15,000 per minute (effectively, almost all new media productions for the foreseeable future.)
Most union directors and writers don’t have to worry about large non-union pools of trained and talented competitors, but union actors do. Non-union principal and background actors already compete for your jobs, especially outside of New York and California. It makes no sense for SAG to agree to allow the studios and networks to exacerbate our problem by giving them a pass to produce entirely non-union under a SAG union contract. We are a union, and our mission and obligation to all of our members nationwide is to promote union jobs.
Another example of how the new media template negatively impacts actors is its effect on residuals. The AMPTP’s recent offer to SAG doesn’t include residuals for programs made for new media and streamed again on ad-supported new media platforms. So a program originally made for ABC.com could be available for re-viewing on ABC.com, or any other ad-supported Internet outlet, as often as possible and forever with no residuals, no matter how much money is generated or how many times it is shown. (There is one minor exception if a program is made for and re-run on a pay platform like iTunes and the budget is more than $25,000 per minute.)
Just as we have shown we can work successfully with low-budget filmmakers, we are flexible and can accommodate fledgling new media productions under SAG contracts. We have offered to base made-for new media residuals on a percentage of revenue with no fixed obligation. If there is no money generated, no residuals are paid. But if revenue is generated from programs available over time, actors should receive residual payments.
So far, management’s negotiators have rejected SAG’s reasonable solution, while management’s proposal could mean the beginning of the end of residuals. What some among our employers – the major global media conglomerates -- insist on terming “new media” it’s really “now media.” It is urgent, instant and immediate. That’s why achieving a fair compensation formula now, in all forms of media, and confirming jurisdiction from the first dollar of the production budget, are core objectives of the SAG national negotiating committee. [Click here to downlink the full version of our “Now Media” white paper including the index of recent new media entertainment developments.]
Your national negotiating committee takes its responsibility very seriously. We want to make a deal as soon as possible, but we don’t want to make a deal that hurts actors. No deal is better than a bad deal that allows non-union productions by our employers and snuffs out residuals for projects made for and rerun on new media platforms. We don’t need to experiment on the backs of actors. Our real world and practical experience has taught us how to provide union benefits and protections in low budget productions.
Management’s resistance is frustrating but we have to be patient. The stakes are too high to concede jurisdiction and residuals for programs made for new media. That future is now and, if we ignore it, it will pass actors by and this generation and future generations of actors will never recover.
Thank you for your understanding and your solidarity.
Doug Allen, National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator
P.S. For anyone who thinks that is a hypothetical and distant future, this is what the business magazine Forbes said in a June 2008 article about YouTube: “The vast majority of YouTube’s library is…babies laughing and dogs splashing in wading pools… Pricing for display advertising next to user-generated content has collapsed. Rates on sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube have fallen 45% since February (’08), to 18 cents per thousand page views, according to digital analytics outfit PubMatic. Most of the momentum now, says Chris B. Allen, director of video innovation at media buyer Starcom is for ads within full episodes run on the TV network sites, such as NBC and Fox’s Hulu, ABC.com and CBS.com. It’s a format advertisers understand.”
Click here to download the full text of our white paper “It’s Not New Media – It’s NOW Media.” And to see an index of significant events and deals in entertainment media technology since January 2008, when the DGA-AMPTP deal tried to set “the template.” The index shows a sizable increase in technology investments, new deals, unique platforms and dramatic market forces at work.
Here's the AMPTP statement From today:
"Today, SAG's chief negotiator said he could not accept AMPTP's offer because the digital media "landscape has dramatically shifted in the six months since the DGA" reached its deal. This statement is not just factually untrue; it ignores the truly seismic shifts we have all seen over the last six months in the rapidly deteriorating economy, the worsening credit crisis, and the skyrocketing price of energy. Even in the midst of these severe economic problems for our country and our industry, AMPTP has made SAG a good and fair offer, with more than $250 million in increased compensation, groundbreaking new media rights, and pension and health protections that most Americans would envy.
By refusing to accept the AMPTP's offer, SAG's negotiators are ensuring that SAG members will continue to work indefinitely under the old contract - a contract negotiated by SAG that has allowed for non-union Internet production since 2001. AMPTP has offered to extend SAG jurisdiction to original new media production, including low-budget programs that employ a single "covered actor." The AMPTP's final offer also guarantees residuals of 3.6% of distributor's gross when original new media productions are reused on consumer pay platforms, and terms to increase pay and residuals if the program is eventually exhibited theatrically or on television. These terms are a major advancement for SAG members compared to the existing contract terms.
In addition, the new media framework we have offered to SAG establishes first-ever residuals for ad-supported streaming, made-for new media programs and reuse of clips in new media. We have also offered to double the residual rate for permanent downloads and give SAG exclusive jurisdiction over new media programs derived from existing television series. Not a single one of these rights exists under the contract that expired on June 30th - a contract that SAG members now must work under because of the failure of SAG negotiators to make a deal.
5PM UPDATE: It's Official: It's 'The Office' Un-Spin-Off. So my sources tell me showrunner Greg Daniels won, NBC lost, and all is right with the world. I'm glad everything is finalized because, geez, I'm sick of reporting on this. (And I don't even watch The Office. Not my kind of show. Don't hate me...)
PREVIOUS: NBC is going to absurd lengths to keep its so-called "The Office Spin-off" hush-hush. For instance, I just found out that NBC pitched the new show to Amy Poehler with the ridiculous condition that she keep it secret and not tell anyone what it's about -- not even her representatives. C'mon, who does that? Meanwhile, the media debate rages about whether this will be a true spin-off or an unrelated show. Here's why there's such confusion: because nobody knows yet! (Which begs the question: what the hell did NBC actually tell Poehler about the show?)
I understand that not even showrunner Greg Daniels nor NBC has firmly decided which tack to take. This is being figured out right now. Here's what I'm know from insiders: Daniels wants to do an unrelated series with an Office-like tone and vision. But NBC wants a directly related Office spin-off, again with the same tone and vision as the American version of the original British series. "What NBC keeps arguing is that they want to cast Steve Carell in the first episode of the new show debuting after The Office on Super Bowl Sunday, and why would he show up if it's not related?" a source tells me. "But Daniels is a stubborn, stubborn guy. I bet Greg gets his way."
Certain sources insist to me the new show won't be a spin-off. Yet what's hilarious here is that the NBC pinheads are so lacking in imagination that they don't think Daniels can come up with an easy plot device to feature Carell in the first episode without the show being an actual spin-off. I really think NBC's founder David Sarnoff is spinning in his grave. "The General" helped Dwight D Eisnerhower win World War II. Thank god NBC's current corporate feebs weren't in charge of that war -- or we'd all be Nazis.
Amy Poehler just confirmed to the media what I reported back on Tuesday: that she'll be joining "The Office Spin-off". "I can kind of confirm that I will be working in some capacity on that show," Poehler told the AP. "I don't really have any other details yet." She just picked up an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series today for her great stuff on Saturday Night Live. (Poehler's husband Will Arnett also received an Emmy nomination today for his guest performance on 30 Rock). But Poehler will stick with SNL for its expanding programming during the election. Meanwhile, I'm going to keep calling this "The Office Spin-Off" even if it turns out not be, because "Greg Daniels' Other Show That Has The Tone And Vision Of The Office But Isn't An Office Spin-Off " is too damn long...
DHD CONTEST: Dark Knight Predictions!
Warner Bros sources tell me that Imax has 1,600 shows in all U.S. screens for this weekends opening of Batman: The Dark Knight. As of 5PM Wednesday, 1,400 of those shows were sold out.
'Dark Knight' Speeding Towards Friday: Selling, Selling, Selling ...Nearly Sold Out
Late start today... Will try to get to it when I can...
UPDATE: So now I know the real deal. After lying to the writers of the Sit Down, Shut Up! primetime animated series that it would be a WGA show, and then watching those same writers stalk off the IATSE toon, Sony offered a sweetened deal -- including payments of as much as $200,000 of additional compensation through a blind script deal -- to convince some of the scribes to come back.
Most of the writers -- including Josh Weinstein, Rich Rinaldi, Aisha Muharrar, Alex Herschlag, Laura Gutin, Dan Fybel, Aaron Ehasz, Michael Colton, and John Aboud -- wound up coming back. Two -- Bill Oakley and Ken Keeler -- are still holding out for WGA jurisdiction of the show. That's not going to happen because the toon is back in production.
There are conflicting accounts coming in to me about exactly what the Sony deal contains. Some sources say one still unresolved issue is WGA plan health and pension benefits. Other insiders tell me that's been resolved. In the letter sent to me by some of the returning WGA writers, no mention of this is made. "Though the program will be produced under the jurisdiction of IATSE Local 839, The Animation Guild (TAG), we have achieved Writers Guild of America (WGA) parity in key areas such as auditable residuals, new media, script fees, merchandising rights as well as a guarantee that these gains apply not only to ourselves but also to all future writers on the show."
The writers going back tell me that not every writer received more money from Sony, and not all received the same amount. But the sweetened deal was offered to them in June. "We did not take it. Instead we went back to Sony and said that we would not take a deal unless it had the WGA-parity residual protections for us and for future writers on this show. They said no. So we said no. This went back and forth for several weeks, until they met our demands," one of the scribes tells me. "Did the new offer contain more money? Yes. But that didn't affect the issues that were central to our bottom line. We wouldn't have gone back without them. And if Sony offered tomorrow to make this a WGA show and take the money off the table, fine. We would jump at that chance."
Some see this as the toon being saved because Sony threw money at the problem. Like one WGA leader who told me tonight, "the siege ended with a bribe". The writers who went back had this to say, "This contract is a compromise: an improvement over the standard TAG terms we were initially offered, but not full WGA coverage."
Sony issued this statement:
"We are happy that the writers have agreed to return to work on Sit Down, Shut Up! This is going to be a great show and we can't wait to see it on the air on Fox."
The WGA West statement immediately followed:
"Los Angeles – The fundamental issue here was WGA jurisdiction. Every primetime animated show currently on the air has been done under WGA jurisdiction with terms enforced by the WGA. Every single one. In the case of Sit Down, Shut Up! Sony insisted on hiring WGA writers, and Sony execs repeatedly assured them the show would be WGA. When the writers were told it would not be WGA, they walked out and demanded WGA coverage. For five weeks, they faced continuous ultimatums and illegal threats from Sony, while at the same time Sony offered enhanced economic terms. Finally, when Sony offered to pay ‘WGA equivalent residuals’ and to give each writer up to $200,000 in additional compensation through a blind script deal, most of the writers decided to accept. We understand why they did so but wish they hadn’t. Had they stuck together we believe that they would have won WGA coverage for Sit Down, Shut Up! Two WGA members refused the deal, and we and their fellow writers applaud them.”
I'm told tonight that the WGA can't believe Sony was so determined to keep this show IATSE that it paid extra to get the writers back to work than choosing the cheaper path of bringing Sit Down, Shut Up! under WGA jurisdiction. "Obviously, they would rather make this incredibly uneconomic decision to try to roll back the WGA's coverage of animation and win this war one show at a time."
WGA insiders see this as a plan hatched by Sony's chief labor lawyer Jean Bonini, who also is Sony's representative on the AMPTP negotiating committee. "And that plan is to turn everything on its head and to give more and more control to the low-cost unions like IATSE and AFTRA at the expense of the WGA and SAG who are hurt by this. Residuals will become a thing of the past. It boggles the mind," one WGA leader tells me. "The AMPTP is so determined to make a stand here that it's just throwing money out the door in order for this not to be a WGA show. The AMPTP is running these CEOs."
Having been the first to break the initial story of the WGA writers' walkout on Sit Down, Shut Up!, and then to follow the controversy (see my posts below), I'm very conflicted about all of this. I'm thrilled to see enough give-and-take by Sony and some of the writers on the show so a lot of peoples' jobs above and below the line are saved. But what horseshit for Sony to have kept whining it couldn't change the toon's jurisdiction without getting sued by IATSE. (As if...) I also commend the the two writers still holding out for WGA jurisdiction because of principle. But I also can't condemn those who went back, either. This was their fight, not mine.
Nevertheless, what did this really cost Sony? Nasty headlines about its executives lying to talent. Embarrassing questions for Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Michael Lynton about his company's lack of integrity in the way it does business. This is a town of handshake deals and long-lasting relationships. If Sony is now seen as an untrustworthy employer and partner, then the price is way too high.
Statements by SAG and the AMPTP about today's meeting requested by the actors:
From SAG:
Los Angeles, July 16, 2008 – Small contingents of the negotiating committees for Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers met for two hours today at AMPTP headquarters in Sherman Oaks. Both parties agreed to keep the contents of today’s meeting confidential. We have no further comment.
From AMPTP:
A small group from AMPTP and SAG met today. Both parties agreed that the contents of the meeting should be kept private. No further meetings have been scheduled.
DHD CONTEST: Dark Knight Predictions!
UPDATE: Studio sources tell me that record-breaking advance ticket sales for Warner Bros' Batman: The Dark Knight "continue to grow at a pace unlike any other film in history". Even the number of locations in North America where the comic book caper will be playing -- 4,366 -- is an Industry record. There are also approximately 3,000 theaters that will start screening the Christian Bale/Heath Ledger actioner at 12:01AM Friday. Meanwhile, every IMAX show in New York City this weekend is sold out. By all accounts this should be Hollywood's best-ever 3-day overall North American weekend at the box office: the number to beat is last year's $151+ million. So Dark Knight's expected $130+ million opening, combined with Universal's anticipated $25+ million Mamma Mia! debut, should expand the marketplace by a huge number to include those two films and all the very popular holdovers like Sony's Hancock, Universal's Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Disney/Pixar's Wall-E, Warner Bros' Journey To The Center Of The Earth, and Universal's Wanted. As a Warner Bros exec emailed me, "Should be a fun ride this weekend..."
'Dark Knight' Speeding Towards Friday: Selling, Selling, Selling ...Nearly Sold Out
UPDATE: Sony Offers 'Sit Down, Shut Up!' Writers $200K Extra; Two Scribes Hold Out For WGA Jurisdiction; WGA Wishes All "Had Stuck Together" To Win Coverage
Having been the first to break the initial story of the WGA writers' walkout on Sony's Sit Down, Shut Up!, and then to follow the controversy (see my posts below), I was given this statement below. I'm thrilled to see enough give-and-take by Sony and some of the writers on this animated primetime show for Fox so a lot of peoples' jobs above and below the line are saved. But what horseshit for Sony to have kept whining it couldn't change the toon's jurisdiction without getting sued by IATSE. (As if...) And it's important to note that two of the toon's scribes, Bill Oakley and Ken Keeler, are still holding out for WGA jurisdiction. I commend them but I also can't condemn those who went back, either. This was their fight, not mine.
Here's what the writers going back have to say:
After five weeks of negotiations, we have accepted employment as writers for Sit Down, Shut Up! under a new contract.
Though the program will be produced under the jurisdiction of IATSE Local 839, The Animation Guild (TAG), we have achieved Writers Guild of America (WGA) parity in key areas such as auditable residuals, new media, script fees, merchandising rights as well as a guarantee that these gains apply not only to ourselves but also to all future writers on the show.
We thank the WGA for its guidance and support during this process. We believe we’ve made a statement to the studios how important the standards of the WGA are to working writers. All animation writing -- television and features -- should be covered by the WGA.
This contract is a compromise: an improvement over the standard TAG terms we were initially offered, but not full WGA coverage. Compromises are never easy nor satisfying, always less comforting than a clear victory. We know that this is part of an ongoing struggle.
Reaching a deal will allow this program to move forward, providing jobs for many writers, animators, actors and production staff. Not every writer originally offered employment on Sit Down, Shut Up! has decided whether to return, and we understand and respect whatever decision they make. We remain hopeful that all animation writing will one day be covered by a WGA contract.
We appreciate that Sony eventually met so many of the terms essential to us. We look forward to working with the producers and the show’s creator, Mitch Hurwitz, and we are committed to writing the best show we can. We promise that our episodes will be at least as funny as this press release.
Josh Weinstein
Rich Rinaldi
Aisha Muharrar
Alex Herschlag
Laura Gutin
Dan Fybel
Aaron Ehasz
Michael Colton
John Aboud
