There is not unanimity within the mogul camp on how to proceed with these resumed AMPTP-WGA talks. For one thing, not all their agendas are the same: there are the mostly movie studios, the mostly TV networks, and the studios that own networks, and the networks that own studios. But all are led by a handful of CEOs who are the power behind the AMPTP throne. In the old days of guild talks, the AMPTP was made up of hundreds of real producers. That's the reason why this negotiation is so dramatically different than the strike of 1988. Because honest-to-god independent producers went by the wayside when financial syndication rules were eased. Then came Big Media consolidation, so now there's no Aaron Spelling or Carsey Werner in the mix at the AMPTP telling the big boys to play nice. Now the bullies are in charge of the playground.
So it's interesting that, today, WGA prez Patric Verrone began calling on the more moderate CEOs to break ranks with AMPTP which he claimed is "allowing bottom-line hard-liners to rule the day." I've heard top WGA'ers privately refer to this as the "Let's Make A Deal" strategy. But it hasn't been articulated in public until now. "If any of these companies want to come forward and bargain with us individually, we think we can make a deal," Verrone told AP while conferring with picketing writers at NBC in Burbank.
For weeks now, I've talked to several moguls about why they don't deal individually with the WGA and blow off the AMPTP. After all, rather than collude, these major studios and networks are supposed to compete with one another. The car companies have a lot in common, but they still bargain individually with the auto workers. So let's look at Hollywood. Sony is primarily in the movie business. Why not get their films restarted? 
And NBC has been in the cellar ratings-wise. Why not leap-frog other networks? But when I raise this possibility, the CEO's answer is an audible shrug, followed by stammering and a simple, "I just can't." They don't want to upset protocol and break ranks.
There is definitely a hardliner-moderate schism inside the AMPTP, one I wrote about well before the WGA strike even started. (See my previous, Hollywood Moguls Sound Strike Happy.) The hardliner CEOs fully expect that, with enough time on the picket line and little progress at the bargaining table, the WGA will splinter along the haves and have nots, with big names deciding to go fi-core and guild negotiators losing their clout. Those moguls that really do want to see the strike end sooner rather than later, believe the "human dynamic" within the negotiating room isn't working and has to change. These moderates believe that, instead of Nick Counter, one of their own should be bargaining.
Their choice is Peter Chernin.
"Candidly, I'm happy to follow Peter. Logically, we need one person to go make the deal for us. But the 7 biggest producers all have conflicting views and big egos and it's difficult to designate a single individual," a studio chief told me recently. The No. 2 of News Corp./Fox and one of the original hardliners among the Big Media CEOs, Chernin has a boss, Rupert Murdoch, who's a notorious union breaker. But inside Hollywood, Chernin has always been known as a concensus builder. On the other hand, Fox has the most to gain if there's lousy network TV programming this winter and spring when American Idol starts again.
Peter not only is playing a lead role already, but he has the confidence and friendship of other moguls. He bikes regularly with Disney's Bob Iger so a friendship has formed, and their businesses are quite similar. I'm told Iger would support Chernin as the moguls' No. 1. So would NBC Universal's Jeff Zucker, because he and Chernin also have become close friends and their business also resemble each other's. Even Sony Entertainment's Michael Lynton is another who'd get behind Chernin, I've learned.
More problematic is CBS' Les Moonves and Warner Bros' Barry Meyer.
Ex-actor Moonves used to be considered a moderate, but his early and harsh moves against the TV showrunners as soon as the strike started cast him in a hardliner role. That may be because of pressure from parent company Viacom boss Sumner Redstone, who right now is considered "quite the hardliner."
As for Barry Meyer, long considered a hardliner, rampant rumors have been portraying him as the primary mogul hold-out to a deal. The whispering says "Peter and Les have supposedly softened but Barry has not softened yet. So the producers have to stall to allow them the time necessary to get Barry on board." But rumors are not necessarily facts. Over the weekend, Meyer was down in Florida along with Time Warner's senior management -- from Jeff Bewkes to Bruce Rosenblum to Peter Roth to Jeff Robinov to Richard Plepler and others -- at their annual confab. I had someone check with him down there, and Meyer steadfastly denies these whispers. "He's not the mogul who's lost the most from this. He's not the most pissed-off mogul," an insider relayed to me. "He's not a hold-out."
The result is that, as much as there's thinking by the CEOs that one mogul could best do the job of repping the producers, the reality is that probably three need to be inside the talks: Chernin, Moonves (because of his ego), and Meyer (because of his seniority).
So will this happen? Not yet. Nick Counter is still nominally in charge. Once again, the moguls don't want to upset protocol and break ranks. Phooey.
Sounds like every day with Counter at the helm is a waste of time. He’s a mouthpiece with no control of his own room. Get him out of there and let the people who make decisions do a deal.
Comment by the dude — December 3, 2007 @ 10:36 pm
I’ll repeat what I’ve been saying all along. It’s going to take at least the THREAT of Senate sub-committee hearings (at which the moguls will be forced to reveal their financials) to get these guys to blink.
Comment by anotherWGAmember — December 3, 2007 @ 10:58 pm
A Congressional committee hearing would be a great tactic. But the media giants would just fire up the PR machine and claim that the Democrats were helping their “Hollywood liberal friends”.
Fox News would make Variety and the Hollywood Reporter look like the Daily Worker by comparison!
Comment by Paul — December 3, 2007 @ 11:26 pm
Perhaps that’s true, Paul, but it’s the impression. It’s the photo-of-the-day of Sumner Redstone and Les Moonves with their right hand raised looking uncomfortable that these guys fear as much as Oddjob feared his own bowler hat. When Bond picked it up THAT got his rapt attention.
Subpoena the bums and let them sweat.
Comment by anotherWGAmember — December 4, 2007 @ 12:40 am
Oh for crying out loud! Do you thing that the “hearing would be a viable idea the WGA wouldn’t implement it??
Firs of all to do that it will take an enoumous amount of money that the WGA doesn’t have. and Akiva Gldsman is not going to pay for it either. And you know why?
Because they cannot ask the Senate to look into the Companies.
Networks and Studios are only a SMALL part of the conglomerates. The WGA has no right to demand open books in a Company that has no dealing with.
The big writers know that. That’s why nobody is doing it.
You get it now?
Comment by boredtotears — December 4, 2007 @ 1:09 am
Puh-leez. Fox is the only network that along with its brother station Fox Business has been reporting anything on the strike - it is like a blackout here in the East otherwise. But take it from another angle - there are writers who write film scripts and writers who are on a series team and those who write for soaps and those who are hyphenates - would you be looking to any of them breaking ranks to negotiate - and if they did what sort of pressure would other writers put on them to “hold the line”? Yeah - all producers are not alike and don’t have the same agenda, but the same is true for writers - and the prods can afford to hold out a lot longer, so I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Comment by Nyorker — December 4, 2007 @ 2:38 am
On a somewhat related matter: The AMPTP’s offer has been on the table for five days now. Has anyone found out from them what the period of time for their “$130 million increase” is? Is it supposed to be $130 million/year? $130 million over three years? I keep seeing the figure repeated in news reports as if it’s a proven fact, but nobody seems to know how they arrived at the number.
Comment by K — December 4, 2007 @ 5:54 am
Seriously, is Counter capable of making a deal?
It’s been 20 years since the last time he had an adversarial negotiation with any of Hollywood’s unions. Since then he’s had it easy. He’s been able to bully and bluster and get his way without anyone standing up to him. He doesn’t seem to know any other way….
Well, one other way: “negotiating” with “labor negotiators” somehow hired by the WGA et. al. after long careers representing the studios in labor negotiations. In other words, his colleagues and buddies.
That’s why there’s major doubt among many insiders that Counter’s able to get it done anymore. They think he’s in over his head having to negotiate with adversaries who aren’t in his back pocket and are actually standing up to him.
So come on CEOs! Jump into the arena and get it done!
Comment by grimes — December 4, 2007 @ 6:27 am
You are simply parrotting crap. The real problem is the actors who (a) have busted every picket line in the business since ‘64 and (b) are 97% responsible for the “off the top” payments to them that have resulted in a one and one half billion dollar loss for the studios. WGAW should have waited for the SAG bargaining to start and then joined with them. SAG is the only union that actually can shut down the entire industry…if they want to. You act as if the hedge funds, the people who have backed a ton of movies for the last five years, still have money. They don’t. They have just lost nearly 10bln and counting. Any negotiating must include Wall Street, but I don’t think that is possible. Somebody somewhere needs to wake up to the true state of financing. Lending is drying up and movies are high high risk.
Comment by Duke — December 4, 2007 @ 6:34 am
Where is Steve Jobs in all this? After all, (1) Jobs is the largest Disney shareholder, thus effectively Iger’s boss, (2) he established THE model for creative unity in Pixar and continues to be a mogul who’s also a hero to creatives, (3) his iTunes is at the center of a lot of the debates, and (4) Jobs could bring a whole new breath of fresh air to BOTH sides by playing white knight to general Hollywood mishegos. We ask where the Lew Wasserman is today, who can bring peace to the valley? He lives at 1 Infinite Loop and is a quick jet-flight away.
Comment by thom taylor — December 4, 2007 @ 6:40 am
This is the question I have been asking: Why are the companies allowed to negotiate as one group. That’s a cartel. It’s a violation of the Sherman Act and other anti-trust laws. These companies are supposed to compete with each other. Let them compete for our writing services. The are price fixing — fixing the price of labor. It seems illegal.
Maybe when there were hundreds of producers, the AMPTP was more of a trade organization. Back then, the networks weren’t even part of the AMPTP. But now, there are six companies that control all of film ad television in this country. An oligopoly is bad enough. They should not be allowed to operate as a monopoly within the cartel the AMPTP has become.
Perhaps the guild should file a complaint and have an investigation launched. Here’s the web site for the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division:
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/index.html
Comment by Klaatu — December 4, 2007 @ 7:35 am
Honestly, if the moguls wanted a deal this thing could end tomorrow at almost no cost to them. WGA already blinked on DVD rate, so if they agree to split the difference on where both parties now stand on Internet, I bet the guild would take it. What would this cost the amptp? Pretty much nothing for the next ten years. And ten years from now… well, Sumner’s probably dead, Murdoch is, maybe, ten years older, maybe the whole film and tv business is in the toilet like the music business anyway. Most of the people running things now are long gone. You get the point.
Comment by Futurist — December 4, 2007 @ 8:17 am
Of all the CEOs mentioned in the above post, which has the most seniority in their job?
Nick Counter. He’s been president of the AMPTP since 1982.
Just saying.
Comment by Max — December 4, 2007 @ 8:18 am
Fire Nick Counter! He said he wasn’t going to break the media blackout! Stay strong! Waaaaaah!
We’re all in this together.
Comment by Sammy Glick — December 4, 2007 @ 8:34 am
Question:
If a deal is struck with NBC for example and the others decide to wait it out won’t you be dividing the union yourself?
NBC writers will go back to work and possibly leave the others to walk the picket lines for weeks or months without a deal…… How will the writers who have shows on, for example, CBS( which is being a “hardliner”), feel about walking in circles everyday while the NBC writers go back to work?
What if the other studios decide, like the WGA, that this is “about the future of their business” and feel that it is worth throwing away part of this season to get the deal they want for the next 20 plus years.
I know this is how the autoworkers operate but ….come on, its not like they put tires on for Ford while pitching a design concept to GM while creating a new type of headlight at home to sell to Toyota. Most have a job and do it for 20 years for the same company.
Seems like you would give a new meaning to “Solidarity”.
Perhaps someone can explain the thoughts behind different contracts?
Not in the business but wondering how this will work…….
Comment by Wondering — December 4, 2007 @ 10:04 am
KK — it’s $130 million with NO TIME SPECIFIED. At the percentage rate suggested by the AMPTP, that would mean from now until 2017. Great offer, huh?
Comment by another Hyphenate — December 4, 2007 @ 10:05 am
Welcome back to Let’s Make A Deal! Our contestant today is Peter “Look How Much He’s Earnin’” Chernin. Peter you see before you three doors. Are you excited?
Oh Monty I’m very excited! This is thrilling! Which door should I choose? They’re all so colorful. I can only imagine what’s behind each one!
[img]http://www.letsmakeadeal.com/images/85-Doors.jpg[/img]
Well we’re going to show you right now. Door number one! A NEW CAR! Door number two! A WASHER & DRYER! Door number three! A NEW COLOR TV!
Wow! What great prizes! But what about a computer with internet broadband? Can I win one of those too?
No you can’t win one of those it’s 1973 the internet hasn’t been invented yet. Which prize do you want?
Well I have a color TV at home. Our maid does our laundry. And I have a Rolls Royce so I don’t need a 1973 AMC Pacer it’s very ugly. I think I’ll just wait around for the internet to be invented Monty that’s what I really want to win!
Comment by Monty Hall — December 4, 2007 @ 10:15 am
From the guild strike captain’s meeting, $130 million thru 2025. Seriously. I couldn’t make that up.
Comment by BLuto — December 4, 2007 @ 10:27 am
Question for any corporate/securities lawyers:
Why couldn’t a shareholder (in Disney, News Corp, etc) sue the directors of the corporations that own these networks and studios for breach of fiduciary duty for failing to negotiate in good faith with the writers and because of that stand to lose hundreds of millions?
It would seem like we now have some hard numbers about how much these corporations earned off of internet advertising this past year, they can no longer claim that it’s too speculative or too early to negotiate.
Plus, now that production has halted on most of the popular shows, the corps. won’t even generate internet ad revenue because there’s no new content to attract viewers there either. This strike seems like it will cost way more than has been projected simply because the studios refuse to negotiate in good faith. If I owned any stock in these corps, I’d be calling either my lawyer or my broker before it became worthless.
Comment by Jenny — December 4, 2007 @ 11:15 am
Has anyone even focused on the difference of a guild and a labor union? A lot of people are being supportive of the WGA because they are big union supporters. Technically a guild is not a union. Guilds and unions have very different reasons for organizing. The WGA, DGA, and SAG just try to make themselves sound like unions when they want the support of unions. Just look up the definitions in a dictionary. Maybe this will open people’s eyes.
Comment by Anonymous — December 4, 2007 @ 11:35 am
Jenny, you’re under the misguided impression that Wall Street is not as corrupt as Hollywood. Get with it, sister. They’re two peas in a pod. Why do you think Merrill Lynch is funneling money to the likes of MGM?
Comment by Sherilyn — December 4, 2007 @ 1:20 pm
………And what’s wrong with ML funneling money to MGM. All the major funders are funding all the major studios. Am I missing something here?
Comment by anonymous producer — December 4, 2007 @ 2:08 pm
I get a kick out of watching all my fellow writers despair that the AMPTP “has more money than the writers and can hold out forever” and whining that “the AMPTP are professional negotiators, we’re just mere writers” and on and on. Think about this, though: if Sumner Redstone is such a genius, why did he overpay for Blockbuster Video in the days when anyone could clearly see the slump it was heading for? He lost $2 Billion or so on that deal. Some “negotiating wizard” he is. Look at the lame deal he allowed Paramount to strike with Tom Cruise: Cruise put up NONE of the money to make films like Mission Impossible III, yet received, in essence, 1/3 of the first dollar grosses. How is THAT the sign of an omnipotent media overlord negotiator?
Piss-poor deals like this can be found all through the Hollywood system. Time-Warner allowing itself to be swallowed by stock-bubble-monster AOL? Har. How many billions in shareholder value did that deal disintegrate? Sony pictures hiring Guber/Peters to run their studio into the ground? The examples go on and on and on. Even today… David Geffen has been quoted in the trades as saying he left $1 Billion on the table when he sold Dreamworks Pictures to Paramount. A BILLION DOLLARS!? Remember, Geffen is widely considered the best negotiator in the business. So let’s stop all this sobbing and self-deprecating about how poorly we lowly writers negotiate, shall we? Our opponents have proven themselves utterly retarded time and time again… there’s no reason to fear any of them. I mean, look at NBC — they’re about to repeat ABC’s colossal blunder of running nothing but “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” 5 nights a week. Does anyone really think “American Gladiators” will be one tenth as successful as “The Office”? If so, you’re in the wrong business.
Calm down, writers. No union has EVER had more money than the Owners… and yet unions have been successful for a very long time in squeezing Management. Stand strong, keep picketing, and we’ll see an end to this strike come February at the latest.
Comment by Propagandist — December 4, 2007 @ 2:34 pm
The WGA is a labor union. It’s just called a “guild” because we like fancy words.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters are not actually brothers. They, too, are a union.
Sorry, “Anonymous,” but not all good speeches include the ol’ “Webster’s Dictionary defines __________ as…”.
Comment by Klaatu — December 4, 2007 @ 2:41 pm
>>And what’s wrong with ML funneling money to MGM. All the major funders are funding all the major studios. Am I missing something here?<<
Nothing wrong with it per se. But it does show who’s got whose hands in whose pockets.
Wall Street is just as corrupt and riddled with liars and scumbags as Hollywood.
Hollywood tells the creatives and the press that they’re losing money left and right (boo hoo) while telling Wall Street that they’re making mucho bucks (yay).
You don’t think Wall Street knows what’s going on and is happily going along with this?
So expecting Wall Street to come riding in and saving the day ain’t gonna happen.
Wall Street makes money off the studios. Hello!
Comment by Sherilyn — December 4, 2007 @ 5:17 pm
Trying to negotiate with Counter is a waste of time. He does not have the power to make a deal, all he can do is say no. It’s time to get Dr. No out of the room and let the CEOs do the bargaining.
Comment by InsideMan — December 15, 2007 @ 9:54 pm