After days and days of silence from the studios' and networks' side of the strike, I just received this somewhat cryptic statement from AMPTP President Nick Counter: "The WGA is using fear and intimidation to control its membership. Asking members to inform on each other and creating a blacklist of those who question the tactics of the WGA leadership is as unacceptable today as it was when the WGA opposed these tactics in the 1950s."
Let me explain. The Alliance representing studios and networks and other entertainment owners is upset over what it sees as a "rat squad" operating under WGA auspicies to "inform on members breaking strike rules and to snitch on anyone who works as a scab," as a source explains to me. Finally, after some bumbling, the AMPTP issued an addendum to explain the issue more fully through -- what else? -- a Variety story.
Actually, the AMPTP is days late reacting to the WGA's strike rules as well as to the news release that the guild was setting up a WGAW Strike Rules Compliance Committee (SRCC) comprised of 12 WGAW members whose "mission is to discourage violations of the Guild's Strike Rules by investigating allegations that writers are undermining our strike efforts by engaging in strike-breaking activities or scab writing and, in appropriate instances, by recommending action against such writers. By doing so, we hope first and foremost to discourage such writers from breaking the Strike Rules."
UPDATE: The WGAW responded to the AMPTP today with the following statement: "Mr. Counter's charge is as offensive as it is untrue. To accuse the Writers Guild of America of blacklisting, when it was we who suffered the most from it in the past, is simply Mr. Counter's desperate attempt to divert attention from the fact that it was he who walked out of the negotiations, and it is he who refuses every day to return to the table. The WGA has an offer on the table and is ready and willing to meet with the AMPTP any day, anywhere."
Of course, the great irony here given AMPTP's ire is that, according to the guild's website, the WGA's online strike-breaking form "is currently unavailable" so to report an incident of strike breaking or scab writing for investigation, members have to call "the WGAW strike tip hotline".
I certainly heard complaints from various TV showrunners right after the walkout started how unnerving it was to have the strike captains on their staffs watching them closely with an eye to informing on any strike rule-breaking activity. On the other hand, I've got to say it's rather naive of the AMPTP to think that the WGA would not try to enforce strike discipline. That's just Labor 101.
And it is also hilarious that the AMPTP is using a Variety story about the "Compliance Committee" to make its case for it. Between all the paid ads that the AMPTP is placing in the trades, and all the free publicity it's giving them, The Alliance is the best friend that Reed Business and Nielsen publications could have now, just when the trades' credibility during this strike is being scrutinized and questioned by media critics on both coasts.
You dont need to explain what’s going on in a minute, nikki, Nick Counter is a bonafide loon, no need to elaborate on something we already know.
Comment by floss daily — November 13, 2007 @ 2:53 pm
Yeah. Like we need Nick Counter looking out for us.
If we want your opinion, Nick, we’ll squeeze your head. Stay in your little box until the mogul cabal pulls you out, puts their collective hand up your butt and makes your mouth move.
Oh wait…
Comment by slk writer — November 13, 2007 @ 2:53 pm
Well, there’s one way to change the subject from the You Tube vid that’s going viral. Good luck, Nick.
Comment by Harley — November 13, 2007 @ 2:54 pm
I guess this less than positive message from the AMPTP means that the agencies didn’t make much progress bringing both sides back to the negotiating room?
Comment by jr — November 13, 2007 @ 2:55 pm
“a blacklist of those who question the tactics of the WGA leadership is as unacceptable today as it was when the WGA opposed these tactics in the 1950s.”
Oh, I can’t wait! Let’s see, which blacklist did the WGA oppose in the 50’s? Oh, right! The one that was CREATED BY THE STUDIO BOSSES!
Comment by DLW — November 13, 2007 @ 2:58 pm
I’ll explain… It’s the AMPTP accusing us of using tactics that they themselves have employed.
- The AMPTP are refusing to negotiate.
- The AMPTP have put everyone out of work for the holidays, laying off crew and studio employees while they suspend overall deals and wait to force majeure those contracts.
- The AMPTP leaks rumors of a nine month strike to local news outlets, who then report that as news, so as to create financial fear among writers and all the other unions as well.
If you didn’t know already, or after seeing the moguls report on all the money they’re making in new media, how can anyone believe anything these guys say?
Comment by writer who earned 60K in 07 — November 13, 2007 @ 3:00 pm
Yeah, Counter is REALLY worried about the WGA membership.
I’m sure he’s losing sleep.
The AMPTP… sad, little, old men.
Comment by Jefffrey — November 13, 2007 @ 3:02 pm
Question for Nick Counter: Who is your audience? If you were a writer this would be one of the first questions you’d ask yourself before shining a light on what are in fact your own tactics of fear and intimidation. Lawsuits against showrunners, co-eps, and supervising producers? We are united and that means no one who claims the protections of that unity can break the rules. That’s not intimidation, that’s what we signed up for.
Comment by leo — November 13, 2007 @ 3:06 pm
I’m a writer. The more I look at the video clip claims by the studio heads, the more I realize this will be a long haul because they have plenty to hide here - it’s a gold mine and they know it. There’s going to be a correlation between how long they let the strike go on without offering a fair deal and how badly they want to keep the writers from seeing how much money there truly is in internet. The studios are parking a beat up old car on top of an oil well they claim may or may not be flush with oil. Well, we know there’s oil and we can see the well. And WE WILL wait them out.
Comment by outsidelookingin — November 13, 2007 @ 3:11 pm
Really, Nick Counter? That’s what you’ve come up with? A 1950’s blacklist conspiracy? That’s the best you’ve got? Wow, you really do need the writers.
Comment by Theodore — November 13, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
No need to explain, Nikki. I think we all know that Nick Counter is just trying to spin union policy his way. WGA members are being asked to let the leadership know if anyone is scabbing. This is not at all unusual during a strike by any union.
The idea that Counter is trying to compare Guild leadership to McCarthy shows how low he is willing to go, and how out of touch he is with reality.
Comment by Matt Miller — November 13, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
Wah!
Comment by Norm A. Rae — November 13, 2007 @ 3:17 pm
Sounds like Counter and his cronies are getting desperate. Clearly they are losing the PR war and are now resorting to this nonsense. I’ve been on the picket line every day since last Monday and the members on the line have been nothing but supportive of each other and the cause. The picketers are energized. Everyone believes this strike is important. There is no — repeat, no — sense of fear and intimidation among the members I’ve walked with. There is a wonderful feeling that we’re all in this together to the bitter end.
Comment by Mike — November 13, 2007 @ 3:32 pm
The WGA like any union has strike rules for a reason. Nick Counter is trying to find a story where there is none. The last time I saw this behavior was during Jr. high.
Comment by I don't heart nick cunter — November 13, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
As a WGA writer, I fully support the SRCC and would use it if I thought someone was scabbing.
If you have to do it, go fi-core and have some balls about it. So then I can scowl at you and know I would never hire/ work with you.
There are way too many people making big sacrifices (writers and btl peeps), for some self serving pigs to slip work in under the radar…you don’t get to enjoy the benefits of guild membership if you’re going to undermine it.
The AMPTP trying to turn it into a SCANDAL is hilarious and only highlights how desperate they are.
Comment by wga writer — November 13, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
Are you serious? That’s where this guy’s head is? Please, AMPTP — get Counter the hell out of there.
Comment by WGA Writer — November 13, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
Could this be another ploy by the AMPTP to weaken the WGA’s resolve? Stepping out in defense of scabs leaves the impression that there are actual scabs they are trying to protect. Or are they sending the message to would-be scabs that the moguls will protect them? Laughable.
Comment by ML — November 13, 2007 @ 3:42 pm
I’m so glad that Nick Counter is focusing on the internal politics of the WGA because that should really be his first priority. Meanwhile, he still has not addressed the real issues at hand…for instance, WHY WE ARE STRIKING IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! He is like Dorothy in ‘The Wizard of Oz’. He thinks if he just keeps banging his slippers together and wishing he could go home, he will be magically transported back to a place where none of these scary beasts exist. So transparent and annoying. Stop trying to distract people and face the music, Nick.
Comment by Merryj — November 13, 2007 @ 3:43 pm
A solution does not appear imminent. Counter redefines the term “tool”.
Comment by Sammy Glick — November 13, 2007 @ 3:48 pm
For Counter to conflate a union’s enforcement of its own strike rules with the days of the Communist witch hunt when artists turned in their fellow artists merely for exercising their Constitutional right to political association, is beyond disingenuous, it’s disgusting. And transparently manipulative. I’m glad you didn’t buy it for a second. Labor 101, indeed.
Comment by Allison Burnett — November 13, 2007 @ 3:50 pm
Okay, I get it, Nick, you don’t like the WGA. Now quit dodging the real issues and get back to the bargaining table.
Give us our fair share (I mean, a bigger unfair share) and you won’t have to deal with us again for three years.
Mike Scully
Comment by Mike Scully — November 13, 2007 @ 3:54 pm
Meanwhile, the networks have forced their daytime soap writers to go fi-core if they don’t want to be fired.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975855.html?categoryId=14
Comment by Non WGA Writer — November 13, 2007 @ 3:55 pm
Is it just me or is the AMPTP seeming more and more pathetic with each passing day?
They clearly have not adjusted to this thing known as the “Information superhighway,” aka, “The Interweb.” Every stale attempt to undermine the union is met with mocking on blogs and scorn from members.
Maybe this crap working in 1988 when we didn’t have access to websites, blogs and online videos, but those days are gone. The AMPTP does not seem to be able to adjust to the new world.
Comment by DA in LA — November 13, 2007 @ 3:56 pm
Huh. I’m not sure what “blacklist of those who question the tactics of the WGA leadership” Mr.Counter is referring to. Writers are an opinionated bunch of individuals with widely different opinions. Some mind that the leadership took DVDs off the table, others think it was wise. Some question the timing of the strike, others think it’s brilliant. I haven’t seen anybody being reprimanded for expressing an opinion. Oh, and the one thing everyone I’ve talked to is in agreement on is that they will stay on strike as long as necessary to get a fair deal from Mr. Counter. So please, can he stop wasting time trying to divide writers and just get back to the negotiating table already so the companies he works for can go back to making huge profits and the writers can get their crumbs of the pie and go back to work? That makes everyone happy.
Comment by WGA Writer — November 13, 2007 @ 3:58 pm
Oh, poor Nicholas, the whiner.
Now that the the AMPTP has been exposed as the duplicitous greed mongers they and the entire World agrees, he has the temerity to launch a petty grenade which only exemplifies that the WGA is united.
Hey Nick, how about getting your ass to the Negtable and doing something worthwhile, like putting an end to this ridiculous charade.
Comment by PJ - Writer — November 13, 2007 @ 4:01 pm
Wait… unions don’t like scabs?
Crap.
That’s why I failed that American History test in 10th grade.
This latest blurb, and thanks for it, Nikki, disheartens me. After all the silence I was hoping AMPTP’s next move would be towards the negoshe table.
Comment by Wanna-Writer-Be — November 13, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
Sounds like fallout from the Ellen fiasco.
I knew that was a bad idea as soon as I read about it here.
Comment by turningpoint — November 13, 2007 @ 4:11 pm
And what, pray tell, would the AMPTP do about a studio who signed a separate agreement with the WGA to pay 8 cents per DVD and a fair participation in online revenues? I’m sure that would just result in a few forced chuckles and shaking of heads.
Comment by Nick — November 13, 2007 @ 4:21 pm
How are the WGA actions not analogous to the fifties blacklist?
If one wants to work in this town they are basically FORCED to join a union to do so, whether they want to or not. And the writer that is forced to join a union is then forced to abide by the collective will of that union, whether he agrees or not.
So now, as we heard in reaction to the Ellen mess, WGA members are calling for the heads of anybody who crosses or disagrees with them, going so far as to call for the revocation of (forced) WGA membership with the understood result that those so unfortunate will “never be able to work with a Guild signatory again!” Of course, basically everybody is a Guild signatory, so that means never working again.
Clearly, WGA members are using bald intimidation to threaten the livelihoods and ability to work of anybody that doesn’t tow their line. I’m sorry, but that IS a blacklist.
“Join our union or you can’t work!” followed by “You decided to join so now you must follow our rules whether you agree or not”!” is pretty totalitarian and thuggish behavior, whether you want to admit it or not. Individual rights be damned, eh?
Both sides of this fight are sinking well beyond decency, unfortunately.
Comment by BC — November 13, 2007 @ 4:22 pm
A lesson learned from the strike of ‘88 is that PR doesn’t weaken the resolve of either side. Only time and pain do that. For all our sakes, I hope (perhaps naively so) that both sides will stop talking publicly and quietly slip away to settle this dispute before too much time has passed… and too many lives are ruined.
Comment by yetanotherwriter — November 13, 2007 @ 4:22 pm
HollywoodUnited.com (a WGA-controlled site) just posted that they expect the strike to go at least 60 days. Pace yourselves, they say. It’s reasonable to assume they are getting the word out for good reason. (In other words: Stop Holding Your Breath).
Be strong.
Comment by Concerned — November 13, 2007 @ 4:27 pm
FYI: The nets haven’t forced any daytime writers to go fi-core. They’ve used the same intimidation tactics they used on other writers in the industry — letters encouraging us to go fi-core and not-so-subtly threatening lay offs for those who don’t. I got that letter, filed it, and kept stepping to my picket line. So did many of the writers I know. Obviously some have chosen to bow to pressure, but they are in the minority.
Daytime writers are just as invested as anyone else in getting a fair deal. Sure, we don’t get DVD resids, but it’s not that far off that our product could get offerred up on the web like everything else. Also, some of us go between jobs in daytime and primetime. We’re in this together. Don’t let the MSM convince you otherwise.
Comment by AC — November 13, 2007 @ 4:32 pm
Wow. I can’t believe (or can I?) the AMPTP is actualy trying to blame others for things that they, themselves have done. Just how immature IS the AMPTP?
Comment by supernova8610 — November 13, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
Blacklist… hey, that’s a great idea. I think the WGA SHOULD start a blacklist. Here’s the first few names:
Nick Counter
Rupert Murdoch
Les Moonves
Ben Silverman
Jeff Zucker
Bob Iger
Sumner Redstone
The 21st Century Greed Mongers. Isn’t there some way to banish them? Can we add another circle to hell?
Comment by dantedpo@aol.com — November 13, 2007 @ 4:43 pm
LA TIMES reports the Governator cannot get involved in directly mediating, as the Federal Mediation and Conciliation services has jurisdiction. Why isn’t anyone contacting Juan Carlos Gonzalez, the federal mediator to pressure him to get the parties back to the table?
While you’re at it, also call Sentators Boxer and Feinstein as well as your local Rep. This strike will DEVASTATE the Los Angeles economy if it continues thru the holidays. By the end of the month nearly all TV production will be shut down.
Contact: Juan Gonzalez
(W) (562) 980-3553
(F) (562) 980-3296
jcgonzalez@fmcs.gov
Comment by conerned production person — November 13, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
ug. when did this site become a forum for juvenile name-calling and chest-thumping?
the tone of these comments make me embarrassed to be on the writer’s side. i can’t decide what is in worse taste… the nick counter vitriol or the irrational group-think hatred for scabs.
robd, wga writer.
Comment by robd — November 13, 2007 @ 4:49 pm
Hollywood existed in the 50s?… Whoah.
P.S. I like the Sammy Glick reference above haha.
Comment by Brian Laesch — November 13, 2007 @ 4:55 pm
I think it’ll be a while yet before the AMPTP really sues showrunners and writers — Or at least as long as it takes them to whip up a second set of book-keeping.
Comment by writer guy — November 13, 2007 @ 4:59 pm
robd is a plant. Welcome to the party, pal!
Comment by slk writer — November 13, 2007 @ 5:22 pm
I am a wga member, not because I want to be, and I find the rat rule offensive. In fact, I am offended by being forced to be a part of the union.
Comment by Richard hertz — November 13, 2007 @ 5:23 pm
“RICHARD hertz”?
Clever!
Comment by slk writer — November 13, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
Richard Hertz -
then go fi-core and GET OUT. Bye, see ya. NOBODY MAKES YOU JOIN.
But Do you think you’d have the health care and penion and basic mins without it?
Comment by wga writer — November 13, 2007 @ 5:43 pm
WOW! 60 days? That will kill all of the new shows for this season and all pilots for next season. If the strike goes that long we are all screwed it will be at least a year before there are any new opportunities for writers. This is f’ed up!
Comment by Frustrated — November 13, 2007 @ 5:46 pm
BC — it is perfectly possible to work in this town without being part of a union. Just ask Quentin Tarantino.
Comment by Kitty — November 13, 2007 @ 5:47 pm
I am exhausted. My feet are killing me. And I’m sunburnt now - in November. This picketing is a heck of a lot harder than I would have ever believed. And I can’t wait to get back out there tomorrow.
Comment by WGA Picketer — November 13, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
Richard Hertz… feel free to quit the WGA and get another career. You might be “forced” to be part of the union, but no one forced you to become a screenwriter.
Abby
WGA Member and proud of it.
Comment by Abby — November 13, 2007 @ 5:50 pm
I feel you pain, Rich. I used to have a non-union job (not as a writer), and the difference being part of a union is like night and day. I hate better wages, I hate the prospect of actually getting paid for all the work I do, I hate having benefits, I hate knowing that if my daughter gets sick she’s covered (gives the kid an ugly sense of entitlement and suffering is good for the soul), it’s just a nightmare from which I’ll never be able to wake up. I especially hate the fact that their are rules for belonging to an organization and violation of the rules is grounds for expulsion from that organization–no fair! Rules?????? Thanks, Joe McCarthy. But I get the last laugh, I burn the money, refuse to go to the doctor, and live in a cardboard box just like my days at Wal-mart. Ha ha, totalitarians, you can make me join your evil cabal of benefits but you can’t take away my individual rights. Freeze for freedom!
Comment by Anon — November 13, 2007 @ 5:52 pm
As for these people complaining that they HAVE to join a union and how unfair and offensive - you would then still be getting no residuals at all, no pension, no health benefits, nothing! You think the studios back in the 40’s and the 60’s would have just decided one fine morning, hey let’s give the schmucks with underwoods some these huge profits we’ve been getting on re-runs and hey, they should have a pension and health benefits, too - let’s contribute to that, ok Louie?? Please. Stage actors join Equity, film and TV actors join SAG and these unions were formed to make sure that the artist stopped getting screwed. You can’t take all the good and then complain about the bad. You see how generous the studios are being right now, aren’t you? THAT’S why the writers have a union - because if they make two thousand pennies off that DVD - the one I created and wrote, they want to just give me four pennies - we have the nerve to be asking for eight pennies. My god, we’re robber barons.
Comment by skoonix — November 13, 2007 @ 5:53 pm
I think, maybe, what “robd” refers to are posts by writers that read like they were penned by grade-schoolers. It’s a free world, just because someone throws criticism on you doesn’t mean he/she’s from the “other side.” Mature, reasonable replies are too few. I bet “robd” is a writer, and I’m with him. Settle in for the next 60 days and catch your breath, Big Media couldn’t care less what’s blogged here or anywhere else, it won’t sway them in the least (and I love Nikki’s site, by the way). Put your feet on the pavement if you want to be heard. There’s only ONE way to interpret that.
Comment by SighItsFiction — November 13, 2007 @ 5:54 pm
OMG, you mean the WGA doesn’t WANT US TO SCAB? Now, see I didn’t know that!!!!! You’re right, Nick, that is horrible. How dare they they ask that, let alone try to enforce it. And what’s their problem trying to keep track of people who scab when they could just try and make a mental note! The nerve.
Comment by ifwestrikeletsmakeitcount — November 13, 2007 @ 6:05 pm
I love the people who are disgusted to be members of a union. Are you horrified when the green envelope arrives? Are you held hostage when you go to the doctor and the care is paid for? Will you feel your livelihood is threatened when you’re living off your pension? If not, then stand down, friends. These were hard-won gains the union won for you and that the union protects. Hate to be the one who breaks it to you, but every once in a while in this great country, the big corporations don’t treat their employees so well with out a little nudge from the collective.
And I’m betting you’re plants anyway.
Comment by Ivanna Verk — November 13, 2007 @ 6:06 pm
So’s Dick Hertz.
Comment by Grace — November 13, 2007 @ 6:08 pm
Richard Hertz, I’m sorry you’re forced to get health and pension, not to mention hard-won residuals and minimums. Oh, and that you don’t have to suffer credit determinations by the studios that employ you. Those things actually offend me.
Comment by writer — November 13, 2007 @ 6:08 pm
Nikki, thought you were going to be fair and balance? Didn’t take you but a few days to get sucked into the WGA’s hype.
Comment by Rocco Sir Freddy — November 13, 2007 @ 6:12 pm
If the idea is to try to convince anyone who does scab work not to do it beforehand, I’m all for it. If it’s to put up these people’s names in a public forum (like a website) and brand them traitors… well, that is very much a blacklist. Especially since it seems it would be tough to prove you weren’t a traitor once accused. (Just like it would be hard to prove you’re not a witch, or a communist, or unAmerican in the past.) If the Guild went down this path, it would betray the sacrifices of the Hollywood Ten and I would quit tomorrow.
But the Guild putting pressure on its membership to not do the work — by private phone calls if needed — well, that seems just fine. It’s a balance for sure, but I trust the Guild leadership to handle it well. In my opinion they’ve done great so far.
Oh, and I do agree that personal attacks at Nick Counter are silly. Fun perhaps, but calling him a dolt or the devil does nothing to further the reconciliation. Our goal isn’t to strike, it’s to make a deal. And he’s the one we have to make a deal with. Sad, but true. So let’s keep it professional.
Comment by George Glass — November 13, 2007 @ 6:36 pm
I don’t think Nikki was “sucked in” to the WGA side. What is the AMPTP side, exactly? They don’t want to negotiate? they don’t want to say they’re making money on new media to writers when they openly say so to their shareholders? they call the WGA liars but don’t specify the nature of the lies? If the moguls had anything worth saying, I believe Nikki would report it. She didn’t hesitate to point out David Young’s silly “chair” incident or to say that the personal animosity among negotiators was getting in the way of the talks, when there were talks. Reporting the facts here does make the story pretty one-sided. But that’s how it lays out.
Comment by another hyphenate — November 13, 2007 @ 6:55 pm
how it is possible that with so many of the studios and networks being owned by publicly traded companies, the moguls can continue to claim poverty? Would all of the crooked accounting that’s done specific to deny proper financial participation to writers et al suppress shareholder value? can we file a class action suit and force transparency on them once and for all? seriously.
Comment by investomatic — November 13, 2007 @ 6:58 pm
No-one’s forced to obey the WGA. You can go Fi-Core, which means you pay the same dues (less political contribs) and get the same benefits, but you don’t have voting rights and you are not subject to disciplinary action for strike-breaking. No, you won’t be popular, but if you really disagree with the WGA position and need the money, there’s your escape hatch.
See the AMPTP site for details.
Is it a good idea? No. But let’s not have any more bullshit about not being able to work, please.
Comment by john Brownlow — November 13, 2007 @ 7:05 pm
SighItsFiction,
My feet ARE on the picket line. And I AM settled in, thank you.
On what exactly do you base your estimation the ROBD is a writer? The way he espouses the gentle-care and feeding of Nick Counter? Or his tolerant attitude towards scabs?
You’re either a plant—or a joke. Perhaps both.
Comment by slk writer — November 13, 2007 @ 7:53 pm
I feel your pain, “Dick Hertz”. And I’m ready to help.
Just sign over all those oppressive residual checks to me. Oh, and your pension plan, too.
Comment by Dave — November 13, 2007 @ 8:01 pm
60 days? You can’t be serious…I can’t imagine less than 4 months.
and yes the WGA is blacklisting writers/showrunners and so is the AMPTP
Both suck….get back to the table you evil bastards!!!
Comment by EXDGA — November 13, 2007 @ 8:37 pm
This is a complex place for many of us to be, but, seriously, lay off the personal attacks. With all the hustle, marching and sore feet on the line, it’s also civil.
Comment by Concerned — November 13, 2007 @ 9:11 pm
Sure, slk. You got me. I’m a plant. I’m –specifically– a ficus.
Comment by SighitsFiction — November 13, 2007 @ 10:24 pm
Fi-Core is looking better all the time.
The WGA is for Prime TV Network Writers. If you’re situation is different, say, you are a soap opera writer, than you really kind of get screwed.
What download of Young and the Restless is gonna get sold? Not one damn download. There is NO money there. Meanwhile, the Soap Opera Business, is gonna get get screwed royally by this strike. People Are Not Coming Back once their stupid soaps are gone. So if you are a Soap Opera writer, should you go Fi-Core? Of course you should go Fi-Core. The WGA is sacrificing your livelihood for something which you do not benefit.
Comment by annoyed — November 13, 2007 @ 11:21 pm
Annoyed is also a plant. You losers are so transparent.
Comment by AC — November 13, 2007 @ 11:32 pm
From United Hollywood:
Wow..every time a crew member posts about what about us or asked anything? A WGA person screams we are trolls and AMPTP plants.
That is it, you have lost this production coordinator..I know how much the 13 writers on my 1 hour drama make.
Shame on you!
13 writers for 22 epsiodes….really!
Way to divide ..
Out of the 13, 3 break story and 2 write and get script credit but all make over 6 figures.
Yea poor writers.
Kiss my outta work ass!
I am going to my production contacts tonight and send some of the bs you have been writing here to my 112 out of work crew members and ask them to share it with their out of work friends.
You get free coffee and we stay on line at unemployment. You grin in the face of millionaires and we try to not feel bad about being considered collateral damage in a war that has nothing to do with us. Yes you contribute to pension but so do we…please that is a pisspoor excuse to have a strike.
At least the AMPTP is not pretending they care about us. You all disgust me.
Thanks for being typical above the line.
Comment by ExDGA — November 14, 2007 @ 12:40 am
Abby, no one forced me to be a screenwriter? That’s true, I chose to be a screenwriter. I am an individual, and the collective will of a bunch of tv hacks, who write dreck to sell soap will never determine how I express myself. I am not a plant. If I wasn’t paying for my wga health plan, I would buy one elsewhere. My agents negotiate my deals, not the wga. My value is determined in the marketplace. I won’t be sending any of you my residual checks. I think this strike is all about TV writers, which doesn’t have any bearing on my business. I think the juvenile, and hostile responses to any differing opinion, especially from a dues-paying writer who isn’t writing even though he doesn’t agree with the wga on this issue at all, is pathetic.
There is a lot of self-congratulatory pseudo proletarian posts on all these threads. I think these fantasies of victory are going to come crashing down. Sorry if these opinions offend you.
Comment by richard hertz — November 14, 2007 @ 12:52 am
AC, i’m a guild member. Like I’m not allowed to have a different opinion than you…. As if this strike is just some act of unquestionable genius.
And AC… could you please explain to me how daytime writers benefit from this strike? What kind of residuals should “Days of Our Lives” writers be expecting from internet downloads exactly?
Comment by annoyed — November 14, 2007 @ 1:05 am
I love TV, I’m an LA native, and I support the writers! I’m also hoping everyone else reading this blog who feels the same is considering donating to the strike fund …
I only wish there was a way for viewers to just pay the artists directly. Like the writers, we feel totally screwed by the studios who charge way too much for DVDs and then don’t even properly reward the actual artists.
Comment by waterloo — November 14, 2007 @ 1:20 am
It’s time to bust down the door, wheel in the guillotine, and lop off the head – metaphorically speaking, of course — of Nick “Bean” Counter, who, by innocently acting as a mouthpiece for his corporate masters, managed to polarize the strike talks into nonexistence, antagonize nearly everybody, lie and spin without compunction, make the sobriquet of “producer” into a dirty word, and openly engage in the most naked form of union-busting with a smug superiority that belies the CEOs own sense of invulnerability. You might recognize this character, from MATEWAN.
My question is this: what other company or companies do you know of that would have allowed this guy to exist in their hierarchy past Day Two of the strike?
The “millions for defense but not one cent for tribute” attitude that prevails on both sides now is a direct yield of the Counter / Verrone cockfight. It was inevitable and perhaps conditionally necessary, but having served their inflammatory purpose, maybe they should step aside now so cooler heads may meet, if not prevail. They should take a vacation. Preferably together.
The studio stubbornness is no surprise – every day they hold out is another day they get to keep all the dough. They used to think this way in terms of fiscal years (remember, according to Fox’s accounting, the original ALIEN was still in the red for decades), but now it’s dwindled to day-by-day, they’re circling their wagons hoping to starve out the writers in the dead zone between now and New Year’s.
Yet no one is supposed to come right out and say that studio accounting practices are inherently untrustworthy. Contracts are a form of keeping everyone honest, or at least on the same page. The MBA is a contract. The studio system as it was once known has become so top-heavy with lawyers and bureaucrats that perhaps it needs to collapse into the tar-pit of obsolescence that has beckoned it for the past few decades. The commercial broadcast distribution model for television is the same one used since the 1950s, yet “broadcast” TV as it is known is going away in 2009. The sky really is falling, even the studios want to make a deal, and they’re vaporlocked by their own mouthpieces? That’s just not good business, from people who are supposed to know business better than anything.
As to the thorny topic of downloads and the internet, I submit that DeadlineHollywoodDaily is a de facto demonstration of the value of the internet as new media. Even the WGA website lags at least 24 hours behind real breaking news, and conventional journalism (i.e., newspapers, trade papers and TV) is either woefully inadequate, terminally truncated or obviously biased. DHD has become the cutting edge of information on the strike. I’ll stop short of nominating Nikki Finke as mediator, because her head would probably explode.
But I sure am glad you’re here.
And don’t even get me started on the old New-York-Vs.-L.A. hatreds promulgated in the predictable view of the New Yorker. Those prejudices predate television itself, and root in publishing houses now owned by the same corporations as the studios. Today, the joke is that getting a novel off the launch pad incurs as much grief and interference as marketing a movie … except they don’t pay you anything for your trouble.
Ollie L.
PS: I tried posting this in response to the New Yorker piece, which vanished, so pardon the repetition if it did get through.
Comment by Oliver Lowebruck — November 14, 2007 @ 1:31 am
The comments on this site are being overtaken by the people with the most spit and vitriol. It makes writers who prefer to be seen as adult, no make that human, ashamed to possibly be lumped in the same boat with them. I hope everyone realizes some of these comments are just part of an unfortunate fringe.
Comment by realnumbersplease — November 14, 2007 @ 2:34 am
so i am definitely not a plant (ficus or otherwise). i just think that as a group we need to focus on our message, on our goals, and do it in as classy a way as possible.
people are losing their jobs. putting their families and houses at risk. and i think a situation this serious requires that we hold us ourselves to a certain standard of behavior.
my post was in response to wgawriter calling people who choose to go fi-core “self-serving pigs” and saying that he wants a list of their names so he can “give them dirty looks and never work with them again.”
i believe that this kind of language crosses over into bullying and it is my belief that this does nothing but hurt our cause. some might disagree with me, but i think our energy should be spent on our real enemy… the amptp.
i will say it again: name-calling, chest-thumping and in-fighting are only helping the producer’s cause.
if we stay on message, stay focused and stay unified, we can and will get the result that we want from this strike. i have no doubts about that.
Comment by robd — November 14, 2007 @ 3:09 am
Everyone’s a ‘plant’ who doesn’t agree with you? This is the short cut to self-delusion.
Comment by richard hertz — November 14, 2007 @ 6:21 am
Sorry. I’m new to this topic and I may not get it. But my understanding is that the networks and studios made 20 ba-ba-ba-billion dollars last year just from re-runs of the shows that the writers wrote. I mean: How hard can it be for the networks to put on re-runs while I assume the studios don’t have to do much of anything? And yet, the writers only get one-third of one penny from each dollar of the 20 bill that wouldn’t be there in the first place if it weren’t for them? Give me a break! The two-and-a-half pennies on the dollar the writers are striking for doesn’t seem like asking for too much - or nearly enough. Not when I think of the incentive the increase will provide writers to create even more wonderful shows that are worthy of being re-run, and when I think of all the money the networks will make from that. What am I missing? -Dan Currie, Boston
Comment by Dan — November 14, 2007 @ 6:26 am
Yes. I agree. Everyone who expresses an opposing point of view must be a plant. Humans certainly can’t do that. Only plants can. So the question then becomes, what kind of plants? House plants? Or merely the garden variety?
Comment by chauncy gardener — November 14, 2007 @ 6:43 am
I hope Counter is enjoying himself. Where I work now is a freaking trainwreck because of his refusal to negotiate. I wonder how he sleeps at night knowing that he’s responsible — and I hold him — not the WGA — responsible for thousands of people being laid off.
I would never scab. I would never do it knowing that I would be taking the very job of someone whose work I respect and admire. It’s backstabbing the very people who help you.
Comment by Anonymouse — November 14, 2007 @ 8:09 am
AC, you do nothing in these comments but call anyone who disagrees with you a plant. Go run back to Aint It Cool News where you belong. Grown ups are trying to have a conversation and we don’t need little kids like you pulling on our clothes and begging for more cookies.
Comment by Shane — November 14, 2007 @ 9:00 am
So daytime soaps won’t be uploaded onto network websites eventually? Yeah, right. And writers on daytime drama won’t ever want to move to primetime?
If shills are going to come on here at least TRY and do a decent job of it.
Comment by FightingIrish — November 14, 2007 @ 9:02 am
It’s so clear to me now that the AMPTP has no interest in settling this any time in the near future. All they seem interested in is bad-mouthing the WGA in a PR campaign of lies and half-truths. I’m sure this means we’re in for a long, long strike - NOT that we have any other option, mind you.
But I hope this makes people realize that being “the bigger guy” and offering to return to work if they return to the table is as pointless as offering to sit down and talk with the school bully. If there’s such a thing as group integrity, these folks ‘aint got any.
Comment by writer — November 14, 2007 @ 9:53 am
I wonder…. how much studio conglomerate stock do California union pension funds own?
Whether the present- and forward-looking statements of corporate performance summarized here (http://tinyurl.com/2kaenk), compared with AMPTP statements regarding Internet profitability, represent violations of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance?
And, whether a few union pension fund managers could make like for the studio heads very uncomfortable, by bringing a lawsuit or two, to the fore? If the studios are kiting their stock, by saying Internet content’s already monetized, but plead poor to consumers and the craft unions, then someone’s making illegal bank, on the discrepancy…
Comment by cgeye — November 14, 2007 @ 11:49 am
I was not called a plant, but I was called an “Arnold staff member” because I have the balls to think he is trying to bring the sides to the table and don’t think he is really in the “pockets” of studio moguls.
What is the average WORKING WGA writer make? People here keep thinking they belong to a union of poor middle class service industry workers or machine workers. YOU HAVE DECIDED TO WORK IN THE ARTS-only the very lucky few will ever make a dime. It does not matter what the average member makes, it matters what people WHO ARE WORKING MAKE!. Maybe they sell one script but are not really that good. Maybe they are old and have no modern POV and can’t get work. Just because you are in the WGA does not mean you are ever going to REALLY be a TV writer. So with that being the reality, the rank and file have just gotten all hot and bothered over something that will NEVER REALLY EFFECT THEM, and put thousand of workers doing different things out of work. The WGA won’t win this. The companies make too much $ from other things. In the end the WGA will be weaker. The middle class workers will be weaker. And maybe, just maybe, star show runners and writers will put some extra coin in their pockets. I’ll also ask this again-Should a boom guy, casting director, or driver get paid for downloads?
Comment by realworldperson — November 14, 2007 @ 12:43 pm
It’s doubtful that the AMPTP will negotiate with the WGA in the next six months or so. My guess is that they’ll continue to stonewall the WGA to make an example of them before negotiating with the DGA and SAG.
Comment by lawdawg76 — November 14, 2007 @ 12:53 pm
cgeye,
You make an interesting point. I would love to put Iger on the witness stand and ask, “Were you lying then, or are you lying now?”
Comment by lawdawg76 — November 14, 2007 @ 1:01 pm
Someone once said, “In this business, the Assets go home at night.”
i think the AMPTP has forgotten this.
I’ve said this before - and I’ll say it again. This is not about the residual money for the studios.
The WGA presented numerous items in their proposals. They took all but one off the table. If this was about the money - The Studios would have signed a deal and that would be that. The numbers are small enough that it would have minimal impact on the bottom line. If in fact, there was no money to be made in new media - well, 2.5% of nothing is nothing. No harm, no foul.
This is about Jurisdiction in new media.
The Studios want to exclude the unions from the profits and the production of content distributed over the internet. Because this way , they can crush the unions. If they hold the line, then they will create content for the internet first - then do a re-broadcast it on TV or in Theaters. Thereby avoiding union labor altogether.
A new show, called “quarterlife” has already been released on MySpace and they want it to follow that model. It is a test case - I bet they don’t even really care if it works that well - They are testing the technology and the model.
The big money they want to save is not eight cents on the dollar for internet video - but all the healthcare, pension and wages they pay union crews.
Rupert Murdoch has already been shown to be one of the biggest union busters in history , when he crushed the tabloid writers union. He believes that he is personally entitled to all the profits, without sharing, from everything that News Corp makes.
I think this current strike is a microcosm of what is going on everywhere. It is hard to see, because, for some, it is hard to relate to a Hollywood writer. Which I’m sure makes the AMPTP happy.
But, the middle class is shrinking. More of the money is being concentrated in fewer hands. They fastest growing segment of our population are those living pay check to paycheck who would face devastating losses if they were out of work for a month.
The biggest flow of money, is to those who could live comfortably for ten more lifetimes and never work again.
The balance of power and money is out of whack in this country. The last two decades of entitlement and greed have pushed our society to the brink.
While some writers make a lot of money; (many after ten or twenty years of just getting by) the average writer makes $45,000 a year, with periods of three months to a year or more between paying jobs. The corporations make billions off their creative output. (Along with the skills and creativity of the crews who make the shows) These are the real People who create the wealth - not the CEO’s or shareholders.
The question at hand in this business and in all businesses now is “Who is entitled to reap the benefits of the labor that creates the wealth?” There is enough to go around so no one is left out. We need to remember that.
Comment by writer in LA — November 14, 2007 @ 4:22 pm
Just because media companies make profits from the internet does not mean they make profit from the parts of the internet created by WGA writers. If there is little profit there, then both sides are killing themselves over nothing.
That could mean there is another agenda (or three) at work by the media companies. Perhaps to break the unions, or just break the WGA because of the nasty tone of all the months of negotiations. They could also be trying to rein in huge the cost structure of the industry using this dispute as a pretext. Who knows, they’re not going to tell us.
But lay off the comments about network and studio profits without having accountants go through their financial reporting. Writers are not stock analysts. It makes us sound like economic idiots.
Comment by realnumbersplease — November 14, 2007 @ 5:14 pm
“Should a boom guy, casting director, or driver get paid for downloads?”
I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to it, but the question is should the bookbinder be paid a percentage for every book sold, as is the author? Original creative content is a different animal, and has always been treated as such. The person who works on teh assembly line doesn’t get paid for every car sold (although again I wouldn’t be opposed) but the designer of the car undoubtedly does. And don’t say the showrunner is the creator, we deal with each individual episode, many of which are written by someone else. You are not allowed to reuse someone else’s creative work and make money off of it without giving the creator a percentage.
And frankly, while IA members work incredibly hard, they are also more likely to have a steady income. The residual system is to the studios’ benefit, they need creative content and deferred payemnts allow writers to continue in the industry. Virtually no one could stay in this business if he or she weren’t paid while the studios continue to generate profit from his or her work.
Comment by Anon — November 14, 2007 @ 5:23 pm