... and the WGA strike starts today - 11/05/07

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EJ Pennypacker

EJ Pennypacker

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As much damage as this strike will cause writers, agents, managers and everyone else in the industry, I firmly believe it's for the right cause - so good luck to those affected, and let's hope the producers come around to common sense and close the deal in Godspeed.

EJ
 
I can see about 75 people with signs, strung out along the Lankershim Blvd. entrances of Universal Studios. Some are saying that the TV season is considered lost so there is no real incentive to settle. Could be a long one.
 
It'll be a big one because it's about percentages of new media. Everyone realises that the internet will change everything, and right now nobody is getting a cut (except the studios that get to keep 100%). The studios will fit tooth and nail to keep the WGA from getting a percent, because that means they'll have to give a percent to SAG, DGA, etc.

This thing will be ugly, but the writers will have to stick with it. If they give in, everybody else gets screwed.
 
I realize that this is a political hot topic, and therefore likely to seed argument, but it saddens me to come here and see only two discussions taking place about this strike, inarguably the most important thing going on in this industry and all related industries right now. One of those threads has been closed, with no statement as to why.

These issues are of critical importance, and everyone on these boards should have something to learn from studying them. I think it's utter foolishness to close threads just because people get a little hot under the collar. No flaming was happening. No personal attacks were made. Debate is healthy.

I want to repost this, from a friend of a friend, which presents an interesting situation that I suspect a lot of people on this board relate to.

I'm pretty conflicted on this whole thing. Yes, I want to be (am?) a writer, so I support the union as a whole. I've dealt with enough producers (and AFI students) to know that 1) a lot of people think writing is easy and 2) they think writers are replaceable. There are very few writers that bring in the audience just based on name alone (especially when compared to the worth of a director or actor just based on name). Without a union I am sure writing in the studio system would be even more of an assembly line than it already is... mmm sweatshop writing.

Their main demands are more than reasonable. A percentage of money made off the internet. If the studios aren't making any money, then a percentage of zero is zero. But they can stream an episode of The Office on the internet, with commercials, and pay the writers nothing. Apple TV already gave a window into the future where all our TV can be downloaded and still watched on TV, so all this could come sooner than the writers' next negotiation.

Then there is the other side. The "I'd love to be in their shoes" side. It is hard to have an EFFECTIVE strike when you have a line - at least a million people long - waiting for your job. More than that, it is hard to get America on your side when the spokespeople for your cause are showrunning millionaires. Not to say that these people don't deserve the same rights as Joe-rewrite who might only make 10k average over the years as a writer and still needs to bag groceries or mine coal (... in LA). But damned if you do, damned if you don't because America wouldn't want to see or hear Joe-rewrite (I hope that is someone's real name) speaking on TV.

I mean, it all sucks.

I just graduated from AFI. The school was bright enough to schedule their pitch night for the writers a week before the strike (and not even invite anyone, but that's another story). And the book they send out with all of our loglines MAYBE reached people Friday. So great timing. Any meager clout I might have had coming out of their fizzles out, I still have the debt, and any low-on-the-totem writing/assistant job I might have had a chance out is either none-existent because of the strike or, like any teaching job I might be qualified for, will be taking by the striking writers. And if you've met me I have no other marketable skills. So basically you have a lot of people with your dream job telling you to not take said dream job when they leave it.

Yes, it means securing rights and better pay when they settle, bur when you are poor, hungry, depressed and all you want to do is making enough money just to make it through the months, it is a f*cking horrible thing to bear. So, good job writers... I guess.
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I support the WGA on this. But it is a complicated issue, and no one is blameless.
 
I realize that this is a political hot topic, and therefore likely to seed argument, but it saddens me to come here and see only two discussions taking place about this strike, inarguably the most important thing going on in this industry and all related industries right now. One of those threads has been closed, with no statement as to why.
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Amen.

EJ
 
Yeah, I agree doug. I think at the same time, a lot of people here on these boards might not even know what a union is, as sad as that is to say. These boards are home to an array of people, with very different experience levels, and I know a lot of members here come to say "check out this sweet video I made." and not much else.

Back on topic, here is some more info I found earlier.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/06/content_7017362.htm

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-...y?coll=la-headlines-business&track=crosspromo

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(yes, thats John Patrick Shanley)
 
No, I think the thread should have been locked. Alex took an unpopular position--the thread was headed south.

The thread had little to do with the strike--it was about the legitimacy of labor unions.
 
Andrew Brinkhaus said:
I think at the same time, a lot of people here on these boards might not even know what a union is, as sad as that is to say.
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That's the point I'm addressing. I know that when I was doing this stuff 8, 10 years ago, I knew I wanted to go into it professionally, but I had NO IDEA of the real business implications, and simply didn't care. It wasn't until professors and working professionals started telling me to my face that it was all stuff I needed to pay attention to that I realized that I was only getting a small portion of the picture. In other words, "if only I had known"... I'd be a lot better off for it today.

Issues like this don't just affect the producers and the guild writers, they affect everyone.
 
Well, I meant more than that. It affects the aspiring screenwriter and filmmaker and the viewer at home who doesn't even know there's a a strike a great deal as well!
 
It's going to affect more people than that.

With nothing being produced, are the painters, carpenters, gaffers, grips, set designers, labourers, etc. going to be making as much money as they were?

Probably not.

Will they be spending as much as they were if the strike drags on?

Probably not.

Not just in L.A., but New York, Toronto, Vancouver...

Will advertisers spend as much for time on reruns?

Probably not.

There is going to be less money circulating, and the longer it goes on, the more people will feel it.

I already miss The Colbert Report...maybe now they will go back, dust off some old Arrested Development scripts that never got made, and bring that show back...
 
The last writer's strike was 20 years ago and last about 4 months and cost an estimated 500 million dollars. Or was it 500 billion? Either way, that's a lot of money.
 
Yeah, roughly $500 million when they striked in 1988. Like everyone else here, we just have to hope these negotiations take place soon, and that this doesn't continue for long.
 
I just got back from my 3rd day of picketing. 4 hour shifts walking in a circle and I feel like ****, physically (I'm such a couch potato that I'm just not used to being on my feet all day) but mentally, I feel great. I feel like I'm a part of something that will help out generations of Writers and Actors who follow.

We have to stand up for these rights now or we won't have a union in the future. No residuals = No Health plan = No Union.

The producers actually had a proposal to be able to stream Movies and TV shows on the internet and call it "Promotional Use", even if they show the entire TV show or Movie, and even if the charge for it or get ad revenue from it. It's unbelievable what they are trying to pull.

On a lighter note, I've been picketing with Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) and Matt Weiner (the Soprano's and Mad Men). It's been great getting to know these people that I doubt I would have met otherwise.
 
Tell Weiner that Mad Men is pure genious...and that I'm jonesing over here.

And have him pat you on the back for us...you're doing a noble thing.
 
JOE BLO said:
On a lighter note, I've been picketing with Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) and Matt Weiner (the Soprano's and Mad Men). It's been great getting to know these people that I doubt I would have met otherwise.
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Alan Ball. That guy's pretty good.
 
JOE BLO said:
I just got back from my 3rd day of picketing. 4 hour shifts walking in a circle and I feel like shi*, physically (I'm such a couch potato that I'm just not used to being on my feet all day) but mentally, I feel great. I feel like I'm a part of something that will help out generations of Writers and Actors who follow.

We have to stand up for these rights now or we won't have a union in the future. No residuals = No Health plan = No Union.

The producers actually had a proposal to be able to stream Movies and TV shows on the internet and call it "Promotional Use", even if they show the entire TV show or Movie, and even if the charge for it or get ad revenue from it. It's unbelievable what they are trying to pull.

On a lighter note, I've been picketing with Alan Ball (Six Feet Under) Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) and Matt Weiner (the Soprano's and Mad Men). It's been great getting to know these people that I doubt I would have met otherwise.
Click to expand...

Thanks for checking in with us Joe. It's good to hear of people from this board picketing.

EJ
 
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