11/14/2007

AMPT?

Independent producers are not the final "P".
Over 80 producers, in a letter to the LA Times, have asked the press to correct and clarify the use of the term "producer" when referring to the AMPTP.

In their closing paragraph they state:
"It serves the studios’ interests to pretend to represent individual producers instead of corporate entities. We would ask that you, as responsible members of the media, stop abetting this charade and call upon your reporters to cease equating independent producers (who are not negotiators or direct stakeholders in this process, and the vast majority of whom side with the writers) with international conglomerates."

In a companion letter to Nikke Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily Vance Van Petten, Executive Director of the PGA (Producers Guild of America) also asks for a clear separation.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whew! Thanks for that.

Anonymous said...

From an outsider's point of view what are the differences between/roles of - producer, production company, studio, member of AMPTP?

Could some, say, production company not a member of AMPTP decide to start some new television shows, agree to the WGA's terms, hire writers and take business away from the AMPTP members? Or is there some sort of vertical monopoly involved?

Any journalists out there who might write an article about this for us interested, outside observers?

El Rebobinador said...

Hi...
I am a journalist from Chile, and i support you guys,
is incredible what are you doing...dont give up...you
have a lot of people who are support you...

Anonymous said...

When they own the distribution channels, television networks, bandwidth, and often even the cable providers and nationwide theater chains... yes... vertical monopoly involved indeed...

Anonymous said...

Dear Anonymous,

Here's a link to the PGA Producers Guild of America, which has descriptions of what producers do:

http://www.producersguild.org/pg/about_a/faq.asp

If the UH bloggers want an article, I'll offer to do one.

UH Team: whaddaya say?

Random said...

Hey, this comment is for Kate Purdy, I couldn't figure out any other way to contact you.

I wanted to let you know I created a logo I thought people would like for the strike, I know it not anything official, but thought people on the blog might be interested in seeing it.

I posted it onto a t-shirt on my zazzle.com account. Here's a link.

http://www.zazzle.com/rforrandom/

Thanks,
Random Vaughn

Anonymous said...

Its a less a monopoly and more of a funnel with a very wide top and a very narrow exit. Namely, in the AMPTP theres many, many smaller production companies. But most of them do not have the capital to fully fund a movie, and are reliant on the larger conglomerates for either final funding or at the very least theatrical distribution. This is not true with everyone, but the possibility of being blacklisted for breaking rank is enough of a reason NOT to do it.

So in that sense, I'm sure theres some dissension amongst the ranks of the AMPTP, especially the smaller ones whom only have a handful of movies and/or a show or two to keep themselves afloat. But the internal politics are such that no ones going to risk it.

Anonymous said...

Here, guys:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_integration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopolies_of_knowledge