As Day Four of the strike begins, a lot of the talk on the lines and on the Net has been about the lack of negotiations. Variety is reporting that the TV showrunners are trying to use their clout to get the companies back to the bargaining table. Politico.com is saying that Schwarzenegger is finally getting involved. Nikki Finke reports some insider ideas for getting the two sides to meet. Day Three was all about the united writers and actors showing the companies that our unions are serious about negotiating. Hopefully the message found its audience.
As we all get ready for tomorrow's big picket at the Fox lot (10am!), be sure to check out our Video Blog on YouTube. We've got an assortment of strike updates and footage of various writers and actors on the picket lines. And there's more to come.
11/08/2007
Day Four: Morning Roundup
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16 comments:
Good luck to everyone. In the end its the writers who make a show a hit and if anyone deserves any compensation its them. As a viewer, I still have to watch commercials whether I watch a show online or on TV and I vote that everyone get paid equally.
While it's nice various celebrities have turned out for the writers, I think that only has limited value and can actually be counterproductive if overused.
The WGA needs to get across the message that a lot of very middle class writers are hurting because of corporate greed. Middle America doesn't identify with movie stars. It identifies with middle-class folks. If they turn on their TV and see a lot of celebrities in $500 sunglasses picketing for writers, it doesn't send much of a message. Hollywood already has a bad reputation for shallowness and causes-of-the-moment.
Obscene corporate greed -- one studio CEO makes more than every writer in Hollywood combined -- that's the message that needs to be driven home.
All writers are seeking is a fair share of the pie. But some at the top would take even more and expect all the rest to take even less.
I disagree with you, middle-class wga member. As a part of what you would call "Middle America," I can tell you that many of us are a lot brighter tha you apparently assume.
When I see the videos of the Office stars or read that many CBS stars have turned up on the line, I am reminded of how essential writers are toward these shows. The actors support you because they need you.
Also, by highlighting these celebrities' attendance, you are effectively proving the point that they are different, they are not writers.. and that's what makes it "newsworthy."
I did not get paid to write this posted comment.
Let me start off by saying I have many writer friends and that I really want to support the strike, but there are a couple of things that really annoy me about the whole situation.
Why on earth did the WGA bungle the hell out of the negotiations. You don't tell someone you're going to strike for a year, give the studios ample time to prepare for the strike, have members of the WGA double their output and take money doing so to give the studio insurance against the strike, and then strike threatening to hurt the entire industry. This doesn't make any sense. You took away any power you had by warning and preparing the studios. So now with the studios prepared for it, they could give to shits about you striking. You just improved their bottom line. The get to suspend all production deals and not have to pay out on end of the year bonuses.
Also...I produce both DVD and internet spots and I would say that what I do has an equal impact to the success of a DVD or an internet spot, so why should you get residuals as a matter of fact when I don't? Should these terms be worked out on a project by project basis in your contract? Isn't that why you pay your agent?
Finally, thanks to the asshat running the country who successfully devalued our currency, we were about to be in a new boom of domestic production, but now that has all gone away.
I support the idea of the writer's strike and believe there are valid points, but I think the timing and planning of the strike shows both incompetence and greed.
As many of you know the strike of the wga effects everything American (almost!). http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/unitedhollywood/
We need to back the writers and help them raise thier morale! The televsion studios profit in everyway they can by spending as little money as possible while making the highest profits . The stand has been made pledge your support today!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/unitedhollywood/
PLEASE SIGN IT TODAY AND POST THE LINK ON FORUMS AND OTHER SITES THANKS IN ADVANCE
I support you all out there. Hold the line! Stand up for what you believe. You all are worth every penny. Hopefully the strike will not last as long as the one 20 years ago - 22 weeks. However, I heard that the AMPTP will not negotiate with the WGA during the strike because they don't want to do it "with a gun to their head". If that's the case, what's the point of the strike if nothing is being negotiated at the time?
As many of you know the strke of the wga effects everything American (almost!). http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/unitedhollywood/
We need to back the writers and help them raise thier morale! The televsion studios profit in everyway they can by spending as little money as possible while making the highest profits . The stand has been made pledge your support today!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/unitedhollywood/
I pressed anyonmous by mistake sorry guys!
I found out about this site from OfficeTally.com. Thanks for creating this site to give us updates on the strike and such. Keep up the good work! Hold the line!
nothing warms the hearts of the american viewing public like watching a bunch of arrogant millionaires complain that they're not being paid enough for working 1/2 of the year in the cushiest working conditions available. good luck in your efforts to kill the goose that lays golden eggs.
--non-millionaire living in a fly-over state
>I can tell you that many
>of us are a lot brighter
>tha you apparently assume.
If you read comments on various blogs, you'll see many people think writers are spoiled and rich. I think MCWM makes a good point.
Non millionaire -
"nothing warms the hearts of the american viewing public like watching a bunch of arrogant millionaires complain that they're not being paid enough for working 1/2 of the year in the cushiest working conditions available. good luck in your efforts to kill the goose that lays golden eggs."
I agree with you 100%... These CEOs are out of control.
I'm just an average person who watches a lot of the quality productions you write....
I am behind you 100%. I hope you can stick it out. This needs to be done.
I wrote a somewhat amusing little scene about the WGA-AMPTP negotiations a couple days ago:
http://www.ransom-note-typography.com/index.php/weblog/a_peek_inside_the_writers_guild_and_producers_negotiations/
I know, that URL is 17 feet long, sorry about that. If that one doesn't work, try this one:
http://tinyurl.com/2m4d5r
Also, please let me know if I made any factual errors in presenting the issues. Some of the contract language seemed a little "dense" to my layman's mind.
Good luck! Many people are on your side!
The WGA should thank it's lucky stars that most people aren't on set and see what it is you folks actually do for a living. This strike is an utter and complete bastardization of what organized labor is about, and an embarassment to anyone in a union. Worst of all, you're playing on many people's beliefs in fighting for what's right and standing up to a corporate bully. You should look around at the rest of the work world, and feel ashamed.
-IATSE member who crossed your line AGAIN this morning
Hey IATSE member,
I've been a TV writer for fifteen years, and guess what, I'm not a millionaire!
I've made an upper middle class living but I've had long periods where I've made nothing.
I've spent plenty of time on the set, and I have a good idea what you do and I respect it, but with all due respect, have you spent time in a writer's room? Have you ever had to pitch a show to a network or deal with notes or try to budget a show or any of the other things writer producers do?
Have you ever faced a blank page and come up with something so great that it created hundreds of jobs for other people?
Would you even HAVE a picket line to cross if some writer hadn't risked everyone saying his idea was shit?
You show up when there's a show, you do your job, you go home. You don't have to curry favor with executives and make them think their lame ideas are "great!" in order to have a job to go to.
You don't know shit about what I do. But if I don't do what I do, you don't have a job. The same isn't true on your end, pal.
I respect you and your job and your rules, and all you respect is your bottom line. You're just in it for you, that's OK, but own up to it.
You make the AMPTP look generous and fair. It's not the fact that you cross a picket line that bothers me, it's the fact that you have no respect for the creative entrepreneurs who create jobs for you by the work they do.
Cross all you want, but have some respect for where it all starts. It starts with the words.
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