12/19/2007

AMPTP: Committed to Making Sure No One Else Goes Back to Work

27 comments:

Case Crum said...

Dear WGA/AMPTP,

Amidst all the negotiation over fair wages,the increasingly nasty "with us or against us"(of which both sides are guilty) bitterness,the WGA's
"we shut down the awards season" victory...

did you forget about US?


-A TV viewer

Captain Obvious said...

Writers have definitely not forgotten the audience. It seems the AMPTP has. They're confident about the short-term. Long-term, late 2008 and possibly all of 2009 will be doldrums as far as content goes.

Just wait, this is just the calm before the storm.

itwasntme said...

I haven't heard lately about Leno and O'Brien going back to work, and would appreciate knowing what's up with that. BTW, I called to express my distress with their intention to return without a deal:

Leno's publicist: Dick Guttman, phone 310-246-4600 or fax 310-246-4601

O'Brien's agent: Ari Emanuel
Endeavor Agency, phone: 310-248-2301 or fax 310-248-2020

Be nice.

itwasntme said...

If Leno and O'Brien go back to work, are they going to be tossed from the Guild?

Dani Payson said...

Hey Capt! :)

I love these vids - they are the perfect laugh I need first thing in the morning.

Keep it up BF and FD :)

Captain Obvious said...

Good morning, Andrea & Co.! ;)


Leno and O'Brien are likely being called back to work by the networks. They have to perform their duties as performers. It's a really touchy situation.

Dani Payson said...

Is Leno even in the guild? Does he WRITE his material?? I better stop being snarky:)

I can't blame Conan, I'm sure NBC is making him go back, the same way I can't really call Ellen a scab, it probably sucks for all of them.

But Carson is

ew

Andrea
aka DaniPayson :)

Captain Obvious said...

Sneaky, Andrea.

What was that Bakula link again? I had to restart my comp yesterday and lost it before I could visit.

Dani Payson said...

That was another girl's site :(

But I think this is it

http://www.mindspring.com/~pashworth/scotsite.html

b/c if I typed bakulanews.com (which is what I think she said it was) I get that - and there's a lot of WGA support in the frame as well.

Captain Obvious said...

In the interests of equal time, I'd be willing to visit an interesting site of yours too.

I could've sworn you had said that. Maybe I misread and attributed that comment to you. The site was lagging out a bit for me.

Dani Payson said...

I have a lot of websites but I didn't feel like boring people with them:)

I gave myself a profile and I listed them there if you're really interested:)

Captain Obvious said...

No wonder I got you two confused, you're both fans with attitude.


You hear that AMPTP? We've got militant fans in our corner!

Dani Payson said...

I'm a bitch and I'm PROUD!

AMPTP has nothing over me:)

Captain Obvious said...

That's an amazing collection you've got there. I really enjoyed the Superman TV series too. It had an almost campy feel to it that appealed to the audience.

Captain Obvious said...

By the way, you left the ".com" off the first link. Makes for bad copy-pasting.

Dani Payson said...

Man you are Captain Obvious aren't you!!!

It's fixed now :)

Captain Obvious said...

I do wax obvious at times, mostly for comedic or retrospective effect.


I took this name because the AMPTP's position is so clearly out of touch with reality and they are, even at this very moment, making ill-gotten gains off of the hard work of writers. The injustices cannot stand.

As a result, Dissident, it's imprudent for us to work without a contract. The strike was the right thing to do in this scenario. We will not be accomplices in thievery against us.

Dani Payson said...

Hear Hear

Someone has to get the ball rolling!

Captain Obvious said...

Yes because this affects everyone involved in the creative process. Soon, the Directors and Actors will be wading through the very same murky waters. We truly are the tip of the spear.

Unknown said...

I know it's not fashionable to talk about the actual posting in the comments, but damn, these guys are hysterical.

Unknown said...

Funny video! have you the one seen which bangs the studios at MyBlueCollar.com? here's the link

http://www.mybluecollar.com/videos/3671c4c1ae

family said...

I am so happy about the WGA strike. I hope they all lose their homes and have to file bankruptcy. I don't understand how people are smart enough to write, but not smart enough to realize that if they are not getting a fair deal, maybe they should find a new job. Last I checked we were not in a communist nation. People are free to choose their own occupations.

I think everyone will win. people who really want jobs will work, others will remain on strike, and the American family will be brought back to it's core values.

So continue your strike, continue your whining, and continue you collision course to failure. America is better for it.

Get a clue, get a life, get a JOB.

FoodMinusaur said...

Have you all seen. The Elves Guild of America is on Strike against santa. Very Funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_adKQFnG-eU

Unknown said...

Uh, "family" - the reason writers have to strike is because it (along with the threat of a strike) is literally the only way they can exert any power over the corporations to ensure fair pay. Without strikes Americans would still be working in sweatshops for pennies an hour, because corporations have an interest in securing labor at the lowest possible price, even if that means forcing their workers into poverty.
The members of the WGA want to work, of course - if they didn't they'd be vacationing instead of striking day after day. They simply want a fair cut of the profits, which you seem to assume are the exclusive rights of media executives and (to a lesser extent) shareholders.

family said...

hudson_32, with your logic, and the obvious logic of the members of the WGA, the employees of Kmart should strike because they deserve a share of K-mart's sales, or the line workers at Ford should strike because they want a percentage of every car sold. In my opinion that logic is skewed. Profits should be shared among those who accept the risk.

Shareholders put money up which represents their risk.

Executives accept risks based on their performance and the performance of their organization. Members of the WGA do not get rated on their performance based on how well a "show" is marketed.

Simple risk v. reward. What risks are writers inherently exposed to that they are not already being compensated for?

What it all comes down to is the members of the WGA are jealous that risk takers are receiving rewards, so they are going to act like simple thugs and try to bully their way into more money (notice I didn't use the extortion word, yet).

family said...

It just occurred to me that I didn't address the union portion of your response. Unions had their place in time, but now more than every people are in charge (and responsible) for their own destiny. With so many jobs moving overseas for cheap labor, it is obvious that the unions of the last 20 years are both counterproductive and in the end are not in the best interest of its members and the economy.

Trey Stokes said...

family said:
with your logic, and the obvious logic of the members of the WGA,...the line workers at Ford should strike because they want a percentage of every car sold.

First of all, the United Auto Workers is one of the largest labor unions in America. You wanna talk strikes, those folks have put on some doozies over the last century.

But the analogy doesn't actually work, because cars aren't the same as movies or tv shows.

To sell a car, Ford has to make a car. To sell a second car, Ford has to make a second car, with exactly the same parts and labor cost involved. And so on, no matter how many millions of cars they sell. Every car they sell, workers were paid to build, or the cars wouldn't exist to be sold.

But with a creative work, such as a movie - true, that first copy costs a heck of a lot. But every copy after that costs almost nothing.

So in essence, the studios make one "car" and then... sell that same car a million times. Maybe ten million times, if they're lucky. Maybe more - MGM stopped making The Wizard of Oz in 1939, but they've been selling it ever since.

So if they are that lucky, it's only fair that a small portion of the profit be kicked back to the folks that helped make the "car". Not just writers, but the actors, directors, and other union crew people as well.

Novelists, musicians, etc, also get a percentage payment per unit of their work that's sold. The WGA isn't asking for anything new or different there. You may not agree with the idea of royalties, but the WGA didn't invent the concept. They just want the same treatment as other creative artists (and let's not forget they had to strike in order to get THAT.)

The real reason for this strike isn't even a desire for more money. It's because the studios offered a new contract that guaranteed the writers would be making less.

If that happened to the UAW, they'd strike, too. In fact, historically, they have. :)