Monday may finish the regular scheduled picketing until the New Year, but there's still a lot to do before everyone settles down for cookies and milk in front of the fire.
Tuesday (12/18) is the day writers of crime and cop shows turn out in force in Los Angeles and New York to stand up and be counted.
In Los Angeles, the best minds in pursuit of criminal activity will hold a rally at the original " scene of the crime", the headquarters of the AMPTP:
15503 Ventura Blvd at the corner of Firmament (a few blocks west of the 405), Encino
10:00am - 12:00pm
In New York, the rally will be held at Foley Square, Downtown NYC, from Noon to 2:00pm.
Crime writers, contact your fans and invite them to join you in a demonstration of solidarity.
12/16/2007
East Coast, West Coast: The Scene of the Crime Rallies Hit Home
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4 comments:
Have you read this from Gavin Palone on DHD?
This new divide and conquer strategy is just a time waster. It won’t work because none of the studio group is feeling any heat after the 7 week strike. Their quarterly numbers are up, since operating expenses are down and revenue hasn’t changed. The talkshows coming back helps them. The fact that they can now terminate some deals offers a long-term gain to earnings. They think their reality schedules will perform well for, at least, a few months and their scripted schedules were performing badly before the strike. They all think the guild’s strategy has been irrational and weak and figure that they can achieve more leverage by making a deal with the DGA first and maintaining cohesion within their ranks. If there is an NLRB issue, they’ll play some lip-service but won’t make a deal.
Here are some questions I have for the working writers who have taken an income hit as a result of the strike: did you expect that this is where things would stand after 7 weeks of striking? Did you figure that the DVD residual would be off-the-table but sympathy strikes and reality and animation jurisdiction would still be in play? How much income have you lost during the past 7 weeks and how much more will you forgo during the next 12? What kind of increase will the negotiations have to yield in order for you to mitigate the loss of income you have and will suffer?
The route around this current impasse is not to negotiate individually; or file lawsuits; or send cartons of pencils to the studios; or continue with the “hey, hey, ho, ho…” silliness. The way to end this is to bring in a respected negotiator, right now, and have him hammer away at the only important issue left: Internet residuals. As I have said many times here on the UnitedHollywood annex, the rhetoric and hostility evidenced by the guild leaders has created a toxic environment in which to conduct a negotiation. A new negotiator, known and respected by them, will soften their resistance and allow them to feel good about giving up more on the Internet residual issues. They won’t feel like they were bullied into a compromise, which is how they would feel now if they acquiesced and why they won’t offer more.
This doesn’t have to appear as a failure on the part of the WGA leaders. It is a strategy shift that good leaders make as they assess how a contest is progressing. Lincoln supported McClellan for a long time but, eventually, replaced him. Without that shift, he would have lost the war and been remembered today as a failure. Verrone needs to attain some perspective. The membership needs to help him by quietly expressing their support for a new negotiation strategy led by a new negotiator.
Now, I know what will follow, as always, will be a volley of posts about how I am physically unattractive, without talent, a blowhard, the producer of bad product, a has-been, someone who has been fired by a talent agency and craving the spotlight. Let’s say all of that is true. What is the difference? Am I wrong about what I say above? Does it really hurt anyone to consider an alternate opinion? Have I been inaccurate in what I have predicted? Compare what has happened during the last week with my post from 12/7:
Here is what is going to happen:
The DGA will open negotiations with the AMPTP. They will close a deal and that agreement will be the basis of what all the unions will accept for Internet distribution. It will be better than the last proposal made to the WGA but not close to what the WGA has requested.
The networks will show to wall street that their net profits are up because of their reduced costs and despite any drop in ratings.
The talk shows, which are the only parts of the network schedules that have truly been damaged so far, will go back on the air. They will follow Letterman’s lead, probably around Jan. 7th.
The AMPTP will launch a publicity campaign featuring the suffering of those put out of work by the strike. IATSE will help with campaign. They will also put out more information about how much top showrunners and screen writers make.
Some movies will fall apart, others will come back together-in the way Brad Pitt dropped out of State of Play and Crowe stepped in.
Eventually, probably in the spring, the WGA and AMPTP will come back to the table, with the help of a government negotiator, and the WGA will agree to the Internet formula already negotiated by the DGA. They will give up on all of the reality TV provisions, as well as the “sympathy strike” stuff. Some small bone in another area, probably PH&W or minimums, will be thrown their way as a “face saver”.
Pretty much what could have been concluded now.
Comment by Gavin Polone — December 7, 2007 @ 8:11 pm
Comment by Gavin Polone — December 15, 2007 @ 12:54 pm
And that's relevant to this particular post because...
Because it's opposite day for not a troll?
With all due respect to NOT A TROLL, you are clearly a smart person, a good writer, and a clever strategist. Your argument has an easy flow, but, to be honest, you're telling the story entirely from the AMPTP point of view.
I'm not accusing you of being a troll and even if you were, it doesn't matter. What you argue gives me an insight into the AMPTP strategy: denigrate the efforts of the WGA leadership and membership; convince them that they are helpless, that no matter what they do, they are shooting blanks, and, most importantly, from the beginning, resistance was futile. The companies are too powerful, too rich, too ruthless.
The only response: roll over and die.
"...where things would stand after 7 weeks of striking?" at an impasse. Why? Because the companies don't want to work out a reasonable deal, don't want to really "negotiate", want to play a game of divide and conquer and callously exploit the suffering of now out of work people to create dissension... Cynical? Sure. Effective? We'll see. Moral? I think not.
But more importantly, will the AMPTP strategy prevail?
Time will tell. Again, with all due respect to Not A Troll, I hope not.
Brutal oligarchies have a way of oppressing for just so long and then they collapse under the weight of their own aggressiveness.
Look at what happened in the music business.
Brute force crushed the upstarts like Napster, but the music companies didn't create an internet-based revenue stream. That was left to the outsider, Steve Jobs.
The AMPTP should be enlisting the talent of the WGA to figure out the future. Instead, it is creating a talented adversary.
Smart? or dumb?
What do you think Not A Troll?
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