12/10/2007

Pencils2mediaMoguls rolls out the first delivery

For the last few weeks, television fans have been buying pencils to send to the media moguls – the heads of the six companies that make up the AMPTP – to demonstrate their support for the writers of their favorite TV series. Over 500,000 pencils have been purchased. On Tuesday, December 11 at 11:30 the pencils will start being delivered. The staging ground for this event will be Johnny Carson Park, located at 400 Bob Hope Drive in Burbank, just across the street from NBC.

Writers slated to appear include: Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica), Joss Whedon (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly), Alfred Gough (Smallville), Miles Millar (Smallville), and others to be announced.

23 comments:

actorinsupport said...

Is this Tuesday tomorrow or next Tuesday? And what time?

nlob said...

I added your news feed to several aggregate sites and blog indexes. Keep up the good work.

WriterGirl said...

Tomorrow? What time?

Christine said...

What's the mode of delivery? Will we be parading en masse to the area studios for a personal drop off?

actorinsupport said...

Ya know, I look at variety.com and hollywoodreporter.com and I see all of these 'stars' signing on to films...every day...isn't there some way to get them all to agree to NOT sign on? Because if film production would stop, this thing would be OVER so much faster. Am I wrong?

actorinsupport said...

Also, it's these same 'stars' who are not going to hurt during the Strike. And there is no violation of the NO STRIKE CLAUSE if they haven't signed on in the first place. This is why I feel this has largely been a TV Strike so far...how much longer?

Catherine said...

I BOUGHT SOME OF THOSE PENCILS!!!!!

We love you, Writers. Keep on truckin'.

WriterGirl said...

I'd love to publicize this on my blog, but without a time, (or even knowing for sure which Tuesday is involved), I don't feel it's ready. Can we get that info, please?

Lang Eggers said...

From the WGA website:

Fans Support Striking Writers With Pencils 2 Media Moguls

WHAT:


Pencils 2 Media Moguls

For the last few weeks, television fans have been buying pencils to send to the media moguls – the heads of the six companies that make up the AMPTP – to demonstrate their support for the writers of their favorite TV series. Over 500,000 pencils have been shipped. On Tuesday, the pencils will start being delivered.

Pencils will be delivered to NBC CEO Jeff Zucker. Immediately afterward, additional deliveries will be made at Walt Disney Studios to Robert Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and to Universal Studios for GE's CEO Jeffrey Immelt.
WHO:

Writers slated to appear include: Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica), Joss Whedon (Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly), Carol Barbee (Jericho), Alfred Gough (Smallville), Miles Millar (Smallville), and others to be announced.

WHEN:


Tuesday, December 11, 2007

11:30 AM
WHERE:

Johnny Carson Park
400 Bob Hope Drive
Burbank, CA
(Near NBC Studios)

pat cracks said...

whoopty-freakin do you bought pencils....

www.writerssuck.com

Chaz Harris said...

AWESOME, I am SO there!

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RIP WGA said...

It's good to see that there are more people voicing their opinions and that their posts are not being removed.

It's pretty obvious that even those who don't agree with the strike can see that the issue is with the new media and the formula for new media residuals.

Then why is the WGA holding so tightly to the issues of Reality (which won't hold up in court anyway), Animation (which is covered mostly by IATSE), and the no strike clause? (the third party valuation item should be included in the actual new media residual contract language).

The whole idea of negotiations is to be at the table (not at the rally) so can anyone convince me why these items should be and are deal breakers for the WGA? Why are these issues what's keeping everyone away from the table?

Is it because of pride, or feeling like WGA gave in to their demands? Who cares? I haven't seen much debate on this site about how you need to fight to maintain the right to strike with other unions. It's all been about residuals. Why are the other items still on the table?

For the record - there's so much he said she said back and forth - here's an idea: The WGA seems to be prolific with You Tube and wants to be on the internet cutting edge. How about putting the negotiations on the net? CSPAN style.

Let's see just how both sides' leadership is behaving. Let's see who arrives late and just who is at the table and for how long. Hold these people responsible to WGA and everyone affected. WGA can keep the private meeting rooms private (or put them on the members only part of the site) but the negotiating table should be made available to all of us. It's just that important.

That's my vent for today.

Skyfleur said...

pat, stop spamming every post. We read you the first time. And it's not by repeating that every time that you'll convince more people, people hate spammers and trolls.

Captain Obvious said...

RIP WGA:

It's because the AMPTP hasn't negotiated them off the table. They believe they can simply demand that they be taken off and then storm away. They don't know how to negotiate, even as they espouse the virtues of their superhuman negotiating experience.

Intrigued said...

captain,

i think the AMPTP did negotiate those items off the table. when they said notify us in writing that those issues are off the table or we won;t return to talks. Its a hardline negotiating tactic, and from what I;ve seen they know how to negotiate!!! You just don;t like their negotiating style (because its not nice, but negotiations aren't nice)

Unknown said...

I wish I could be there to help deliver them! I bought at least 30 boxes. I'm looking forward to hearing about it on this site!

TVFAN said...

As a TV fan of several shows affected by this strike I would like to donate money to WGA strike fund. How does one go about doing this?

JeFF-Rey said...

Did anyone think to pack a pencil sharpener? Interesting piece on Huff Post this morning: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-thomas/wga-members-should-reeval_b_76267.html?view=screen/

David Grenier said...

rip_wga,

My guess is that a big part of the reason those items are still on the table is because they make the union a hell of a lot stronger and able to win more in the future.

Also, I'm guessing that if you asked WGA membership about being able to strike in support of SAG or IATSE or whoever two months ago, most of them wouldn't have even understood the question. Now that they're on strike, things like this seem a lot more important.

Unknown said...

Can someone explain to me where the WGA has stated that the no-strike clause and animation/reality writers becoming guild members were dealbreakers? The AMPTP demanded that those, along with a few other items, were taken off the negotiation table. So they are dealbreakers for the AMPTP.

We only know that the WGA did not want to take them off the table without getting anything back for it, which seems to be what negotiation is about. You give something up and get something in return.

Captain Obvious said...

Intrigued:


I'm intrigued by your logic. Talks ARE negotiations. Demanding items be removed to continue negotiations aren't negotiations, they're tactics.

n de'be' said...

Just saw the attempted delivery on the news - Good Job WGA! That sure was a pile of pencils (including my offering in support of my favorite writers - GO 24!!)

As the Moguls didn't except the pencils, no surprise there, I hope the WGA decides to donate them to local schools.