2ND UPDATE: Charlie Sheen Fired Selma Blair From … 
Time Warner Cable Sued For Passing Lakers-Dodgers Costs On … 
Jonah Hill Signs For Management With LBI 
TOLDJA! ‘Dumb And Dumber To’ Proves No-Brainer … 
Salma Hayek’s Animated Passion Project ‘The … 
Relativity Moves Scott Cooper’s ‘Out Of The … 
Hot Trailer: ‘The Lego Movie’ 
Russell Crowe Sets ‘The Water Diviner’ For … 
Comedy ‘I Didn’t Do It’ Gets Series Order … 
CNN’s ‘New Day’ Debut Up In Demo But … 
Liv Tyler To Co-Star In Damon Lindelof’s HBO Pilot … 
DreamWorks Animation Launches Effort To Re-Position Itself … 
‘Pacific Rim’ Sequel In Planning Stages, … 
Legendary “Down To Handful” Of Studio Suitors: … 
UPDATE: Dan Harmon Apologizes For Comments Slamming … 
Paramount- Montecito Set Black List Scribes Eyal Podell … 
‘Bioshock’ Creator Ken Levine Takes On … 
Deadline Expands: Hires Washington Post Journalist Lisa De … 
Ratings Rat Race: ‘The Voice’ Rises, … 
Angelina Jolie Stunt Double Files First U.S. Phone-Hacking … 
MGM & BermanBraun Sign TV Production Deal, First-Look … 
Beginning with this advisory, DHD will allow comments that relate to the pre-strike stories I’ve been posting here. Since the current Writers Guild of America agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers expires tonight at midnight, and this is so important to everyone connected with Hollywood even in a remote way, I want to provide a forum to express your opinions, rants, sorrows. You can comment on every pertinent post.
But I own this website, so I also reserve the right to enforce some rules: Keep it pithy. Stay on topic. Be intelligent. Agree or disagree but don’t make it personal. Don’t impersonate Jeff Berg or Steven Spielberg or Barry Meyer or make wild unsubstantiated claims. Remember that your comments will reach a big national and international audience of DHD readers so don’t just argue one-on-one. Fine to post anonymously, but try to ID yourself generally, like, “I’m a writer”, “I’m a producer,” ”I’m a wannabe” so people know your POV. Your comments won’t be edited but they also won’t post automatically. I have to approve them first. And I plan on being picky. There may be some unavoidable delays…
Finally, I wish to thank all my wonderful tipsters who keep updating DHD on the WGA-AMPTP news, and all those kind people who have praised DHD’s even-handed coverage during this pre-strike. (Roger Ebert is worried I’m working too hard!) So, now, be the first to opine … and click ”refresh” to see the latest comment.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
i’ve never been so angry, so ready, or so sad simultaneously.
First, let me say how refreshing it was to read fair, objective and timely commentary on the negotiations.
Second, I think this is going to be a tough one. Writers are told they are essentially powerless, but the indignity and erosion of the deals over the past few years has produced some pretty committed writers.
Tell you more after our meeting tomorrow!
Nikki,
I love, love your site. Let’s all hope the strike never happens, and if it does – it’s short!
writer/director
Great coverage, keep up the good work!
TV writer here. Boy today was fun! There was this article in Pravda, I mean Variety, about how basically every show in TV is AOK for a strike, and executives are even relieved they can replace expensive scripted shows with cheaper-to-produce reality fare. Then a threatening letter from my studio via my agent warning me that validating my script with the WGA will invalidate my contract. Then, a lovely FAQ put out by said studio encouraging me to quit the WGA and scab.
I don’t know what strategic genius on the studio’s side is behind all these moves, maybe the same guy who planned Dunkirk or Gallipoli (look it up kids) but if he was looking to stoke this writer’s strike-time resolve at the last minute, he did a bang-up job.
I’m a writer.
Keep up the great work, Nikki.
As controversial as this sounds…I want this strike to last as long as humanly possible. 6 months. Great! 12 months. Even better!
Writers have been the butt of jokes far too long. Every time I meet a crazy/irrational/monosyllabic producer, I feel like holding up a blank sheet of paper and asking him: “Can you produce this?”
It’s high time producers/studios/whatever’s who can’t write to save their lives, realize they can’t go on feeding on our talent and dreams without proper renumeration. If the AMPTP continues to be irrational (72 rollbacks? 72 f-ing ROLLBACKS!!!) they deserve to be brought to their knees and spanked like the spoiled hedge-fund kids they are.
I’m all about fairness. Just be fair, set the mammoth egos aside and this will all go away. Fairness, the AMPTP do not have that word in their lexicon (most won’t even know what a lexicon is). I know, I know, cheap shot.
If the AMPTP remains obstinate, I guarantee this strike will make the one in 88 look like a day at the beach. Expect the WGA strike to be long, protracted, entrenched and brutal. Heads will roll, billions will be lost and the industry will forever be changed…and at the end of it all, writers will still get only a modicum (another word they won’t get. I know, second cheap shot) of respect.
In case you were wondering, I’m not an industry vet with untold millions stashed in the Caymens. I’m a relatively new scribe working in LA for the past two years. And yes, I’ve been threatened by producers; I’ve had signed contracts broken…not once but twice…and I had to put my own money into a project or the so called producer would’ve pulled the plug (basically screwing everyone involved). Yup, nice guys all around.
In the immortal words of Kirsten Dunst: Bring it on!
ANGRYWRITER
I saw the FAQ from Graboff (passed around at our writers’ room). After reading it, any show-runner or hyphenate would have to be an idiot to push out one last episode. Graboff made it clear that until production stops, all hyphenates could be held liable should they refuse to do A-H. In other words, the sooner production stops, the less legal threat we’re under.
At this point it’s clear that the studios want to force a strike. It’s not at all clear they’ve made a wise decision.
I’m a TV fan with friends who work on all sides of the biz. I’m not a fan of reality shows (been there, done that) and if I want game shows I can become a Wheel watcher once again. But I do like a lot of the characters I’ve been following — Jim and Pam, Gil Grissom, Betty Sanchez, Jack, Sawyer, and Kate, and of course McDreamy. If I can’t find them on TV there’s no way I’m tuning in. And without them on TV what’s going to lure me in to check out new shows and fall in love again?
Dear Nikki,
I am a TV writer/producer. I have read your columns/blogs for a long time, and have always found them well-sourced and reliable. But you should know that right now, in the face of the possible WGA strike, you have become an indispensable source for some of us. As far as I can see, you are the only media source who accurately and carefully presents the facts about the contract negotiation. Even though the guild tries to get its point of view across through the usual outlets,
articles in the LAT and NYT (and certainly the trades) fail to make use of the information. Today’s lame Scriptland column (or whatever it’s called) in the LAT stresses how upsetting a strike would be for writers, which is of course true, but never bothers to quote anybody involved on the importance of the issues.
I believe that you have consistently seen that this contract negotiation and tried to report it straight. For us, this is vital
because the contract proposals the AMPTP is pushing are a wedge into the Walmartization of Hollywood. The Writers Guild works constantly to unionize unprotected writers — reality, animation etc, while the companies are actually trying to foist upon drama and comedy writers a toothless deal that makes us more like the unprotected groups we are trying to incorporate. Since everyone knows that digital downloading and streaming of media will soon be the predominant delivery system for content, creating an unremunerative model now will move us toward a less and less viable source of income for the future. All of us.
Thank you for seeing this, for talking about it and for keeping on top of it the way you do. My fellow staff members at LIFE (NBC) read and talk about your column every day. I hope that’s happening all over town.
Best,
Marjorie David
Co-Executive Producer, LIFE
As someone who doesn’t know if he’ll have a job past Friday, someone who doesn’t get residuals, someone who’s paying for his own health insurance, I’m absolutely terrified– and furious at both sides for knuckle-dragging and stoking their own egos. The YouTube video with the writers ever-so-hilariously working “menial jobs” — ones that I might find myself being forced to take — was the last straw. I agree with most of the WGA’s concern, but their intrangisence and emphasis on such side-issues as reality TV has put me off their side just as much as the producers’ arrogance has with theirs. With the B.S. residuals roll-back off the table, I thought we’d have two weeks of both sides getting down to brass tacks. Instead, we get the weekend prior to the strike deadline without negotiations and arguments about chairs and seating arrangements. A pox on both their houses for creating this mess.
Well done, Nikki. Your coverage is more balanced (and much more interesting) than Variety. And a big thanks to the Companies for being such ham-handed bullies that they’re driving even moderate writers straight to the picket lines.
Average Joe, you gotta educate yourself.
Who kept unreasonable rollbacks on the table from July onward? The studios.
Who removed ONE of those rollbacks at the last minute, and stamped their feet when they weren’t greeted with laurels? The studios.
Who refused to negotiate over the weekend? The studios.
The studios are the ones playing head games and stoking their ego. The writers are trying to ensure their very livelihood in the digital age. If the studios won’t give us 1% of digital when it’s still nothing, they won’t give us 1% of it when it’s everything. Period.
The famous DVD formula!
Okay…so exactly how much overhead does the studio need for an electronic download? The studios asked for the right to pay for the cardboard box, the plastic case and the magnetic tape back when this all started…why do they get to keep claiming that deduction? This is why we’re all willing to pound the pavement fo a long long time.
Let’s remember what happened to media companies during the 1988 strike. For example: Disney. At the beginning of March in 1988, Disney’s common stock was trading at $5.33. By the end of May of that same year it was down 14% to $4.60. This drop was in spite of better earnings. The stock didn’t recover until mid-June when the cutbacks started to reach the bottom line and Disney declared 10 cents per share earnings. The stock should have been higher, but it was discounted because of its labor issues. If studio management doesn’t bother to show up to negotiate, it won’t be the unemployed writers, or messengers, or florists, or caterers who ultimately judge them. It will be Wall Street that decides whose heads should roll. Wall Street doesn’t know who John August is, but they know who Bob Iger is. We don’t like Disney when it is trading at $28 and it should be trading at $40. FMR, State Street, Barclays Global, CALPERS don’t like it either. Perhaps management should bother to get involved in the negotiations. If the real desire is to control costs, showing up would be a good start. The strike price of your options is at stake.
AND! If you want a look at what awaits us writers at the end of a “three year study,” just read Nikki’s latest entry on the AMPTP’s flat refusal to consider upping home video residuals. Hasn’t that “business model” matured yet? Don’t you think, after ten years of DVDs fattening your bottom line (and killing the syndication market), writers can get a payment not based on VHS cassette manufacturing costs?
No, you don’t. What we got at the inception of home video is what we will get now and forever, if you have your way. And what we get at the inception of digital is what we will get now and forever. You are doing a marvelous job of reminding us of this, AMPTP. Keep up the good work, not giving an inch on DVD is just what we writers need to remind ourselves of the importance of getting digital residuals and separated rights *now*, not later.
Nikki is able to report this without an agenda other than the truth. She must get mad props for bringing the agents into this. There has been virtually no talk of the impending double cross the agents were bound to do “their clients”. It’s important we focus on what agents are advising their clients and what they are telling their studio partners. This is a very rare opportunity to see where agencies see their future.
Some ideas I want to seep into the ether so we can start to take this into our hands. As usual the threat of a strike and the actual strike will produce little
to nothing for writers. Scraps. The WGA is ineffective in it’s current form for the mass changes that must happen. The only union which works and is strong is the one with no name. The Union between the Studios and our/your agents. Your Agent doesn’t think he works for you, you are not the source of his income. You are completely interchangeable, he works for the studios, they pay him, not you(in his mind). This is why when it comes to a strike despite superficial talk the agent does not have your back.
What other line of work has “strong” unions and then requires you to have an agent? Can you imagine a coal miner with union and a agent or if teachers had
agents and such. I realize this does not transpose fairly, but think about this. In this day and age of corporate globalization and synergy it’s natural to dissolve our union and agent into ONE. I think if we empowered these unions to do this we would have much more power. The Union should be with our/their lawyers and managers making
our deals and in addition to what we do, help us find work. Cause let’s be honest, we all know we do 80% of the so called work our agent gets credit for. Right now us hyphenates are dived not only from agent and studio, but by separate unions to our detriment. There should be ONE creative union which reps directors, writers, composers so on. We must come together. This way we could get rid of agencies as a whole and they could do what they really want, be satellite producers and ambassadors for the studios so let them, but not without 10%! This would be the best change to the matrix since the end to the studio system. Thoughts?
The studios want a war. They want to kill the Union.
They may be killing themselves.
Nikki, you have done a great job–keep it up but please get some rest.
So, there it is. The AMPTP has come out and flatly said they’re not negotiating on DVDs or internet downloads – the only issues that really matter to us. So much for staving off a strike. This one will be long and ugly, Folks. I don’t forsee any possibility of a deal before the end of January at least. Good luck to the rest of the writers out there. I only hope I can finish and sell my novel before Christmas.
Screenwriter-turned-novelist.
I am asking this question honestly. Because I simply don’t understand.
Is the AMPTP saying that the proposal to increase the DVD residuals from POINT THREE PERCENT to POINT SIX PERCENT (or about $.12 on an average $20 DVD) and request for a palty 2.5% from the gross of new media to be the proposal of such “magnitude” that it “alone is blocking us from making any further progress” ??
That’s it? That’s doing it?
Are reasonable people really supposed to believe that those scant requests will somehow inhibit the development of this revenue stream?
It seems completely obvious that they also see this as a potentially huge revenue stream and simply don’t want to share it.
It just doesn’t seem possible that they can’t afford this. Are we really supposed to believe that all of the fat on their end has already been trimmed so that these scaps simply can’t be tolerated?
I think they just don’t want to pay it. Because…well, because they don’t want to.
And if that’s the case, a strike seems to be the proper response.
Since we’re all writers here — it’s reMUNeration, not renumeration.
Jimmy, I don’t necessarily disagree, but remember that whatever increase the AMPTP agrees to with the WGA will be multiplied by four due to pattern bargaining with DGA and SAG, who get one and three (or is it four?) times the WGA residual pool. So you’re talking about 50 cents of residuals on a DVD. And given the pressures on the wholesale price of DVD (due to Wal-Mart, etc.) that isn’t such a tiny slice…
I am a manager. I rep a couple guild writers, but mostly emerging (read non-guild) writers who don’t even make enough to be in the guild and these are the writers who will ultimately be punished the most if they cross the picket line. I don’t support the AMPTP but at the same time I think the WGA leadership has their own agenda and is pushing it through regardless of the consequences. Has anyone thought about the ripple effect of what will happen if there is a strike? What about the gaffers? and grips? and location managers? and caterers? and the waiters and restaurant owners? And the hundreds of other businesses that depend on the entertainment industry to make their livelihood? It seems that none of these people have a say at all, but will bear the full brunt of a strike. Also, I am curious if anyone realizes that with more and more people going to the internet for user-generated content what will happen if there is a strike? There will be a stampede to UGC and the internet in general, and it might be very hard to convince viewers to go back to the tube after the strike.
Mike S – I see what you’re saying. And I understand that concern.
But three times .6 is only 1.8 percent. We’re still talking about pennies. I know every penny counts, and that they have to profit. But is this an unfair demand?
And the AMPTP is saying that the acceptable residual level on downloads is zero.
Is that fair?
And remember, these numbers are what the WGA put out a while ago, and they were certainly done with the expectation of negotiating down to less. I bet if the AMPTP agreed to .45 on DVDs, and 1.2 percent on new media, there would be no strike.
But the AMPTP is saying they won’t even negotiate these numbers.
I just don’t buy it.
I’m a writer. I’m not looking forward to the day after midnight, but let’s be honest. The much-maligned WGA was and remains at the forefront of labor issues in this town. It is high time to understand how equity and comfortable lifestyles are forged, and that there is a need to stand up and fight for it every now and then. So let’s do that.