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UPDATE: Gavin Polone Explains Himself
The Prince Of Darkness, aka producer/manager/ex-agent Gavin Polone, went on television today proclaiming that the writers’ strike is positive for the earnings of studios and the WGA has lost its leverage. Yeah, the stoning starts now. On the one hand, I always applaud Gavin for never being afraid to go on the record with his opinions. On the other hand, those opinions are incredibly crackpot. (There’s good reason his production company is called “Pariah”.) In the TV interview with Fox Business Network (which couldn’t even get the spelling of his name right), Polone said:
On how the writers’ strike is benefiting the studios:
“This strike, right now, at this point in time, is positive for the earnings of all these studios, I’m sure…Now, these companies are so vertically integrated that they’re going to make money from a lot of different sources…They’re making more money right now because they’ve lowered their costs…The studios are using this as an excuse [to save money]…What’s going to happen is that the people who aren’t watching Lost right now are going to say I’ll go watch something else on ABC Family, which is still owned by Disney. The same corporate conglomerate will still make money.”
On how the writers’ strike is benefiting producers:
“In a weird way, it has allowed me to push forward a lot of scripts that would normally have taken a long time to get to the point where they could be produced because everyone likes to tinker with them. Not having the writers available, and having the threat of a SAG strike, which is potentially going to happen on June 30th, has gotten the studios to not tinker at all with the scripts and to push more things into production because after June 30th they might not be able to produce anything.”
On how long the strike will last:
“I think it’s going to go on for quite a long time. I think it could go one for easily six months. This whole thing is a debacle. It really has been mishandled by the Writers’ Guild.”
On the writers losing their leverage:
“They [the writers] just gave away their leverage. All their leverage was before they called a strike. That’s when they had the gun to the heads of the studios. They misread the strength of the studios at this particular time and those running the studios. These aren’t guys you can push around by walking outside of their houses with signs. Sumner Redstone isn’t going to give in because he sees people with signs outside of the studio.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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“Sumner Redstone isn’t going to give in because he sees people with signs outside of the studio.”
As much as I hate to admit this, he’s absolutely right.
Leave it to FOX to find the guy who’d not only sensationalize how the WGA has “mishandled” this negotiation, but would find a way to pat said network on the back for playing it the exact right way (I am sure Seth MacFarlane has a very different take…)
No, but Sumner Redstone may give in if Democratic Senators were to threaten to haul his ass before a Sub-Committee hearing and start asking some uncomfortable questions about his studio funding. And Rupert Murdoch. And Les Moonves. And…. we’ve all seen that viral video.
Did you notice how little Big Media has commented on the WGA/SAG trip to Capital Hill? My first thought was “Yeah, Oddjob suddenly got very nervous in “Goldfinger” when James Bond finally figured out his hat was a weapon which cut both ways. The big guy stepped back very fast.”
So did Big Media.
As for Palone, who was never more brilliantly pastiched than by himself when he appeared in “Action” trying to get O.J. Simpson a role in Peter Dragon’s new movie (“Sure, the guy’s had some personal issues but he’s been taking acting classes to improve his chops”) – the man is definately a blowhard and he’s way off base on what power the WGA has, but the other stuff is, sadly, pretty much on the money….
Remind me never to work with Gavin Palone. In my view he’s worse than the studios. At least they have the excuse of self-interest.
“All their leverage was before they called a strike.”
QUOTED FOR TRUTH.
There is a reason Gavin’s production company is called “Pariah”. He always has been and always will be a deeply unlikeable figure. Shame on him.
Gee, if only his production company had an appropriate name. Oh wait, it does.
Gavin Polone is absolutely (and unfortunately) correct. This is a fight based on idealism, and not practicality. Writers are idealistic, and that’s a good thing. They need to be practical, too — and now the onus is on them to come up with a practical solution. That’s not to say it’s not possible, but it’s effectively in their court.
Gavin’s a stooge not just for Fox, but for the studios en masse .. that’s who butters his bread, folks
it is no coincidence that at the end of a week where the tide has clearly shifted in WGA’s favor, a loudmouth stooge conveniently appears on Fox News trying to pysch out the WGA
AMPTP must be getting awfully nervous .. expect more of this crap to come
stand strong, WGA – it’s working
If the last statement Palone says is true — the writers lost their leverage by calling a strike and taking away the gun they had pointed at the heads of the studios, how is the first statement (that the studios are benefitting from a strike) also true? If the studios benefit from a strike then there never was a gun to their heads in the first place. I’m confused about this logic.
For Palone, the WGA could do no right. Accept for his own pocketbook, it seems. Nice to brag about how well you’re doing when people are being laid off and can’t pay their rent. What a great guy!
Nikki, while I agree with you in disagreeing with Gavin’s reasoning, I do think that in the interest of “fair and balanced” journalism, you shouldn’t just say that his opinions are “crackpot.” You should explain WHY his opinions are “crackpot.” Otherwise, your reporting comes off as slanted and you lose a bit of credibility.
For example, as to Gavin’s reasoning that companies are vertically integrated and a consumer who isn’t watching LOST on ABC will simply gravitate to ABC Family (or another Disney-owned channel), you could point out that his reasoning doesn’t make sense because original programming on ABC Family will also come to a halt. Or you could point out that viewers could just as easily defect to another media outlet that’s owned by a different parent company. And you coud point out that once viewers leave LOST, they might not return, thereby effectively killing a proven income-generator.
etc. etc. etc. Again, I agree with you in principal that what he’s saying doesn’t make any sense, and as a producer himself, his bias couldn’t be more obvious. But I’m just saying you need to articulate the reasons WHY you disagree with his opinion.
is he wrong?
You’re losing all your credibility today, Nikki. Why are you just taking pot shots at people you don’t like instead of reporting on the real huge stories today…namely that some showrunners (including Carlton Cuse) are quietly slipping back to work, and the late night shows are talking about coming back?
Gavin has it all nailed, exactly right. Force majeure means immediate short term savings for the studios. They feel no real economic pinch for six months, and the writers can’t possibly go that long.
Man am I sick of people saying that the writers had all their leverage BEFORE they started the strike. Really? They really had leverage? And is that how come the last three times that they threatened to strike, but didn’t, they ended up getting exactly what they wanted?
Whatever you’re smoking, Gavin, I’ll take some.
right or wrong, Ari has a point. I’ve believed for some time that the studios have been colluding on ways to bring down development and production costs. By allowing the strike to continue, the studios have out clauses to many contracts that they may or may not regret. This affords them tremendous power in reigning in the expenditures. It just so happens that it started with the WGA. Perhaps I’m off base, but it certainly seems like a potential strategy for the producers. Where Ari is far off base relates to his assertion that the writers are to blame for the strike. The writers deserve everything their asking for. However, I wonder if it will take a consortium of guilds to negotiate with the producers and come to some sort of compromise.
He’s right. You guys blew it BIG TIME. You’re going to get another bum deal like you did in 1988 and you all deserve it. If, after 20 years since the last strike THIS is the best you can do, then you haven’t earned the right to even bitch and moan. Instead of calling a strike that CLEARLY benefits the studios (especially after they dump many of your development deals in a couple of weeks) the WGA SHOULD have been trying to come up with viable business models from which writers can not only benefit, but which will move us into the next phase of new media. So much for all of that “creativity” you all claim you have. The studios will continue to make money in one way or another (none of them with the exception of CBS counts on broadcast tv for any REAL revenue at the bottom line). You guys walked RIGHT into this one. LoL.
I remember reading about Gavin Polone for the first time years ago. It described him as an arrogant loudmouth with a black Ferrari who treated the people around him abominably. I knew he was an asshole. I didn’t know he was also stupid. Thanks for the post, Nikki.
Where does this guy live?
We’re starting to hear a stupid argument very often and I’d like to nip it in the bud. It’s the one about studios saving money because the strike prevents them from having to develop. That’s like saying a restaurant is saving money when no one come to eat, because they don’t have to waste all that money on buying food.
The development the studios aren’t doing right now, that’s supposedly saving them so much money, that’s their NEXT SEASON OF TELEVISION. the argument’s being used to scare writers. Scare us into what? Into coming back to work so they can develop with us.
This strike was not ill-timed. The second half of the current season of television is about to be lost. The studios may be prepared to weather that storm, and the WGA is too. But as we inch into the new year, that’s when the studios loose an entire second season of TV. They don’t want to do that. They hope to avoid it by scaring the crap out of us early in the game and stone-walling on negotiations for a while, so we’ll be so elated when they come back we’ll take anything. Like we always do.
I hope what they find is that we haven’t fallen for this and we’re firm in our #$&@-ing resolve!
As for losing our leverage, that argument is bogus too. If we’d had leverage before the strike, the studios would have negotiated with us. Next season is our leverage.
Opinions so assinine, they defy comment. Some of the most inarticulate, cloth-headed notions I’ve heard. No wonder. It was on Fox.
Has no one proclaimed that there are some common sense principles on the table, viz.: If the Companies would accept the writers, directors and actors for what they are – collaborative PARTNERS in the production of filmed story-telling, then it would only make sense that ALL OF US should benefit when the fruits of our PARTNERSHIP are realized.
I won’t accept that there’s no place for idealism left in the world.
How’s that for a self-endorsing sentence?
I hope the striking scribes know that this is the AMPTP version of negotiating. The hail-Mary Sunday meeting got the WGA to drop the DVD demands without getting a single thing. The effort to get the strike pushed back at the witching hour was a calculated power play aimed at undermining Guild solidarity.
Now the AMPTP is just sitting back letting the Palones, Emanuels and even the Tom Shorts fire volley after volley in a blatant psychological campaign to undermine Guild leadership and rank-and-file’s resolve. Think about it? Ari Emmanuel is supposedly on the writer’s side but he attempts to denigrate the guild leadership by referring to Guild President Verrone as an animation writer. I don’t remember when the WGA changed its name to “Showrunners Guild of America.”
Verrone is the leader of your guild. Don’t like the job he’s doing , vote him the heck out of office, but don’t let one of your “representatives” bitch-slap him in the your name in front of the producers you’re striking. The Emanuels of the world will still be raking it in long after most of you have stopped receiving residuals, then try getting him on the phone.
The AMPTP want you to sweat and think they can get along without you and that you are being led of a fool’s errand. Let me give you a tip, they need you more than they will ever let on, but their goal isn’t to be fair or responsible or wise. The AMPTP’s goal is to win, and because they collect the money and write the checks, they will have lots of Palones and Emmanuels telling you that you’re way off course and your leadership is wrong. They will blame the end of the world on you. But keep this in mind; if the whole darn town goes reality, all the suits in fiction aren’t going to be vertically integrated. They’ll be sitting next to you at Starbucks begging for a look at your spec script and television pitch.
BE STRONG
What a dick. Of course he’s on Fox. I hope Judith Regan takes these clowns to the bank.
Yeah. He’s totally right. Like, when McDonald’s runs out of food, they actually *save* money. And people can just start eating cheaper, more cost-effective things, like ketchup packets and urinal cakes.
Brilliant, Gavin!… What writer would EVER want to work with you again. Where does he live? I got some WGA friends with bullhorns who want to express our feelings, show some leverage again…
AND we have another producer admitting that they (and their tinkerers) usually ruin scripts… Somebody tell again, why do we need these guys?