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Yes, the AMPTP and WGA are still talking — or what passes for talking between this bunch. What was only supposed to be three days of talks is now four days of talks. Next round skedded for 10 AM Thursday.
UPDATE: I’ll have a full report about the Talks Day #3.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Good. Keep talking. I say we put lithium in the water coolers.
And… what happened… didn’t happen… might’ve happened… today?
The insinuation is that nothing of quality is happening in these talks. Anything to substantiate this?
Just scheduled for three days? Lock ‘em in a room until they get a deal done!
Does this mean there was actual progress today???
Instead of a fancy hotel, they should negotiate in an AMC Theatre. That way the congealed cola syrup on the floor will keep them there til they get a deal.
Fine by me. Even no news is good news with this bunch. We might not have had a breakthrough, but we haven’t had a breakdown either.
Talking is better then not talking…
What the producers are saying is not what they’re thinking. What they’re thinking is……Force Majeure.
Well, at least talks didn’t fall apart again. But I’m with Anonymous (@ 5:19). Get this done! I’m not blaming WGA, it’s AMPTP being assholes. But if you have to make a move, do it. You’re playing chicken too right now, and the other side wants to stall.
Why don’t writers take a page from the music industry and start working under a 360 deal?
It’s a trap!
One RUMOR flying around the line today: That the AMPTP actually doesn’t have any intention of resolving this. Witness your report that the AMPTP simply re-read their same proposals from Nov. 4th for two hours. Their plan seems to be to get the writers’ enthusiasm and expectations up. Then be so stubborn that the WGA has no option but to walk away from the talks. Their hope being that this would drive a wedge between leadership and membership. Fortunately, between your column and the internet (which doesn’t make any money – see ads) this is an old-fashioned ploy that won’t work. If that’s the scenario, I’m hoping the the WGA spent today re-reading THEIR proposals for two hours – just in case the AMPTP didn’t understand them the first two hundred times…
the strike will end when the moguls decide it will end. Do not believe that it will end in a week. Any info you hear about negotiations-good or bad- is meant to destroy our morale or give us false hopes. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that these guys are for the most part douchebags. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. And keep picketing!
You g-u-u-u-uys! It’s a process! It’s gonna take time. Not bite-sized nuggests of time but t-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-m-m-e. No quick fixes here. The fact that we went out the way we did — in force, with genuine committment — for the reason we did — because we recognized the importance of this particular negotiation (it’s about the future — of content, of how our content is delivered, of how we get paid for said delivery, and of the future of collective bargaining as a way to protect the working person — demands that we allow the dance to play itself out. Damn, of course we all want to know the answer to our question but the more we push for said answer to be delivered now, the more we empower an end that does not justify the means… or something like that. Relax (hard as it is). Maintain your resolve that we’re not after something stupid, we’re after something fair. The power in this town is the power of ‘no’. We still hold that power. Don’t give it away for the sake of a quick answer.
Studios don’t really want to keep talking. It might accidentally lead to a deal. They don’t want a deal to close until mid-January.
Hey, “End This Already”: Can we conclude from your nom de blog that you don’t care what kind of contract we wind up with, just as long as the strike ends?
C’mon everyone. Have a little patience. First of all, both sides agreed to a media blackout. Only the people involved in the negotiations are really going to know what’s been happening. So no news doesn’t mean one thing or another. There isn’t supposed to be any news. Second, considering how far apart both sides were, do you really think they were going to bang out a deal in a couple of days? Third, there are quite a few issues beyond the internet residuals. Takes time to hammer out all this stuff.
The fact that they are negotiating is the important thing right now. Both sides seem to want to find a way to get a deal in place and get back to work.
Especially on the televison side of things. The networks have the media buyers (the folks that purchase ad time) breathing down their necks with talk of make-goods and even asking for money back. Also, pilot season is right around the corner.
At this point, I believe the AMPTP is motivated to make a deal. I think the intensity of the strike caught them a little off guard, and more importantly, I think the guild leadership timed the strike perfectly.
Of course, things could easily go haywire. The AMPTP wants to give us as little as possible, and the WGA wants to make sure it doesn’t leave anything on the table.
Even if everything goes pretty smoothly, I wouldn’t expect a deal to be hammered out for at least another week — or two.
Just in time for the holiday!
It’s very simple, folks. The AMPTP either wants to cut a deal or it doesn’t. If it does, they could offer us a rate for Ineternet they could live with and I’ll bet you the WGA has a “No reasonable offer refused” sign out and would take it. End of strike.
But maybe, FOR WHATEVER REASON, the AMPTP doesn’t want to end the strike. Well, then it won’t end unless we cave, which everyone knows won’t happen so fast.
That’s all there is to it.
Fin.
I say we lock them all in the negotiating room with no food, water or bathrooms and we don’t let them out until they make a deal.
It may sound inhumane, but it will end the strike really quickly.
It doesn’t mean that there was actual progress. It could be cover for the AMPTP to stall while trying to reach an agreement on what golf course to hit today, what fast food restaurant to hit for lunch, and what conference room to hit in order to talk about nothing except the Late Show’s writers obsession over Nikki Finke.
Did you know that way back in time, 20 years ago to be precise, Jeff Zucker was a strike, ahem, replacement writer at NBC News? He did some weekday writing for Brokaw’s show, and on the weekends he wrote for anchor people such as Connie Chung, Garrick Utley and John Hart.
Zucker, a recent Harvard graduate, was working legit as a researcher for the NBC Olympic unit back then, preparing information for the following year’s Olympics in Seoul.
And what’s this about the WGA reps wanting jurisdiction over reality and game show writers? I can’t imagine the rank and file members care about that. The reality ‘writers’ haven’t walked with them, so why bother holding out over them? I think it’s a case of the representatives just trying to increase their power by making a bigger guild without regard for the fact that their current membership is unlikely to ever benefit from having those types of shows under WGA jurisdiction. But that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.
I’m a reality writer, and I picket every day … as do every reality writer who happens to be WGA (which is a lot of us, thanks) I know.
Yeah, you could be wrong. How does it help union members to have sectors of the industry where writers can be treated like crap and forced to work under contracts that undercut union contracts? WGA jurisdiction over game shows and reality shows helps all writers in the long run. It would also make strikes more effective, as Big Media would find it more difficult to fill in with reality programming. And you know, union officials don’t actually gain any personal power by signing up more members. It’s about collective power, the welfare of all writers and the future of the industry.