This email effort by a producer who asks me not to publish his name has spread like wild fire through not only the film tracking boards but also into the television world. (I’ve just been told that IATSE is doing something very similar):
“This might seem a little out there but I think it’s worth a shot. I’ve found myself really emotionally affected by the collateral damage this strike is taking (and so much more quickly than I think any of us anticipated) so I’m going to try and do something:
We’re collecting names of people who have lost their jobs (if someone doesn’t want to be on this list, of course please respect that), where they worked, and what their position was. Once it’s reached a decent number, this list will be paired with a letter to Patric Verrone and Nick Counter DEMANDING they get back into a room and resume negotiating immediately (and not emerge until there is an agreement) for the sake of those losing their jobs. They can negotiate while picketing continues and there’s no reason massive documents of whole new proposals have to be drawn up before they go back into a room and speak like adults. It will say NOTHING regarding the points of the strike. Just: Go. Back. To. Negotiating. All of these peoples’ jobs, rent, student loans, lives, have been destroyed.
The plan is to CC the letter and the list of names to Nikki Finke and hopefully Patrick Goldstein or the like after that. Each day as we get more names on the list, we’ll send the letter and list again. And again. Hopefully shaming them and making it impossible to ignore. Please forward this to anyone that might have lost their job and tell them they can email me directly. We’ll see what happens.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.







This is a powerful idea, keep it alive. And if it is true that the WGA wants to continue negotiating while the AMPTP is refusing, Patric Verrone (and each member of his neogiating committee) should set up a table at every picketline, with “Where’s Nick Counter?” emblazoned on the empty chairs across from them.
The list sounds like a good idea at first. But let’s face it, the writers and producers already know how many people are affected by the strike. My show’s last day is today and I can assure you our writers know us and may even feel bad, but it didn’t stop them from striking. The producers have our crew lists already so it would be redundant to send it again. Though I whole heartedly agree that they need to get back to the table.
writing partner of a WGA member, we WERE sitting there. They left! And before doing so, they tricked us into playing one of our cards, leaving many of us convinced that was the plan all along. Going back and sittin there, twiddling our thumbs, waiting for them to come back and talk to us again? When up until now, we’ve been basically “negotiating with ourselves,” as one of our leaders correctly termed it? No, I think the ball is in their court. At this moment, it’s the AMPTP’s fault and their fault alone these people are out of jobs. It’s their fault writers are out of jobs. We were ready to settle it Sunday night. Fade Out. The end.
What an idiotic notion. It’s not that Verrone doesn’t want to negotiate, it’s that Counter refuses to do so. Case in point: on Sunday the WGA was told through “back channels” that if writers gave up the DVD demand there would be a proposal from the AMPTP about the internet. So Verrone took DVD off the table… and the AMPTP gave NOTHING. Nick Counter is Lucy with the football, and Charlie Brown ain’t getting fooled again.