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Ed Bernero, exec producer of CBS' Criminal Minds, emails me about my post, Networks/Studios vs Showrunners: Why They're Now On A Collision Course:
"Your reporting on the showrunners meeting was dead-on. I think you sort of under-reported the most important thing that came out of that discussion, though. The story leaned on the fact that we would support each other in the event one of us is sued by the Companies. While that is true, the bigger story of that meeting was the (as I remember) almost unanimous agreement (which I don't think the Guild leadership was completely happy with -- this isn't a ploy by them) that we hyphenate showrunners would absolutely go back to work to finish the episodes left to post if the AMPTP agreed to come back to the table. I think most of us would agree that it doesn't even have to be them that makes the first move. If someone were to tell me that if I went back to my producing duties on Monday morning and the Companies would come back to the table Monday afternoon, I'd go. I'd trust them that much.
"They have to talk to our Guild if this is ever going to get fixed. People are being hurt in this -- mostly helpless people who have no protection. We want this thing settled. We want to work. We still have episodes to finish and we will if they just agree to talk again. Just come back and talk."
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that seems fair to me
as long as it is serious talking, not just small talk so the network can get more episodes of course
Let’s face it – many of them never stopped working in the first place.
And the whole: “I did it for my teamsters!” rings false. The crew would continue production until they ran out of scripts. Their work is not affected by how much a showrunner tweaks his or her cut of episode 9.
All this appears to be is an open willingness to CONTINUE to cave while the rest of their staffs keep marching outside.
Any talk will do at this point. These people should be forced to sit in a room together, silent if need be, until the whole thing is worked out.
That’s ridiculous, the Guild trusted AMPTP so much they took DVDs off the table, that worked out great.
“Any talk will do at this point. These people should be forced to sit in a room together, silent if need be, until the whole thing is worked out.”
AMEN! I feel that this should be a law – there are too many people being affected out there for this not to be happening already!
Jesus, Ed, maybe you should’ve held onto that information until it would’ve been useful. Now Counter will read it and spin it to his bosses as weakness instead of what it actually is, which is people being reasonable. Eh, doesn’t matter. Let’s play it out: showrunners go back to work, AMPTP comes back to table, AMPTP offers no movement on new media, David Young bursts a blood vessel and recalls showrunners and the showrunners tell him they’re not his “brothers and sisters” as he unfortunately likes to call us and to go piss up a rope. Now the TV machine is cranked up again and the only people screwed are the middle class writers who are still out of work and on the picket line.
Anyway, I’d like to add to the confusion with some half-baked theories.
1) The four congloms that own networks are crapping themselves right now. They want this over sooner rather than later. They must understand that this is the end of their network model if this goes past mid December. They know the audience they lose will never come back because there’s a precedent for that and God knows MBAs love a case history. They fear if there’s no upfronts in 2008, there will never be upfronts again.
2) The other congloms (and smaller members of the AMPTP) that don’t own networks are feeling less pressure and are content to wait us out.
The good news is the AMPTP is full of dissension. The other good news is the only thing they can agree on is that Counter and his team of flying monkeys mismanaged the negotiation.
Nikki, any rumblings from the AMPTP about what their thoughts are? They obviously struck first with spin about last Sunday… and since then it’s been all WGA, all the time. It seems like every writer willing to go on record is saying “just come back to the table.” What’s the hold up??? I know far too many people who live paycheck-to-paycheck who have lost their jobs (or will in a matter of days when various shows hit the end of their script stack).
I imagine it may be an ego thing… WGA has invited AMPTP to talk, so they’re balking. If that’s the case (and, really, what else could it be), would the people with private jets please get their heads out of the sand and see that in a week this has had a monstrous effect on the entire industry?
The ONLY place this mess will be resolved is at the negotiating table. If the Showrunners going back to work will get the two sides talking again, I support it.
It’s time for both sides to put the past behind them and make a fresh start of it. There’s too much at stake to allow this to drag on any longer. The failure to reach an agreement soon will devastate thousands of lives.
As the saying goes. “talk in cheap”! If they went back to work just as long as the AMPTP goes to the table to “Talk”, wouldn’t that just get more shows in the can and allow them to live with a strike THAT MUCH LONGER? It’s like giving a heroin addict just a little bit every day but demanding they clean up their act at the same time. Plus as it’s been brough up before, if you allow the networks to go longer, they will just let this roll into the period when SAG starts their negotiations. Seems to me you need to halt all product. Just a thought????
RESOLUTION NOW!
Anyone want teachers to teach without lesson plans?
NASA to go to space without blueprints?
Pay the writers!
(PLEASE?!!!)
Let the headlines on Monday read:
“The studios return in good faith to the bargaining table”
Betsye and Anon are right. This won’t work. The AMPTP will just stall and equivocate while the showrunners fill out their episodes. Once they’re done, the AMPTP will walk out again, laughing how the showrunners cut their own throats.
Here’s an alternative: Showrunners should report back to work under the guise to complete episodes, then steal all the master footage and hide it. Hold it hostage until the AMPTP agrees to negotiate for real. Crying how you want to go back to work has no effect on these corporate swine. Get vicious.
Finally, an “Olive Branch”. This is the best thing that either side has done since the strike started.
A little gesture here and there, whether it is pure PR or not, will go a very long way toward showing those of us on the outside of this dispute who really does want these issues resolved.
Talk and rhetoric is cheap. I wanted to see actions. I am happy to see the showrunners taking the proper steps, in my opinion.
While I applaud the willingness of the showrunners to come back to the table if the AMPTP will, all these comments seem to assume that that AMPTP is willing to be reasonable. The bottom line is – the AMPTP wanted a strike and have no intention of coming back until they take their write-offs on all the crappy shows of the current season, cut all the production deals they wanted to get rid of anyway, trim their own dead wood internally, and otherwise take advantage of this situation for their own financial advantage. That should take – oh – about six months or so, conveniently timed to the other two guilds negotiations. In the end, I assume the AMPTP will give some kind of nominal back end just to get their hit shows running again – but they have some housecleaning to do first. They don’t give a s— about how this strike is affecting any individuals. They are not individuals themselves but corporations concerned only with the bottom line. That’s what happens when entertainment companies are run by MBA’s. This is not even personal. It’s just business!
By the way, on a separate note, Nikki, your blog is an example of why, in the end, the little guy will triumph. Thanks to the internet, any talented content provider can put their work out there and have a direct relationship with their audience, without needing some big media conglomerate to help them deliver their content. While it’s more expensive to produce a show than a wonderful column like yours, in the end, the writers/production people will be able to producd their shows directly for the net. Maybe the conglomerates can produce their pie charts. Let’s see how entertaining the public finds THAT!
Could it be that the AMPTP has been silent because the studio and network heads would like to remove/reduce Nick Counter’s role there? In this whole process he’s appeared to be stone-walling, conducted endless name-calling to paint the other side as children, either botched or was duplicitous in those 11th hour negotiations last Sunday, and broke confidence and lied to the press afterwards. Not exactly what studios want for a public face, especially with the wave of support writers have gotten in week one. Counter’s actions are appropriate if the studios really want to bust the union, and his reluctance to talk is a sign that they want to. But if, in fact, the studios want to solve this thing, it makes sense they would silence Counter and have another spokesman before the PR damage gets too severe. Nikki, you hearing anything?
I heard that only a handful of EP’s were dumb enough to float this idea and it was shot down. Why else would there be so much discussion about being sued? I don’t get the sense that most writers support a “half strike.” After giving up DVD’s what room does the Guild have for retreat, anyway? The Guild wants to talk, it’s the companies who are pretending they don’t.
I’m surprised by this public announcement by a showrunner. I wonder if this is truly what came out of the showrunner meeting or just what Ed Beneraro wants. I mean, if AMPTP wants to say “let’s talk” and the showrunners go back and finish shows and then the AMPTP never gives an inch, all that’s been accomplished is a weakening of the guild.
This to me dosn’t actually sound like a good plan at all but rather suicide by naivite.
The showrunners must hang tight until there is a deal pending… MUST or all this so far will be for naught.
In 88, the year all writers point to and say all our contract problems stem from, the accepted urban myth about it is we failed because a group of showrunners wanted to cross and go back to work. If that happens again, it really is the death of the guild and there will be no juridiction over the internet and therefore, no residuals. They must hang tough.
Please showrunners, don’t make statements that aren’t guild approved and/or that may give the AMPTP delight in the notion we’re weak and divided.
I have a question. If all I read is how one side can’t trust the other, how this side won’t do this and that side won’t do that and the studios can’t be trusted….How will this ever be resolved?
In negotiating, you ask high and accept you’ll get something in the middle but I don’t see either side accepting this simple truth?
The vitriole has to stop on both sides, and I mean both, if there is to be a negotiation. I don’t know who has to take the first step, but I do know at least the showrunners are trying something. Why do we have to crap all over it before it has even had a chance to work?
If this strike goes on for a long time, eventually we’ll all be responsible for it, not just the studios.
Don’t do it, showrunners! It’s a trap!
Wow, are you kidding me? is this how you play poker, Ed. Show your hand before you make a call?
This is bad business, my Friend. The whole point of going on Strike is to gain leverage, not give it away.
Doing what Ed suggests would weaken our position. The efforts and sacrifices made by showrunners has thus far helped our cause, although it is only a dent in the overall scheme of things, a good start but only a start to get AMPTP to seriously think about bargaining fairly with WGA.
I am now quoting what the WGA NegCom stated to us at the time talks broke down last Sunday. I’m sure Nick Counter and Co will only consider this as gleeful additional leverage to them to offer us even less.
The Latest Word — Negotiations Updates
(11/4/07)
Contract 2007 Negotiations Statement
The WGA Negotiating Committee, on behalf of the Writers of Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), has issued the following statement regarding Contract 2007 negotiations:
Early today, the WGA completely withdrew its DVD proposal, which the Companies said was a stumbling block. Yet, the Companies still insisted on the following:
• No jurisdiction for most of new media writing.
• No economic proposal for the part of new media writing where they do propose to give coverage.
• Internet downloads at the DVD rate.
• No residual for streaming video of theatrical product.
• A “promotional” proposal that allows them to reuse even complete movies or TV shows on any platform with no residual. This proposal alone destroys residuals.
• A “window” of free reuse on the Internet that makes a mockery of any residual.
The AMPTP made no response to any of the other proposals that the WGA has made since July. The AMPTP proposed that today’s meeting be “off the record,” meaning no press statements, but they have reneged on that.
This is a bad idea, badly proposed, that will end in a longer strike.
The companies are indeed crapping themselves right now. Let’s keep those pants full of crap, shall we?
We want to talk. Come back to the table, AMPTP.
You know, when I first read about the showrunners’ offer – I thought it was rather significant. I’m glad to see it get more exposure on this forum.
It’s the only productive idea to come out of either camp since this mess started. I’m inclined to believe that the showrunners are willing to defy their guild in order to make progress with the negotiations. Good for them.
We need more of this attitude from smart people on both sides of the fence if this strike is to be stopped before irreparable damage sets in.
To quote a gifted writer on 30 ROCK (and I have no idea which one), “This is going to be one hardcore negoshe…Let’s skip the foreplay and get right to the penetraysh…”
It’s no trap for the thousands of below the line employees laid off for all of this.
This a bad idea.
I’m one of the so-called middle-class writers. I support the strike 100 percent as do the other industry people in my neighborhood. They include A.D.s, set-dressers, electricians, and other writers. At it’s core, Hollywood is a union town.
But we want the strike to be as short as possible. That means we need to shut down the town now. Going back to work, even on this limited basis, will only serve to lengthen the strike.
I can’t afford a long strike and neither can my neighbors. Let’s make this an effective strike. We shouldn’t be going back to work, we should be getting feature directors and actors to join us.
We should be stopping the Eddie Murphy film from shooting in Studio City. We should be stopping the Star Trek movie from shooting.
At the same time, we should be getting anyone willing to speak to the AMPTP to speak to them about coming back to the table. We’re waiting.
I am a single dad crewmember on a show that will shut down this Friday. I live paycheck to paycheck. I don’t have a home to use to take out a nice loan to live for months and ride out the strike. I am going to have to ask two of my wealthier friends for personal loans, which really helps the pride let me tell you. I think everyone who is in a similar situation to mine needs to come together and let both the WGA and (especially) the AMPTP know (as if they don’t already know) how many lives they are hurting by not going back to the bargaining table. It really is amazing to me how the leaders of both parties cannot get back in a room. Why is it so hard? I cannot for the life of me understand why!
This from the EP of Criminal Minds? Aren’t you supposed to know something about psychology? And guild history. This is NOT how you get AMPTP to the bargaining table… by sweet-talking and by promising to keep giving them concessions BEFORE they’ve even given us ONE THING!… Who is in charge of WGAw communications and pr?! Damage control? YES, YES… we ALL want negotiations to begin IMMEDIATELY… of COURSE, EVERYBODY wants that. But the AMPTP is playing hardball and we have to fight back. FIGHT back, Ed! Wake up!!! This will end VERY badly for the writers unless we are UNITED and STRONG. Ed, you can keep yourself busy with backchanneling, otherwise keep your “surrender” thoughts to yourself…
The very fact that the AMPTP’s attitude is ‘We won’t talk till you stop striking’ says it all. C’mon, people, see what’s in front of your noses fer Chrissakes! The AMPTP has not negotiated in good faith for two seconds here. For the showrunners to give them the benefit of the doubt and go back to work in exchange for the talking to resume is insane. Nick Counter has taken a scorched earth approach here. He sees himself as Sherman marching to the goddamn sea! The only way the AMPTP could BEGIN to indicate that they DO really want to talk, that they DO really want to find some common ground, that they DO intend to compromise with us would be to take Nick Counter off the goddamn table.
Any gesture on the WGA’s part (or on the part of some of its members) to try and play nice will most definitely backfire.
On behalf of those of us below the line, who will also be suffering due to this strike, thank you Ed Bernero for being a voice of reason. The only this strike will end is if both sides stop throwing tantrums, calling each other names and in general acting like 3 year olds. A lot of people are getting hurt in our industry who have nothing to do with this dispute. And yes, most of the IATSE and Teamster membership wants the writers to get a fair deal on DVD and internet, but we also have mortgages to pay and families to support (just like the writers I know . .. I’m actually married to one) So while we throw our loyalty and support to the WGA, we asks the WGA to do everything possible to get these talks started again. We’re not asking you to call of your strike, but to at least negotiate. Yes you took DVD off the table and the AMPTP came back with a crappy counter, but how about countering their counter? So kudos again to Mr. Bernero, if only he were on the negotiating team, maybe things would get moving again.
Ed, your proposal is so blinkered and self-serving it makes me want to scream. I get that as a showrunner of a successful show you are afraid of biting the hand that feeds you. But this sort of refusal to sacrifice is ultimately self-sabotage. And no matter what phone calls you’re getting from the Nina Tasslers of this world, pleading for you to finish posting the episodes because it’s not “writing”, continuing to give the studios/networks product simply prolongs the strike and undercuts the union’s position, perhaps fatally. And damages the below the line folk, and the middle class writers, and our cause.
We withdrew the DVD proposal, and were greeted only with scorn. There are no more gestures of good faith to be made by the WGA. We’ve been negotiating against ourselves since the first pitch. The ball is now in the producers’ court. They owe a serious reply to our serious and threadbare proposal. And public statements that show discord simply play into Counter’s hand. He is banking on 20 years of lack of union resolve. If he sees evidence of it, he will tell his bosses “See, it’s working. Again. We don’t have to give those shleppers shit. Let’s just sit back and let them cannibalize each other.”
We have the moral high ground. We were forced into a corner. Now it’s time to stand up and be counted.
Get with the program.
I work at a film studio. I see writers get paid huge GUARANTEED salaries for their work. Writers on devt. scripts get 6 and 7 figure amounts guaranteed for 3-4 months work, even if the film is never made. Writers do production polishes for WEEKLY 6 figure sums, even if their work is not used. Writers get 6 and 7 figure production bonuses even if the film loses money. The sudio takes the entire financial risk.
II can’t speak to tv, but someone said that the meeting of showrunners at disney last week was the largest gathering of millionaires in L.A. ever. I honestly do not understand why the writers feel they are being treated so unfairly. They have jobs (and salaries) that most people can only dream about.
I know that many writers do not work that much and do not make the huge salaries. But the Guild’s demands on ancillary productions would not help them, it helps the successful writers.
Can someone please explain why writers feel they are treated so badly!
Ed, keep your mouth shut and stop undermining the Guild negotiators. Thanks.
Ed got it wrong. That is not what we agreed to. The AMPTP would have to actually return to the table and conduct good faith bargaining before the showrunners would agree to return to fulfill their producer duties. Ed’s proposal sounds like a very transparent fig-leaf to avoid being breached out of a contract. And again, that is not what we agreed to.
Show-runners– stand your ground!
Just agreeing to talk about possible concessions is not itself a concession!
If they want you back, make them earn it! Or this thing goes on forever.
Ed is an idiot. I was at that meeting — it was an idea that was floated and was discussed but by the end there was NO CONSENSUS ON IT. The decision was made that we would not return to work PERIOD. Ed should focus less on media whoring and more on helping his union negotiate us a decent deal.
I don’t understand why the WGA does not seek a federal injunction against the AMPTP forcing them back to the table because they are, at present, in violation of the Taft-Hartley act. If you publically state that you refuse to negotiate with striking workers as long as they remain on strike (as Nick Counter has said MORE THAN ONCE) you are in violation of Federal law.
If the WGA goes to a Federal Judge and gets this injunction, and the AMPTP refuses return to the table, the leaders of the AMPTP can be fined or jailed.
Jail. Real Jail.
Meanwhile, I am sick to death of this rhetoric of “we can’t trust them!”
Trust is not part of a business negotiation. Of course you don’t trust each other. This isn’t frigging marriage counseling, it’s a labor/management business negotiation. If we “trusted” each other we wouldn’t have contracts.
We (the WGA) should stop acting like wronged spouses and start acting like a real union. We should get a Federal injuction and force them back to the table and make a deal. Like all deals, no one will be 100% happy with it, but we will have saved our city and our industry from financial suicide.
Sounds like a showrunner who really cares about his show to me, so please don’t attack this guy. I am savvy enough to see the selfishness in wanting to edit your own show…so it’s GOOD…AND have it look like an olive branch. But this guy has a good idea: the AMPTP wants to control this whole thing, they are TOTAL liars, and the only way to publicly call them on their lies and lack of “good faith” in this matter is for the WGA to be the epitome of good faith. The WGA should make every effort to get back to the table, not only because this IS the smartest move, but also to reveal to the NY Times, the LA Times, all the slanted media- the Governator- that they cannot pretend to entertain the notion that the AMPTP is worth even one spoken of written word of support or understanding.
I mean, how can the AMPTP even claim they don’t and can’t count on revenue from new media, when you can go to GE’s website, click on NBC Universal, and read in bold print as an enticement to buying stock: “NBC Universal is harnessing the power of digitization, enabling the distribution of news, information and entertainment across multiple media to capture new users and revenue streams. ”
Um, kinda looks like they are COUNTING on this revenue which is at the center of this whole strike???
Ed Bernero and others that support the action to go back to work on talks only should be blacklisted immideately. The only reason why he is throwing around some silly solution like this is because he is facing a lawsuit from CBS and Les Moonves
Thank you Ed. The hardline strikers here are really pissing me off. I am losing so much here right now – please talk. Stop all the bs psychology and who is weaker. This is not about who is the winner, nobody is, this is about getting a resolution so we can work and support our families.
Please talk and do whatever it takes, diplomacy is better that calling names and being unending aholes. I support the WGA and the strike, but if they stop trying to work a resolution by having some modesty and good faith for waning one then they will QUICKLY lose my support. I know I am not alone given the conversations I have had with many of my IA colleagues. This is horrible for us and personal pain and ruin trumps principle. Be careful, writers. The fallout from this is hurting greatly and as the pain deepens the support will erode quickly – right or wrong this is a fact.
What would happen if the WGA called the producers’ bluff and agreed to suspend the strike for a period of 1 or 2 weeks? Tell them that this is just a window to see if progress can be made, let people do some work also. If the negotiations fail, go back on strike, but WGA would have much better position to the general public, and the 1 or 2 weeks of work would not be enough to save this season. However, what if something could actually be worked out during that time and a deal reached? It would show maturity on WGA’s part, and sometimes someone has to take the high road and put aside feelings of hurt. The commenter who compared the WGA to an angered spouse had it dead on. Please put the emotions aside and work this thing out, too many people are being hurt.
Ed’s remarks represent a symptom of a larger problem – showrunners want to produce. They see themselves as producers before writers, and make the argument that producing bad episodes will not benefit either side. I think that argument misses the point – this strike will last as long as it takes for the industry to respect writers. That will only happen when either the industry runs out of scripted content or the writers cause enough work stoppage – by not producing, by recruiting actors & directors, by asking for the full support of teamsters and IATSE – that the industry must return to the table with a willingness to reasonably negotiate. Until that happens, the little people will suffer. It’s time for the big people who can support themselves without working – showrunners, A-list actors & directors – to take one for the team and NOT WORK. The strike is a reality and it’s time for Hollywood’s creative community to make a stand. Ed, and all showrunners who believe returning to work is in everyone’s best interest, will only lead to that stand’s fall.
Regarding “A WGAE Member”s comment…
“While I applaud the willingness of the showrunners to come back to the table if the AMPTP will, all these comments seem to assume that that AMPTP is willing to be reasonable. The bottom line is – the AMPTP wanted a strike and have no intention of coming back until they take their write-offs on all the crappy shows of the current season, cut all the production deals they wanted to get rid of anyway, trim their own dead wood internally, and otherwise take advantage of this situation for their own financial advantage. That should take – oh – about six months or so, conveniently timed to the other two guilds negotiations. In the end, I assume the AMPTP will give some kind of nominal back end just to get their hit shows running again – but they have some housecleaning to do first. They don’t give a s— about how this strike is affecting any individuals. They are not individuals themselves but corporations concerned only with the bottom line. That’s what happens when entertainment companies are run by MBA’s. This is not even personal. It’s just business!…”
Yeah, this just “feels” right to me, goddammit, and any other take on the situation… that both sides are equally eager to settle this thing as soon as possible… has the unfortunate ring of childlike naivete. What is getting lost in all of this rah-rah rhetoric is the fact that we are waging a pitched battle here not against a few stubborn individuals but diversified, impersonal, multinational corporations… MASSIVE consortiums with thousands of shareholders and multi-billion dollar bottom lines and no more regard for the thousands of crew people being thrown out of work than GM has for the legions of assembly line workers queing up at the food bank every time it decides — on a whim, and with the stroke of a pen — to move a plant from Detroit to the far East.
The cold, hard truth is they don’t care. An individual may care…once in a while…occasionally…but corporations do not, NOR ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO. Numerous studies have shown that a corporation fits the psychological profile of the sociopath, behaving without a shred of empathy or concern or pity and thinking only of its own self-interest, its only allegience being to its shareholders, its only mandate being creating WEALTH for those shareholders, end of story.
In other words, we need to stop trying to appeal to our opponents’ conscience because they don’t have one. Again, THEY DON’T CARE.
Only when it suits their bottom line will they sit back down at the bargaining table and resume negotiations, and not a moment before.
To all my below-the-line brethren: The AMPTP will not be returning to the bargaining table anytime soon. They WANT you to go without a few paychecks, miss a few house and car payments and otherwise suffer severe economic hardship — and blame it on the writers! It’s divide and conquer, baby. Don’t let them do it to us.
WGA Writer with Business Sense:
Asking the courts to force the AMPTP back to the table is a fruitless task. Even if the WGA could get a court order (doubtful at best), the AMPTP would just show up with a list of their previously unnaceptable offers. There’s no way to force them to change even one word.
You also have to consider escalating tactics and retaliation. If the WGA takes legal action, so may the studios (e.g., filing nasty lawsuits against the showrunners instead of just posturing).
The only time good faith negotiations take place is when both parties have a compelling incentive to reach an agreement. At the moment, the AMPTP is acting like they’re better off waiting out a long strike than returning to the bargaining table.
Judging by many of the responses here, it seems like Ol’ Ed has become the Dwayne T Robinson of these negotiations.
So, please allow other WGA Members’ words speak for how I feel. This from a Classic 1988 (Strike Year) film which took place at Fox Plaza (Appropriately).
Edited for Content…
Dwayne T. Robinson: This is Deputy Chief Dwayne T. Robinson, and I am in charge here.
John McClane: Now you listen to me jerk-off, if you’re not a part of the solution, you’re a part of the problem. Quit being a part of the f’n problem and put the other guy back on!
I was at that meeting. Problem is separating our real passion for our shows from painful sacrifices needed to negoatiate successfuly. If we don’t hit these guys hard where they live – we will be forced to take a shitty deal. They count on us being “good boys” and doing our jobs.
#
To all my below-the-line brethren: The AMPTP will not be returning to the bargaining table anytime soon. They WANT you to go without a few paychecks, miss a few house and car payments and otherwise suffer severe economic hardship — and blame it on the writers! It’s divide and conquer, baby. Don’t let them do it to us.
Comment by Dennis Wilson — November 11, 2007 @ 2:03 pm
Dennis, you want to avoid that?? Pay my mortgage and keep my kids in school. This is not about letting anyone do anything to us. I cannot continue to lose pay! It can’t be more simple. This is not about will and fortitude, it is real life. You guys are pissing me off more each day. Divide and conquer – if that’s what you want to call it so your conscious feels better then you are free to do so, but stop rubbing our noses in this situation.
I will never forget the abundant enthusiasm and camaraderie and community literally occupying the air over the thousands of heads marching through the streets of Manhattan during a protest for the Iraqi War. It was so incredible I couldn’t stop smiling . . .
It was also a total fucking waste of time: the news failed to cover it; and the networks that did manipulated the story so that it appeared only a fifth of the protesters had shown.
And where is that protest now?
Gone.
I am undoubtedly in support of the writers. But to hear Patrick Verrone say that “we are kicking corporate ass!” is the funniest thing I’ve heard in months. Corporate ass? Okay. Fine. I hope writers get more money, but we can’t change the system.
But I’m also open-minded. So a quick pointer: If we’re going to strike, how about Rebbecca Romaine don’t show up in her thousand dollar shoes looking fabulous. This strike should involve “writers,” not millionaire actors. Why does everything Hollywood do, when it comes to politics, reek of money?
Money. Money. Money.
Give writers more money. Yeah. Something tells me the world has more interesting things to think about. And this is why the strike is losing leverage every week.
Is Paul Haggis and Ray Romano going to be out there in the cold in January, or in Cabo San Lucas?
Please, return to the table. For God’s sake, children. Let’s grow up.
Lawsuits will help no one. But what will help is the PR war and proving that the AMPTP doesn’t want to negotiate.
I don’t care at ALL about anyone’s feelings, least of all verone or counter. This is business. Verone should be at a conference table every day at make it clear to everyone that it’s the AMPTP does not want to negotiate. Then when the labor board and everyone else gets involved, hopefully it will make something move. Put your egos aside a@@holes and get to work.
“Only when it suits their bottom line will they sit back down at the bargaining table and resume negotiations, and not a moment before.”
AMEN!!! That was the most truthful piece written about the strike thus far.
IATSE JE, why are blaming us? Instead, why not throw this at the AMPTP? We’ve been conciliatory. Look at the showrunners, for example. They’re saying let’s go back to work, so you guys can work, as long as the AMPTP sits back down at the table? And yet they’re the ones who walked away! They’re the ones we’ve heard nothing from? Why are the writers pissing you off? Why do you feel the writers are rubbing your noses in the situation? It seems to me the AMPTP are the nose-rubbers here.
Okay, let me see if I understand this correctly:
1. Rich guys fight over money and go on strike
2. Little guys (like me) lose their houses and cars and go to sleep at night wondering how in the world they will feed their children
3. The strike settles
4. Rich guys go back to work in their BMWs
5. Little guys (like me) are financially wiped out and lose everything
That sounds great. Where do I sign up?
IATSE JE –
Did you know that last year alone, the residuals formula that pays the writers also contributed 347 MILLION DOLLARS into IATSE pension and health?
347 MILLION DOLLARS into your health fund!
So before you admonish us to cave, know that if we lose huge percentage of our earnings, which will dangerously diminish contributions into our P&H – be damn well ready to see yours go next!
The companies are coming for us, they are trying to take away everything striking writers earned in the 60 and 70’s.
Do you think you’re safe? That there’s a fondness in their hearts for the crews? One they’ve never had for the people who create the content that makes them so rich?
If taking care of your own is what drives you, then see the whole picture and think about the long run. Selling us out won’t win you any battles down the road.
Let’s straighten you out bobby –
1) the contract that covers all writers is due to expire as it has every three years for as long as I’ve been alive.
2) writers see that companies are moving to shift the business so that they no longer have to pay for reruns on TV because they’re going to make them available over the internet for free, giving the writers nothing of that revenue
3) writers decide they don’t want to take a pay cut and try to make a deal with the companies
4) Companies say no deal
5) writers strike
6) Companies blame writers for not making a deal while putting EVERYBODY out of work for the holidays.
7) Crew members think it’s the writers fault even though the money we’re fighting for also goes into their pension and health fund.
So if you want to sign up – come grab a picket sign.
I appreciate the comments. Those upset with me do not understand. I am for the writers in this. That doesn’t mean I am not hurting badly. I am super pissed at AMPTP, believe me. I was just responding to hearing the writers telling me not to let them divide and conquer us. Do I have a choice but to lash out for my living? Is it easy for me just to buck up and have fortitude? Is this my contract? NO! Laying platitudes on me like telling me to stay strong and have fortitude in no help and feels like rubbing my nose in the situation – I DON”T KNOW WHAT TO DO FOR INCOME RIGHT NOW, get it?
Do not simplify this into us vs. them – this industry and how we depend on each other is not simple. You guys are writers so you must know the definition of a TRAGEDY. This is it.
And, regarding the pension and health, my employer contributes on our behalf for every hour we work. So I contribute to my health and pension as well – don’t act like I am riding on your contributions to this. I don’t wish to sell you out, I hope you get everything in this deal. Long term, you may be right about the industry, but I have a skill and talent for what I do and I love it. Consider my shock – going from a 120K+ guaranteed income to possibly nothing for who knows how long. GET TALKING AMPTP and be reasonable enough to at least strongly work towards that end, writers. I hope your negotiators aren’t just sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. Call them, urge them, bring in outside pressure. Stop making enemies with the other guilds and work together. Swallow some pride and get this moving!
IATSE JE…
Verrry illuminating. I was confused, but I get it now: It’s basically the writers’ fault.
The producers get to treat us any way they want to. They get to grab our hair, bend us over, and fuck us up the ass…again and again…pushing and pushing until our rectum is bleeding…and we writers have to take it. We have no take it because if we DON’T take it, other people suffer.
So let’s not blame the smirking producer with the jiz dripping down off his cock, let’s blame the schleppy writer with the sore bleeding asshole.
Makes sense to me. Whatever the producers want to do, noooo problem. They decide they want to ROB us? to deny the people who INVENTED…who CAME UP WITH…the product they’re making a FORTUNE on their fair cut of the pie? IATSE. Doesn’t. Care.
So memo to producers: Go for it, boys! Lube up and bend us over! Fuck us up the ass! Then lie back smirking and smoke a cigarette.
And God forbid we should try and resist…or holler cop…or do ANYTHING else about it, or else we’re the bad guy. Amen.
After you read this perhaps you will be SICK!
From Esquire …Ben Silverman, the recently appointed thirty-seven-year-old head of NBC Entertainment.
But man, last night…” He’s referring to the private gathering he hosted with some nightclub promoters at a mansion in the Hollywood Hills to celebrate the twenty-four Emmy nominations earned by shows he produced before taking the network gig — and, he says, to demonstrate that the cool kids now hang with NBC. The formal party featured bikini-clad girls dancing on rafts in the pool, the Hilton sisters, and a caged white tiger in the entryway. “It was sick,” says Silverman, who greeted his six hundred guests in a silver Dolce & Gabbana suit and shut the place down around 5:30 a.m. “You looked around and saw so many beautiful women. But then you looked closer and it’s like, Hey, that’s Molly Sims. See what I mean? Just a totally sick party.”
Let’s all face it, the Ben Silverman’s aren’t inviting YOU to their parties, but they are damn happy for you to work your ass off to pay for it! Unless EVERYONE not at the VERY TIPPY TOP of the food chain in this business realizes that they need to wake up and fight to get their fair share, Mr. Silverman will be able to afford renting a whole circus of white tigers to accessorize his next SICK soriee!
I agree with the commenter that says every hard working, industry person from the writer to the mail room kids should through a SICK party for BEN – everyone call in SICK for a day or two. Maybe that will make BEN and the AMPTP SICK enough to negotiate a fair deal for all of us!
Stand together everyone – some of those pennies need to go into all of our pockets too – even if you next party is at Chucky Cheese for the kids!
Semper Fi
“I support the WGA and the strike, but if they stop trying to work a resolution by having some modesty and good faith”
IATSE JR, will you please cut it out? We are not refusing to bargain, the producers are. What are we supposed to do, ask actors from SAG to come into the room with us and impersonate Nick Counter, ie the man who has said over and over they will not bargain? While I’m sure we could work out a deal with the SAG impersonator, that’s prbably not going to be legally binding. We can’t afford to continue to lose pay either, all us “rich guys” making $15,000-60,000 a year, but we have to take a stand here before they roll back out pay and benefits to 1960 levels. And if they break us, they’re coming for you next.
You’ve got to be kidding me! Why are we begging them to negotiate? It’s only been a week… Why are we even thinking of any sort of capitulating? If they want to come to the table, then they should come to the table. We shouldn’t have to go back to work to get them there. This is a negotiation, and they refuse to negotiate. While it’s terrible that the town is shutting down, it’s also the only leverage we have. That’s the POINT of a strike. You both suffer, and you see who gives-in first. If you give them more content (or better versions of the content they already have), you make them suffer less, and you prolong the strike. How does a showrunner posting their show help anyone but the showrunner and the network?
The studio has obviously got big balls, and is waiting to see if we start cracking. That’s why they’re making us stew like this and not negotiating. Even discussing going back to work in any capacity helps no one and just serves to create fissures in our alliance. They’re being tough, but that doesn’t mean we have to give them something just to get them to the table. Next we’ll be offering them something just to stay through lunch.
They have yet to negotiate in good faith or make any serious offers, why should we give them more content that allows them to survive longer, and lessens the financial impact they’re feeling? How is that going to get them to give us what we want?
While I’m sure Bernero’s eager to get back to his show and protect it from a bunch of incompetents, it doesn’t serve anyone on our side’s long-range purpose.
A “strike” means no work… period. Does the UAW go in and just finish up a few cars for GM when they’re on strike?
To any IATSE member who thinks this strike is bupkis:
Please email or phone your brothers in NYC, and tell them to stop this silliness of actually holding the line with regard to their stagehand contracts. There are far fewer jobs on the line, and just about everyone on Broadway belongs to a union, so of course they’re driving Rolls Royces, ne? They’ve got nothing to beef about, right?
For Pete’s sake, be consistent in your solidarity, or else quit your union, cause you don’t know how to be in one.
To IATSE JE:
“Pay my mortgage and keep my kids in school. This is not about letting anyone do anything to us. I cannot continue to lose pay! It can’t be more simple. This is not about will and fortitude, it is real life. You guys are pissing me off more each day.
Exactly my point. The AMPTP benefits from you pressuring us like this to settle for a shitty deal. This is a part of their strategy.
writer who earned 60K in 07,
There’s no need to explain. I get it. I lose everything I worked for over the last seventeen years and my kids go hungry so you can make more money. That’s a great deal. Thanks for including me.
Semi random thought here — if, as would appear to be the case, the numbercrunchers at the AMPTP want this strike to go on long enough to start cancelling shows and overall deals without penalty, we need to tap into those savings for the sake of all of us (writers, crew, representatives, assistants, lot workers, etc.). Someone with better access to these numbers than me needs to figure out just how much these “savings” amount to, and put a percentage of those savings on the table. That fund should then be distributed to those people who got out out of work by the strike, but don’t stand to see any direct benefits from the results. I acknowledge that the residuals support ph&w, but they don’t make mortgage payments.
Writer/Producer –
Go back to writing porn, your comments were inappropriate. If that’s the best writing you can do, you don’t deserve a raise.
One way to a shorter strike is to write the advertisers, telling them that you will boycott
their products if the strike isn’t settled soon. I’m sure that if enough people write the advertisers, they will pressure the Producers to settle their issues sooner rather than later.
If you don’t have a few months of savings after seventeen years Bobby you’ve got bigger problems than a strike. I doubt that you’re rally an IATSE member.
IATSEbobby=studio troll
IATSE JE – I sympathize with your fear, we’re all feeling it.
This isn’t about MORE MONEY – it’s about writers not taking a pay cut. Internet delivery will REPLACE reruns, licensing to cable, and dvds.
The studios are trying to sleaze their way out of payments that they’ve been making for decades. They’re trying to rewrite history to improve their bottom line and the WGA just happened to be the first guild to have to face them on this.
The strike sucks for everybody and those of us out on the picket lines know that, but we won’t lay down and be crushed, because if we do, the companies will stick it to EVERY union that comes to the table after us, SAG, DGA, and IATSE included.
To IATSE JE:
I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO FOR INCOME RIGHT NOW, get it?
_________________
Jiminy Crickets, stop your whining. Listen for your phone call in February and get on a Pilot. Or talk to your APMTP, UPM and DGA colleagues for what’s open in features. Puh-lease. You could go back to work anytime you want. And you know it, if you really are an IA guy.
Maybe you should try getting sued by CBS cause your trolling sucks and you’re not providing the sort of trolling duties the AMPTP has hired you for. Be a showrunner who has lost income and now is being sued for dereliction of “producing duties,” then talk to me about what victim you are.
Throw my friends on the picket line a sandwich from craft services when you exit the gate to and from your pilot/feature/reality show job. And keep trolling these boards telling us how bad you got it cause you can still go to work and get a new job.