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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.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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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?