BAFTA Awards: What ‘Artist’, Dujardin, Streep … 
64th BAFTA Awards Winners: ‘The Artist’, Meryl … 
BAFTA 2012 Preview: Very British Affair Takes On … 
RECORD-BREAKING WEEKEND! 4 Films Open $20+M: ‘The … 
Remembered: Jennifer Hudson To Perform Whitney Houston … 
Live From NY, It’s Jean Dujardin On 
R.I.P. Whitney Houston 
TOLDJA! Indomina-BET Buy Sundance ‘LUV’ 
Midnight Madness For ‘Breaking Dawn’ DVD 
Saoirse Ronan Bigger Teen Action Queen 
WME Signs Writer-Director Jon Kasdan 
‘Glee’s Jane Lynch Joins Indie Film Comedy 
Universal Revives ‘Dracula Year Zero’ With … 
Jodie Foster Sending Mel Gibson Film ‘The … 
‘Roseanne’ Reunion: John Goodman To Co-Star In … 
UPDATE: Closing Arguments Conclude In Golden Globes Trial; … 
Series Adaptation Of ‘Legion’ With … 
Lionsgate Calms Investors With Talk About Charlie Sheen, … 
Ridley Scott Commits To Next Direct McCarthy’s … 
Marvel Studio’s Tim Connors Defects To Legendary As … 
UPDATE: Warner Bros Lawyers Dig In Garbage Over ‘The … 
I’ve just learned that the federal mediator has called the surprised parties together for a meeting on Sunday at 10 am to avert Monday’s writers strike.
Marketplace
-
-
-
News/Opinion Poll
Loading ...Box Office Poll
Loading ...
- Whitney Houston Interview: Talks 'Sparkle,' Aaliyah's Death And More In One Of Her Final Interviews
- BAFTA Awards 2012 Red Carpet: Michelle Williams, Viola Davis Meryl Streep And More (PHOTOS)
- BAFTA Rising Star Award: Hayley Atwell On Lack Of Female Nominees
- 'The Vow' Wins Box Office: Beats Out 'Safe House' And 'Star Wars' With $41.7 Million
- Whitney Houston Dies: Remembering Her Finest Onscreen Moment In 'The Bodyguard'
- Artist, Meryl Streep Win Big at BAFTA Awards
- Berlinale Dispatch: The Taviani Brothers — Who? — Return with a Great Shakespeare-in-Prison Movie
- Berlinale Dispatch: Greetings from the Baked Potato of Film Festivals, 62nd Edition!
- Summit and Lionsgate Hoping for Sixth Twilight Movie, Of Course
- REVIEW: Star Wars: Ep. I - The Phantom Menace Adds Stunning Third Dimension of Meh
Great work on the strike, Nikki.
I would like to point out, however, that in all the discussions, the mention of the “Producers” is a misnomer of sorts.
Yes, the last P in the AMPTP is Producers, but most ACTUAL producers really don’t begrudge the writers getting a bump in the DVD and Internet. Honestly, they don’t give a shit.
It’s the Studios and Networks that are the bad guys here, NOT the Producers. All real Producers care about is getting their stuff made, not if writers get a bump in their residuals. It’s an expense that really doesn’t affect them.
I am not a writer. I am not connected to Hollywood in any fashion. I am just a stay-at-home mom who has few favorite shows. Funny thing about my few favorite shows: it is the writing far more than the acting that attracts me to them. While I think the actors are outstanding in my favorite shows, it is the dialogue between them that is so attractive. I have learned through researching this that writers don’t really make a lot of money on their product. I just bought the first 3 season of Frasier on DVD. I paid about $30 each for the DVD sets. I wonder how much the writers made on my purchase? “Frasier” is an example of some of the best writing I have seen in a sitcom and those writers deserves more than pennies per dvd or whatever paltry sum they get.
So, while it may mean losing my shows for awhile, I hope you writers win in the end. Us middle class ordinary Americans certainly sympathize with you by and large. I would sure like to see a strike avoided. After all, this is the best season of “House” so far. But, if you strike, stick to your guns and good luck. You deserve more money than you are making.
I would like to slightly paraphrase a most excellent WGA writer, Lawrence Kasdan: the odds of successfully navigating this asteroid field is 3,720 to 1!
10 to 1 the AMPTP won’t even show for it. They’ll just send in some goon who will say ‘no’ to everything and dare the WGA to strike. They think the Fall season is DOA anyway.
Who out there thinks the mediator will be able to effect anything on Sunday? Can we see a show of hands?
Connecticut Yankee
From the government that brought us FEMA in New Orleans and the Iraq War comes Super Mediator to save the day.
Call me a pessimist, but I don’t think this gets it done. Tom R is probably right AMPTP doesn’t take this seriously because
THEY WANT A STRIKE (for at least 3 months)
Great coverage as ever, Nikki. Do we know who called the mediator in? Is the negotiation with him/her in any way binding?
Is this, in other words, the “fork in the road” it might appear to be? Or just another “reversal” in the second act? (Or, perhaps the end of the first?)
Congrats on the mediator scoop, Nikki, and great artwork, too. You beat THR by 70 minutes and Variety still doesn’t have anything on line. Your website is a thousand times better than the Defamer.
I would love to see a mediation miracle on Sunday, but I don’t think it will happen. Essentially, this is a lockout masquerading as a strike. The AMPTP as represented by Nick Counter is evil incarnate, and it ain’t gonna budge.
This federal mediator will not be worth a crap. The studios and networks want a strike and they will get it. I can bet that CBS Corp. will be the next Enron with Les Moonves and Nina Tassler super rich while the company is in a bankrupcy putting thousands out of work, before this strike is settled. Heck, Rupert Murdoch will have to end his try for Dow Jones, Disney may have to close the theme parks for a while, and GE will have to fold NBC unless Dick Embersol saves the day by reairing NBC’s Olympic footage as it happened starting with Atlanta.
The president could order the writers back to work. This doesn’t happen very often, but if Schwarzenegger and Villaraigosa plead with him, it might. Although middle america may be confused why the president is ordering a bunch of hollywood writers back to work.
Just one more thing, The CW will not survive a strike over two months regardless of how much reality they have on the air.
Oh praise be!
It’s pretty sad that the equivalent of someone’s mother has to come along and snatch the toys off the bickering kids and send them to their rooms before peace reigns again.
Both sides ought to be ashamed of themselves. They’ve had months to sort this out and they’ve been too busy posturing and pitching hissy fits over crap like chairs.
What a bunch of two year olds.
Super Mediator? Evil incarnate? Hollywood? This will make an excellent screenplay…
In four or five months.
Omar,
FYI, I’m not sure where you’re from, but the US President cannot order writers back to work.
Sorry.
“Lockout masquerading as a strike.”
Truer words have never been spoken.
If there is one writer who must continue to work, regardless of a strike, it’s you, Nikki. This coverage – your journalism – has been outstanding.
In full support of our guild’s resolve…I wonder…will we be allowed to write on posterboard?
Or will we have to settle, perforce, for blank picket signs?
//”All real producers care about is getting their stuff made”//
Well, that and getting laid a lot.
Nikki:
You rock. All of the traditional, conglomerate-controlled media are clearly not telling our story correctly, or elucidating our demands with any real understanding of the situation. You have become the writers’ voice in the wilderness. We’re striking because we’ve been given no other choice by the Producers, not because we want to. I’ve been a WGAw member for almost 15 years, and I’ve never been more proud of it than I am right now.
As a professional storyteller, I can think of no one I would rather have out there telling our story than you.
The mediator was called in over a week ago. Where has he been until now? Designating seating arrangments???
“I just bought the first 3 season of Frasier on DVD. I paid about $30 each for the DVD sets. I wonder how much the writers made on my purchase?”
I will tell you exactly. I am acquainted with a writer who was on Frasier for many years. This writer received less than $100 for the release of the entire first season on DVD. Less than $100.
Just in case you were wondering.
to the person who didn’t leave his/her name that said “i’m not sure where you’re from.” well i’m from the US and work in politics. And yes the president could not only block the strike, he could order the writers back to work. Perhaps you should do your research before you make such comments. As an example, President Bush signed and executive order in 2001 preventing Northwest workers from striking. Perhaps you should learn a thing or two about Executive Power before you open your mouth.
Omar, for someone who works in politics you don’t know your executive powers very well. Bush forced the mechanics back to work under the Railway Act. A President cannot order workers back to work unless it is under a specific act (in this case it is transportation). If it were that easy Reagan wouldn’t have had to fire air traffic controllers, he would have just ordered them back to work.
What is Bush going to do if the writers don’t go. Fire them. Maybe YOU should know your politics, especially if you are going to work in it.
Omar, perhaps you should do some research. The president can only order employees back to work if Congress has passed legislation allowing him to do so. The president has the authority to order transportation workers (such as airline employees) back to work pursuant to the Railway Labor Act of 1926.
I’m pretty sure the Railway Labor Act does not cover screenwriters.