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Here’s my favorite part of the strike so far: Gavin Palone and others keep saying how the studios have all the leverage. I see. So a television network like CBS doesn’t have to broadcast any television for a few years and they’ll be just fine. Is that how strikes work, Gavin? Thanks for teaching me. So I suppose under your logic, UPS would see no burning need to deliver packages for a few years, Kohler no need to sell faucets, The Washington Post no need to publish news. I bet all the top brass at those companies would like nothing more than to sit back in their offices for a few years and watch their enterprises go idle, their stocks pluge, their options drown under water.
One final thought, Gavin, what’s with not shaving for a national TV appearance? Didn’t your parents teach you ANYTHING? Oh wait, never mind.
Anyone paying attention has known all along that a short strike will accomplish nothing (these are smug people we’re dealing with); a strike that drags on longer merely begets fear and recrimination, with our guild the convenient target of those most afraid and least informed. But a prolonged strike packs a punch–if writers brace themselves against the slings and arrows, stay strong, remember what’s at stake, and take constant solace from the knowledge that we can WRITE and that this will always be a marketable skill. I have small kids. I miss the income. But my kids will continue to eat. And one day I’ll tell them about this strike, and how we won it.
I cried when Baby Gracie got christened the other night on Friday Night Lights, knowing it would be years before I’d see her sprout her first tooth.
But I support you writers a thousand percent. Please do not let them bust you.
This may be a left-over rumor from 1988, actually. I distinctly remember a plan at that time to take original Mission: Impossible scripts and re-film them with a new cast. (When the strike ended this evolved into an actual “the next generation” show with its own writing staff.) So it *could* be proposed. Thing is, it wouldn’t've worked then and it wouldn’t work now — Mission: Impossible doesn’t work without convincing up-to-the-moment technology, and, say, Hill Street Blues, Ally McBeal, Buffy, Twin Peaks… no. The older shows are too much a product of their times, and the newer ones are too much wedded to our memories of the “right” cast. Also, can you imagine the potent outrage of the writers of these scripts?! A reminder like that – that we don’t own our own scripts – might just fuel a push to demand our copyrights back! Frankly, I hope they try it and uncork some REAL fury.
Gavin should negotiate for the WGA.
Dear wga-member-since-1990,
Nice work. I see you’ve followed my “How-To-Shill” class to a T. The “comment” name had no capitol letters and you dropped in some hyphens. Nice touch. No capitol letters throughout, well played. You were a little too dramatic at the start but a nice follow-through. For the next one, pull back a little on the top and you’ll be in great shape. I give you a solid B.
big media owns nothing. they own air. television is a dinosaur . The internet is the new reality and we all know it. If people don’t want to turn their heads slightly and watch things on their computer then someone needs to invent a device that sends a digital signal from the computer to the television and this will be over.
the future is independent studios with their own money from private investors – making television, films, whatever they want. they aren’t tied to these bastards who couldn’t care less about quality as long as it brings in numbers.
and you know what the writers are doing when they’re not on the picket lines? working on the stuff they always wanted to do but didn’t have time for. channeling their rage at the selfishness of the enemy we’re dealing with into their product. I sure as hell write my best stuff when i’m angry. we’re going to come back stronger, with some amazing shit. advertisers, you want in? sure – meet us at our website – but you’re on the side not in the middle of our f**king art
“wga overplayed its hand — badly. does anyone seriously doubt this?”
I do. I seriously doubt it. I also don’t think you can make a determination that a hand was “overplayed’ until all the cards are shown. At this point of time, the AMPTP may be bluffing and we’ve got a Full House (created by Jeff Franklin).
The thing that both parties fail to recognize here is… the internet is global. This is new territory and now matter how hard the AMPTP or the WGA try… they cannot “control” this new market. Both organizations will be hard-pressed to gain a foothold when the internet replaces television and motion pictures as the premier entertainment delivery method on an international level.
That’s why neither party really knows what the hell is going on here. This is open territory… the “wild west”.
Let me give you all something to boost your spirits. I am not a writer, but rather someone who knows one of the ‘moguls’ personally. They are scared. They never thought it would come to this and breaking off talks is their last ditch effort to spread panic among the rank and file of the WGA. There is dissention among the ‘moguls.’ Among them (as you’ve all heard) are certain people who want to make a fair deal. The gap is widening in that alliance. I believe that with very little prompting, a true split will happen. These are companies with diverse interests beyond Hollywood. This is not the 1980′s or 90′s. This is an entirely new, different and ever-changing world of entertainment. It’s changing so fast and so completely that Nick Counter is out of his element, past his prime and his ‘old tricks’ don’t work anymore.
His negotiating style has worked int he past, but the internet has given the WGA more real-time and honest reporting among its members. This was not true during the last negotiations. The WGA had to rely on the trades and rumor on the strike line for all information. I believe it’s ironic that the thing the ‘moguls’ are so vehemently fighting for control over (the internet) is the same thing that will sink them now and moving forward.
Nick Counter’s days are numbered as he is being increasingly perceived as ineffective and simply a loud mouth… a bad step-parent who scolds everyone (including ‘moguls’) barking at them to trust him. How’s that for irony, folks?
His promises to the moguls to stand firm are falling on increasingly deaf ears and severely eroding confidence. Stay strong. Weather this storm and seize what you so richly deserve. In the mean time, placing calls to the company’s shareholder relations is an effective tool. Voice your concerns as a viewer, shareholder or consumer. These messages get ‘collected’ and passed on. The recent press, despite ‘mogul’ ownership is increasingly in your favor. Panic is swelling within the AMPTP. Have you ever heard a report about Nick Counter being so visibly upset? That’s not what people in a position of power and confidence do.
What will America do without new programming? Corporate greed! These headlines make investors take note. You’re gonna win this won. But only if you stand up to these guys. There are some of them that want you to, so they can proceed with a real agenda to get the town back to work!
If the networks are actually floating the idea of reshooting old series, then they really are desperate and it’s only a matter of time. Producers can’t remake even the most successful films or shows without hiring a dozen WGA writers to bring them up to date and add more room for effects and stunts, so how in the name of Ford Almighty could a dusted-off teleplay from 1988 ever garner an audience today? It couldn’t. Look at Bionic Woman, for crying out loud. NBC spent millions in development costs and went through three A-list showrunners, and it still isn’t a hit. If you were an exec at NBC-Universal, how far do you think you’d have gotten by floating the idea of simply filming the original pilot as is? You would have been laughed out of the conference room, obviously.
The comments by Mikey (10:31 a.m.) are exactly right. All of us in the WGA would do well to read them again and again in the coming days.
Thanks for the post Mikey. You may or may not speak the truth… but I’ll take this little ray of light in these darkened times.
What would it take for Counter to be fired? To lose his cushy job that pays him 1.5 Million a year? Would a group of moguls have to tell him it’s time for him to retire? Or would members have to vote to put him out to pasture?
Thank you, mikey. I just wish (and have been repeating it for ages now) that the WGA would start talking to these companies individually. They’re competetors, for crying out loud. I’m still waiting for a “What we’re going to do next”-type statement from the WGA homepage or United Hollywood. Waiting at the table is wonderful and symbolic, but we’ve agreed that AMPTP are pigs and that what they gave is an ultimatum. Time to work with the less piggish ones, or at least the ones who would make a deal because they will be hurt the worst and are smart enough to realize that. The studios can be broken and it doesn’t have to take months. But we need to throw a wrench into their system, and picketing along won’t stop that. Keep walking and talking, WGA. But don’t be afraid to make these guys crumble. They’ve asked for it.
Murdoch just bought the Dow Jones today.
Are the shareholders going to really know what’s going on?
Good try mikey.
I don’t think everyone who comes on these boards and complains is a shill, but I think many are short-sighted and probably not informed about all the issues. Many are afraid. So are the writers — we want to have jobs, too.
But we also want to see a future in this industry for everybody. And the truth is, the AMPTP is going this far not because the demands of the WGA are too expensive, but because they are more interested in busting ALL the unions. Fi we don’t get internet residuals, then none of the unions will — that includes the BTL folks whose pension and health funds are fed by residuals, too. In 2-5 years, there will be no television “broadcasting” — it will all come into the home through the internet… and if we let them define their own terms for the internet today, we will suffer tomorrow. We have to stand strong now because are determining the future… Though I’m sorry for people who are laid off (please seek financial help through the Motion PIcture Fund or through funds set up at your union to assist people affected by the strike), we are all in this together.
wgaw-member-since-1990 is yet another shill. they’re out in full force today. it seems to be a common theme here, whether by gavin palone or another shill, to tell us how ready and prepared the amptp was, and how they have all the accounting and consulting firms figuring it all out for them.
then how come we caught them off guard by walking out as soon as the contract expired? how come they didn’t have extra episodes stockpiled? how come they didn’t think the showrunners would stay out? it seems to me that they have been wrong on everything so far. and if it cost them millions because they paid some accounting and consulting firm to get it all wrong for them, all the better.
dear shills-suck,
you’re funnny and write on with your comments and analysis. but for your next post please note: it’s capital letters, not capitol. capitol is for that big white building in washington.
i’m not a shill — i’m a fan of yours. keep up the shill-busting.
Chuck T said:
“But one thing is an irrefutable fact: everything I have posted on these boards so far has come to pass exactly as I said it would.”
No it hasn’t! You said the showrunners would never walk out. You also said they’d never be united. You said the studios would be able to keep television production running indefinitely but that hasn’t been the case at all. You also said the WGA would never have the guts to actually strike. You also said the AMPTP would stand together but there are already backchannel negotiations with CBS going on. You’ve been wrong on many things. Honestly, you’re pretty clueless.
Looks like Chuck T. is also working weekends. I bet the AMPTP pays you time-and-a-half for weekends, right? You know, Chuck, reality writers don’t get time and a half. They don’t get overtime either. I know you think that’s the way it should be and that six-year-old boys should still be working in coal mines for 35 cents a day but the world has passed you by Chuck.
But my favorite Chuck T quote was this: “If you think all the AMPTP wants is a fair resolution, you’re more lost and naive than Dorothy in Oz.” Dorothy won Chuck. The Wicked Witch was slain. At a minimum, your analogies are retarded.
Hi there… struggling writer… longtime reader… first time blogger. I wanted to share a few facts about our good pal Gavin Polone:
He’s a registered Republican and one of the rare Hollywood producers who is open about his conservatiism. Take out of that what you will. He also claims to have had a sad childhood, adding that his only friend for many of those years was the family cat. Things obviously haven’t changed all that much for poor Gavin. After making no friends and hundreds of enemies, we all know that Gavin the Terrible was fired from two separate agencies in less than ten years. Perhaps he should have chose to pursue a career with the CIA instead, which he did in fact test for after college. With a guy like Gavin calling the shots, the WMD debacle would not have even been an issue. He would have planted them throughout the Iraqi desert, gone on FOX News to proclaim victory and called it a day. But the smart money says that their nasty interrogation methods (water boarding) were too tame for Gavin, who once bragged to a writer client of his, “that he would kill for them… slaughter anybody in their path.” Really? Now it seems like he would just as readily throw that said writer in front of the bus, rather than risk breaking a sweat and using his vast skills in martial arts to protect us. Thanks a lot, asshole.
Mikey, I have also heard about the division in the AMPTP, but not from a mogul but rather from my agent. Apparently it was topic number one on Friday with most of the speculation on CBS, where a meeting was supposedly held last week to determine a “drop dead” date at which point they would tell the advertising community of their decision to postpone the upfronts to summer or later. Despite earlier internal debate, they supposedly have decided NOT to front an all-reality schedule to make a May upfronts date.
Here’s the thing everyone: AMPTP keeps criticizing David Young for having no experience in this industry, but the Nick Counter situation is far worse — the man has 25 years in this job but until last month was never challenged before. As any writer knows, true character is revealed under pressure.
Upon encountering his first difficult negotiation with a real challenger, Counter has botched things every step of the way. I completely believe that the men who run these studios are the type to never back down from a confrontation — but do you think they wanted a strike in the first place? No way. The strike has already cost them more than it would have cost them to give the writers every single thing that they asked for.
That was Counter’s job number one: to get a good deal for the AMPTP without a strike. People will sometimes post that the WGA wanted a strike, but those are people who have already forgotten about the NO RESIDUALS ANYMORE PERIOD proposal that Counter first put on the table. This guy has made one miscalculation after the other, and as the L.A. Times reported, this has led to some of the moguls wanting him gone.
There is speculation that a faction of the moguls have put Gavin Palone out front and center in this as an audition to replace Counter but have so far been unable to convince their brethern to pull the plug on Counter. But if this drags into pilot season, there is a real possibility that change will take place. Hopefully Palone will at least have the decency to leave the air conditiong on in the AMPTP’s conference room while the WGA is caucusing there.