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Here is what is clear to me based on new reporting about the entrenched positions of both sides: hopes for any kind of settlement have dimmed. I have learned that last week Jeffrey Katzenberg tried and failed to backchannel a compromise that would have brought both the WGA and the AMPTP back to the bargaining table. It was an effort that was laudable. But the fact that it was unsuccessful dramatically points up disturbing realities, I have learned: that the CEOs are deeply entrenched in their desire to punish the WGA for daring to defy them by striking and to bully the writers into submission on every issue, and that the moguls consider the writers are sadly misguided to believe they have any leverage left. I'm told the CEOs are determined to write off not just the rest of this TV season (including the Back 9 of scripted series), but also pilot season and the 2008/2009 schedule as well. Indeed, network orders for reality TV shows are pouring into the agencies right now. The studios and networks also are intent on changing the way they do TV development so they can stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars in order to see just a few new shows succeed. As for advertising, the CEOs seem determined to do away with the upfront business and instead make their money from the scatter market. I'm sorry to break this disappointing development right before Christmas, but I pledged to stay objective in my reporting and I can't ignore this major news development. The truth often hurts. But don't blame the messenger. And, no, this info wasn't dumped in my lap, either. (That only happens over at Variety or the Los Angeles Times...)
The WGA-AMPTP post-strike talks fell apart December 7th when the mogul reps issued an ultimatum, containing six issues which the WGA needed to take off the table for any talks to continue, then ended all negotiations. Katzenberg as both a moderate this time around (he was a hardliner back during the WGA strike of 1988) and a bit player (as head of small DreamWorks Animation) has been marginalized by the Big Media moguls during these negotiations (unlike '88 when he headed Walt Disney Studios and was a major henchman). Despite his lowly status, Jeffrey made an effort, with the full knowledge of the other CEOs, to get the talks restarted. "Ultimately, what he was trying to do was to bring both sides back before the DGA started negotiating," a source told me.
So Katzenberg organized three give-and-take sessions between himself and 30 to 40 TV showrunners seeking his advice because of their concern about the WGA's negotiating strategy. These so-called dissidents claim to represent at least a 100 hyphenates. And they say they had the blessing of three members of the WGA negotiating committee. But WGA insiders maintain there is no widespread showrunner movement to negotiate independently, "just a small group who mistakenly thought they could maneuver behind the scenes (with only the best intentions) but were blindsided by the AMPTP," as an influential WGA insider tells me. WGA leadership claims showrunner unanimity and points to a series of smaller showrunner informational meetings that took place during the same period of time which included at least a hundred if not more. But not only WGA negotating committee member Carlton Cuse went back to work to finish his producing duties on Lost without the knowledge of the general membership, so, too, did Marc Cherry, the Desperate Housewives showrunner and another WGA negotiating member. There's no question many showrunners are now in solidarity with WGA leadership, both some are not. It's true the strike is being waged on their backs because of their influential positions. And while these producer/writers are on the picket lines, the WGA for some reason has not gone after the director/writers or the actor/writers to stop working as the guild promised it would.
According to sources, Katzenberg told the dissident showrunners, "If your WGA leaders don't make a deal with us before the DGA, my concern is you'll never make a deal with us. The guild will break down and key people like yourselves will go Fi-Core. It'll be 1988 all over again almost to the week and month. It's my belief that it's not in anyone's interest, in fact it would be bad for the Industry as a whole, for the guild to get divided. And that's what's going to happen."
Then Katzenberg went to Barry Meyer, the Warner Bros chairman/CEO considered a hardliner among the moguls, and told him that this clique of showrunners were ready to go to their leadership and tell them to focus only on New Media issues if the talks re-started. But the moguls needed to go back into negotiations without any conditions so that ultimatum had to be taken off the table. "Jeffrey told Barry, 'I'm confident we will get a deal done if you go back in the room with the WGA now,'" an insider confided.
But Meyer, obviously speaking for the rest of the CEOs, refused. Now those dissident showrunners, I'm told, feel really burned. "They totally understood now what the negotiating committee has been through for the past six months and were very apologetic that they had questioned leadership up until now. 'Sheepish' was the word I heard used," one influential WGA insider tells me. "Although now there really aren't two differing opinions anymore. We all think the AMPTP sucks and that our guys have been sandbagged throughout this process." So no talks are planned, none are anticipated, and if the moguls continue to have their way and blow up the TV development process, none will be forthcoming for months and months. That is the reality.
I am now convinced that the 8 Big Media moguls pretty much have a vice-like grip on how this strike will get settled. And virtually no amount of external pressure will force their hand. I know from my many years of reporting on labor negotiations in the U.S. and abroad that, in any new contract negotiation, there is one watershed moment when the union and the companies can move the flag down the field in a meaningful way before ego, rhetoric, and the passage of time get the better of everyone involved. Has that moment come and gone? I honestly don't know, but if it hasn't, then it's soon -- very soon.
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The outlook wasn’t *already* grim?
Bah. Humbug. Merry F’in Christmas.
Disappointing. There’s too much “point-making” being done, and too little “deal-making”.
My prayers are with all of those who have been hurt by this strike. May rational minds return to the negotiations in Jan.
I sense a Christmas present coming… One last bit of psy-ops from the AMPTP before the holidays: “Go into Christmas knowing we’ll never negotiate with you. Ha ha.”
Sorry, Mr. Lehane, Mr. Counter, I’m not buying it…
Damn the AMPTP. I’m just a viewer who wants a fair deal made for the writers and who wants her shows back, but boy, this strike sure has created a lot of resentment from me towards these studio moguls who make millions of dollars a month and who can’t make a decent deal with their employees to get a fair wage for their work. They won’t even negotiate, let alone negotiate in fairness!! Frankly, they are making me sick. I hope they all choke on their egg nog tomorrow.
All I’ve seen in the headline…but is anyone surprised? The Psy-Ops that the AMPTP has been waging since day one would be incomplete without trying to dishearten writers and dash their hopes on the day before Christmas.
Sure it’s cruel…but not very imaginative.
F*CK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wonder what would happen if the fans truly supported the writers by boycotting television? What would the moguls do then? It wouldn’t matter how many reality shows poured in if no one watches them. Fans really need to get behind the writers.
-A Fan Who Supports the WGA (and who misses her favorite show!)
I’m a little confused. Katzenberg says “make a deal with us,” but I believe Dreamworks Animation is not even a guild signatory company. And word around town was that pre-strike, Dreamworks Animation was helping WGA members join the Animation Guild of the IA. I guess the good news for Katzenberg was that Barry Meyer took his call.
Okay, but who the hell wants to watch “reality” TV?
That was boring nonsense 5 years ago.
Fuck the moguls (except for JK, nice try). For some reason they have decided to destroy their businesses. It’s time for their shareholders to revolt. And just like the defiance against the Edison Trust 100 years ago this business will change because the filmmakers, not the big corporations, decide to change it.
the moguls are determined to write off not just the rest of this TV season (including the Back 9 of scripted series), but also pilot season and the 2008/2009 schedule as well
I’m surprised anyone believes this is anything other than a bogus position intended only to try to scare and intimidate people.
Maybe what Katzenberger should have told Meyer is that the moguls are quickly marginalizing themselves, and that the only fi-core we’re going to need is blowing up quickly in the form of straight-to-internet content companies, under Guild contract, of course.
I wonder if the dinosaurs looked up in the sky and wondered what that big ball of approaching fire was? I’d like to think the moguls have brains larger than walnuts, but it’s not looking too hopeful for them.
Merry x-mas.
So, essentially, the ultimatums of Dec. 7th WERE in fact a sham. They had no intention of negotiation with us prior to the DGA. Period. Not even if solely about new media. They’re… sorry, I am a writer, but this is the best I can do… pigs.
I’m confused by one point. How can the studios be willing to throw away the next TV season? That’s BILLIONS of dollars in upfront money. There’s no way advertisers will pay the same amount for reality shows and gameshows (outside of established ones, like American Idol, Survivor and Amazing Race.) I just don’t buy that they’d be so angry at the writers to throw away over ten times the amount of money the writers are asking for.
Thanks for all the great reporting, Nikki, happy holidays!
Fine. As someone else once said, Bring it on.
The CEO’s will lose television as we know it to Google and Microsoft. Let’s see the CEO’s try to push THEM around.
It’s a shame. All because they have little penises, are five feet tall, and/or were pushed around in grade school.
WGA is planning to go political after the first of the year. FCC, congressional hearings, sworn testimony like the tobacco case, etc. Plus, shareholder-led suits, SEC, etc.
Simply put, their positions as regards their fiduciary duties is not justifiable given the economics involved. They are throwing out the baby with the bathwater. They will be remembered as the group who presided over the end of TV as we know it.
Let them put on an all-reality schedule. Ha! Reality is already dying. It has no back end and is a shadow of what it once was. Plus, some members are planning a campagin called “If you believe in America, don’t watch American Idol” to include a viral video campaign that will give Peter Chernin nightmares.
Katzenberg is one of them, plain and simple. There is no fi-core movement. CEO’s are too stupid to realize that to split the Guild you need an offer the leadership says isn’t good enough. Where’s your offer? There is none. And NO ONE at this point will take an offer that doesn’t include Internet.
This ain’t 1988. And the quicker the CEO’s figure that out, the quicker they will realize that they are about to preside over the end of commercial television. CBS will become an outdoor advertising company. Is that what Les Moonves dreamed of when he finally stopped crying about being a failed actor?
A TRUE corporate leader would figure out a way to resolve this. These CEO’s are a bunch of wimps. What do they think, they’re going to reach a deal with the DGA and then we’ll cave and take it? Fat chance. If that’s what they think they are clueless. Get this through your heads, mogul morons: What scripts are there going to be for your directors to direct?
Not only that, they have bad intelligence if they haven’t heard, as the writers have, that the DGA has moved toward the WGA position over the last six weeks. High level meetings have taken place. If DGA doesn’t get a good offer for Internet, you can expect them to take up picketing also, and unlike twenty years ago, this one is going to go A LOT longer than a few hours.
Their refusal to pay anyone for the internet is the same as them declaring they will no longer tolerate unions for television or theatrical features. It’s the same thing since that’s where this industry is heading and everyone knows it. So by making the disastrous decision to break ALL unions they have invited not only a WGA strike, not only an inevitable SAG strike, but a likely strike by DGA as well. They are looking at a triple strike and with that kind of solidarity, lets’s see how Wall Street reacts. It’s not going to be pretty.
The studios had all the leverage until January 1st and they wasted it. Talk about not negotiating when you had the leverage, well, that is exactly the mistake the studios made. Starting now the leverage shifts to us. They are trying to spin this by acting like they don’t care about losing the rest of this television season or next. So Les Moonves runs a publicly traded television company and doesn’t care if it ever makes another television show?
Sounds to me like the dot-com bubble and the housing bubble have transititioned into the great media stock bubble. These film and television companies are not going to be worth much at all with no film and no television to sell.
But lest anyone be concerned for them, the Einstein of Entertainment, Jeff Zucker, has figured it all out. He’s got exactly what the American public has been clamoring for: old cable re-runs of Monk.
That was the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. As if Jeff Zucker hasn’t destroyed NBC enough already. Old cable re-runs of Monk is the answer to the problem. Maybe he should divide those old Monk re-runs by four and share them with the other networks.
I love it!
The WGA’s leverage is in the falling profit projections of the companies. Jeff Immelt has already degraded profits for GE in the 4th Quarter because of the strike. CEOs live and die by provided shareholder profits. When Wall Street notices and shareholders lose value, the game will change. The moguls are putting up a false front right now.
The major difference between writers and CEOs is that CEOs must be as risk adverse to stay in line with their shareholders (which explains all the stupid summer sequels).
Writers have endured years of extremely adverse odds to get where they are today and thus have already proved that they able to endure months and months of hard times.
That is what I call leverage.
I’ve always believed this was about breaking the Union. Unfortunately, no Christmas miracle here. It’s turning out to be true. Very sad news indeed.
The AMPTP needs to be labeled a terrorist organization. Their actions (choosing not to talk…c’mon, JUST FRIGGIN’ TALK!!!!) will destroy the lives of 100’s of thousands of people in this town (non-writers), and the local economy as well.
“Ultimately, what he was trying to do was to bring both sides back before the DGA started negotiating,” a
Sounds more like what he was doing was trying to undermine WGA leadership by going to the membership and creating a schism.
Incidentally, the New Media issue is *not* the only important issue if the WGA wants to have any relevancy in the future- Craig Mazin be damned. WGA must have jurisdiction over reality (and ideally animation too) out of *self-interest*. Otherwise it will continue to represent an ever-shrinking sub-group of industry writers. And as that percentage shrinks over time, the WGA loses its strength and relevance in the industry.
Congrats to NBC for losing 11% of its audience this year BTW!
I received a confidential email regarding this exact proposal and effort by Mr. Katzenberg about a week ago.
I have been waiting to see if it would surface and what the reported contents would be before commenting.
Mr. Katzenberg did not write the email and from my knowledge had nothing to do with it nor did he then even have knowledge of it.
Let me just say that Miss Finke is being very generous in her description of what happened, particularly from the side of the AMPTP. The email I read described in stark detail the stringing along of Mr. Katzenberg by the AMPTP and the open proposals the WGA had made through him to the same and the last minute shut down of potential negotiations by the AMPTP.
Let me make it VERY clear without going into detail that the WGA made a very significant proposal which should have, at the very least, had the AMPTP running back to the negatiating room only to have them pull out literally at the last minute and make it clear that they wish to deal with the DGA first and then the WGA, or what is left of it.
The email composer believes that negatiations will be off until at least mid-February.
It’s going to be a long winter.
Happy Holidays indeed……
Has the AMPTP forgotten that the actors will strike in June? They can’t get anything done then. Will movies film themselves? They’d rather sit around, put thousands out of work, watch their stock prices fall and their profits plummet rather than give a single thing. It’s insane. Do they think they can put all reality on cable, HBO, and Showtime when those scripts dry up?
Some day, there will be a new system that rises up out of this. An indepent studio system where writers have the copyright to their own work. It never should have been signed away. The studios have lost their mind, headed by cloistered greedy billionaires with no concept of reality.
Strike Rule #11:
If only Bush weren’t in charge of the federal government. Industries just aren’t allowed to act this way under federal law, but good luck getting that enforced.
Of course the other possibility is that the studios saying they’re willing to write off 2008/2009 is a bluff designed to scare the guilds. Two years without scripted shows would be devastating to ratings. They haven’t even borne the worst of it yet. When sweeps comes and they have no ratings, then the idea of a full year without shows will probably sink in. Much easier to saber rattle now when you can convince yourself that Am I Smarter Than a Fat Person’s Mother is going to have the same ratings pull as Grey’s Anatomy.
Why is this a surprise? Didn’t you think that the moguls went into this thing with the long haul in mind? They’re greedy, not stupid. They know you can’t destroy organized labor in a particular industry over night. It takes months, maybe longer. Starting with the 30+ pages of rollbacks and the threat to eliminate residuals to make sure the writers couldn’t possibly accept, to the ultimatums and misinformation, they were way out in front of this thing. They know they use the trades to distort the facts so that people (if not now, then in 6 months when they’re more desperate) will start to think their problems are the fault of the “WGA’s strike.” and not the unfair business practices of the moguls. And so writers turn on writers and the other unions turn on the writers and the public gets tired of watching non-scripted crap and they turn on the writers too. And soon, the WGA loses any power to negotiate and stops being worth the dues. And later it’s the directors and the actors and the IA and nobody who works in the industry can count on any fixed rate, overtime, lunch, pension and health plan or anything else that so many in so many other industries have already lost as the giant conglomerates get ever more powerful and the people who work in the industry get weaker and weaker.
If the writers weren’t prepared to stand up to that kind of power and dig in for a long, hard fight they should have just accepted the AMPTP’s proposal and quietly watched decades of labor negotiating go down the toilet. They should have just been the canary in the coal mine for people who work in other unionized facets of the industry so they would know to start looking now for a different line of work.
The conglomerates are enormously powerful but they are not impervious. If everybody who works in the industry, everybody who benefits today from hard work and terrible fights of previous generations’ unions, can stick together and put the greater good of the industry, of their co-workers and of all the industry families today and in the future, then maybe they can force the AMPTP to actually negotiate in good faith. It’s do-able but it won’t be easy. Not with the power of the $50-million-a-year moguls and multi-national corporations and the trade press against us. Anybody who thought it would be easy was crazy. It will be hard.
But without fighting this historic battle, without going after everyone who breaks ranks, without being prepared to outlast the conglomerates, the writers may as well go crawling back and begin the process of the de-unionizing of the entertainment industry.
It’s not impossible, but it won’t happen overnight.
Nikki, your coverage is wonderful. Without you, a lot of people might still think they could get news from Variety or the Reporter. But you sure seem niave when you are “shocked, simply shocked” to find the moguls have no intention at this point of engaging in anything resembling a good faith, respectful bargaining session with the writers. They’re waiting for the whole thing to fall apart based on their contempt for the people who work in the industry and they’re prepared to wait a long, long time. The only question for the people who work in the industry is: Is their contempt for us justified?
“Punish the writers”? So we’re not dealing with adults. In any case, since the money lost to the moguls in 1988 is what is allowing them to dig in now, it doesn’t make sense to give them any more financial leverage this time. Capitulating before they’ve taken losses would just add to the problem next time around. This is not punishment; in lieu of negotiations, it’s our only way to keep up.
CM
Why will the guild split when “important players” go Fi Core, if the “important players” in the room with Katzenberg are not going to split? Why won’t there be more requests for waivers as small players find themselves going out of business because of the CEOs’ intransigence? Everybody can’t write off huge losses, and I wonder if even the big corporations have stock holders who are into destructive losses, which are apparently to be sustained in order to “punish” the writers. The talks are right where they were before.
It’s clear the DGA needs to get behind the WGA. That’s the only message that the Producer’s are going to take seriously at this point if this info is correct.
With no pilot season, there isn’t going to be a 2008/2009 TV season, so this isn’t any new news. The moguls’ determination to write off the 08/09 season is not only unreasonable, it’s irresponsible, and I can’t see this happening. ABC has Grey’s and Desperate Housewives, and three shows that hit this fall in Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, and Dirty Sexy Money. So there is no way that ABC is going to go over an entire year without any new episodes of these shows. Separately, if Sarah Connor Chronicles becomes a hit for FOX, there’s no way they’re going to go over a year without making more episodes, especially since they are hurting for scripted hits. NBC has absolutely NO hit scripted show, and NO hit non-scripted flagship – they would TRULY be fucked.
There is ONE immediate way for the AMPTP to negotiate a deal, and that is for SAG actors working on movies and going on talk shows to conduct a sickout. That is the ONLY way because then the networks/studios would truly be aversely affected. Alan Rosenberg, you have the industry’s future in your hands. Help us PLEASE.
As I sit here on Xmas Eve, juggling bills,and trying to reinvent my BTL sound mixing career, all I can say is, I’ve already started mixing reality TV, and there were three camera, three sound, and a couple of producers. That’s it. And now we’re looking at a new year with no possibility of a let up. I supported the writer’s when they struck, (even walked the line). But with their obsession with reality TV, a lost cause even before the strike, I really feel they are all drinking kool-aid. They have been so hopelessly outmatched by the AMPTP (Big Media didn’t get big by being dumb and nice) that my only hope is the DGA gets a deal going. In the meantime, I’m day playing on reality TV. I’m thinking of some ideas to pitch too.
Merry Strikemas.
Once again, Nikki is being used…and perhaps Katzenberg as well, and the terror tactics continue. The moguls threaten nuclear winter to “punish” the WGA membership. What kind of businessmen think like this: to throw away billions in ad revenue rather arrive at a very modest deal with Hollywood talent that will ensure another two decades of peace and prosperity? I don’t believe even they have the power to thumb their noses at the advertisers and shareholders to whom they report. What in the world are they going to say to them when asked why they have blown up an entire industry: “We showed them!”?
The scenario about the guild splitting “just like ‘88″ is disinformation being spread by the CEOs. Just because they say the guild will fall apart, it doesn’t mean the guild will fall apart. It’s a scare tactic and a manipulation, and it seems to be the talking point of the moment — there was a big article in the LAT about it last week (and none of us who wrote letters to the editor about it had them published). But the scenario isn’t a description of what is happening. It’s a description of what the AMPTP wants to happen. The trick is not to believe their hype and not to crack.
AMPTP would make horrible farmers. They spend all their money from last season’s corps on themselves leaving none to reinvest in buying seeds for spring fields, nor money for fertilizer nor the farmer to plant, let along till his corps. Instead they take their most valuable commodity, their airspace (land) and litter it with an endless array of circus tents and carneys (game shows and reality TV) – then wonder where their buyers have gone and their formerly bountiful fields lay barren.
Yes, AMPTP is changing the face of TV and perhaps soon, that of film as well, but I doubt they will be real thrilled with the income from absolute crop failure.
And the new rainmakers, Google & MSN etc., farmers of this century, carefully tend to their new crops with vast amounts of seed money invested in the land of the Internet… and DVD sales from those lands… all out of AMPTPs hands.
Anyone want to buy a season of a game show on DVD? Or even download it?
Nikki, we fear once again you are being used.
This is more doom and gloom psychological warfare to diminish WGA morale, and a desperate effort to stir up resentment against WGA.
Men are so emotional and they let their dick-measuring get in the way of smart business decisions. These men are particularly incompetent and shareholders should mutiny and overthrow them immediately. This could otherwise be a time of enormous profit for these companies – instead they are torpedoing an entire business because of their fragile egos (waa, waa, you made us look bad, WGA, waa waa)
If we were shareholders in these congloms, we’d be furious that these 8 guys were deliberately tanking our investment because of a dick-measuring contest.
We divested of all media holdings a while back because it was clear these guys don’t know what they’re doing – if we were currently shareholders, we’d divest immediately because it’s clear these men are too emotional and do not know what they are doing.
If these old farts will torpedo the entire industry (because they’re pissed that their authority was challenged!), they have far MORE to lose than WGA.
Don’t get psyched out by more of this posturing. Let them go down in history as the morons who torpedoed an entire industry.
Nikki–
I don’t think there’e any reason for you to apologize for anything. If there is still anyone out there in the guild who believes there is any amount of striking or holding out that will bring a “better” deal they are as wrong now as they were when we went out on strike and, at this point, deserve what they have coming. This strike has been fueled by a lack of sophistication and a grand naivate. I am a long-time, heavy dues-paying member of the guild and I have had it. Not only have we cost ourselves paychecks and seasons, but we’ve hastened a great distress on the television buisness that we’ll all be reeling from and talking about for years to come. My only hope is that the MORE INTELLIGENT and sophisticated Director’s Guild will make enough of a deal that the guild feels pressured to close one as well. If not, there may cease to be a guild from what I can sense among high-level writers and showrunners. At this point, maybe that’s not a bad thing….
The more reality shows ordered, the greater the blessing to WGA.
How much reality do you think viewers can take before they reject all of it wholesale? Like too much of anything, they will get sick of it and turn away from tv altogether.
We core reality producers are NOT happy about all the reality being ordered.
By overdoing reality, these idiot “moguls” will obliterate the “reality” genre.
You know, I just got here on the East Coast. Philly to be exact and I tried to drum up a convo about the strike and the overwhelming consensus is that “WHO the hell cares about the strike, TV sucks anyway”
I got upset and tried to defend the cause but sadly I was outnumbered. I will say that the groups favorite scripted shows were Martin and Seinfeld and then it turned to this whole thing about if the strike had occurred in the 90s it would have been a problem.
Maybe people don’t care because they are not really that satisfied with what TV today has become. I mean its mostly “cops with bionic powers who chase secret agents who dont know their secret until they die and a forensic pathologist can look them over meanwhile, the entire staff of hospitals manage to save lives despite the drama and the husbands go home to wives who are desperate.”
Will a contract agreement bring about change in TV?????
We knew, in our hearts that this was coming. We’re not fighting the same studios and networks that our predecessors did. We’re fighting corporations, just like the ones that have gutted other industries and stolen their employees pension and health funds. These guys are out to destroy the WGA. What’s next, farming the writing out to third world countries? Don’t laugh. It CAN happen. Maybe not Thailand and Vietnam, but what about England?
We are going to have to change tactics. I’m going to mull this over during the Christmas holidays when the studio that owes me money hasn’t sent me my checks, so I’m half-starving. Well, I work in other fields until these fucker at the studios starve to death. I can draw comics. I can sell suits. I can direct theater. What, exactly, can a film studio executive do?
Oh, right. Sell kiddie porn.
Well, there’s nothing left to say. The next move for the writers I believe, is for them to go to the people, the fans. I for one, speaking as a fan would be super pissed to go a whole year not seeing my favorite shows. That would break forever my viewing habits with TV. I would NOT watch any replacement reality crap. I am not watching it now (Battle of the choirs? Come the fuck on). Get the fans on your side and you may have a chance. Stockholders watch TV too. And – I know Hollywood hates The Oscars, but, come on, we’re talking tradition here. Can’t get rid of that! The other option is, for the writers to start going en-mass to the internet on their own. Bypass the producers. They’re a dead entity already. And they know it. They just hope you don’t. 15 year olds with a web cam know it.
So, this has never been, or will it be, about the well-being of the writers, the below-the-line people, their families, the Los Angeles economy or the health of the industry.
To the AMPTP, this has only been about winning. They expected the WGA to lay down, they didn’t. And now they are so angry that they didn’t get their way, they want to punish everyone for daring to have a say in their own careers.
And they might just be powerful enough, rich enough, and arrogant enough to get away with it.
Because now it sounds like that even if they give the DGA a deal that the writers would take, they won’t offer it to the writers. They won’t be happy until the crush the union.
A dark day for workers everywhere.
So six months ago when the Guild is broken and there’s still no deal are you clowns going to still be clinging to your “psy-ops” nonsense?
Was about to write about “just another transparent AMPTP psyche-out campaign,” then saw Marc Guggenheim 11:08 had it covered
Whew, good job, Big Media. Remember how you guys worked so hard to position yourselves as “content providers” the last few years? Yeah, well, good job — you guys just cut off your fuel supply. And speaking as a young twentysomething, I gotta say I’m not terribly worried about finding other ways to occupy my time. I’ll miss the good tv shows and movies, though.
PS: I’m not going to watch your crappy game shows.
Because they are assholes. No, seriously. They are the type of men that will throw away that kind of money to spite writers, just because they feel that, at all cost, they will NOT be pushed around by mere writers.
I believe this is all bluster from the AMPTP. We all know the egos involved in this strike. But I certainly don’t believe they moguls are ready to scrap not just this TV season, but next. They would also be sacrificing all movie features for the ‘09 and ‘10 years. They stand to lose way more money than they care to admit. I’m not saying the sides will get together any time soon, but a scenario will arise that will calm both sides down a bit and a settlement can be reached. Maybe Warner Bros. doesn’t need scripted product, but CBS will cease to exist if this tramples next TV season. Nikki, any chance this info was leaked to you as subterfuge? I wouldn’t put any of this past these guys and we’ve all been duped before. Stand strong WGA.
riddle me this — they aren’t going to end up throwing away all those billions – and the next two seasons won’t be lost because there will be a split in the guild before that — this is a game of chicken and we will lose if we don’t change our negotiating strategy right now. Do you think showrunners are going to hold out longer than multinational conglomerates? And once there is one defection, the Fi-Core floodgates will open and it will be chaos. We blew our wad when we struck. I hope I’m wrong about this.
Sure the other side are a bunch of this and that and the other – but seriously, does anyone really believe it’s always the other guy’s fault?
What if the so called shills are right? What if we overplayed our hand – NOT in terms of what we are asking for, but in HOW we are asking for it. I am not debating that what we are seeking is fair – I’m questioning the negotiating strategy of our leadership.
I resent that this has become a pissing contest and no matter how hard we try, our dicks will never be as big as General Electric’s. And I’m okay with that. I like my dick. I don’t need to prove anything with it. I just want to work. Like the tens of thousands of others out there who are currently unemployed. Merry Christmas to all.
Hey. If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I’d like Nick Counter, the AMPTP boss, right here tonight. If you can locate Gavin Polone… bring him along as well.
I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there in Aspen with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is.
Hallelujah. Holy shit. Where’s the Tylenol?
- Sloop John B.
So… a group of showrunners were approached to make a back channel deal, but even they didn’t want to sell us out to the point the moguls were happy. Other than that, the strike continues, and will continue until the AMPTP gets serious. I don’t see this as bad news. I see this as what happens in a strike. The moguls want us to think they are taking things personally and playing hard ball and willing to trash their own season. Truth is, when their stock prices drop, when they have to give back ad revenue, they will start to talk. Writers just need to hang tough, as they seem to be doing.
No surprise to me at all. I work at one of the studios and the inside feeling is hunker down, its gonna be a long ride and we are gonna change the business so make sure what you do here is needed.
Friends from other studios are getting the same vibe. I sadly feel the writers forgot who they were dealing with. Big, huge money making machines…no time for caring about the little guy..ever.
they can’t seriously be willing to throw away billions of dollars to prove a point don’t they have shareholders
everyone stop watching TV until this strike is over
I tend to disbelieve these apocalyptic scenarios spun by the CEO’s for at least two reasons. The first is that in the short run they assume there’s a wide gulf between the DGA and the WGA. But while residuals may mean less to the ADs in the DGA than they do to junior writers in the WGA, they still add up to just as many dollars at risk for DGA members, and particularly TV directors. At the same time, the loss of AD positions in scripted television to non-union PA positions in Reality and on the Internet, if unchecked, will have a truly catastrophic impact on those very same ADs who in the CEO’s daydreams “don’t care about residuals”. Which is perhaps why, if knowledgeable rumor is to be believed (although it hasn’t been widely reported), the DGA has quietly pursued its own strategy of organizing Reality, and done it with more success than the WGA.
These considerations may also explain the careful wording of the DGA’s December 13th statement contemplating the start of its own negotiations with the
Companies. That statement opened with the observation that, “All along, it has been the sincere hope of the DGA that these talks would be successful and lead to a fair deal for talent”, with no mention of any concern for fairness to the Companies. And the statement closed with the warning that the DGA would commence talks, “only if an appropriate basis for negotiations can be established”, in other words, only if the Companies were willing to drop their intransigent non-negotiable demands.
The second, longer term reason I believe these apocalyptic vows to engage in mutually assured destruction are empty ideological rhethoric by the CEO’s is that the competitive climate really is rapidly changing for the studios. The major media companies’ oligopoly has rested on their control of the physical distribution infrastructure for feature films and of the broadcast infrastructure for TV. But when anyone can distribute digital prints into theaters, and digital downloads into homes over cable-based and telephone-based broadband systems, who will need the old studios if they no longer enjoy good relationships with creative talent?
If the Media CEOs willfully destroy their own TV and feature production next year, other investors, less ideological and more entrepreneurial than the present
ossified studios, will enter the market all the sooner and with even more devistating effect. In short, the assured destruction won’t at all be mutual: the studios will suffer permanent damage, having locked themselves themselves out of the future, while the Guild talent they depend on but have estranged will migrate very profitably to new media companies more likely to be headquartered in Seattle or Wellington or even Beijing than they are in old Hollywood.
I agree that this seems tactical.
*Katzenberg runs a non-union shop.
*There are hundreds of millions, if not the billions mentioned above, at stake in revenues and…
*Major shareholders to keep happy when the stocks start to slide.
Also worth remembering that anything the DGA negotiates can function as precedent for WGA and SAG, if acceptable to either or both. If not, WGA will stay out and SAG will go out. DGA has the opportunity now to lead and make it work for everyone, or settle for themselves and still have to wait out the settlement of the strike that’s on and the strike that will start on July 1.
I normally applaud your reporting, Nikki, but I think you’re being played to disseminate Katzenberg’s scare tactics here. So suddenly the moguls are in absolute control, the guild has no leverage and the showrunners are abandoning the rank and file to go Fi-Core, and we’ll NEVER get a deal if we don’t come crawling back on our knees now? Please. It’s an AMPTP wet dream and I’m calling bullshit.
It only takes an iota of common sense to see that the companies are hemorrhaging money and it’s only going to get worse for them. We keep hearing how they have billions to weather the strike and we don’t… but I’m pretty sure my mortgage isn’t a half-million like the credits NBC has been issuing to advertisers. And as for the mass reality order we keep reading about… look no further than Phenomenon and that Clash of the Choirs to see how that’s going to fare.
If showrunners make a back channel deal, we WILL boycott their shows
The WGA’s fight has become symbolic of all workers’ fights across the nation
The strike is not being “waged on the backs of the showrunners,” no matter how nice a phrase that is. Everyone is on strike. And if showrunners like Carlton Cuse and Marc Cherry went back to work to “finish their producing duties,” that means they got PAID for it. Which means the strike is not “on their backs.” It’s in their wallets.
If the gentlemen who run the studios are willing to jettison this television season and next, as well as the approaching shutdown in film production, their decision will certainly have an adverse affect on the los angeles economy. and while this will cause my home to go by two or three hundred thousand, it’s going to cause THEIR HOMES to plummet by millions. I hope they’re financially savvy enough to understand the personal value of a few million dollars.
I have a question and I honestly don’t know the answer, so I’m hoping someone can help me out here. I’ve heard many people saying that once the ad revenue slows down, the profit loss for the studios will be too big for them to ignore. But I keep thinking – isn’t the cost of producing Tom Arnold’s Redneck Marriage reality show (or whatever it’s called) far cheaper than the cost of paying the cast and crew salaries of, say, Lost? Obviously, the studios make more cumulatively than they spend in production, and they’re likely to take a major hit when viewers find their favorite scripted show gone, but surely they’re going to find SOME companies willing to continue advertising.
Of course, I’m hoping the companies take a financial hit to instigate negotiations and a return to work. I’m just curious as to how great a hit it will be…
the katzenberg story is TRUE. i was there. every word in this piece is accurate. unfortunately. this isn’t amptp mind-f***ing us — it’s reality. they just don’t give a shit. network tv is a tiny piece of their overall business. sadly, the wga doesn’t understand this. you can’t hurt a vertically intergrated multi-billion dollar entity with picket signs. make no mistake, folks, this is an unmitigated disaster.
@Marjorie David 12:57
right on!
the guild is not being split or destroyed.
just a bunch of hysterical misinfo planted by AMPTP’s embarrassingly inept PR agents.
kids, they are desperate if they are resorting to these low-tech tactics
hang tight, doing great WGA
Sorry, I’m not buying any of this. This is more of the AMPTP’s scare tactics and terrorism. See it for what it is, people. And don’t let it interfere with your holidays. If you do, they win. ‘Nuff said.
I figured as much.
As I mentioned in another comments section, the AMPTP is actually in charge in this regard because, until the writers figure out a way to distribute their product and make a profit from it, they’re going to have to sell to the studios if they want to make a living.
Whereas, there is no shortage of writers who would give a kidney to sell a script to the studios.
Supply and demand and all that.
While I do believe the writers deserve to get more money than they have been getting (I’m a writer myself but non WGA), I do firmly believe that this strike will have industry changing results and I don’t see an end in sight quite frankly.
I used to think it might end in June but now I’m thinking it won’t end at all.
Both sides have gone too far. There are only so many times you can tell Daddy to go fuck himself before he eventually kicks you out of the house permanently and that’s pretty much what this situation has turned into alas.
L8showrunner:
nice try, you transparent paid shill. you think someone who ran a network show would use a ten-year-old girl’s L8 construction? UR kidding, right? OMG!
Plus, someone who understood television enough to have run a show would not have chosen a name that confuses you with Rob Burnett, the Late Show showrunner.
You guys are so bad at what you do that you have set the cause of the AMPTP back by months. And no wonder Hillary’s campagin is falling apart if the democratic shill-factory is so bad at what they do.
Sorry, I’m not buying any of this. This is more of the AMPTP’s scare tactics and terrorism. See it for what it is, people. And don’t let it interfere with your holidays. If you do, they win. ‘Nuff said.
i think lackland is essentially right. Which means that the DGA will make a deal – the same deal we will end up taking – which means our leadership will never be able to claim victory. Which means their strategy was misguided from the start. Writers sticking together doesn’t mean going down with the ship.
I hope you all agree that sidewalk picketing is now a waste of time and energy. Spend those three or four hours each day creating new content for the web. There is no further need for physical picketing. Spend the rest of your time each day writing your dream scripts on spec.
Picketing does nothing here because we aren’t blue collar factory workers able to shut down an assembly line. Far better to start making deals with internet outlets for brand new programs that the studios and networks won’t ever get.
As for the moguls they don’t give a shit what the stockholders think. They all have their golden parachute clauses in their contracts. So it won’t really matter to them if they get fired. They will “segue” to producing deals or relax and enjoy their days on the golf course.
As for the Guild in its current form it’s already obsolete. Seeing it split apart wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. There should be three new writers guilds each with the power to do their own deals for their members. You’d have the super A-list millionaire writers, the mid-level working staff writers and the bottom of the ladder younger or older or just unlucky to be out of work writers.
This would be a healthy and natural evolution. Let the show runners and the big money script doctors go fi-core and do their own deals. The mid-level writers can and will quickly do the same. The out of work group doesn’t really matter at the moment. When they become more successful they can move up the ladder.
As it currently fuctions the WGA is constrained by all of its different members incomes and productivity. This isn’t the auto workers union where everyone makes the same hourly wage for working in the factory based on their seniority on the assembly line.
The guild needs to undergo a radical change the same way the networks and studios need to be forced into changing. They will always act in their own best financial interest. It’s time for writers to do the same thing.
oh well
at least i still have stargate atlantis
Okay, okay, my last post was rash. But I hope to God something happens. I do still believe AMPTP has underestimated the writers. But frankly, I’d be thrilled with a DGA deal (a good one, mind) “forcing” a deal for the WGA. Or the advertisers or the courts or the combined power of the SGA and WGA together…anything. I appologize for being hopeless before, but it’s turning into a hopeless situation. The trend needs to turn, and fast. That’s what’ll keep my faith.
Personally, I don’t get why people view Niki’s piece as “psy-ops”. It’s naive to not take it at face value, like all other news reported here. We’ll just have to wait and see how the DGA does in January and hope they don’t find themselves staring at the AMPTP’s same stony expressions when they make their arguments for New Media. Niki’s correct to state the WGA has nothing left to bargain, but honestly, they didn’t start with much. What it really comes down to is will. Stay strong WGA. It may not happen the way you want, but a better deal will materialize, and in the end, that’s saying something in this age of corporate domination.
Advertising bucks are all that really matter to the AMPTP. I completely stand by the WGA. I wish the showrunners would band together in solidarity and directly reach out to the fans of their individual shows and beg them to turn off their tv sets for just one week. If the showrunner of the show I blog about asked the show’s fans to unplug their tv sets then they would. If the showrunners of the other big $$ shows did the same thing it would make a bigger statement than pencils and silent videos (not that those are bad ideas). Send a clear and unified message from the viewers to the advertisers that the AMPTP gravy train needs to stop.
Nuts!
They can huff and puff, but shareholders and the government will get involved come Feb. Watch!
Would be cool if a Mark Cuban type shook the tree and started a studio of his own and gave the writers a fair deal. We need to find a way around these greedy mogul jerks.
-writer, not yet in guild
Another WGA member wrote:
These guys are out to destroy the WGA. What’s next, farming the writing out to third world countries? Don’t laugh. It CAN happen. Maybe not Thailand and Vietnam, but what about England?
England is not a third world country, as you seem to be implying–geez, dude, two months on strike and you’re being bested by a fanfic writer. Rusty much?
As for the AMTP, all I have to say is: bring on the virtual seasons!
This is all nothing.
They aren’t coming back to the table on Christmas Eve?! They want to enjoy their vacations?! They have no need to get people back to work when no one will be working anyway?!
This is merely no new info disguised as new info to make writers panic.
Nothing will happen for the rest of the year. We’ve known that since December 7th. Ignore this.
According to the strike-breaking playbook, we knew they were going to deliver another spirit-breaking attack right beofre Christmas. They’re right on schedule.
They’re also malicious assholes. This can’t be good business.
A humble suggestion to showrunners:
When you stick together you have real power. Use it. Meet with outside investors and create a studio the way it should be, even while pursuing these negotiations. Even if it’s just a small side thing on the Internet, plant a flag for the present and the future of all writers. Create something that benefits both yourselves and all future writers to come. Go down in history as heroes to all writers.
Dropping this on Christmas Eve? Just how naive does the AMPTP think we are, not to see through such tactics? Honestly, I logged onto the site today expecting something exactly like this. Also, I gotta say – I suspect there are some AMPTP shills on this site who are merely claiming to be WGA. “L8showrunner”, for instance?
I’ve just about had it with all this posturing and pussy-footing. If the Congloms have stacked the deck, it’s time to burn this mother down. It’s time for the DGA and SAG to walk–NOT when their paper tiger contracts are up, but now. If there’s a message to be sent, let’s all send it loud and clear.
Anonymous 2;13 wrote “Picketing does nothing here because we aren’t blue collar factory workers able to shut down an assembly line”
mp/tv production is the assembly line
tv production has halted [reality production is a makeshift step-child that viewers will soon wholly reject]
feature production trickling down to a halt
picketing gives a public face to the issue, is a symbolic center, and keeps writers in physical unified contact.
moderatewriter calls it like it is. I’m a WGA member who believes we’re owed everything the Guild is asking for, times ten. But this isn’t 1955 and Wasserman is long gone. These multinationals are so big, so diversified, they can afford to write off the 07-08 TV season and development for 08-09 as well as features and maybe much more. These moguls, in their minds are fighting The War Against Terrorism®. To them we’re Al-Qaeda — and you never negotiate with terrorists. They think if they “give in” to the WGA’s demands, they’ll be perceived as weak and soon all the unions in town will be coming after them, shutting down Hollywood every few years with heady talk of “union power” and “kicking corporate ass.” I don’t believe this is what would really happen — just that the moguls fear it *could* happen if the “radical, strike-happy” WGA leadership gets its way. They’ve decided they have no choice but to ride this one out, as painful as it may be. We dropped our only nuke on November 5th — once we struck, our leverage evaporated. This will not end well for the Writers Guild of America.
The advertisers are already furious at the revenue they’ve lost. Shareholders won’t be happy either…
hey, showrunner mike
no one said the report wasn’t “true”
it is true that AMPTP is so desperate they have to resort to scare tactic press releases disguised as behind-the-scenes info
bottom line – AMPTP doesn’t exist in a vacuum
they are public companies
their companies are taking a hit and it will only get worse for them
they will not be permitted to tank their companies and flee on a golden parachute.
whether these ceo’s are fired or not, shareholders, the free market, and eventually the government will intervene because amptp has created such a large-scale disaster.
meanwhile, nature abhors a vacuum and writers are evolving into new workaround ventures leaving amptp out of the loop.
history will look back on these 8 ceo’s as utter morons who threw out the golden goose, and shot themselves in the foot.
to marjorie david and sr – you guys really knock me out – throughout this entire process you and others like you refuse to recognize that there is, and always was, a split in the guild as to the negotiating tactics of our leadership.
And when we voice our conflicts you label us as shills – like the Bush administration saying that if you don’t support the war, you don’t support the troops, and are therefore unpatriotic.
I’m a “patriotic” writer – and I wholeheartedly disagree with the negotiating tactics taken on my behalf by Patrick Verrone and David Young.
I’m sorry to say, but I think that as long as you continue to blindly believe that your leadership is infallible, as long as you dismiss dissenting voices as those belonging to shills, you will continue to foster our defeat. Debate is good for this guild. I say it as a proud, dues paying member.
Here is what will happen:
In January the DGA will start negotiating. It will take some time, but they will make a deal. It will be a decent deal. It will be a better deal than they would’ve gotten if the WGA had not gone on strike because of the extra leverage.
The AMPTP cannot afford to have the DGA go on strike because they have been calling the WGA crazy. You can’t be considered crazy if everyone else acts the same way. Furthermore, without the directors there is no more film production. Not much left. Even some reality shows use DGA members.
The DGA can’t make a bad deal, because they WGA has made it very clear that it will not accept the same deal if it sucks. The DGA can’t afford at some point later — even after a long strike — to have the WGA get a BETTER deal than them. They can;t even risk it. It would break the long-standing tradition of pattern bargaining and lower the status of directors compared to writers — something they already feel and detest in television.
The DGA will make very sure that the WGA will take any deal before they agree to it.
So… both the AMPTP and the DGA need to make a deal in the new year.
Doing so will allow the AMPTP to call Patric Verrone an idiot and say that he could’ve gotten the same deal four months ago if he hadn’t been a stike-happy hothead. (Of course none of that is true — the strike will have created the leverage necessary to ultimately get that deal — see above). Either way, the AMPTP will feel happy they can stick it to him. He’ll have done his job. And everyone will go back to work.
There is no way a WGA deal happens first. So don’t sweat anything that says talks are not happening. They won’t.
As an outsider I can see the following:
1. The strike is happening because scripted entertainment on TV is not the draw it used to be. Too many “edgy” shows following the Grant Tinker strategy to it’s natural evolution: 2 billionaire viewers, have made reality junk competitive with scripted tv at much lower costs.
Even with audience fragmentation there is no reason for top shows to pull in a measly 20 million viewers. Most TV is elitist junk in a populist market. Hence corps affording the strike.
2. Outsourcing. I seriously doubt corps will throw away this season, pilot season, upfronts, and next season. They probably will find people abroad to write, act, and direct new shows. For a lot cheaper.
3. Splits. IMHO it’s unrealistic to expect show-runners to give up millions of dollars in support of the strike when they’ve won a once-in-a-lifetime lottery ticket. My guess is plenty will go back to work.
4. I think writers should take ideas to the web — but it won’t be easy. You’ll have to work fast, cheap, and deliver populist not elitist content, with the audience telling you what to do.
I have to agree with other commentators that it was a mistake to run this story just before Christmas, Nikki. It is blatant scare tactics. I saw Murdoch (who I’m sure is not entirely remote from strategizing on the AMPTP side) destroy the print union in Britain during the 1980s when he bought The Times (of London), then moved it to Wapping so that journalists and printers could work in the same facility and the newspaper could be printed on-site. There were running, bloody battles between picketers and police in riot gear – this at the height of the Thatcher years (she was a huge supporter of Murdoch’s and vice versa).
Obviously the studios and networks are going to play hardball, but I doubt things will go as far as they did at Wapping (There Will Not Be Blood, unless PT Anderson redraws the picket lines), and there’s one thing the studios can’t do without us…make movies or good TV programs.
It’s going to be tough, but if we cave now, the whole strike was a waste of time, huge effort and great sacrifice on the part of many people (many of them not WGA members or beneficiaries). To post this on the eve of Christmas (for some) and major festive celebrations (for others) hardly serves the seasonal spirit, even if it is accurate – which, in many respects, I doubt. Better to post the share prices of each individual studio and network since the strike began…and see how they fare over the coming months. CEOs are not immune from censure, especially when they are running public corporations. And, even with a hardly sympathetic (to the writers) FCC, the prospect of investigations of media collusion and monopoly may become a genuine threat in 2008. Happy New Year AMPTP!!
What is Fi Core?
Are we forgetting Immelt’s comments about the hit that GE — GE, supposedly the most invulnerable of the companies — is already taking? Contradicting his boy Zucker’s protest-too-much claims that they’re doing GREAT and NEVER BETTER during this strike?
Are we forgetting that the shareholders and advertisers combined are starting to get pretty damn antsy?
Rest assured — these might be major conglomerates, but they do answer to shareholders and advertisers, and the advertisers have already made it clear… they ain’t paying big bucks to put up ads for American Gladiator type crap.
Much of the naysayer few showrunners who are spreading around e-mails are, coincidentally, married to – who? You guessed it. Studio and network executives. I was sitting across from a showrunner at drinks last week, and he started trashing the guild, and then I said — what should they have done differently? Should they have taken the lousy offer that the AMPTP was offering us at the beginning?
The sole mistake — the sole one — the Guild made was the hiccup of doing the rally at Freemantle.
My friends on Wall Street have said that the large shareholders are already pissed and have already said to the CEOs to “stop this” and “make a deal.”
Just a matter of time…
These are companies that polute entire third world villages until everyone has cancer just to manufacture cheap textiles to sell in the USA, then hide behind the fact that they followed the pollution standards of the host country. To believe they have any sense of right and wrong is childish. To expect anything more from them than a whole hearted attempt to break the unions is naive.
ok, alltogether now – “shill alert, shill alert”…there, now don’t you feel better? Of course I’m a shill cause I am saying something that you don’t agree with, but here goes:
“shareholders and the government will get involved come February”…yeah, right.
The Government won’t do crap, we all know that.
And shareholders don’t have a voice…don’t like it, sell your stock.
General Electric makes light bulbs and refrigerators, and everyone knows they will dump NBC after the 2008 Summer Olympics makes them more billions.
Time Warner makes all their money selling you cable tv. They are still making tons of money on their features (”I Am Legend”, etc.), so whatever they are losing on tv isn’t hurting too much.
Companies NEED to advertise. Thursday nights are the biggest night. Sure, networks aren’t going to get 20 million people to watch their reality shows (except for “American Idol”), but they will get 5-10 million viewers, which is A TON more than any internet program can get.
Face the facts writers…you blew it big time by striking. Networks not paying your salaries and spending 7 million per episode of “Lost”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Heroes”, etc. is a blessing for them. Most of the shows on network tv were doing lousy in the ratings anyway…why not spend $700,000 on a show and get the same lousy ratings?
Happy Holidays!
the CEOs are deeply entrenched in their desire to punish the WGA for daring to defy them…. the moguls are determined to write off not just the rest of this TV season (including the Back 9 of scripted series), but also pilot season and the 2008/2009 schedule as well
If this is true, sanity has truly left the building and the shareholders need to oust these people immediately. Because if vanity replaces greed as a motivation for corporate action, we are all truly ****ed. Greed is rational, vanity is not.
Everyone’s always saying that this particular moment is the one defining moment, then a week later another one-defining-moment manages to pop up.
Nobody expected any real negotiations to go on between the 25th and the 1st, after that the AMPTP will want to look at what kind of deal it can expect from the DGA, and there will be a bunch of defining moments during that, then a DGA deal will be struck offering up another defining moment. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
We’ve had Friedman Units — now we can also have Finke Moments.
Lakers’ season ticket holders should take their comments straight to Moonves at the next home game — he’s not that hard to find.
The CEO’s will lose television as we know it to Google and Microsoft. Let’s see the CEO’s try to push THEM around.
A little holiday lesson: Google and Microsoft are pirates. Microsoft stole from Apple, who stole from Xerox.
Question: Why did Google invest a billion or so in YouTube?
Because YouTube is a gargantuan pirate ship. Google steal loads and loads of loads content that the studios sweat blood to make, then broadcasts it, and then charges for advertising while broadcasting it. Pretty brilliant, eh? Say what you want about the studios and networks, but at least they make it the old-fashioned way. Should writers get a better piece of the pie? Of course!
So . . .
WHY in GOD’S name would Google or Microsoft invest in a TV pilot? A series? Or a movie for that matter?
These digital pirates are cancers that eat up what’s around them. See the music industry.
Don’t get me wrong, they’ll be delighted to broadcast your show. And they have billions of viewers. However, you’ll have to write, cast, shoot, direct, and edit the damn thing with your own cash.
So if and when the studios crumble, well . . . careful what ye wish for, me friend. Happy holidays.
Point of fact: I want writers to get fair internet residuals
Point of opinion: The WGA leadership has overplayed their hand. The media moguls are holding a hardline because the business has gotten so narrow-margin. This is ALL about costs and has nothing to do with emotion, greed, or groin-size, despite what the angry writers here think.
Network TV is a dying model. Look at the Nielsen 2007 top 10 lists, available on their webpage…of the top 10 shows, 1-5 are all reality and all double the size of the top largest scripted shows.
The moguls are milking their cash cows, network television, for all it is worth.
Go ahead – strike a deal for peanuts with MSN, Google, Apple, etc etc. The studios will copy the model and you’ll all take the work. This is not me trying to sound vindictive- this is a fair prediction of what is to come.
Hollywood writing is a HIT DRIVEN business. You need 10 flops for every hit that pays the bill. The WGA seems to forget they get paid for the 10 flops that the studio loses money developing, producing, and marketing. What makes anyone think funnyordie.com will be any different? I think the grosses for ‘Walk Hard’ prove that point.
The WGA forgets that no other entity will hire, employ, and otherwise fund thousands of their members. I’m not saying they need to lay down and die, i’m just stunned they would counsel a strike and cut off their revenue so quickly…they should have kept working and worked out a parallel deal with online firms while the AMPTP stalled.
to moderatewriter 3:30
seems to us their comments did not dissuade healthy guild debate, but addressed the misinformation that the guild will soon be obliterated
perhaps you are perceived as a shill because your comments are kneejerk defensive, inaccurate and strident
next time, take more time to read carefully before you go off
Dear Showrunners,
Do me a favor and put your egos on hold. I do not want you making “deals” with ANYONE. It is not your job. This strike is not your show to “run”. As far as Mr. K, goes, I can’t believe that you really think the guy wants a good deal for us. I’ve been on the other side of table negotiating with him and he’s tough. HE’S NOT ON OUR SIDE. Get it Showrunners? He’s anti union, pro-Dreamworks.
It’s time for all of you idiots with your united showrunner caps to take them off and just be a writer. Keep your mouths closed and cary the sign like the rest of us.
Sorry Nikki, I think you were played. The fact that you are reporting this on Christmas Eve is evidence enough. Be smarter next time.
We must STAY STRONG in January. Together we will get a deal.
Klaatu, 1000% correct.
hey, showrunner…
wall street doesn’t care one tiny bit about this srike. trust me. google “wall street and wga strike” and see for yourself. network tv is a minuscule portion of the overall revenue. if you’re wating for shareholder action, you’ll be waiting forever. one more time, homebiy, THEY DON’T CARE.
For those of you who don’t believe the moguls are serious about writing off the entire season becasue of the pressure from stockholders… You might want to check the stock prices of theses conglomerates! Not a single one has taken a hit since this strike started. This is a fact. So, the stockholder’s by and large are NOT concerned by the financial effect of the strike. In fact, Fortune magazine last week named GE (parent of NBC)a top 10 pick for 2008. So, please stop sounding ignorant by suggesting this strike is or will apply financial pressure on these conglomerates because IT IS NOT and that is no “pys ops” statement that is a fact you can check by reading the Wall Street Journal. I truly believe the writers by and large have dug themselves a hole by not understanding exactly who they are dealing with! You don;t hurt a billionaire by witholding a few million additional dollars.
Moderate Writer: “I’m a “patriotic” writer – and I wholeheartedly disagree with the negotiating tactics taken on my behalf by Patrick Verrone and David Young.”
Getting sick of hearing this same sentence without your solution attached. Tell us, oh wise one, how would you have handled negotiations with “partners” who don’t want to negotiate? Go!