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I’d like to hear your theories/predictions/suggestions in the Comments section of this post about what positive (repeat, positive) steps can be taken starting January 1st to end this strike in a way that’s perceived as fair to both sides since it’s abundantly clear that neither the WGA nor the AMPTP is going to surrender anytime soon. (I won’t be able to monitor comments until tonight so your musings won’t post right away. Please don’t email your comments, only post them here.)
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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I believe that what needs to happen is that both sides need to give a little to get a little. In negotiations nobody will be happy with the deal. I was with the WGA from the start but they are as much to blame as the AMPTP. They deserve a share of residuals from new media and thats what should be focused on. I think forcing every writer to be a WGA member is something they can take off the table. The AMPTP can then use that to improve their model for residual payouts. That’s my 2 cents
There are 3 constituencies to be heard from (besides ordinary viewers and fans)
1) Advertisers and ad agencies
2) Shareholders
3) Representatives from the legislative, executive and quite possibly the judicial branches of our federal government
Some of us ordinary viewers and fans are getting organized to play to win this one. Prepare to watch the AMPTP freak out bigtime.
1) The DGA should make its much-vaunted new media study public (assuming they’re not legally prevented from doing so from the consultants they hired, who tend to make money by repurposing their proprietary information from client to client.) This kind of transparency runs counter to conventional negotiating practice, but I think it would be really helpful.
2) The WGA should agree to make new media residuals creditable against broadcast residuals. For instance, if your episode of Grey’s Anatomy reruns on broadcast, you get your 20K check. But then if a million people watch it streaming online, you don’t get another check (which per the current WGA proposal would also be about 20K for a million streams) if you’ve already gotten a broadcast residual. This framework saves the Companies a lot of money by preventing ‘double-dipping’ (which pattern-bargained out, in this example, is a savings of 190K), but it also gets the WGA what it says it wants– not a raise, but insurance that the residual system will outlast the fading broadcast rerun model.
(Of course, there will still be wide distance between the numbers on both sides, but this framework would allow for more vigorous negotiations than we’ve had.)
3) If advertisers WANT the pilot season / upfront system to continue, they should say so to put pressure on the AMPTP to drop this ultimatum stuff and come back to the table. (Do they? Or would they rather buy time in a chaotic scatter market? I don’t know.)
4) WGA should drop their insistence on deriving new media residuals from distributor’s gross. I understand the impetus for doing this, and I know there are reasons why they didn’t opt for producer’s gross. But it’s just not going to happen. I think something akin to the broadcast model (% of script fee, but for period of use instead of per rebroadcast) is the workable option. Also, WGA is going to have to agree to a free window of streaming re-use, and AMPTP has to agree that the fair free window is NOT six weeks. Maybe one week.
5) In terms of the Six Ultimatums, WGA should drop the reality / sympathy strike stuff, but push on the fair-market-value issue (unless it does indeed opt for a script-fee-based new media residual system, per 4) above.)
Then, all parties can start thinking about the issues that might REALLY destroy the industry:
6) Networks and writers need to figure out how to make mass-audience scripted shows much cheaper. Even once the new media streaming market matures, networks won’t be able to maintain the virtual monopoly on premium adspace they have now thanks to the primacy of broadcast. Even once everyone is watching Grey’s Anatomy on ABC.com, Facebook and Google will still be extremely appealing alternatives to advertisers. Which means that I think it’s going to be very hard to ever make big-budget shows decent economic gambles for networks in the new media world, given what will still be a high failure rate.
Not to mention, ultimately, shows need to cost less because massive success will be less profitab;e than it is now. All the streaming / EST will eat into syndication value by saturating audience demand. (To what extent, who knows as of yet– it’ll be interesting to see how much Lost and Desperate Housewives syndicate for, and to what extent the extra profits those shows have made from DVDs/EST/streaming are mitigated by less syndication money than they would have earned in the pre-internet/DVD days.)
So, networks should be trying to figure out how to make shows with budgets like ‘Monk’ or ‘Mad Men’ and so forth appeal to larger audiences. Otherwise, the scripted TV business is kind of screwed no matter the outcome of these negotiations,.
6) And, oh yeah, what to do about the huge costs of digital piracy once everything is online? We may have to invade China. And Russia. And all those Baltic states.
Is federal arbitration a possibility?
After reading your article entitled “EXCLUSIVE: Attempt Fails To Restart WGA-AMPTP Talks; Outlook Very Grim” I would like to see our federal government look into potential anti-trust violations of the AMPTP and its members. Possibly going so far as to force some of the media giants to breakup. One thing this WGA strike has really brought to light is the monopoly like stranglehold folks like Sumner Redstone have on the industry. If 8 ceos can collude to break a union by willingly trashing the remainder of this season and all of next then there is no “good-faith” barganing going on.
This is yet another sign that all is not well for the rank-and-file workers of this great country and our elected officials (as well as the Presidential hopefuls) need to step up and get involved in this struggle.
Both sides are both so riddled with hatred and suspicion of the other side that, honestly, the only thing I would suggest is for a moderator/mediator (with power) to come in, force both sides to come to the table and walk them through this very important negotiation.
If a bickering, on-the-verge-of-divorce couple can hammer out an agreement about their home and kids then the WGA and AMPTP ought to be able to keep their dicks in their pants and hammer out a deal for the good of their respective groups.
It’s not like either side can just say “fuck you” and never make an agreement with the other side.
Not without all of Hollywood collapsing permanently which would put BOTH sides out of work.
Easy. The AMPTP can meet its legal obligation to return to the negotiating table with the promised-but-never-delivered second half of their “New Economic Partnership” in hand. Then everyone can put on their big boy pants and hash this out as if lives depend on it.
How about this? The negotiating board for the WGA has at least two representatives at “the table” 24/7, until negotiations begin again for real… (they can rotate around in shifts, just like the WGA membership does on the picket lines.) And we broadcast it on the WGA website… “Two negotiators, no waiting!”Show the Alliance AND the world that we’re ready to meet and negotiate any time… We’re standing by. David G.
Number One: Disallow future correspondance with the AMPTP by Guild members except at the bargainning table.
Two: Hire top level lobbying organization. Get Congress involved in strike. (State and National)
Three: Contact best anti trust attornies in country and investigate possible violations by big six. Get facts, ducks in row and then…
Four: Start PR and legal campaign to expose violations. Get AMPTP on defensive by filing lawsuits if warranted. (I’m not an anti trust ligatator but if there are infractions, seems to me individual lawsuits should be mounted ASAP)
Five: Buy national ad time for well known writers and sympathetic actors to communicate the WGA stance to the American public.
Six: If the public’s attention is piqued, begin grassroots campaign to boycott products from companies that provide ad dollars to big six.
Seven: State clearly that other unions are either WITH us or AGAINST us and if they are against us, then the onus is on them to explain their supposed pro labor stance. We are fighting a war against elitism in a corporate world that pits the have’s against the have nots. Period.
Eight: Continue YouTube videos, etc but focus most of our efforts on Washington and the American people. Though new media is the immediate battle, the war has much broader implications that are not about our individual and immediate interests. Running to new media is an avenue, but it should not be what this strike is about. Our Congress and its constituents should engage in this strike. Our job is to make sure they do.
Nine: Drop picket days to twice a week and increase turnout. Make sure our numbers stay steady through February and March if a settlement isn’t reached.
Ten: Through solidarity, communicate to Wall Street that the WGA will not accept a crap deal and that the AMPTP was cocky to sell their shareholders on the idea the WGA would break. Once stock holders realize the savings the AMPTP promised in future earnings is not going to be realized, pressure from investors will force the AMPTP back to the table.
It’s unlikely the strike will or can end in a way that would be perceived as fair to BOTH sides. The situation must be addressed realistically.
Like it or not the WGA must realize their position is not unlike most employer/employee relationships. The employer may be greedy, unreasonable and unfair, yet they still hold most of the power and therefore most of the cards.
Trying to behave otherwise by issuing demands in lieu of requests or dressing down the studios in public is shortsighted. It may feel good and improve solidarity within the ranks however more than likely it will place you further from your goals. For each of these actions there is a reaction. Humility is the necessary ingredient to getting the best deal possible.
The studios appear dead-set on making the WGA stew in their own juices for having the gall to take them on. The WGA has exposed and embarrassed them publicly. The Moguls have been slapped by the duelist’s glove and are digging in for the fight.
The best option right now might be to pursue a close working relationship with the DGA. They are the only ones who maintain goodwill on both sides. They are more sympathetic to the working class of which they are a part. Yet at the same time they realize their limitations and know they must navigate through a power structure in which they are at a distinct disadvantage.
The studios would be wise to make a truly decent offer to the DGA. Hopefully as good as the bottom line offer they’ve already determined to be the best they’d eventually offer the WGA.
This would benefit them in countless ways. It would negate much of the bad press they’ve suffered regarding how unreasonable they are. They’d cut their losses by shortening the strike (as this could be used as the template for future negotiations with the WGA.) The shareholders would be happy. Advertisers would be thrilled. Innocent BLT’ers and collateral damage folks could be spared further suffering. The public would stay engaged instead of finding other forms of entertainment to occupy their time. All this without having to give an inch (directly) to the WGA whom they regard having gone about things the wrong way. They may even choose to force majeure their money losers before commencing talks with the DGA as a cautionary note to those who contemplate taking this course of action in the future. But even this would be preferable to a long drawn out strike.
Hopefully the WGA would then accept any decent offer on New Media, and not try to measure success by the need to also include animation and reality which from my perspective looks like a non-starter.
OR
Each side takes a hard-line position. The strike drags on.
Everyone gets in the mud. Everyone suffers. No one looks good. The eventual outcome ends up not being worth the costs incurred for either side.
Lay down your pride folks. Let’s go into 2008 with Goodwill toward Man.
I think the most positive thing to do would be to go back to work under the terms of the previous contract, stop trying to negotiate with the AMPTP, then return to strike with the actors once their contracts are up. The producers are all about money, and they will put on reality television at a third of the price of a scripted show while still reaping 80 percent of the profits. And they’ll be happy, they are after all a business where money, not art, is what they are into making. They will continue to do this without giving away anything. Instead they’ll feed us more survivor type reality shows, pushing more and more people away from television who watch it for true entertainment, not to see people eating rats for their 15 minutes of fame. And if they do this, many of the people who leave will not come back to the television, they will find other things to occupy their time. Instead, the writers should go back and for the next six months, write to the greatest of their abilities and create such a great product that people will remember why they watch television. To laugh, cry, think, and watch a slice of life. It has both long and short term benefits for the writers. The short term is writers can continue to do what they love, write, and they can make money and keep all their staffs on shows employed until the real strike with both unions begins. Once that strike begins in six months, they will gain the powerful bargaining chip of having the actors striking with them, shutting down the industry completely, which would lead to real negotiations. If an entire year is wasted with no new programming, other than reality and game shows, what difference will it make if you come back with a new contract and have no audience?
Honestly, right now I’m not sure what can be done that could settle this. I trully believe that the only way this gets settled is if the SAG walks out in unity right now. Since, it would shut everything down, it would practically force the AMPTP to settle.
Two things may happen. Both are plausible.
One, the Directors will come to the table with concerns more similar to the Writers’ than many anticipated. The Directors grind out a deal, then discreetly bring the Writers in through “the back door” so no “face” will be lost. The Writers wrap it up before the Oscars go live.
Two, the AMPTP stonewalls the Writers despite the best efforts of the DGA to make nice behind the scenes. Selected signator producers, especially UA, make separate deals with the Writers, much like Canadian producers did a year ago. The AMPTP sees the “writing” on the wall, and makes a few deft concessions and Hollywood moves on.
My suggestions –
1) Put pressure on the advertisers… I would be sending them pencile ….. to make it their cause…
2) Don’t let up on late night….. Put pressure on the hosts and their guests and their advertisers…. In the vain of they are helping continue the labor dispute… Keep the scap and other rhetoric out of it…. push the financial truth….. their 100 or so BLT’s might be back at work but its a small % of those negativly effected by the strike….
3) Drop the personal attack on the people involved, make it about Sony, Disney, Viacom not about Nick, etc…. They aren’t going to consider backing down if its their ego on the block they aren’t going to play, but if you put the argument in terms of whats best for the company/stockhoplders/etc… then they can cut a deal without loosing personal face/perestigue…
4) stockholders — get pressure on the co’s from the people they are susposed to be looking out for and that is the stockholders…..Again give them an out — we are doing this deal/going back to the table becuse its best for the industry….
5) Scream monopoly all the time and try to get — the governemnt involved …
6) Its election time… get the candidates to weigh-in — you might actually get some press…. You got writers in the audience on the late night show — send some to Iowa and get some questions about the strike to the candidates… You might get people talking outside LA/NY.
7) Through them a bone…. Look at the 5 items that they walked out on and make a proposal — make any proposal in the press….Say our initial position was we wanted $.04 more on DVD’s and we want the right to honor other strikes, but we will pull off the right to honor other strikes, but we want $0.06 more for DVD’s and we want you (AMPTP) back at the table. Its called negotiation….
Its harder to negotiate without give and take but not impossible …. give them something in order to jump start the negotiations… If need be give them an untimatium…. We will permanently pull this demand in order to show good faith to re-open negotiations but you have to agree to resume negotiations within 2 days and bargin in good faith or we reserve the right to readdress the demand…
The PR value I think would outweigh the perception of weakness on the part of the union. If they don’t bargin in good faith or resume the negotiations — you haven’t lost anything (you still have the right to negotiate the issue) and you make them look bad for not accepting a peace offering….You could even put in the issue of wanting something more for the removed item, if you wanted to go that route.
8.) Host your own award event on the same night as the oscars of globes… Have a streaming video event on the web .. Have the stars show up on the red carpet… talk to the reporters stating that they aren’t going in they will be at an event with the writers vbroadcast on the web and then have them leave in their limos and go to another event/party in supoport of the writers and BTL personel. Posdsibly something where they disucss the greatest/favorite movie lines of all time…. i.e. lines written by writers…..
9.) Look to start your own Internet Late Night Talk show — you have the best writers in the world on the picket lines — put this up against those without writers — I am sure you can find a host – look in the comedy clubes for someone — it might be their big break…..
10) Stay Strong — “it’s going to be bumpy ride”
Good Luck and God Speed!
Suggestions for positive steps to end the strike: 1) No name-calling; 2) no blaming; 3) no finger pointing; 4) no case-building; 5) keep the focus on the essential issues of streaming, webcasting, reuse; 6) remember that war is not the answer; 7) act as if we all want the same thing, namely a speedy resolution;
KEEP IT SIMPLE; 9) act honorably, i.e. treat others with the same respect that you want and deserve no matter what; 10) focus everything, intellect, spirituality, emotion, self, on an equitable deal… THINK THE BEST AND ACT ACCORDINGLY (i.e. do your best); 11) Don’t take anybody else’s inventory except your own … and only do so if you want to improve your own communication.
Seems like the best way to go now is for the WGA to let the DGA come in and play good cop and get a deal done. The current strategy really only seems to be good at pissing the moguls off more and getting their egos involved to the point where it’s now about proving a point. Let the DGA make their deal, and give up reality/animation in exchange for a slightly higher rate or some kind of bonus that lets the WGA leadership sell it and keep their union together. Or maybe give up reality to get animation (they’re not giving the WGA reality…that practically guarantees another strike in 3 years when the WGA can hurt them way more than they are now.) Maybe even figure out a way to get the SAG to sign off that they’re good with everything to guarantee everything gets back to normal.
That said, most everything I read from business-type people talking about the strike talks about the moguls using this as a reason to blow up the current business model, which has their ratings and stock prices falling. This isn’t about percentages of a deal, this is about changing how the business is done…so it’ll end when they feel like making it end. And if they can starve out the WGA and get them to cave, well that’s an added bonus.
And Nikki, please save us from 100 “Just get the AMPTP to offer us a fair deal!!” posts.
try calling in the governor to mediate and bring it to an end…
Let the DGA negotiate with the AMPTP and have the writeres agree to the terms of the new DGA contract.
The WGA should offer a strike “cease-fire” to bring the AMPTP back to the table and ensure themselves of first position in the bargaining talks.
At first glance, this may seem like it’s just another “get back to work” idea, but it really isn’t. The point is to give the Writers some leverage, allow the Guild to change things up a bit and start dictating terms to the AMPTP, as opposed to the other way around.
A full write-up of this honest and serious proposal is available at http://www.dividedhollywood.com.
I don’t know if they have a third-party mediator or not, but it seems that that may be the nexy most logical course of action since the two sides obviously cannot negotiate themselves. Also, since it is apparent that the DGA is more prepared to discuss the New Media issue than the WGA, then perhaps the WGA should have discussions with them and see where their best bargaining points are. It’s time for some new perspective on the issue. Perhaps, even to save time in future negotiations, the SAG, DGA, and WGA should offer to hold joint discussions with the AMPTP. With more weight on the WGA side of the table, i.e. SAG and the DGA, perhaps the AMPTP wouldn’t be so quick to walk away from the table, and would be more open to discussions. But whatever it is, someone has to be the one to take the first step, and since the AMPTP is the one with the most egg on their faces right now, it would be in their best interest if it were them.
The most positive step would be for the AMPTP to stop its divide-and-conquer strategy and stop walking out of the talks. The writers are trying to get an extremely small slice of the new media pie. The AMPTP doesn’t want to give them ANY. So why should there be an end to the strike that’s perceived as “fair to both sides” when the AMPTP’s view of “fairness” borders on science fiction? The writers, not the AMPTP, are the ones in need of a fair deal. If the AMPTP would just not leave the room . . .
As a 27-year veteran of the WGA, I’d like to offer the following resolution for an immediate vote before the membership:
We, the members of the Writers Guild of America, refuse to consider any offer from the AMPTP which fails to provide the following:
1. WGA jurisdiction over all signatory-produced content created for, or appearing on, the internet or any other new medium.
2. A fair residual formula for all WGA-written product appearing on the internet, or any other new medium, now or in the future.
Clearly, the AMPTP strategy is to reach a deal with the DGA, then foist the same terms on the WGA and SAG. They want to place unbearable pressure on the WGA to crack and accept whatever terms the DGA has agreed to. We cannot allow them to make an end run around us.
We must stand firm on these principals, or the guild as we know it will cease to be exist in any meaningful way.
I write pulp fiction for a living, usually involving covert ops going up against treacherous forces whose sense of grandiosity and self-entitlement leaves them vulnerable in ways they hadn’t anticipated, and these vulnerabilities are what prove to be their undoing. The covert ops don’t waste time on name-calling or bemoaning injustice. They see what needs to be done and do it, with grim and decisive resolve.
This should be the WGA’s playbook from this point on: Fewer battle cries, more battle.
The conglomerate moguls need to be taken down, regardless of the strike’s outcome. This has become a battle that exemplifies the crushing of the middle class by unchecked corporatization, and the only way to bring down this Goliath is with well-placed stones from a well-aimed slingshot.
Persistent and determined pressure for televised hearings on Hollywood accounting practices (there’s reality programming for you); class action lawsuits (not all writers have baseless gripes about being short-changed; many have legitimate claims with paper trails that can be followed); bottom-line appeals to shareholders; fact-based exposes: this is where the battle needs to be focused.
Beyond picketers, what WGA needs (and DGA and SAG, for that matter) are private investigators, investigative reporters, and crackshot lawyers up to the task of unearthing and pursuing not only public disclosure but also legal recourse for what we all know are not only questionable but illegal acts that have been carried out by AMPTP heavyweights. These people, like nearly anyone who’s achieved a position of power, have things to hide, and only the realization that those hidden things will come to light will get them back to the table, hopefully too late for their own good.
And, again, the rhetoric has to go. I know we all like to be clever and get our digs in, but baiting the other side (as well as each other within the ranks) solves nothing and only fuels intransigence and widens the collateral damage this strike is wreaking.
This has become a war. Fight it like one: to win, the sooner the better…
Using a very small number of representatives from both sides; meet and agree on an agenda for talks. That is; what will be talked about first, second, ect. Will first on the list be DVD sales, or will it be Internet Revenues; or Video Games or…?.
Then, both sides can publicly claim that they have agreed on something. Both sides can announce “when we get together it will be 1) DVDs… 2) Internet… (or whatever).
This agenda will be a REAL THING! When talks are resumed the agenda will be adhered to. This is very important in that when things do get going, it will be one issue at a time – UNTIL COMPLETE. This will streamline negotiations overall, and eliminate the prospect of changing the subject if things aren’t going right. As in “hey, yesterday didn’t go too well, today let’s bring up ringtones…” This will move forward any and all topics because those topics CAN’T BE ABANDONED once they are brought up. And if a formula can’t be agreed on, say, 1.2% vs. 1.3% then negotiations remain AT THAT POINT until the numbers are finalized. Again, no changing the subject, no “moving on” while details are left in flux. It’s that kind of stuff that initially gives the impression of progress only to fall flat when the specifics are considered.
Overall, this agenda would be BOTH A SURRENDER MOMENT AND A VICTORY FOR BOTH SIDES. It would force both sides to admit that they are in this together. Hey, maybe they could make a JOINT public announcement, that they’ve agreed to agree on an agenda!
Then both sides will begin to discuss a start date. FIRST agenda; THEN start date. I’m pretty sure this hasn’t been tried yet.
Is this too basic? You may say; “Isn’t this what the two sides CAN’T agree on as it is?’ I don’t know, I’m not on the inside; but since the present state seems to be one of childishness, a starting point for a starting point could be, well, a place to start.
Before I go, let me change topics and point out the huge game of chicken both sides (especially AMPTP) seem to be playing.
Remember hula hoops? How about back packs and hiking boots? Disco? My point? Americans, through the decades, have entertained themselves with multiple and myriad distractions. Network television is only one component. Nothin’ on the box? Hey honey let’s go dancing.
Will those defectors come rushing back to a night in front of the tube once things are settled? DON’T COUNT ON IT! There’s a whole lot of “alternate entertainment” already available. If say “Desparate Housewives” is off the air for a year; it could very well lose it’s audience altogether. The studios would be forced to $tart over with a whole bunch of new (unproven) shows; talk about costly. And no, “event television” (super bowl, etc.) won’t get you through; either the bottom line OR overall viewership.
So, to the table to talk about what will be talked about and in what order. Then a joint press conference where both sides use phrases like “not disagreeable”.
Thanks for the forum, Nikki. Hope you enjoyed the ‘time off’.
I have questioned my peers why we haven’t taken a page out of the AMPTP play book and formed the AATL (The Alliance of Above The Liners) with all three guilds. As the AMPTP proves — Alliances are critical — (or is it ‘Survivor’ I learned it from?)
We’ve got to get it right for the sake of everybody. So let the AMPTP negotiate with the DGA — I don’t have a problem with that. But let the DGA go into the negotiation having caucused with the WGA and SAG (I love that word) as to what all three will accept. Hell if the AMPTP can do it with their diverse interests, certainly the three of us can do it. We seem to be two-thirds of the way there as it is.
Even if it has to be an ad hoc quasi AATL for now, so what? But let the AMPTP realize when they negotiate with the DGA that if they make a deal with the DGA that is onerous to the WGA, the WGA won’t accept it. And then they’ve got SAG two months down the road. So let them tacitly realize if the DGA will accept it — the AATL will accept it. (We’ve conferred before hand. And know what the mutual bottom line is — just like the AMPTP knows what their bottom line is.)
As Eddie Izzard put it at ‘Write Aid’ — it’s “All for one. And one for all!”
…Just a thought…
Bill Taub