Oscilloscope Takes U.S. Rights To ‘Reality’ 
‘Mud’: Did Cannes Save One Of The Best For … 
Will Smith’s ‘MIB3′ Beats … 
Cannes Podcast: Pete Hammond On ‘Lawless’, … 
Over-Achievers Of This Year’s Upfront 
Aussie Pay-TV Shakeup Impacts Hollywood 
USA: ‘Rebounding’ & ‘Modern … 
Interview: Philip Kaufman At Cannes With ‘Hemingway … 
R.I.P. Television Mogul Lee Rich 
Cannes Biz Shines Despite Wind & Rain 
Full 2011-2012 TV Season Series Rankings 
2011-12 Season Network Rankings: Fox Still On Top But Down, … 
HLN Set To Air Daytime Emmy Awards 
Grant Bowler Cast As Richard Burton Opposite Lindsay Lohan … 
UPDATE: Dish Network And Broadcasters Ask Courts To Decide … 
Cannes Surprise Screening: Change Of Plans On Juan Antonio … 
Kevin Hart In Talks To Join Kevin James In ‘Valet … 
Anthony Hopkins Up For ‘Red 2′ Villain; Can … 
Cannes Conflicted Over ‘The Paperboy’ As … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘American Idol’ Posts … 
Ghost Of 2004 Hovers Over L.A. Screenings As Int’l … 
I’m told that News Corp No. 2 Peter Chernin and Walt Disney President Bob Iger spent today talking about Internet issues with reps for the Directors Guild, including negotiations committee chair Gil Cates and executive director Jay Roth. The DGA contract doesn’t expire until June (same as SAG’s), but the helmers are bargaining early.
Here’s what progress I’ve learned has been made already in the DGA talks with the moguls: “The directors proposed a framework against which everybody would sit down and negotiate,” an insider tells me. “And then there were a couple of things, not major, that didn’t seem to be insurmountable as far as economics left to be talked about. So they’ve started putting those on the table, and the meeting is going on today.”
Even hardliners among the moguls like Warner Bros boss Barry Meyer are widely known to be “very eager” to get a DGA deal quickly in order to lord it over the striking WGA. But I’ve been hearing rumors that the official start of negotiations between the AMPTP and DGA — originally thought to kickoff tomorrow – is delayed because these pre-sessions have been a “grind” and not making as much progress as the DGA would have liked. “I wouldn’t characterize it as delayed,” an insider admits. “Both sides are being careful to say nothing has been officially scheduled. Semantics are alive and well in both camps.”
Asked to explain what is causing the delay, the source tells me that the ”DGA is being smart about this. This has to be a deal for the community and they know it now. They’re not going to rush in until all the ducks are in order.”
(Interestingly Chernin and Iger were also the two moguls who had that secret meeting back on November 17th with Writers Guild president Patric Verrone and chief WGA negotiator Dave Young and others at the home of Creative Artists Agency partner Bryan Lourd which was aimed at restarting writer-producer talks.)
- DGA & WGA Meet To Discuss New Media
- DGA-AMPTP Negotiations Announcement
- DGA Negotiators Talk About Their Plans
- Talks Restarted At Agent Bryan Lourd’s Home After Weeks Of Quiet Backchannel
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
Question – What’s to stop SAG/AFTRA from requesting talks to commence now like the DGA? Perhaps overworking the AMPTP negotiators is the key.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…
Any deal AMPTP MAY make with the DGA has NO bearing on the WGA Negs. It may serve as a metric but it will never become a paradigm. The sooner DGA bonds with SAG and WGA, the sooner this whole thing might get settled.
We are open to and are making fair and reasonable deals with Companies who understand that doing so is simply good business. Further, those New Media deals have already been established. And more are to come.
I seriously suspect there will be more announcements to come, yes with smaller companies at first, but I wouldn’t be surprised if MGM may be the first “major” to make their own deal. Companies have different needs and don’t need to be held hostage by Fox and Warners. MGM is leveraged to the hilt, has debt to service, relationships with financial institutions to honor, far less product and no huge “fuck you” reserve fund.
Their responsibility is to their shareholders and they simply don’t have 6 months to wait this out.
I also hope Sony may follow suit as they are a Foreign Company and may not adhere to the behavior and tactics the AMPTP has used. But I don’t believe it will go beyond those 2 studios in the near term.
DGA is not stupid, they’ve seen how AMPTP operates. I recommend they address New Media issues immediately and see how the AMPTP responds. I seriously doubt they will be pleased.
Why are the moguls such deliberate monsters to the writers?
They are such childish men [and unattractive - that Peter Chernin looks like a real jerk]
That’s great that everybody is deciding to sit down and discuss the issue , as everybody is ” Ready , Willing and Able to Bargain” would this be a good time the discuss Foreign Levies , while you have them all at the round table..
DGA, WGA and SAG unite and walk in as one front to the AMPTP talks. UNITED we win.
PJ – Writer SAID:
Any deal AMPTP MAY make with the DGA has NO bearing on the WGA Negs.
Wow, you take that attitude before even seeing anything the DGA will present – some reasoning there that I can’t understand. If the DGA comes up with a framework for residuals and it is accepted to contract with the AMPTP it will be the model for the rest of the unions to fund their respective benefit progams. As a Teamster I am VERY interested in what happens with the DGA negotiations as it may very well affect my pension and residual IAP.
This “Stay the course no matter what” tactic will play itself out if the DGA can accopmlish a good contract. The patience by the rest of the industry to back the inflexible conditions of the WGA will be worn even thinner than they are now.
Let’s just wait see what the DGA can do….
399
TranspoBill
The whole thing is very simple really. Either the studios are willing to pay us all for the Internet or they’re not. And if they’re not, then here comes strike number two (and three).
Agreed. If the DGA makes a deal, good for them. I won’t vote for a similar deal for WGA unless it’s damn good. Otherwise, let them settle however they want. Irrelevant to me.
Pattern bargaining is a convenience, not a rule.
PJ……… wrong wrong wrong.
The WGA is out of leverage and support. The DGA deal will have a total bearing on the WGA outcome. They must accept it or be completely cut out of the mix. I know many tv showrunners in both guilds who vow to go fi-core if a reasonable DGA deal is not accepted by the WGA. You union wannabes are living in fantasy land. Thanks for nothing.
get it straight, PJ-Writer — THERE ARE NO NEW MEDIA DEALS as yet — only strike waivers which costs the companies making them nothing because they will get the WGA/AMPTP deal as negotiated with everyone else — please try to keep it in your pants a little longer, okay?
Actually, PJ, the new DGA contract will have direct bearing on the new contracts that will happen with SAG and the WGA. And you must know this, when you put the rhetoric aside. The sooner a workable contract is presented to all 3 guilds, the sooner this whole issue will be finished for the year. (This doesn’t mean that it won’t come back up in another 3 years.)
The WGA has made clear that it is open to making fair and reasonable deals, but not with everybody. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be an issue about the Golden Globes, as you already know.
I agree that there will be other deals with independent producers like Cruise/Wagner in the weeks ahead, just as there were back in 1988, as we all recall. It’s very unlikely that any of the major companies will do so, but it’s always possible that some of the smaller companies will do so. It’s a win-win for them and the WGA, particularly since those contracts switch over to the broader contract that will eventually be agreed upon between the WGA and the AMPTP.
I also agree that the DGA is not stupid. They know the responsibility they now hold. Rushing a bad deal will neither solve this strike nor head off a possible SAG walkout in July. But a fair deal that works for everyone will accomplish both tasks.
In the end, there will be new contracts for all 3 guilds and we’ll all get back to work, but it won’t happen tomorrow, and it won’t happen next week. We’re looking at somewhere between March and July before this is also settled, but no earlier than March before people are getting back to work. It is everybody’s hope that the WGA hardliners will be able to accept the new contract, since it will certainly not contain all the items they wanted. I strongly doubt that the DGA is negotiating a contract that includes reality jursidiction, animation jursidiction and the removal of the no-strike clause. And when the WGA accepts that pattern, it will have effectively agreed to the 6 item ultimatum that the AMPTP presented on December 7. Hopefully, that will sit well with the WGA. If it doesn’t, this matter will go a lot longer.
Yay, DGA! Bring home the bacon — but if it’s too lean, don’t expect the WGA to sit down at the table.
This is all a setup. Stay tuned.
I do not think the DGA talks are going to be the slam dunk everyone is expecting. I read one of the big points the DGA wants is to expand their jurisdiction in the internet/new media area. With the current “I want it all” stance the amptp has, I find it hard to believe there are going to roll over and give the DGA that expansion without some kind of fight.
Hey skeptic.
The game’s over here now, got it?
The game is about making money and you can’t play without talent. Talent is and always has been what drives product in this town and they know it well.
The Letterman and UA deals are the full MBA. They serve as models for what we accept as fair deals and set precedent for future deals. The more Companies who sign on to it and prosper while the AMPTP is busy playing “fuck you” to Talent, the closer it becomes to what any AMPTP deal will be.
That is the big picture here.
The sooner they realize that keeping/hoarding over 90% of New Media Revenue (with Guild Deals in place) is a very very good thing for them, the sooner this town might get back to work.
Some are obviously looking at this from the perspective of the Companies. We tend to look at it from a different perspective.
Pardon some of us for looking at the glass half full.
Skeptic,
You get it straight. Spend some time learning the difference between AN INTERIM CONTRACT AGREEMENT (which WWP, UA, and others to follow have signed onto) and a waiver, then people may actually think you have a point.
I know it’s getting rougher out here for you, but at the very least be thorough in your trolling.
I agree, the DGA talks are not a “slam dunk.” If the AMPTP plays hardball with the WGA on new media and internet, what is going to stop them from playing hardball with the DGA. They could impose an ultimatum saying that the DGA must drop this demand and this demand, and then leave when the DGA says no. Thgis would be followed by a full lockout of the DGA for not wanting to “negotiate fairly.”
Of course, a lockout would unlawful under the DGA’s current MBA, but the AMPTP has already broken quite a few laws in negotiations with the WGA so what do they care. After all the moguls control the AMPTP and they could get a collective pardon from President Bush on his last day in office after the WGA, DGA, and SAG are all broken into a trillion little pieces. This would make it easier for all studios and networks to shift all operations to Bollywood India.
“Any deal AMPTP MAY make with the DGA has NO bearing on the WGA Negs.
Wow, you take that attitude before even seeing anything the DGA will present – some reasoning there that I can’t understand. If the DGA comes up with a framework for residuals and it is accepted to contract with the AMPTP it will be the model for the rest of the unions to fund their respective benefit progams.”
Yeah, nice try, “Transpo Bill”. Maybe you’d understand the reasoning if you bothered to check history. In ‘85, a good deal was negotiated for home video. (2.5% of 100%) in ‘88, the DGA undercut that deal with a worse deal to get something IT needed. (2.5% of 20% of 100%) the AMPTP used this as “the standard” in the WGA negotiations – and we’ve been stuck with that lowly number ever since.
Never again.
“The WGA is out of leverage and support. The DGA deal will have a total bearing on the WGA outcome. They must accept it or be completely cut out of the mix. ”
Jeez, I really HOPE you’re not some Lehane flack, IATSE JE, because if that’s the level of competency the AMPTP is paying to shill for them, they really DON’T care about the money here.
Come to a picket line, or talk to a SAG member and see if we’ve lost our support. See if we’ve lost our leverage when the AMPTP sees the billions they get from TV upfronts in May flush away (no pilots? no returning scripted shows? ALL REALITY?)
If you want the longer explanation, click below.
http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/2008/01/strike-is-lawyers-game-how-to-play-to.html
As much sympathy as I have for IATSE members who are held hostage by having a president who’s the worst corporate bootlicker this side of Leno, I have to admit “union wannabees” made me laugh out loud.
You might want to save that term for your fi-core buddies, Jr., we actually like having oh, say, a strike fund and a president who takes our side over the AMPTP’s once in a while, as foreign a concept as that might be.
You guys have to realize that any DGA Deal will NOT have a direct bearing to what we will accept. If they make a deal, fine, but as I said it will only serve as a measure for us not a model for us. We have very different needs and dynamics at play than the DGA.
Contrary to what the shills and the Dave McNary’s of the world want the public to believe…
The Companies are hoping they can lure DGA into a quick deal for less, like sheep to the slaughter, in order to “set precedent” but I guarantee you at least a MINIMUM of 60% of WGA Members will never approve anything less than what we believe is a fair deal for us. We know what is fair and now some of the Companies have agreed by signing deals with us at Full MBA with more Companies to come so that argument just wont hold anymore. Not when it comes to New Media, not when it comes to our Financial futures…
I may be an idiot Production Assistant, but doesn’t an MBA with UA mean jack shit insofar as they have zero television production and will therefore see no contest in the arena of streaming video/new media? Call me crazy, are there crowds currently rioting to see ‘Lions for Lambs’ on the internet?
Doesn’t that do a hell of a job of greasing the wheels on their interim agreement?
And while it may put pressure on the rest of the AMPTP to fall into line, the fact that everyone else has much more to lose than knucklehead Tom Cruise and his fledgling studio, could that possibly keep them hard-lined on this? Even with rumors of the Weinsteins and Lucas reaching agreements, it may look good for the WGA for a second, but they’re still fighting town hall, and until they actually learn to compromise on the original issue (oh, what, New Media? Remember when I lost my first job over new media? Remember when I lost my second? And remember when I lost my third fucking job, because of new media, three days before Christmas, two weeks after the WGA wanted to start a pissing contest over reality and animation jurisdiction?), we’re locked into a stalemate.
DCP’s looking for interim agreements. NBC wants the globes on the air. And nobody can remember what the hell the WGA wants at all.
-Not a shill, just a pissed off kid that worked damn hard to find a job where he makes 9 bucks an hour, get your own fucking breakfast.
PJ Writer–
The WWP and UA deals are models for nothing, as they will revert to whatever the AMPTP agrees to when the strike is settled. If I agree to pay you $1million for your Toyota, at some time in the future, but I can reduce the payment to equal the market price of similar Toyotas, you would be deluding yourself to think you were $1million richer.
Also, MGM is not really a major. They are not financing movies. Mostly, they are releasing product for other companies, like the Weinstein company and UA. To that end, smaller companies signing agreements will help them but they will not break ranks. Neither will Sony. You say they are a foreign company but companies are people and the CEO of Sony is a naturalized American. Lynton and Pascall are Americans. They all have relationships with those that run the other companies. I have spoken to several executives there and they ramped up sufficiently to keep pumping out movies until the end of the year. Their TV production division is pretty weak, so not making more failing shows doesn’t hurt them. They will not break ranks.
You see, when people like yourself, with little experience or perspective with how studios work, try and analyze situations like these, mistakes are made. This is why the WGA needs professionals to take over the negotiation.
Pj, It’s true. You’re a little off on what you’re talking about. Don’t get so upset. Get someone to sit down with you and explain it. These waivers, though good news for some writers, are not agreements or precedents in any way shape or form and will have no bearing on the numbers when the dust settles. They are only agreeing to adhere to the final solution, which they would have had to anyway.
Also you guys just can’t call anyone that doesn’t raise their hands and sing glory a troll or a skeptic. Coolers head need to prevail here and this message board is well read.
Mike Binder
The devil is in the details, but the reason you would think that the DGA, SAG, and, eventually, IATSE would eventually be helpful here is that the strike isn’t about really about whether a few rich writers get paid a lot or a whole heckuva lot.
This strike is about whether Web work is real work and should be compensated as such. It’s a dispute as relevant to just about any U.S. worker who checks work e-mail from home or sometimes uses the Internet to work at home as it is to the writers. I hope the leadership of the SEIU and the AFL-CIO understand that, at least at a symbolic level, this strike is relevant to any worker — even a discount store cashier — who’s asked to “whip up a daily blog — and do it in your spare time,” or to answer customers’ e-mails “in your spare time” as it is to people in Hollywood.
thanks for the advice, slk writer — it turns out that a strike waiver is a writer-solidarity-busting side deal that binds the signatory to nothing more than taking the deal everybody else gets in the end; wheras an interim contract agreement is…well I think everybody gets the point save for the semantically challenged…