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Oh, I can’t wait to see the comments reacting to this Op-Ed. Meanwhile, the clueless Los Angeles Times chalks up yet another anti-WGA screed in its opinion pages while the anti-AMPTP rants are very few and far between. Get this — an editorial pages editor there was under the mistaken belief that Variety editor Peter Bart was “neutral” in this negotiations. Yeah, maybe on Mars.
(By the way, I never called Ridley an A-lister and I can’t imagine anyone who would. When I broke the news,I said WGA Member John Ridley Goes Fi-Core and that “he has brought attention to himself during the writers strike with his blogging on The Huffington Post very critical of the union’s leadership.” That’s his claim to infamy.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Good for him. Read his article. We are all self-serving and he is doing what’s best for him. GL to the writers and GL to Ridley.
I love this whole thing about Verrone and Young not having the experience to make a deal in Hollywood.
You mean like the past negotiators did who have gotten the writers into this very predicament? You mean the ones over that the DGA who first took the rotten DVD residual deal?
Or the ones the AMPTP also prefer to deal with who would have laid down and taken a bad deal?
I’m sorry, if the pro-studio forces have a problem with the WGA negotiators, that means they are competent, tough, and prepared.
Which is the last thing that would make them likable to their adversaries.
Good ridley-ence to bad rubbish. Another douche who wants to say “everyone look at me!”
When he returns all residuals, health care and pension money then I’ll think he has some “character.” Until then he’s a glory hound, d-lister looking for attention.
residuals, health care and pension are issues WGA members struck for in the past. Ridely isn’t fit to carry their pencil boxes.
I love John Ridley. Real writers speak their minds. Period. He’s a true artist. You can simply tell by his voice: distinct, rhythmic, heartfelt. Cheers to his courage!
I find him embarrassing. I’m not sure what else to say. Reading his letter, it makes me want to go over to his house and take away all his Ayn Rand books.
I’m not sure you can categorize Mr. Ridley’s defense of his going Fi-Core as “weak.” You can disagree with his point of view, but his opinion is, if anything, quite strong.
To call his defense “weak” is like when Bush called Al Queda “cowards.” We may hate what they stand for, but they weren’t cowards, by any definition. And Mr. Ridley isn’t “weak.”
It’s another attempt to demonize anyone who disagrees with you. And I thought that was the opposite of what America was about.
Some people’s need for attention is so great that they would rather be hated than ignored.
Ridley’s Op-Ed seems fairly even handed, and I think he makes a lot of valid points. I want the writers to get everything they’re asking for and deserve, but I think a lot of them, based on comments Ridley addresses and comments I read here, need to learn to recognize their organization isn’t flawless itself.
Also, the witch hunts and the name calling could definitely stand to be toned down. It’s really off putting and really doesn’t inspire the sympathy that the facts themselves do. You’re in the right, be comfortable with that.
Actually… I didn’t think that was weak at all.
I think Ridley is a bit of a blowhard (and a better comic book writer than a feature one, for sure) and yeah, he deserves crap for his constant pot-shots, some of which are genuinely cheap ones, at the Guild. But frankly, I can’t say I don’t disagree with many of his concerns, particularly the lack of any sort of end-game strategy on the part of the WGA. As this thing plods on without any end in sight, more of Ridley’s arguments are going to ultimately seem more prescient than not. And Jesus, that’s depressing. He’s the first, but he’s not going to be the last, I fear, to do this
Nikki PLEASE.
It is a strong strong defense.
He is sick of the WGA
So is Hollywood
Do YOU have any objectivity left, Nikki? You shouldn’t throw stones about anyone’s pro-AMPTP agenda when your website is all pro-WGA. Ridley’s argument is not weak, I think it’s a reasoned and thoughtful argument. It’s probably not what I would have done in his situation, because for all their faults, Unions do more good than bad. For what its worth though, joining a Union should not be compulsory.
You have to give John credit, at least he’s consistent. From day one, he never understood the power or the reason for the Guild and by going fi core, he had the courage to flaunt his own “self-determination.” I imagine it must have been hard for him to look in the mirror, and occasionally imagine that there were writers before him that sacrificed their time and effort so he could make his millions. I can only speculate that it bothered John to think of those long-ago union members, who in their folly, set up pension and health benefits as well as those unimportant minimum schedules that keep others (not John, of course) alive. It must have singed him, every time a green envelope (residuals) arrived at his house, prompting lengthy diatribes on how stupid the union was to demand fair compensation for creative work. Knowing that John is a man of conviction, I’m sure he just ripped up those bothersome checks and threw them in the trash. I’m also sure that from this day forward, he will also renounce his WGA health and pension benefits.
As for me, I’m actually happy John is now “done with the whole thing.” He is now free to do what he pleases and I certainly hope that when the strike is over, all of us who continue to walk the line can make sure he gets his ultimate wish — to finally and forever be on his own.
You ever think that maybe you’re not seeing anti-amptp rants is because the amount of people who have drank the kool-aid and are blindly following the wga leaders is few. You sound like someone defending the war in iraq…dumbass.
I don’t agree with what Ridley did and I’ve never really liked the guy, but I thought this op-ed was balanced and fair and, frankly, is expressing the frustration of a lot of us out here. I didn’t find it weak. I found it pretty compelling. I would never go fi-core, but I can’t disagree with much of what he says in there.
Jay Leno is a de facto fi-core member right now. He won’t be disciplined at all. The Guild is afraid of doing anything to Leno. At least Ridley is doing it by the rules declaring himself fi-core. Two or three months from now when a thousand other members declare themselves fi-core nobody will criticize them at all.
John Ridley was some good points and I think he took the right direction for himself. If the WGA does not respect you, why respect them. He makes a point of saying that the WGA believes if you are aganist the strike you should then just shut up. Not true. Everyone can have there own view. Sometimes those of us responding on this website need to remember this.
This was not a ‘weak’ argument. It’s just an argument that WGA members don’t want to hear. He doesn’t work for the minimum and the things they are fighting over that prevent him from working have little to no bearing on his life.
You can argue that he should care about his other ‘union brothers’ but since when has anyone in Hollywood not thought for themselves first and foremost?
It’s just another sign that this strike is, sadly, no where near resolution because the 2 sides have let things become acrimonious. Yes, it’s both sides who’ve let it get acrimonious. You can talk about the WGA sitting at the table waiting but when one side, ya know the side with the money, says ‘we aren’t paying that EVER; there isn’t that much more to say until you are willing to go lower or make concessions in other areas. I know it sounds harsh, but welcome to reality.
A list?! Ha ha ha! OMG, I can’t stop laughing. Undercover Brother!!
“I’m sorry, if the pro-studio forces have a problem with the WGA negotiators, that means they are competent, tough, and prepared.”
REALLY? Competent would mean they are able to hold a negotiation and not make stupid requests to prove how strong you are. This would be over if they were competent. Prepared? Like so prepared they’ve been out of work for three months? I mean if this is the leadership writers hope for I can take a shit in a box and it will get you the same results – literally! No one would want to talk to that shit! Please is right, this holier than thou routine is getting old… Someone please have sex with these writers so they can feel adequate enough.
“ripping me a new orifice,” “If you shake the tree, you can’t get upset when the apples fall,” “the first rule of Strike Club: Never talk about Strike Club,” …
Ridley’s not a writer, he’s a chiche blender set to puree.
Going by the trajectory of his resume, this may be the only circumstance left under which anyone in Hollywood would consider hiring him.
I disagree with his decision to go Fi-Core, but I don’t think his characterization of the political climate within the WGA right now is inaccurate.
And re: Jimmy above, there are other options for negoitiators besides inexperience and kowtowing. I don’t agree with you that Verrone and Young are ‘competent, tough, and prepared.’ Maybe one out of three. But in any case it’s a false dichotomy to assume that the only alternative to their strategy is strategy of capitulation, so that anyone who thinks they’re screwing up is de facto a capitulator.
john, love how you go fi-core: meaning you want to reap the benefits of a guild that has fought in the past to get you those benefits and not support it. Why don’t you shun the guild completely and not reap the benefits of its minimums, you jackass
I suppose my problem is, having attended the same meeting in Santa Monica, I don’t know what he’s talking about with the “frenzied” environment. The first guy who got up for the Q&A questioned the ability of the board and negotiating committee to negotiate a contract. The board and Dave Young addressed his concerns. Then the questioner repeated his concern…five times. At that point, the audience got fed up with listening to the same question and he was jeered. The next person up happened to be Mike Scully of “Simpsons” fame, who did what amounted to an improv stand-up routine, poking fun at the first guy, and some of us laughed. It’s not that we were squashing descent, we were squashing redundancy. It seems to me that Mr. Ridley may have a skewed perception of the WGA and its members. Sort of like Mel Gibson and the Jews.