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I don’t mean to imply that the WGA have been angels, either. I just have fewer examples of their petty, mean-spirited and spiteful actions. For instance, there has been no WGA picketing of the moguls’ homes. But I do think that someone from the leadership should have immediately removed one striker’s picket sign which had News Corp No. 2 Peter Chernin’s home address on it for all the world (and the crazies) to see outside Raleigh Studios on November 15th. See the photo of the sign at left. That was despicable.
Bratty Big Media Moguls Are Beginning To Exact Revenge On Pro-WGA Hollywooders
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Yes that is uncalled for. Posting ANYONE’S home address is not cool.
Thanks for balancing the reporting/opinions a little, Ms. Finke. It makes for a more interesting site so please keep it up. Best.
So, what do you think Nikki? Are the writers about 2.5 percent as bratty and obnoxious? Or more like .3 percent as bad?
lol.
I also think it’s now pretty obvious the WGA picketers are not innocent in these car accidents. The Law and Order report yesterday specifically mentioned how things had been building for days; the strike captain had warned the picketers about the car; yet the picketers still found themselves in a position to be hit. The picketers wouldn’t get out of the way; they rode the razor edge of the law so that they could taunt the driver and still come across as innocent to the greater world.
Seriously, let’s be honest with ourselves here; how can we swallow that the WGA picketers were innocent in that scenario? What about the other times this has happened? Are we really to believe the studios are filled with people who long to commit manslaughter with a car? This was a cheap, staged opportunity for the picketers to come across as innocent victims while painting the opposition as criminal monsters.
Love the site Nikki! But I seriously gotta disagree here. If Peter Chernin and his pals are going to cause havoc in my home life and financial stability by ensuring the WGA doesn’t get a fair deal, much less a deal, then his home is fair game. Yeah I know he has kids. I do too. My kids have not been shielded by this mess. It has seriously affected them. From the small like less holiday presents, to the big — moving because we can’t afford to pay our rent anymore. So why should his kid be any less affected?
Just sayin’.
Also despicable is the WGA leadership encouraging the picketers to disrupt productions currently filming on location in the LA area, like intentionally chanting so loud there is no usable audio. If a film or tv show was written prior to the strike, then that production isn’t breaking guild rules and should be left alone.
It’s a bad political move by the WGA. They’re only creating more enemies and turning once-sympathetic members of the film community against their cause. They’re also hurting the quality of their fellow guild member’s projects and forcing productions to choose other cities to shoot in because nobody wants to cross the picket lines. Smooth move WGA.
Yes, agreed. Not cool. Let’s not lose our focus or generous public support here.
Was it despicable? The man (and his cronies) are directly responsible for the loss of many, many jobs and potentially careers. Since he (read: they) has chosen to hide behind the AMPTP rather than confront the issues like a man and a leader, perhaps a peaceful protest at his home would not be so outrageous.
That is so disrespectful!! This person should have been taken off the
picket line immediately. At this rate they will never get anything
settled with that kind of behavior. Some of these writers are lowering
themselves. Don’t they realize that this strike is affecting other peoples
lives!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, Nikki.
Seems like there has been a great deal of difference between the plan and the implementation in regards to how the strike has gone. NY Times had a great article on that today:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/business/media/11writer.html?ref=movies
That is a pretty despicable thing, and if any nutjob did anything to Chernin and/or his home you might as well kiss all goodwill with the public goodbye.
The WGA has the moral high-ground, and it’s driving the moguls into childish public fits. The WGA must be militant in preventing any more behaviour like the squiggly-faced picketer in the picture, because it’s exactly the sort of thing that Fabiani and Lehane will cling to like stink on a donkey.
Aw, why’d you block out Chernin’s home address? I’d like to leave a burning sack of shit on his porch. Now THAT would be despicable.
Completely agree. Should have had Nick Counter’s address.
While the mogul behavior is far from model behavior, the putz that held up chernin’s home address should be put in a corner with a dunce cap on his head.
After exactly how many bong hits did that seem like a good idea?
Since you have finally brought up the fact that the writers are no angels I need to say that writers on the various blogs have been terribly unsympathetic.
If you read some of the strike blogs the writers or at least those participating come off as arrogant fools. They call people scabs, AMPTP plants, and a wide variety of other disparaging things. That crew members should have planned for the strike and saved money, that they are scabs if they don’t marched with them instead of their our own march, that they too are hurting. This is completely different they chose to go out on strike the crew members didn’t. Most writers make more money than crew members do. You cannot compare the crew to their plight it isn’t the same.
The writers participating in these blogs need to understand that they are doing permanent damage to their cause, and to the relationship the crew has with writers. They seriously need to be more sympathetic to those forced out of jobs by the actions of this strike.
One stupid sign from two months ago? That’s the best you could come up with to show our evil ways. Does that equal the concerted effort of eight big media companies to provoke a strike then refuse to negotiate its end? Or their walking away from the bargaining table a month ago with a PR statement at the ready? They get millions of dollars in tax breaks from the city and the state and yet feel no responsibility to the thousands of people who’ve been put out of work by their refusal to negotiate a fair deal in good faith. Pardon me if I don’t get outraged by a minor bit of idiocy on the picket line. But these corporations are trying to take food out of my kids’ mouths and that tends to rile a fella up.
Don’t fall for false equivalency syndrome, Nikki.
While I agree that the picket sign you mention was over the top, the fact is that the kind of damage being done by the moguls who are threatening people’s livelihoods is far beyond anything the WGA or it’s members have indulged in.
Agreed.
I agree. I think we in the WGA need to be as classy as possible throughout this thing, and our actions must be beyond reproach. We have to behave better than they do at every turn.
Unfortunately, in situations where emotions run high, there are always going to be people who let enthusiasm override good judgement. The trick is to keep such people from taking the helm and channel their energies into positive actions.
And I agree, that sign really should have been destroyed before it ever got stapled to a stick.
All I want is for the AMPTP to return to the negotiating table. Personal threats and attacks won’t further that cause. Let the AMPTP be contemptible if they feel that’s their only recourse; the WGA doesn’t need to sink to their level.
Some percentage of people of all stripes are jerks. Sadly, neither side has a monopoly on jerkish behavior. There are thousands of writers in the writers guild, and thousands of employees of AMPTP organizations. They can’t all be as wonderful human beings as me.
Despicable? Think you might want to go back to the dog-eared thesaurus.
The headline should be “A Writer’s Behavior Has Been Bratty Too” — it’s inaccurate to bring the WGA into it.
To compare the actions of one guy on one homemade sign (actions that I agree are inappropriate) to the systematic abuse perpetuated by the conglomerates and their army of employees is just misleading.
There have been instances — very few — of bad writer behavior, but you know what? They’ve been chastised by their fellows on the line. We writers don’t want to lose the overwhelming public support we have by doing stupid stuff.
Compare that to the behavior of the congomerates. They threaten writers for appearing on Letterman, they employ a small army of tools — oops, I mean trolls — to post false comments on websites in a pathetic attempt to undermine our public support… Heck, Rene Balcer is still waiting for an apology — or any acknowledgement — for that Fox employee knocking him with his car and then getting out and hitting him.
I think in an effort to be evenhanded, Nikki, you’ve unfairly disparaged the WGA and 99.99% of the writers on the lines.
While most of the WGA member behavior I’ve observed on and off the picket lines has been polite and focused on the issues, I do occasionally cringe at the few who go “too far.” We are, after all, looking toward the end result of working with the studios, so I don’t see how broadcasting someone’s home address helps us reach that goal.
And while I applaud the channeling of untapped writer energy into creative ways to bring attention to our cause (“Speechless,” for example), I wonder if next week’s “NBC Prom” in reaction to Silverman’s comments is really a smart way to go. It strikes me (no pun intended) as a huge over-response to a personal attack, which probably doesn’t help our cause at all no matter how funny the event turns out to be.
Then again, with nothing going on at the bargaining table, no one should be surprised at what the idle hands get busy with…
I am all for people getting their fair share and not being taken advantage of, but some of the things the WGA has done during the strike does not endear them to others within the industry. Particularly when production is occurring on scripts that were written under the previous contract. How do the directors, actors and below the line crew show sympathy for their cause when they have to do take after take because of visual or audible interference from the strikers?
Please get back to the table AMPTP and WGA! This county needs an agreement soon.