BAFTA Awards: What ‘Artist’, Dujardin, Streep …
64th BAFTA Awards Winners: ‘The Artist’, Meryl …
BAFTA 2012 Preview: Very British Affair Takes On …
RECORD-BREAKING WEEKEND! 4 Films Open $20+M: ‘The …
Remembered: Jennifer Hudson To Perform Whitney Houston …
Live From NY, It’s Jean Dujardin On
R.I.P. Whitney Houston
TOLDJA! Indomina-BET Buy Sundance ‘LUV’
Midnight Madness For ‘Breaking Dawn’ DVD
Saoirse Ronan Bigger Teen Action Queen
WME Signs Writer-Director Jon Kasdan
‘Glee’s Jane Lynch Joins Indie Film Comedy
Universal Revives ‘Dracula Year Zero’ With …
Jodie Foster Sending Mel Gibson Film ‘The …
‘Roseanne’ Reunion: John Goodman To Co-Star In …
UPDATE: Closing Arguments Conclude In Golden Globes Trial; …
Series Adaptation Of ‘Legion’ With …
Lionsgate Calms Investors With Talk About Charlie Sheen, …
Ridley Scott Commits To Next Direct McCarthy’s …
Marvel Studio’s Tim Connors Defects To Legendary As …
UPDATE: Warner Bros Lawyers Dig In Garbage Over ‘The …
The AMPTP just issued this statement today:
The members of the Directors Guild of America have ratified the sensible labor agreement we concluded. Our negotiations with DGA proved beyond any doubt that when both parties are prepared to bargain seriously, groundbreaking new media labor pacts can be reached without resorting to harmful and unnecessary strikes.
Loading ... Loading ...
How is that gloating? It seems fairly straightforward–at least towards the DGA.
Now, if the statement read “The members of the sensible labor agreement we concluded–SUCKERS” that would be gloating.
Or “The members of the Directors Guild of America have ratified the sensible labor agreement we concluded, whereas the WGA cost their members 3 months of work by negotiating with AMPTP instead of CEOs while we force majured everyone” that would be gloating.
But what they did say isn’t gloating. Only Nikki’s title is gloating
Well yes, I suppose it is easier to negotiate a contract with a flock of picket-line crossers than with the actual picketers.
Just more AMPTP propaganda.
I think she’s considering it “gloating” because there is definitely a smug overtone about the AMPTP’s success in this matter, while referencing, with malignant pleasure the failings of the bargaining with the WGA.
Look up “gloat” and maybe you’ll have a better idea of what the word means. Nikki’s title is certainly NOT gloating, in this case.
“…especially when a third-party is doing the striking for the DGA, making it possible for them to avoid the usual ‘don’t taze me bro!’ negotiating position.”
They edited that part out.
Gosh, if the AMPTP is so happy about the DGA deal, then they must be pissing in their pants gleeful at the bag of shit the WGA accepted…
Well, I’m still voting an emphatic “NO!” on the lousy offer. And I know I’m in the minority, but I doing it anyway. I just hope more members wake up and smell the manure before it’s too late.
Doesn’t seem like gloating, but really – I don’t care.
One strike averted, one potentially settled and one more to go that may or may not go well.
Anyone heard the result of the SAG/AFTRA Washington meeting? If so, url please??
The key being “when both parties are ready to negotiate seriously…”
The AMPTP left the table… kind of hard to negotiate with the WGA when you aren’t there and it’s easy to see which side is “serious.”
Stay at the table instead of hiring PR firms.
Ooh, ouch.
What a bunch of asses.
I am so done with all this attitude. Everyone should just grow up already. You, too, Nikki. Fanning the flames of a rich people’s revolution is unbecoming and tiresome. If it weren’t for the “moguls,” none of us would be working in the industry. The writers have always whined — always. That’s one of their jobs. And I love writers, but that’s the way it is.
Actually it is clearly gloating and is clearly correct.
“,,,when both parties are prepared to bargain seriously, groundbreaking new media labor pacts can be reached without resorting to harmful and unnecessary strikes.”
The WGA was prepared to bargain seriously from the start. The other party, the AMPTP (under the God-awful leadership of Nick Counter,) was not. When Nick Counter was pushed out of the pitcure, and saner heads came in to lead the AMPTP shockingly, a deal was quickly made.
Don’t think we’ve forgotten, Les…
Why is it we can only comment on union or strike-related posts? Come on now.
Wow, petulant even by AMPTP standards. Sounds like somebody’s a little miffed Messrs. Chernin and Iger gave him a pat on the head and made him stand in the corner while the real power negotiated with the WGA…
I honestly don’t see gloating, although in fairness I must disclose again that I am an AD member of the DGA.
I object to writer bob’s characterization of DGA members as picket line crossers, as it is both inaccurate and mean spirited. The DGA members of the show I worked on, from the AD’s up through the directors, refused to cross any picket line from the time the strike began. Granted, we were only working for a week and a half before we were all sidelined, but at no point did any of us cross that line, even when the writers from our show appeared on location and picketed our base camp/crew parking starting at 430AM.
The result of our honoring of the picket lines has been to see our show ended for the season, with a minimal pickup for next season not starting until June or July. Since we had 13 episodes unfilmed at the time we were stopped, and since those episodes have been erased by the network, our crew and DGA members have effectively lost upwards of 5 1/2 months of work which will not be replaced. To then accuse us of being strikebreakers is to add insult to injury.
Nick Counter takes great pride in trying to diss the awful horrid recalcitrant commie organizers aka those lousy stinking writers by boasting how easily the far more important but also far more insecure directors knuckled under to the producers demands just so they could wear their fancy tuxedos to the Oscars.
Nikki is right on.
“Sarcastic Cynic,” you’re a simpleton with comments that contribute nothing.
“Aitchee,” – gotta love people who use the phrase “grow up” and “whiny” when they don’t like what someone says. Pot, kettle.
@Jake Hollywood: nice to see someone not following the herd mentality.
No disrespect intended towards actual DGA members, Kevin, but DGA leadership, for going ahead with their own negotiations while we were still on strike.
I don’t view AMPTP’s statement as gloating either. It’s just B.S. spin.
AMPTP’s statement is no different than:
“Let me now address an issue which I know is on the minds of many — our decision to remove DVD from the table, a decision which was met with significant disappointment and even anger from many of our members. The reason for that decision was strategic and followed several back-channel assurances that, if DVDs were dropped, we would be able to make sufficient progress in new media so that a strike could be averted. This offer, combined with our desire to do everything within our power to make a good deal without a strike (by removing management’s strike issue), as well as some small movement at the bargaining table early on Sunday, provoked our decision to make that move. Unfortunately, the response we got was not as promised and management broke off talks before our new media proposals were seriously addressed. Our new comprehensive proposal (including the DVD removal) was presented in an off-the-record session: our new proposal was then rejected. Based on what I saw and heard on the picket lines today, therefore, all bets are off and what we achieve in this negotiation will be a function of how much we are willing to fight to get our fair share of the residuals of the future, no matter how they are delivered.” – Patrick Verrone
I will state one difference between AMPTP’s statements and the WGA’s.
AMPTP doesn’t remove its press releases because they provide a historical record of stupidity.
Check for yourself in the WGA’s 2007 archive. Verrone’s comment about dropping the DVD proposal (which was a shortened excerpt from what is above) is gone. Soon it will be like there was never a DVD proposal at all.
I’ll give AMPTP credit for standing by its “assholishness.” The WGA, on the other hand, is attempting revise its history.
There will be additional historical “corrections” by the WGA to make the strike appear successful in the future by revising what was originally contained in WGA proposals.
Hey! Looks like the WGA contract was an amazing product of skillful negotiation after all!
Patrick Verrone, you’re a pus-filled gonorrheic penis.
Even John Wells took his lumps. He does additional things AFTER THE FACT in an attempt to make himself look better. He doesn’t attempt to revise what he already did.
@Kevin: YOU object? I OBJECT! To those pansy-assed directors who took the easy way out, agreeing to a deal when their contract wasn’t even up for another six months, and who undercut the WGA writer every fucking chance they get. I object to those directors who claim story credit on a film they can’t even spell the title of, let alone not having anything at all to do with writing the script. But I resent even more your indignation at being called a scab and denying that directors crossed the picket line. You and I both know that’s a fucking lie–because we both know that some did. Insult to injury indeed.
@Chris: Thanks, I think. I’m pretty sure no one will ever accuse me of having my wool sweater pulled up over my eyes.
Wow. This is… WOW.
Amazing. The strike is over and yet for some reason the AMPTP felt the need to publicly give the WGA the finger. “Immature” doesn’t even come close to covering it. I truly wish it did.
aitchee — “If it weren’t for the moguls, none of us would be working in this industry.”
… and if it weren’t for the writers, there wouldn’t be an industry for the moguls to work in.
Word inside Fox this afternoon was that Chernin was LIVID at that statement and did NOT see it beforehand.
writer bob, I disagree with you that the DGA leadership was crossing picket lines by starting their negotiations. They held off on doing so for more than 2 months, specifically saying in public that they were giving the WGA and the AMPTP every chance they could to find a way to settle the strike and come up with a new contract. When it was clear that the AMPTP was not going to return to the table, and that the WGA was prepared to stay out for several months longer, the DGA did what it could to break the impasse. The result is that both guilds now have new contracts and the strike is over. You can argue that the DGA got additional leverage because the WGA had gone out. But saying that the negotiations were a form of strike breaking doesn’t make sense. If we followed that logic, the strike would be continuing all the way to the summer and beyond.
Jake Hollywood, let me first say that I understand and respect your anger, since my understanding of your posts here and elsewhere is that you are a working member of the WGA and, understandably, you disagree with this deal and are voting against it. I can respect that, since you very much have something at stake here. But I still disagree with you, and my post certainly did not earn the vitriolic response you gave it. I disagree with you that the directors are pansies or that they “took the easy way out”. The DGA was preparing for these negotiations for over 18 months with the study you’re aware of, and with months and months of planning for what everyone knew would be a difficult series of discussions. The DGA has negotiated early for the past 20 years, specifically to avoid the problems we run into every time the contracts come up and the whole industry goes into overdrive and creates a de-facto strike once the contract is done. (as happened in 2001, for example) This is not a matter of undercutting other guilds, although I understand you may disagree with that.
Your post indicates you have some issues with directors taking story credits. Which directors do you mean, the ones that can’t even spell the names of their films? I have worked both in features and in television. On one feature, the director wrote the script. On another, the director actually co-wrote the script with the credited screenwriter and the two of them collaborated on set. On every television series I have worked, the directors have deferred to the writers, since they are the producers of the show and usually outrank the directors. So our experiences sound a bit different from each other.
As for your next comment, you are incorrect to refer to me or the DGA team I worked with as scabs, and I’ll be happy to read your apology for that. Unless “scab” now also applies to people who don’t cross picket lines and then potentially lose their livelihoods over the following six months while they wait for the strike to end, and then for their show to return. I don’t deny that there are some individual directors and some individual ADs who crossed WGA picket lines. I objected to what I saw as a blanket statement characterizing DGA members as picket line crossers, when that wasn’t my experience or that of my team. writer bob has clarified his intentions there, and I have responded to that. And I stand by my objection, regardless of your resentment of it. I should note that in addition to the individuals who crossed the picket lines from the DGA, there were also individuals who crossed from all levels of the crew, including the Teamsters, and including members of the WGA. I hope that you’re able to acknowledge that. But I don’t issue blanket condemnations for all those guilds and unions, and I would hope in the aftermath of this strike that even the hardliners would learn to similarly refrain from that.
Writer Bob and Jake Hollywood — you two are jerk-offs. Ever hear of the ‘no sympathy strike’ aspect of almost all contracts in this town? And why shouldn’t the DGA negotiate regardless of how much is left of their previous deal? Since the genius brain trust at the WGA was doing so well bargaining why shouldn’t the DGA look out for their own interests? Here’s the bottom line folks — the AMPTP knew the WGA was angling for a strike waaaay before anybody started talking. The AMPTP (who are major greedy assholes) started negotiating with the WGA knowing it would fall apart. Yes, they wanted to deal with the DGA all along. No, the DGA didn’t roll over and it’s impossible to quantify how much, if at all, the WGA being on strike made a DGA deal easier. I tend to think not. I defy you to tell me how the new WGA and DGA pacts differ in any way not related to job description. They are virtually identical. What started out as a just and meaningful strike became an exercise in ego and futility that saw general WGA membership (mostly) blindly follow their leadership off the cliff of wasted time, money and opportunity.