China’s Wanda Group Agrees To Pay $2.6B For AMC … 
Weinstein Clarifies ‘Sapphires’ Remarks; Best … 
How Agencies Did At This Year’s Upfronts: New … 
BOMBS AWAY! ‘Battleship’ Sinks To $25.3M … 
‘Lawless’ Premieres As The Weinstein Company … 
David Guarascio And Moses Port To Run … 
‘Beasts Of The Southern Wild’ Co-Writer Lucy … 
Fox Searchlight Fetes ‘Beasts Of The Southern … 
D.V. DeVincentis Sinks Teeth Into ‘The Night … 
Universal Buys ‘The Disciple Program’ As Mark … 
‘Madagascar 3′ And A ‘Big Brother’ … 
UPDATE: Facebook’s Big IPO Trading Day Results In A … 
UPFRONTS 2012: The Year Of Underdogs, Comebacks & … 
YRF’s Uday Chopra To Finance Nicole Kidman-Starrer … 
Cannes Swirls With Talk Of Convergence Between Distributors … 
TNT & Lifetime Looking At Cancelled CBS Drama … 
Women Dominate Early Competition Films As Marion Cotillard … 
Doug Liman Reacts To ‘I Just Want My Pants … 
Disney Sets Jesse Wigutow To Script ‘Peter And The … 
Anthony Mackie In Step With ‘Runner Runner’ 
Should You Buy Facebook? A Few Things To Consider Before … 
I was sent this very unofficial missive that’s currently making the email rounds in reaction to that controversial WGA East and West letter to members identifying those “puny few” who went fi-core during the strike. I don’t find this spoof funny because the strike wasn’t funny. And I believe that the WGA leadership had every right to do what it did. Just as those fi-core members had every right to do what they did. But you be the judge if this is as inappropriate as I think it is:
Dear Fellow Members of the Writers Guilds East, West, Bed, Bath & Beyond:
During our 100-day strike, which we were sorry to see end, the extraordinary solidarity you demonstrated on the picket lines and your Long Island vacation homes, as well as the courage and dedication with which you committed yourselves to our cause, whatever it was, were not only an inspiration but also the key to making our actions being so successful in driving up business for Bob’s Big Boy.
As we speak, we’re all currently reaping the rewards of new media while enjoying no significant gains anywhere else. Nevertheless, presenting your WGA card at Best Buy will get us a 3% discount on Blu-Ray players.
In the face of enormous personal and financial hardship on the part of many who postponed construction on new home theater wings, you sacrificed in the knowledge that your refusal to work would reap benefits not only for yourselves but countless others in the creative community, now and in the future, while putting thousands of secretarial and below the line workers into the poorhouse. Your stalwart resolve paid off. The studios and networks instituted widespread layoffs and are heartily saluting you.
Yet among the many there were a puny, unattractive few who chose to do otherwise. These weak and callous philistines consciously and selfishly decided to place their own narrow interests over the greater good. Extreme exceptions to the rule, perhaps, but this handful of members who went financial core, resigning from the union yet continuing to receive the benefits of a union contract, must be held at arm’s length by the rest of us and judged accountable for what they are — strikebreakers whose actions placed everything for which we fought so hard at risk. As none of them are Oscar nominees or “A-Listers,” we feel confident in making them scapegoats for being able find work while our top leadership can’t even get staffing positions.
While others forfeited paychecks to stand in unity with their fellow Guild members, valiantly trying to pitch projects to Judd Apatow and Paul Haggis between sips of Vitamin Water, many who went financial core continued to collect salaries, clothe and feed their children as well as pay rent and mortgages. Without concern for their colleagues, they turned their backs and tossed the burden of collective action onto the rest of us, taking jobs, reducing our leverage and damaging the Guilds for their own advantage. Damaging the Guild is the sole responsibility of leadership.
Even in cases of deep financial distress, there were other options, including generous no-interest loans from our strike funds, which would have sustained them until the end of the strike and beyond. That’s what unions are for. That’s why so many people in need who applied for them were turned down, so that those who really needed the money could also be denied.
Those who went financial core did not share in the adversity we needlessly caused; and should not share in our victory, whenever that victory becomes clear. They cannot vote in our elections, run for Guild office, attend Guild meetings or events such as “Blacklisted Writer’s Day” at Disneyland, participate in the Writers Guild Awards which will be hosted next year by the hilarious Robert Wuhl, have affairs with other members, receive prerecorded calls from Larry Gelbart, upload screeners onto the internet, wear WGA t-shirts or talk to George Clooney. Further, it has been determined by the National Council of the Guilds West and East, and affirmed by Guild East Council and the Guild West Board as well as the Imperial Council on Hoth, that we send this joint letter with a link to a list on respective websites of those who went financial core during the strike. To view it now and for future reference, you can find it here. We will be subsequently including home phone numbers for crank calling and general harassment.
The rest of us are all in this together. The others, remain banished to daytime and Solley’s Deli.
Sincerely,
Michael Winship
President, WGAE
Patric M. Verrone
President, WGAW
Grand Moff Tarkin
Imperial Senate
—
Writers Guild of America, East Members
Who According To Rumor Became Financial Core Members
Alvah Bessie
Herbert J. Biberman
Lester Cole
Edward Dmytryk
Ring Lardner, Jr.
John Howard Lawson
Albert Maltz
Samuel Ornitz
Adrian Scott
Dalton Trumbo
Orson Bean
Walter Bernstein
Peter Brocco
Phil Brown
Howard Da Silva
Jules Dassin
Paul Draper
Jerry Fielding
Will Geer
Lee Grant
Judy Holliday
Marsha Hunt
Paul Jarrico
Victor Kilian
Charles Korvin
Louise Lewis
Arnold Manoff
Burgess Meredith
Zero Mostel
Jean Muir
Clifford Odets
Alfred Palca
Larry Parks
Leo Penn
Abraham Polonsky
Anne Revere
Martin Ritt
Pete Seeger
Gale Sondergaard
George Tyne
Michael Wilson
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
M_Adams, surely you see that this letter was not in fact making fun of the blacklisted writers of the 50s but rather was trying to draw the parallel (albeit not terribly well) between them and the publicly shunned fi-core.
Every single fellow Guild member I’ve spoken with found the Guild’s letter of last week to be disgusting and distasteful. I have no doubt that there had to have been some internal debate about whether or not to release it. Surely someone with some sense of, well, mercy must have voiced the opinion that the letter came off as bullying.
Let’s not forget that the studios “wanted” a strike. We gave it to them. Not that we had a choice.
The studios wanted to downsize, we were the excuse.
It was a callous game played by those at the top of the food chain. But we all played our parts. If you were left standing, be thankful – it’s ugly out there.
But let’s try and remember that neither side has much to be proud of. And to Patrick Verrone, there was no reason to choose such ugly words. I’d expect more from an ALF staffer.
-johnny writer
I actually do applaud the comedic genius who wrote this brilliant and thought provoking piece of satire. Unlike “The Comet”, I am very sincere in my praise.
Have so many writers forgotten what satire is? It is a literary devise used to expose and denounce a foolish action or the lack of good sense. What is more foolish than WGA leaders feeling the need to publicly ostracize–months after the end of a very painful and costly strike– some 28 members who (gasp!) were compelled to risk the wrath of the union and continued to work.
Were those writers correct in doing so? Probably not. Did they break any laws? No. Furthermore, how arrogant are the WGA leaders that they can say these writers’ decision to work was based, “without concern for their colleagues.” How do they know that? Maybe these writers struggled with their decision and were the unselfish ones, not wanting to hurt their fellow non-writing workers who had absolutely NOTHING to gain by the writers being on strike? Or was the WGA also offering zero interest strike loans to non-union members as well?
The bottom line is, how much longer do the WGA union leaders plan on carrying on this strike? Wasn’t 100 days long enough? The worst part, they are now directing their anger and frustration with an imperfect contract towards a handful of writers. If there is a consequence for their action, then so be it. However, the WGA union leaders should take the high road and do it privately. To do otherwise, gives all unions a bad reputation.
In a business that’s about “entertainment”, it’s ironic so much rancor and negativity still exists. It is time WGA leaders and members let it go and move on. There is nothing to be gained by reliving the strike. Thank goodness there are people like the writer(s) of that parody letter who haven’t lost their sense of humor. It gives me hope for the future of our industry.
hey, “reality bites”
you think you’re clever but the kool-aid reference became tired about 3 years ago — only the right wing loons still keep on with that one because they’re behind the curve, as are you
not everyone on this board is WGA, if you could read
WGA, however, retains much support from all corners
Thank god somebody tried to make a counter statement to the repugnant email sent out by the WGA.
As far as the actual statement: Puny. Doesn’t that say it all. The condescension. The arrogance. The lack of confidence to confront those that went ficore that the WGA fear. Verrone’s level of compassion. His efficiency. His loyalty to animation writers, reality writers, and now soap writers. and, Probably the size of something that has bothered him for years and helped turn him into the petty weasel he is now. The tactics of the WGA to instill fear in its membership, nd possibly a warning to the members of SAG and AFTRA.
Yes. It is all puny.
But it represents something colossal. A lack of human dignity that will taint the WGA leadership until it is changed. A lack of respectable representatives for artists. A giant, bloody stain on the integrity of the WGA.
I would walk a mile in the shoes of any writer that went financial core during the strike before I would even imagine judging their actions. It is not an easy choice. But I couldn’t walk a mile in the shoes of Verrone or Winship. Weasels don’t wear shoes.
It’s funny just as the Canada on Strike South Park was funny. But neither of them are as funny as the victory speeches, toasts and pats on the back all the guild leadership gave each other once the strike ended.
I have a feeling that whenever the AMPTP members think of WGA leadership they just envision a bunch of giant walkin Lollypops.
If you think it’s unfunny and inappropriate, why are you posting it and giving it a bigger audience?
I have to agree, this isn’t funny at all. It seems like an AMPTP member wrote this just for the sake of writing.
Comment by observers — April 21, 2008 @ 9:49 am – “Bravo, WGA for rightfully disclosing these fi-core slimebags.”
Fair enough, but two dozen soap writers wasn’t much of a break in support.
What was?
1. The writing staffs of Worldwide Pants and every other group that signed COMPLETELY WORTHLESS “interim agreements” with the support of the WGA. These agreements (that weakened the WGA’s bargaining position by allowing AMPTP organizations to continue producing new written material) removed DOZENS of writers from the picket lines. These writers abandoned their guild solely for a paycheck. Organizations can agree with the WGA on a guise for allowable strike-breaking, but it is up to the conscience of each writer employed by strike-breaking organizations, such as Worldwide Pants, to not support such despicable behavior and stay on the picket lines with other WGA members. Those writers VOLUNTARILY CHOSE not to support the strike by resuming work while other members remained on strike.
2. Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen Degeneres, Carson Daly, Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, etc. All of these people had a choice of supporting the strike or not. They chose not to do so. Their shows could have served as daily platforms for educating the public and increasing the public’s support for the WGA’s strike. Instead, these people chose to discuss only entertaining things on their shows each day that appealed to their viewers with only rare mentions (if even any at all) of the WGA strike.
So, about two dozen soap writers followed WGA rules by declaring fi-core and continuing to work.
What is the real difference between them and every writer that resumed work under an interim agreement? There are a lot more than two dozen that worked under the guise of an interim agreement. There are more that worked as scabs.
“The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” don’t write themselves, folks. The supporting graphics don’t appear magically from the stream of consciousness of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Yet, these shows continued to air during the strike.
Fine, spit on the fi-core people, if you wish, but I’d much rather piss on the heads of Letterman’s writing staff. They and other maggots like them are the “real” strike-breakers.
Hate to say it, but some of this rings true. Though clearly not LOL funny, it was annoying to see so many big-time producer/writers take numerous vacations during that time. Oh, if only we could name THOSE names.
“Blacklisted?”
Are you kidding me?
Aren’t you all liberals here?
Where’s the much vaulted “compassion” and “acceptance” that I keep hearing are birthrights of the left?
These Fi-core writers made a decision to help their families have a better life, or at least not lose ground.
And you people are backing a policy that states these people should “never work in this town again?”
Why don’t you apply a 10th of the compassion you would show an ILLEGAL ALIEN?
Hypocrites. At least finally admit that liberals are the most vindictive, petty, un-forgiving and un-accepting bunch of assholes in the world today.
To the WGA members who see nothing whatsoever wrong with the original letter: members who went fi-core did not, as much as you’d like to believe they did, commit some ultimate sin. A concept many are missing is that while a large majority approved the strike, a large majority is not 100 percent. Those who voted against the action were all the same forced into it against their will, due to being a member of the WGA. And then some of them made a choice to not have to be a part of the strike they never wanted to be a part of. It may not be noble, it might even be cowardly. But it was a perfectly legal-and yes, even understandable- choice. As I mentioned in response to the original letter, I can understand the anger over them still recieving WGA benefits. They shouldn’t. If they made a choice that would take them away from the WGA, they should be taken away completely. No “best of both world” options. And as such, I think the WGA should reserve and use the right to take membership away from these people. But publishing a list of their names, blacklisting or not, reminds me of high-schoolers scrawling people’s names on the walls of bathroom stalls to torment or humiliate them. It is shallow, it is petty, and it is horribly immature. Some people just didn’t want to “all be in it together”, so they made a choice not to be. It’s unfortunate that doing so could deter the WGA’s intentions, and it’s reasonable that some action be taken in response. But the action that was chosen? There are hell of a lot of people in the world who need a dose of “get the fuck over it”. The WGA leadership just shot up to the top of it.
I dunno – I thought it was slightly funnier than the WGA YouTube movies where the celebrities don’t talk. Those union writers is funny!
The funniest comment on this entire board is that the “public hates you fi core people.” Umm… the public doesn’t care! They didn’t care about the strike (aside from a dwindling minority who actually still watch scripted network television), and they CERTAINLY don’t care (or even KNOW) what fi core is. This perfectly sums up the lack of perspective too many in the WGA had about their “plight.”
I have to mention… I can’t understand how in the world anybody (who has a sense of humor) would find this letter to be inappropriate because it spoofs a “serious” subject. I mean, it’s one thing to just not think the joke itself is very funny, but the concept of the joke offends you? That’s absurd. I suppose you never laughed at a Nazi or Holocaust joke in a Woody Allen movie? I can’t wait to see what you think of Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder. Doing satirical jokes about the wrongness of blackface is CERTAINLY off limits. I’m sure you’re all fantastic writers here, I just hope those of you who find the idea of satirizing serious subjects to be “inappropriate” aren’t writing the comedy…
The sarcasm in that letter does properly describe the general feeling of most crew that are not SAG, WGA or DGA.
You know a crew averages around 100 people without WGA, DGA or SAG members, and in most cases those 3 unions are respresented by about 30 people total, (with a reasonably sized cast). In more cases than that the WGA is 2 people in ratio to the other 100, so for every 2 writers that went on strike, approximately 100 people lost their jobs- I think that should verify why there is so much venom in the air.
People who will gain nothing – lost everything and believe me that those people would have loved to go fi-core and go back to work. More than likely the crews that got to keep working because of the fi-core writers
are still thanking them, so back-off.
What the WGA did by publishing their names borders on criminal, how about they publish all of your payment records so that those members who pay their union dues late can be reported and ‘kept at arms length’. I think the comparison of the blacklisted writers is that the WGA is behaving like ‘Big Brother’ and I for one cannot think of a more American behavior than to make a decision based on taking care of your family.
Slow news day?
Move along. Nothing to see here. Just Nikki picking a scab.
Or has Nikki been replaced due to illness by someone insisting that I un-bookmark Deadline Hollywood?
It was sad enough when our leadership acted like twelve year old vindictive twerps and published a ngnaah-ngnaah-ngnaah-na-ngnaah list encouraging other members to shit on the Fi-core members. It’s just plain tragic when some snot-nosed assh**e pens a vile and disgusting piece of crap like this, pissing on the names of people who endured more than this little twit will ever face and others – I’ll bet teenagers – write in with their clueless “Fuck Yah’s!!!
I didn’t think anything more reprehensible could be written than Verone’s letter, but as always in Hollywood, the sequel was far worse.
You know what’s REALLY not funny. Two guild leaders purposely trying to do harm to 28 writers that may have made an unpopular decision but were not purposely trying to hurt anyone by making it. Maybe their act can be considered self-serving, but their intent was not malicious. And it did not undermine the strike. And it was their legal choice, whether people agree with it or not.
But Guild Leadership apparently feels so weak that it finds these individuals such a great threat that they must be publicly humiliated and banished for all eternity. That seems to indicate the WGA leadership has no faith in its own merits and can only feel important and powerful by bullying others.
I’m glad that somebody attempted a parody of the letter, but it actually wasn’t necessary. The WGA’s own letter was a parody of leadership on its own.
Nikki, I think your credibility has taken a real hit in these last two WGA postings. It was clear that you were pro-Guild during the strike… but that’s okay, because so was any reasonable person (in my opinion, anyway).
But now you’re going pretty extreme. I mean, look around: lots of rank and file WGA members are really pissed off by the petty course of action their leadership has taken. No one would have accused you of being in the moguls’ pocket had you looked at the original letter with a fair and logical eye, rather than automatically siding with Verrone.
It was one thing to give the Guild their day in court when the mainstream media wouldn’t. But this isn’t helping anyone — except insofar as it’s encouraged the many WGA members who are losing patience with Verrone et al. to speak up.
While the writer’s were on strike, JJ Abrams was shooting Star Trek, crossing picket lines at Paramount….WGA member JJ Abrams, most likely did several re-writes of the Star Trek script. The movie, Hotel For Dogs was also filming during the strike. So, the WGA “outs” the little people, but is quiet about all the “big” people…but then they didn’t go fi-core, they were just SCABS. Bullies, that’s what the WGA has become.
Funny. Very funny. Truth hurts.
Now it’s the SAG leadership that will lower the bar.
Didn’t they say, “The WGA’s cause is our cause, their strike is our strike, their negotiations are our negotiations.” Oops! The WGA’s deal isn’t our deal! Hell no. We want MORE!
Get ready to lose a lot more, folks.
Is this a witch hunt? Yes. Is it fair? No. BUT, during a strike one can not just abandon everyone and say; “I hate you because my rent is due and expect life to be fair to me after the strike is over. Suffer you scum picketers suffer.”
Even George Clooney didn’t go fi-core until after the strike.
I say, let the black list begin. Hey, I got kinda sad not seeing my name on the list. At least it would have guarantee me work as a writer for QVC.
Anyway, Happy Ass kissing your way back to the top SCABS.
See ya soon.
WGAw member in good standing / SAG & AFTRA
Whether or not you think the satire was funny or unfunny – appropriate or unappropriate – I was pleasantly surprised by how FEW names there were on the list- and that’s the news we should all applaud. But until one stands in another person’s shoes who are we to judge? I can think of a number of scenarios where writers between a rock and a hard place were forced to choose fi-core over support for the union not out of lack of loyalty but necessity – maybe it was the medical condition of a sick child – maybe they were in a custody battle and needed to prove employment – unless we know their motives I think it best we give our fellow men and women the benefit of the doubt. But public flogging? Should we put them in stocks in front of the WGA building? This puritanical outting only serves the self righteous and those without sin. I’d wager that list is longer.
I think it’s inappropriate for the WGA to alienate any members regardless of what side of the fence they fell on during the strike. It’s a show of limited maturity and diplomacy towards people they have an ongoing working relationships with.
They could have easily announced the membership adjustments made in response to those went fi-core, but, they had no reason to put up a shit list. Save that petty crap for the Studios Moguls and low brow self-righteous executives that are too busy holding a grudge, instead of bettering their products.