WGA West/East Give Election Results

COMMENTS (12)

• Considering Howard Michael Gould was the only person really running *against* Verrone and WritersUnited and he came in third, this is an interesting sea change.

  Maybe Writers United will get the message and take care of issues that effect the current members, instead of trying to organize editors on reality shows.

  Comment by Colin B. — Tuesday September 23, 2008 @ 3:40pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Colin B. –

  As to reality and game show writers, (1) they’re writers, not editors, truly, and (2) their situation is something that affects current members very deeply because it determines our leverage at the bargaining table during the next negotiations.

  Before being overtaken by apoplexy in your reply, at least check out the argument. Read “Reality Writers: They’re Writers, Really” at:

  http://sites.google.com/site/realitywriting/Home/reality-writing-it-s-writing-really

  I truly believe that once we Original Recipe Writers (feature and “scripted” TV) learn what it is reality and game show writers actually do, we will realize that they are scribblers just like us. Seriously, guys, there’s writing going on. I’ve seen the outlines.

  We shouldn’t let the Companies tell us who is a writer and who’s not. And right now, I think that’s what’s happening.

  Comment by Ashley Gable — Tuesday September 23, 2008 @ 4:54pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Colin B. -

  Where did you get the idea that organizing reality was not important to current members, or didn’t “effect[sic] the current members”? Or the erroneous idea that the WGA was trying to organize editors? I think it’s clear that reality television is the networks’ low-cost, non-union and strike-proof alternative to WGA shows. Most of the so-called “reality” shows are either game shows or talent competition shows, formats that used to be WGA covered. All of these shows have writers, and a number of them have signed up in recent months, including “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader” and “Match Game”. Other shows, like “Dancing with the Stars”, “Singing Bee”, “Dog Whisperer” and “Intervention” have always been covered. In none of these cases has the Guild sought to cover editors, nor are they part of the current Fremantle campaign.

  It seems most members think the current leadership has done a pretty good job of taking care of issues that affect current members, or there would have been more candidates running “against” Verrone and Writers United. Howard Michael Gould supported the strike, supported the settlement, and I expect he will be a good addition to the WGAW board. Electing one representative of the “loyal opposition” to a sixteen member board doesn’t really seem like a “sea change” to me.

  Comment by Joe H. — Tuesday September 23, 2008 @ 5:07pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Colin B is one of many elitist WGA members I’ve met who doesn’t seem to understand that writing is writing. He dismisses game and reality writers and doesn’t think they deserve industry standard compensation and benefits. All reality and game shows have writers and these writers deserve the same fair deal that any writer in this business deserves.

  Companies like Fremantle know they have writers but by hiding them under other titles like segment producer, associate producer, consultants, etc. they save money and also profited during the strike.

  Until the membership at the WGA realizes that reality and game shows need to be organized, how can we expect the the greedy companies to change the way they screw their writers?

  Colin doesn’t seem to understand the plight of his fellow scribes who work on these shows, but you can damn well bet that when sitcoms and episodics start using non guild writers to save money and be strike proof (which is already starting to happen) he will be the first to scream bloody murder.

  Here’s the reality, Colin…it’s all written. Whether you are bright enough to understand that or not.

  Comment by Average Joe Writer — Tuesday September 23, 2008 @ 6:04pm PDT  Reply to this post

• If I recall the strike, it was the leadership of the WGA that took reality and animation writing off the table in order to effect a settlement with the AMPTP, not the affected reality and animation writers themselves. When is writing not writing? When your own Guild cuts you loose.

  Comment by Santayana — Tuesday September 23, 2008 @ 7:14pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Hey, Joe H, the WGA most certainly did try to organize editors. More than half the authorization cards the WGA got during the defunct organizing drive were from editors, many of which were already MPEG members. Patric and David Young both said that with out Editors, the organized drive was dead, many times. That’s why they invited Tris Carpenter from MPEG to one of their big Organizing meetings.

  How do I know? because I was there. With other editors. Other editors that were also MPEG members.

  Get your facts right, and don’t try to rewrite history to prove your point.

  Comment by w. bush — Tuesday September 23, 2008 @ 8:53pm PDT  Reply to this post

• W. Bush –

  You said it, the WGA “did try to organize editors”, years ago. I believe the meeting you describe was in 2005. A lot has changed since then, and the WGA stopped signing up editors when it provoked nothing but trouble with the IA, trouble that saw the IA encourage their editors to take the jobs of the striking writers at America’s Next Top Model. Since then, editors have not been part of the WGA’s reality campaign. Maybe you should check in with the Guild more often.

  Santayana -

  You should get your history right or you’ll be doomed to repeat it. Reality and animation were taken off the table because there was no way the AMPTP would grant jurisdiction without a much longer strike, a strike which might well have ended in a defeat for the Guild. Were you and the majority of WGA members ready for that risk? A leadership that risks the survival of their guild for a demand that is not strongly supported by a solid majority of the membership would be an irresponsible leadership. I think the WGA has proven their commitment to organize reality and animation since the strike by the campaigns at Fremantle and Sit Down, Shut Up.

  Comment by Joe H. — Tuesday September 23, 2008 @ 9:28pm PDT  Reply to this post

• 1,235 ballots cast. Way to build momentum.

  Comment by A writer — Wednesday September 24, 2008 @ 12:43am PDT  Reply to this post

• I’m not saying there are no writers in reality. I meant exactly what I said – stop trying to organize people who aren’t writers, which is the main thrust of the campaign. And yes, pay less attention, time and resources to the whole campaign as well.

  Because look, I hate to say it, but reality writing is not that tough. Even if they’re organized and strike, the companies will just bring someone else in and keep going. Like soaps. When I see a writer I know in the credits of a reality show, it’s usually a weak writer who couldn’t make it in scripted TV.

  Don’t believe me? What happened to America’s Next Top Model? Staff walks, new writers brought in, they didn’t miss a beat and the ratings went up.

  This is a guild for TV and movie writers. Solve their problems, then take care of the weak sisters, if you must.

  Comment by Colin B. — Wednesday September 24, 2008 @ 8:36am PDT  Reply to this post

• Colin B scribbled:

  >I’m not saying there are no writers in reality. I >meant exactly what I said – stop trying to organize >people who aren’t writers, which is the main thrust >of the campaign. And yes, pay less attention, time >and resources to the whole campaign as well.

  The WGA is not trying to organize non writers.

  >Because look, I hate to say it, but reality writing >is not that tough.

  Obviously you have never done it. And what really is “tough” writing? A script written by committee for a sitcom? A feature that has had a half a dozen teams of writers? Your moronic postings here?

  >Even if they’re organized and strike, the companies >will just bring someone else in and keep going.

  They would do that…and will in the future…with sitcoms and episodics as well. There will always be scab talent that will write for television.

  >Like soaps.

  You think writing a daily one hour soap is something just anybody can do? Wow, are you delusional.

  >When I see a writer I know in the credits of a >reality show

  You probably call them and beg for them to get you a job because bagging groceries at Whole Foods is starting to make you crazy.

  >it’s usually a weak writer who couldn’t make it in >scripted TV.

  News flash…reality and games shows are scripted TV so they are working in it.

  >Don’t believe me?

  No, I don’t. Doubt if anyone does.

  >What happened to America’s Next Top Model? Staff >walks, new writers brought in, they didn’t miss a >beat and the ratings went up.

  The WGA admittedly fubled that ball. However, the writers on that show all got other writing and producing jobs. Many shows have changed staffs and not missed a beat.

  >This is a guild for TV and movie writers. Solve their >problems, then take care of the weak sisters, if you >must.

  Yes, the WGA is a guild for TV and movie writers. Reality and game shows have writers who write on TV shows and that is exactly the reason the WGA is working hard to organize those shows. The only weak sister seems to be you.

  Comment by Average Joe Writer — Wednesday September 24, 2008 @ 1:12pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Your comments, Joe H., confirm my position, even if you give a pragmatic spin to the WGA’s settlement with the AMPTP. I suppose Neville Chamberlain was being pragmatic, too. The Guild’s moves against Fremantle and “Sit Down, Shut Up” are welcome and apt, and I wonder how many more such actions might have taken place if they had succeeded in their initial organizing efforts in the 1990s. My guess — and it’s just gut, not data-based — is that the (primarily) young people who write such cable shows as “Extreme Quilting” or “Switching Litterboxes” balked at being organized then because they saw their gigs as stepping-stones, not careers, and had no background in labor history. No, the people I’m talking about are long-time Guild members who are forbidden to work non-union — unless you’re saying that “looking the other way” has become official policy. Despite Patric Verrone and his team taking the first bullet (in animation writer Verrone’s case it was akin to the sacrifice of Abraham), the fact remains that reality and animation writers are the demimondes of the WGA.

  Comment by Santayana — Wednesday September 24, 2008 @ 4:28pm PDT  Reply to this post

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  Comment by Forex Capital Market — Monday October 6, 2008 @ 1:05am PDT  Reply to this post