Marjorie David is a seasoned television writer and executive producer (Wildfire), and co-executive producer (Life, Dark Angel, Chicago Hope). She volunteered to serve as a Contract Captain for the WGA's Contract 2007 Campaign. She is a member of the working board of the League Of Hollywood Women Writers.

The most important result of the writers' strike for me is the realization that even though incremental gains in such things as benefits can be won through a labor action, labor action doesn't occur in a political vacuum. Of course, everybody knows that. But experiencing it makes all the difference. I learned this: nothing will change until there is genuine reinstatement of effective anti-trust law. There's only so much a small, special-interest union can do against massive corporate power. But the government is ours, and the strike made me see that we can fight to take it back.

I think we can all agree that media consolidation is bad because it limits and controls access to information, but it's also fair to argue that new media outlets are opening up access in ways we've not seen before and in ways we can't yet predict. We can make sure, or try to make sure, we get paid for our work in new media, but most important, we have to guarantee that new media does not fall under the control of the same six companies that control pretty much all of our newspapers, television and radio. The strategy the big companies are employing to insure their hegemony became clear to me during the strike. If you got all of your information through old media, the writers were a bunch of greedy brats who already had more than "everyone else." The fact that we made any gains at all is directly attributable to the fact that the companies did not own access to the internet. Both sides of this labor dispute were out and available to anybody who wanted to know what was at stake, including members who might otherwise have become discouraged and demoralized.

Influential blogs -- among whom the tireless support of DHD stands out even a year later -- not only made the WGA message clear, but also opened up a forum for talking about it. Everybody didn't agree about the strike, obviously, but on blogs like DHD, there was a free and open public forum

... Read More »

Ashley Gable is co-executive producer of The Mentalist and has been supervising producer on Crossing Jordan, and co-producer on The Division. A former attorney, and a working writer for 10+ years, she was a picket coordinator at Fox during the WGA strike. Last year, she ran for the WGA's board of directors.

The Conglomerates’ biggest mistake during the strike was, well, forcing us to go on strike. Not because the deal we got was so great. But because of that damn picket line. The Conglomerates have achieved the unthinkable: writers are kind of… united. And… organizing. Writers! The people who spend at least an hour a day arguing about where to order lunch. The people who make that Hurricane Katrina FEMA guy look like a great manager. And yet a year after the strike, writers are strengthening ties with each other, we’re keeping a watchful eye on the Congloms, and we’re reaching out to help organize reality writers. The Conglomerates accidentally taught the cats to self-herd.

What the Congloms didn’t realize is that when you walk in a circle with someone for three hours a day, for one hundred days, you get to know that person. Better even than if you’re in the writers’ room with him on a show. Because in the writers’ room you don’t get to see if a writer’s got your back when that asshole in the green SUV decides he can’t wait 15 seconds to begin his joyful day as a junior executive and tries to run you over by the Galaxy Gate. In the writers’ room you can’t see if the writer’s still going to be funny and helpful and strong when his wife just lost her job and he hasn’t brought in money since two mortgage payments ago and his overall deal just got shitcanned by his “friends” at 20th Television.

But on the picket line we got to know each other and know our collective strength. Strength20to change stuff. And a year later, we’re still doing something about it: I recently asked fifty writers to help with this new Guild diversity program and forty-five said yes. The show captains at my studio (yes, the captains system lives) continue to meet to discuss things like internet residual payments and how to track how the Congloms are failing in their obligations to pay up.

Don’t get me

... Read More »

Howard Rodman is professor and former chair of the writing division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts; a member of the board of directors of the Writers Guild of America, West; and an artistic director of the Sundance Institute Screenwriting Labs. His films include Savage Grace, August, and Joe Gould's Secret.

Let's start with what everyone who's not in bed with the media conglomerates knows: that the strike was among the most successful ever in Guild history--  In terms of solidarity, in terms of impact, in terms of energizing and engaging the membership, but mostly, in terms of What Was Won.

First and foremost, the Guild got jurisdiction over new media.  Anyone who doesn't understand how central that is still gets out of bed to change the channel.  (I often recall the picket-line stroller carrying a tot with the sign, "It's Old Media to me.")

I would add to this the fact that in new media (which is to say, going forward: media) we base our residuals on distributor's gross rather than producer's gross.  (These concepts have always been somewhat arcane, so let me just put it this way: producer's gross is what's left after the casino takes its 80% skim.)

There are many other advances, but to me, these are the ones that allow writers to have a future.

As long as John McLean and Peter Bart are indulging in revisionist history, let's give praise where praise is due, because in ways that are insufficiently acknowledged, the true lion's share of the credit for last year's fine contract belongs to one of those gentlemen.

It was during the 2004 negotiations that our then-Executive Director John McLean negotiated against his own Guild -- far more than he was willing to negotiate against his old pals in the conglomerates.  Again and again he maintained we'd be "laughed out of the room" if we asked for the things we asked for -- and in many cases won -- in last year's contract.

During some of the dismal, dispiriting, and astonishingly long Negotiating Committee meetings, some of us began to pass notes.  And to hum, under our breath, "Which Side Are You On."

So we organized; we ran for office (something none of us wanted to do); we worked hard to build a more truly democratic union; in 2005 we brought in a new Executive Director

... Read More »

The Writers Guild Of America, West, just issued this statement to answer "the concerted effort underway by the AMPTP and some in the press to minimize the success of our strike" which officially ended with the ratiication of the proposed Theatrical and Television Basic Agreement on February 26, 2008. In light of the impasses and concessions currently happening to SAG and IATSE's Hollywood Locals in their leadership's negotiations with Big Media's bargainers, I think this WGA statement reminds showbiz guild members that a union that stays publicly unified can stare down the overwhelming power of the studios and networks. Then it can achieve, if not all its goals, many of those most vital to the next wave of new technology and the labor force who will create, act and work in it now and well into the future. This weekend, I will be publishing various writers' assessments of what the WGA accomplished during its 100-day strike for financial survival:

February 27, 2009
Dear WGAW Member:

One year ago this week an overwhelming majority of the WGA membership voted in favor of ratifying a new three-year contract. Today there is a concerted effort underway by the AMPTP and some in the press to minimize the success of our strike, calling it “unnecessary” and “self-destructive.” I’d like to set the record straight.

Our current contract was the result of a months-long effort to negotiate in good faith with the companies, who unfortunately forced us into a 100-day strike. The struggle was marked by a high degree of unity among writers — television and screen, broadcast and cable, blockbusters and indie film. Thousands of you marched, picketed and blogged, and won the solidarity and support of union members, fans and the general public, in the US and around the world.

We didn’t achieve everything we wanted – we never do – but we achieved our most important objectives, something we hadn’t done for decades. Over the past 20-plus years the companies have tried to use every important development in the industry – be it distribution technology or reuse method – to weaken our strategic and financial position. A difficult strike in 1985 led to a rollback on home video. This has never been corrected and has cost writers about $1.5 billion in lost residual income. We could not get global jurisdiction of scripted programming on basic cable, and to this day

... Read More »