TUESDAY 12:30AM UPDATE: I've learned that both Jay Leno and the Guild investigating panel asked WGAw President Patric Verrone among others to make the final report public, including full transcripts of the hearing. But Verrone et al refused. So why was the Guild's excuse "confidentiality" since Leno willingly waived his? Or was Verrone more concerned that his own questionable conduct would be exposed?
MONDAY 6:30PM UPDATE: Prompted by my post today, the Writers Guild, West, finally released its trial committee report after refusing to do so because of "confidentiality". So why now? Only because I was releasing some of its findings -- among them that Jay Leno had been unanimously cleared. The WGAw report determined that the Guild owed Leno a public apology because Jay had been "done a disservice and his reputation harmed by these proceedings". I believe that the WGAw was purposely withholding this report because it presented President Patric Verrone in a bad light, which would have been damaging during the Guild elections. I can report that a key person complicit in this was WGAw staffer Neil Sacharow, who in my opinion should be fired. It was Sacharow who phoned me in consternation after seeing my midday advisory that my WGA vs Leno reporting was about to post. (More on the report below).
MONDAY 12:30 PM: Few issues during the November 2007/February 2008 writers strike stirred as much anger and emotion as whether WGA member Jay Leno violated Guild strike rules during his return to hosting ... Read More »
The following joint John Wells-John Bowman statement was read by John Wells and John Bowman last week at the Writers Guild while I was otherwise engaged:
John Wells: One of the great achievements of the strike and of Guild leadership during the strike was that we began and ended with a united Guild. I think I can speak for all of the candidates you’ll be hearing from tonight when I say we’re all committed to carrying that unity forward.
John Bowman: Of course we knew that John was talking to member of the DGA. I asked him to. But we thought his talks with members of the DGA were limited to A, B, and C. We did not know he would be talking to them about A, B, C, and D … with “D” being the agreement John made to endorse the deal if they were able to reach certain thresholds. Having talked to John about this in the past few days, I understand that he believes he had communicated this to us and to members of the Negotiating Committee. And I believe he acted in what he thought was the best interest of the guild. John
By Nikki Finke | Category: Guilds | Monday June 15, 2009 @ 10:32am PST
There's yet another success story to come out of the writers strike as more Hollywood talent tries to get out from under the studio and network system. But it's been a long time coming. Finally, Reveille last Thursday has signed a deal with Machinima.com, an entertainment network for the gaming generation. It's to executive produce and secure sponsorship for the Machinima Comedy Lab, a collaboration with 15 leading episodic television writers from popular TV series like The Simpsons, Futurama, SNL, Seinfeld, to develop original episodic comedy pilots for the Machinima.com network. One of those writers happens to be WGA West President and animation writer Patric Verrone. By securing sponsors for the Lab, Reveille and Machinima.com claim to be creating "a cost-effective way to incubate episodic series that can migrate from the Internet to TV with Reveille packaging the most successful series as pilots for broadcast and cable TV". (Machinima.com is the 7th most subscribed YouTube channel. It became widely known in the entertainment industry in 2006 when the creators of South Park released the Emmy Award-winning episode Make Love, Not Warcraft.) “This partnership [can] create original online content that’s highly attractive to advertisers, while allowing us to make the television pilot process more affordable and effective,” Todd Cohen, Vice President of Scripted Programming at Reveille, said in the press release. Commented Bill Oakley, an Emmy-winning writer and past showrunner for ... Read More »
By Nikki Finke | Category: Guilds | Sunday March 1, 2009 @ 9:24pm PST
Bill Scheft, who still answers his phone "Late Show Strike Captain," has been a writer for David Letterman since 1991. His latest novel, Everything Hurts, will be published next month by Simon & Schuster.
First of all, I am not thrilled following all the thoughtful "One Year Later" contributors with their facts, figures, historical perspective, and insight. But it could be worse. I could be in Burbank, following Leno at 10 pm....
A few months ago, I called the WGA East offices to check on the status of some overdue residuals (No, not those. Other overdue residuals.) I left a message for the comptroller with the receptionist, and before I hung up, matter of factly asked, "So, the picket line is 12PM-4PM in front of Viacom tomorrow?" She muttered something like, "Via-who?" and when I began to explain the reference, she stopped me and said, "I'm new."
Hard to believe it’s been a year, and I don't say that because I still have 10,000 pencils in my office that Les Moonves' secretary would not sign for. That said, it’s only been a year, the last six months during which the country has been in economic peril. So, for now, measure the success of the strike by the health of the union which emerged after the strike. WGA East is stronger, more efficiently run, and unquestionably more connected with its membership. We have maintained the strike captains. (Although we are
By Nikki Finke | Category: Guilds | Sunday March 1, 2009 @ 4:00pm PST
Carl Eastlake has been a TV showrunner and had staff positions on a dozen series and long-form productions. He is currently working on a pilot script assignment and has a studio feature assignment. During the WGA strike, he helped coordinate Guild members who volunteered to assist the press office.
Reading the press's coverage of the aftermath of the WGA strike I've been struck by how often the pieces ask whether the strike was worth it to the Guild, but rarely if ever ask the far more significant question of whether it was worth it to the studios.
I say this, because there's not much question that the studios intentionally prolonged the Guild's strike. Indeed Variety last week gave a huge amount of space to the dubious concept that the studios even cleverly "orchestrated" the timing of the strike.
I volunteered in the Guild's Headquarters during the strike. Contrary to the propaganda the studios disseminated about the alleged dictatorial behavior of the WGA's leadership, in fact it was remarkably easy to draw Patric Verrone, John Bowman and David Young into intense debate over strategy. It was clear to me during the studios' repeated walkouts from the negotiations, that the Guild - which never walked out of any of the sessions - didn't want a prolonged strike and would have returned to the table at any time and almost certainly have settled for much the same deal that the studios ultimately
By Nikki Finke | Category: Guilds | Sunday March 1, 2009 @ 1:47am PST
Ellen Stutzman, WGAW Research Director, wrote this for the WGA website.
It has been a year since the strike was settled, the contract ratified and writers returned to work, and in that time the world of New Media has continued to spin forward. Hulu’s rapid ascent into the top ranks of online video sites has demonstrated the Internet audiences’ appetite for television and film content, creators like Joss Whedon and Seth MacFarlane have found success with original New Media content and more than 1.4 million unique viewers streamed episodes of Lost on ABC.com in December 2008. Now, the cable companies may be throwing their hat into the online video distribution ring and Hulu has pulled its content from other sites and services, demonstrating the growing importance of online video and struggle for control over where you turn for content. The growth of the online video market highlights the need for a service that presents content in a way that allows viewers to easily find what they want, and you better believe that the media conglomerates and the cable operators want to be who consumers turn to for this decision.
A January 17 article in The New York Times presented a free software download called Boxee, a service that combines multiple online video sources into an easy to use interface, which can be connected to your TV. (Insert article link.) Boxee searches sites like YouTube, Comedy Central, Hulu and CNN to provide consumers with video content they
By Nikki Finke | Category: Guilds | Saturday February 28, 2009 @ 9:42pm PST
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
By Nikki Finke | Category: Guilds | Saturday February 28, 2009 @ 2:57pm PST
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
By Nikki Finke | Category: Guilds | Saturday February 28, 2009 @ 1:11pm PST
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,
By Nikki Finke | Category: Guilds | Friday February 27, 2009 @ 1:12pm PST
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
Emails are telling me that my name is among the signers of the "no-strike" petition on the Internet. I didn't sign this petition nor would I sign a "yes-strike" petition. In fact, I never sign petitions, period. Which shows how unverifiable the names are on what is now a meaningless petition. I will delete any comments linking to it. And, yes, the comments have been monitored since DHD began allowing them during the WGA negotiations. (See my previous, DHD UPDATE: Strike Comments Starting!)
By Nikki Finke | Category: Guilds | Thursday October 16, 2008 @ 11:09pm PST
UPDATE: Well, the Writers Guild Of America is not yet ready to call off its labor action against Tyler Perry Studios. Because even though everyone is confident there will be a deal, it has not been inked yet. Obviously, all those strike months negotiating against the AMPTP employers has made the WGA very cautious about getting the fine points pinned down by the lawyers before declaring any settlement has been reached. But my sources say an agreement in principal calls for Tyler Perry's two television series, House Of Payne (airing on TBS) and the upcoming Meet The Browns (the small screen version of his big screen hit) to become WGA-covered shows. This follows WGA picketing outside Perry's big new production studio as well as the considerable bad publicity for the entertainment mogul. The writer/actor/director/producer/author/playwright has been persona non grata in most of Hollywood after the Writers Guild filed charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board on October 2, accusing Perry of firing more than half his writing staff on the TBS sitcom House Of Payne because of their union activity, and bargaining in bad faith with the Hollywood guild. Dozens upon dozens of the biggest producer, writer and showrunner names in scripted television even went so far as to sign an open letter bashing him for his anti-WGA activity. And good thing Barack Obama declined Perry’s invitation to the grand opening of his Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta this month. Had ... Read More »
By Nikki Finke | Category: Guilds | Wednesday October 8, 2008 @ 3:15pm PST
The following message went out today from the Writers Guild West and East to their members. No WGA scribes may new write for the Ozzy Osbourne show (tentatively titled The Osbournes: Loud And Dangerous) being produced by FreemantleMedia North American. The email also reminds members that no WGA scribes can write for any of Tyler Perry's production companies which are being struck by the guild:
October 8, 2008
To Our Fellow Members,
Last week, you may have become aware of our ongoing dispute with Tyler Perry's production companies, which fired four writers because of their efforts to organize Perry's series, House of Payne. Pickets were up at his new studio's grand opening Saturday night in Atlanta.
Now, we write to inform you of another labor dispute.
Fox has ordered a primetime comedy-variety show featuring Ozzy Osbourne and his family, and has engaged FremantleMedia North America, the company behind American Idol, to produce it. Because they wanted to hire WGA members to write the show, Fremantle contacted the WGAW to see if we would agree to a sub-standard contract. Attempting to pay as little as possible to the writers on the show, Fremantle asked to treat it as "half-scripted" and pay greatly reduced writing fees to those writers who wrote skits, interview material, intros, and "outros." Although all of the writing on the show is of a type traditionally covered by our MBA (in such shows as The Carol Burnett Show and Laugh-In), Fremantle wanted to treat certain portions of the
By Nikki Finke | Category: Guilds | Sunday October 5, 2008 @ 6:15pm PST
No mainstream media outlets -- People, CNN -- even mentioned the WGA protest. And Barack Obama, though invited, did not attend the gala Atlanta event at Tyler Perry Studios. Here's who did: Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Cicely Tyson, Louis Gossett Jr, Holly Robinson Peete, Tracey Edmonds, music mogul L.A. Reid, singer John Legend, baseball legends Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds. Mary J. Blige, Patti Labelle and Gladys Knight performed. Said Tyler: "I was embarrassed by the success." He should be embarrassed by the shame.
By Nikki Finke | Category: Guilds | Saturday October 4, 2008 @ 6:43pm PST
Dozens of the biggest names in scripted television today signed an open letter to Tyler Perry after the Writers Guild filed charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relatios Board on Thursday after he allegedly fired more than half his writing staff on the TBS sitcom House Of Payne because of their union activity, and bargained in bad faith with the Hollywood guild. Now the WGA is picketing his studio:
This season, scripted television programming will consist of about 150 shows employing 1,200 writers.
Of that universe, 149 shows and 1,193 writers will produce shows covered by the Writers Guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement. The MBA guarantees minimum compensation, residuals, health coverage, and pension in addition to other benefits.
The big exception? Tyler Perry's House of Payne and the seven writers who, collectively, played a key role in producing over 100 episodes of one of television's most successful sitcoms.
Right now, these seven writers are in a struggle with you, the producer of House of Payne, to extend Guild coverage to the show. This past Monday, after months of negotiations with the Guild, four of the writers were abruptly and illegally fired because of their efforts to secure the same minimums and benefits as their peers.
We all know that producing television is a tough and uncertain business. But some things are simply not acceptable.
We have a simple ask – reinstate the writers and make a fair deal with WGA.
By Nikki Finke | Category: Cable | Friday October 3, 2008 @ 7:10pm PST
ACTION ALERT!
October 3, 2008
To My Fellow Members,
Our Guild is engaged in a labor dispute with Tyler Perry’s production company, House of Payne, LLC. Earlier this week, four of the writers on its TBS sitcom House of Payne, who were actively seeking Guild representation, were abruptly fired in violation of federal labor law. A fifth writer has since left the show in solidarity.
The Guild has been negotiating with House of Payne since April. Unfortunately, the company has refused to accept reasonable contract proposals, including payment of residuals. A few weeks ago, the writers, some of them WGAW members, were told by Mr. Perry himself: “Be careful about pushing the WGA deal or you could be replaced.” This warning, the subsequent terminations, and the company’s bad-faith bargaining, are all illegal. Accordingly, we have filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB.
House of Payne is an incredibly successful program. According to TBS, the second episode was basic cable’s all-time No. 1 sitcom telecast. House of Payne has generated $200 million in license fees from TBS for 126 episodes and recently sold into syndication on ‘MyNetwork’ for a reported additional $100 million. The House of Payne actors are covered under a Screen Actors Guild contract, and Mr. Perry, who has directed every single episode to date, is covered under a Directors Guild contract. However, House of Payne is one of the only scripted shows on TV that isn’t covered under a WGA contract.
EXCLUSIVE: The Screen Actors Guild is furious over Variety's erroneous report tonight that the guild "may agree to the majors' request to send out their final offer to the 120,000 guild members at the end of July." I'm told by one insider, "It's bullshit, especially the headline." That started out "SAG to send offer to members” until it was changed after complaints to the equally misleading “SAG may send offer to it’s members”. Said another source, "Absolutely not true at this time. Irresponsible reporting." The article also makes false assertions that SAG has stalled the negotiations -- ridiculous since it's now the AMPTP's turn to respond to SAG's counter-offer. This is yet another example of the trade writer Dave McNary making up a story about the guild negotiations that has no basis in reality, just like he did repeatedly during the WGA strike. And his inaccuracies are always aimed at stirring the pot in favor of the Big Media moguls, and against the guild leaders who fight for better contract terms. Really, when is this nonsense going to stop? As I've noted over and over, Variety writes what the moguls tell it because it's so dependent on them for advertising. It's like a parasite clinging to its host - and just as disgusting.
Despite the AMPTP's prickly statement tonight, and SAG's terse one (see both below), I can tell you what really went on in today's very crucial negotiating session... Today, SAG made a full counter-proposal to the Big Media cartel negotiating group's supposed "last best final" offer put on the table June 30th.
HOLLYWOOD – July 3, 2008 – This Independence Day, Strike.TV sets sail with a new online Network that gives total freedom to it's creators. Strike.TV was conceived by the professional communities of Hollywood and birthed during a year of hard times in the film and television industry. Sparked in large part by the recent labor disputes and fueled by the desires of professional story-tellers to do what they do best, Strike.TV is delivering upon promises that they made during the darkest days of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike in December 2007.
Strike.TV challenged their WGA peers to go out and do what they do best and asked them to create original pieces of entertainment for the Internet, and in return promised to do three things:
Strike.TV's first promise was to build and launch a 21st century social network for WGA writers and their creative counterparts around the world. Not just writers, but also directors, actors, and all of the other crafts and crew that create and contribute to a modern production. The first working meeting attracted over 400 pioneers who wanted to create during a time of turmoil. This working meeting was covered by The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and over 70 formal proposals were received. Through its online social network and community Strike.TV guided 40 projects into development with many more coming
I wouldn't get too excited about this 11th hour "Last Best Offer" by the Big Media cartel before SAG's contract expires at 12:01 AM on July 1st. Because WGA exec director Dave Young had already informed his SAG counterpart Doug Allen that the AMPTP offered the writers "at least 10 last best offers" before a contract settlement was finally reached. SAG has said it will keep bargaining and has no plans for a strike. It said the AMPTP offer looks like the AFTRA contract but the screen actors agreed to examine it before the next negotiating session on Wednesday. So there will be no last-minute theatrics tonight by either side, which means Hollywood can get a good's night sleep. (Although the British press headlines for Tuesday are blaring "actors strike" as if a labor action is as imminent as, say, tomorrow. Get a clue, people.)
SAG statement:
Los Angeles, June 30, 2008 – The Screen Actors Guild national negotiating committee has bargained with the AMPTP for the last 42 days and remains committed to negotiating a fair deal for actors as soon as possible.
The AMPTP today delivered a last-minute, 43-page offer that upon initial examination appears to be generally consistent with the AFTRA deal, particularly in its provisions relating to new media. The union is reviewing the complex package and will prepare a response to management once that analysis is complete.
The parties are scheduled to meet Wednesday, July 2, at 2:00 p.m.
Action Comedy TV: Showrunner Matt Nix 
SAG National Board Approves Joint Bargaining … 
BBC Drama Unfreezes Development Money; … 
Lionsgate Board Rejects Icahn's $6/Share 
Is Betting On Box Office Good For Films? 
Marvel Still Looking For Captain America 
'Sopranos' Creator To Film Rock Drama 
LIVE-SNARKING THE 82ND OSCARS... 
'ALICE' IS A MONSTER! $116.3M Blows Past … 
Oscar Not-So-Thriller: Diller Mogul Picnic 
'Precious' Sweeps 25th Indie Spirit Awards 
Howard Stern Won't Be Next 'Idol' Judge 
Justin Theroux Readying 'Zoolander 2' For … 
Mickey Rourke Wooed For Two Big Roles, … 
CBS Reups Les Moonves Through 2015 
John Wells: One of the great achievements of the strike and of Guild leadership during the strike was that we began and ended with a united Guild. I think I can speak for all of the candidates you’ll be hearing from tonight when I say we’re all committed to carrying that unity forward.
There's yet another success story to come out of the writers strike as more Hollywood talent tries to get out from under the studio and network system. But it's been a long time coming. Finally, Reveille last Thursday has signed a deal with Machinima.com, an entertainment network for the gaming generation. It's to executive produce and secure sponsorship for the Machinima Comedy Lab, a collaboration with 15 leading episodic television writers from popular TV series like The Simpsons, Futurama, SNL, Seinfeld, to develop original episodic comedy pilots for the Machinima.com network. One of those writers happens to be WGA West President and animation writer Patric Verrone. By securing sponsors for the Lab, Reveille and Machinima.com claim to be creating 
"a cost-effective way to incubate episodic series that can migrate from the Internet to TV with Reveille packaging the most successful series as pilots for broadcast and cable TV". (Machinima.com is the 7th most subscribed YouTube channel. It became widely known in the entertainment industry in 2006 when the creators of South Park released the Emmy Award-winning episode Make Love, Not Warcraft.) “This partnership [can] create original online content that’s highly attractive to advertisers, while allowing us to make the television pilot process more affordable and effective,” Todd Cohen, Vice President of Scripted Programming at Reveille, said in the press release. Commented Bill Oakley, an Emmy-winning writer and past showrunner for ... 
First of all, I am not thrilled following all the thoughtful "One Year Later" contributors with their facts, figures, historical perspective, and insight. But it could be worse. I could be in Burbank, following Leno at 10 pm....
Reading the press's coverage of the aftermath of the WGA strike I've been struck by how often the pieces ask whether the strike was worth it to the Guild, but rarely if ever ask the far more significant question of whether it was worth it to the studios.
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.
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.
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.
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:
UPDATE: Well, the Writers Guild Of America is not yet ready to call off its labor action against Tyler Perry Studios. Because even though everyone is confident there will be a deal, it has not been inked yet. Obviously, all those strike months negotiating against the AMPTP employers has made the WGA very cautious about getting the fine points pinned down by the lawyers before declaring any settlement has been reached. But my sources say an agreement in principal calls for Tyler Perry's two television series, House Of Payne (airing on TBS) and the upcoming Meet The Browns (the small screen version of his big screen hit) to become WGA-covered shows. This follows WGA picketing outside Perry's big new production studio as well as the considerable bad publicity for the entertainment mogul. The writer/actor/director/producer/author/playwright 
has been persona non grata in most of Hollywood after the Writers Guild filed charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board on October 2, accusing Perry of firing more than half his writing staff on the TBS sitcom House Of Payne because of their union activity, and bargaining in bad faith with the Hollywood guild. Dozens upon dozens of the biggest producer, writer and showrunner names in scripted television even went so far as to sign an open letter bashing him for his anti-WGA activity. And good thing Barack Obama declined Perry’s invitation to the grand opening of his Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta this month. Had ... 
EXCLUSIVE: The Screen Actors Guild is furious over Variety's erroneous report tonight that the guild "may agree to the majors' request to send out their final offer to the 120,000 guild members at the end of July." I'm told by one insider, "It's bullshit, especially the headline." That started out "SAG to send offer to members” until it was changed after complaints to the equally misleading “SAG may send offer to it’s members”. Said another source, "Absolutely not true at this time. 
Irresponsible reporting." The article also makes false assertions that SAG has stalled the negotiations -- ridiculous since it's now the AMPTP's turn to respond to SAG's counter-offer. This is yet another example of the trade writer Dave McNary making up a story about the guild negotiations that has no basis in reality, just like he did 
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