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What an incredible list of petty, mean-spirited and just spiteful behavior the Hollywood CEOs are compiling for themselves. Really, they're never going to be able to explain away this stuff when the strike eventually ends and they're held accountable by everyone else. I've been confirming episode after episode of the AMPTP's giant multimedia members retaliating in every way possible against anyone in Hollywood helping the WGA's side in this strike dragging on and on. I'll keep updating as more instances come in to me (so keep refreshing for the latest):
-->The latest is that Disney/ABC has rescinded offers to pay for tickets for TV show executive producers going to the SAG awards -- just two days after sending them emails saying ABC would provide four tickets per show. The exec producers are often hyphenates who also belong to the WGA.
-->Disney/ABC has decided not to pay for hair and make-up and even cars for its stars going to the SAG awards, something the studios and networks always do, since the actors have aligned themselves with the WGA and the SAG show received a Writers Guild waiver while it's increasingly unlikely that the Oscars televised by ABC will. "Their reasoning is that they don't want to pay for SAG actors to get all dressed up only to bad-mouth the studio on the Red Carpet," a source told me. Oh, like that couldn't happen at the Academy Awards, too, although ABC wouldn't air it.
-->Harvey Weinstein received a number of phone calls from the moguls warning him "You shouldn't do it," and "We can get this done with the DGA," when word leaked out that he was making a side deal with the WGA to be able to hire striking writers.
-->NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker has tried to bump both NBC 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan and NBC Celebrity Apprentice star Donald Trump from the recent guest rosters of The Late Show with David Letterman whose parent company Worldwide Pants did a side deal with the WGA to hire striking writers. Zucker's network minions tried to convince both men not to appear on the show. But Zucker allowed late night rival Jimmy Kimmel to guest on Leno and Leno to guest on Kimmel.
-->Zucker earlier bullied striking NBC comedy writers from Saturday Night Live not to appear on Letterman's first Late Show back from strike hiatus and announce the Top 10. The scribes were ordered by NBC to leave the Ed Sullivan Theater right before the taping. By doing so, they couldn't collect their personal appearance pay. But NBC found out too late that writers for Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Law & Order did the bit and Zucker wanted the names of everyone who participated and worked at NBC.
-->Zucker refused to allow the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to hold an untelevised Golden Globes awards ceremony even though it would have been unpicketed by the WGA and the actors, directors, writers as well as Hollywood studios and networks who won could have been celebrated.
-->NBC Entertainment co-czar Ben Silverman on Monday told his new best friend Ryan Seacrest, before the Golden Globes awards show was officially scrapped that, "Sadly, it feels like the nerdiest, ugliest, meanest kids in the high school are trying to cancel the prom. But NBC wants to try to keep that prom alive." (Now there's a T-shirt for sale benefitting the WGA strike fund that reads, "Nerdy. Ugly. Mean. Proud of it. WGA.")
-->AMPTP staffers, consultants and members (especially corporate publicity departments) are busily posting comments on WGA-friendly websites and blogs that Hollywood visits regularly and filling them with hate-filled rants against the WGA leadership, the A-list actors, and the companies who've made WGA side deals. The goal is to turn off readers and drive traffic away and in the process spread pro-AMPTP propaganda and make it look as if the strike is breaking apart.
-->News Corp. No. 2 Peter Chernin realized the AMPTP was losing the PR war and was most responsible for bringing in Fabiani and Lehane as the AMPTP's public affairs consultants since his company has a close relationship with them. Fabiani and Lehane were paid by News Corp. to orchestrate a 2004 campaign organizing advocacy groups by race and ethnicity to hammer Nielsen Media Research over its plans to modernize how it measures viewing habits.
--> Warner Bros Chairman Barry Meyer has handpicked the AMPTP paid mouthpieces who have spread the AMPTP's insults and disinformation about the WGA leadership.
-->The other day, an AMPTP consultant tried to start a rumor that a WGA exec was connected to child pornography.
-->The AMPTP repeatedly lies that the WGA has "a $30 million PR fund" to spread public information about the strike when the reality is that the WGA's entire communications budget is several hundred thousand dollars.
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Wow… can they sink any lower? Their “the average working WGA member makes more than [fill in the blank]” on their website was petty enough. Guess what, AMPTP? You’re not helping the LA economy by going to resorts and flying first-class all the time, thinking that the WGA should be the first to crumble.
They just keep digging deeper and deeper holes for themselves. What are they going to do when this strike ends and they need all the creative people to help them make their mounds of money.
I hate to tell you this, but your first example does not sound particularly mean spirited. You made the point for me–why SHOULD they underwrite a union-sponsored event where they are going to get bad-mouthed. Seems entirely practical.
And more to the point, why should they EVER pay for hair, makeup, and transportation for these people? I don’t think there a lot of tears being shed for this crowd outside of LA and NY. The rest of us have to dress ourselves for our parties.
I can hear the Big Media anti-trust investigation firing up at the DOJ from here….
That MPAA thing is legal. Jeez, what a bunch of sleazy fucking douchebags.
To be fair about ABC’s thing, not giving free props to people supporting the AMPTP’s “enemy” isn’t really a shock, even though the “enemy” is right. It’s not good, but I wouldn’t have expected it. As for cutting out people who make sides deals, it just proves they pay no attention to what they’re saying. Before they were claiming that side deals would have no effect. Morons. Know what you need? Good. Writers. Go, George Clooney, go! Bring them to their knees!
They’re building a whole new wing in hell for some of these guys. I love the phrase “when they end up face down on Satan’s griddle.”
And I’m an atheist.
Why would Disney pay for the nominees to go to an event to bad mouth them? In addition, the nominees aren’t working, they aren’t generating income for the studio, so why would they spend the money? It is just smart business.
Why would NBC want actors contracted to them appear on CBS, when these same actors have been told not to appear on the NBC late shows? Again, if SAG is telling them not to appear on Leno, why is it wrong for NBC to tell them not to appear on CBS? It only makes logical sense.
It was the WGA that would not allow a televised GG take place. They said they would picket, that lead SAG to decide to advocate that their members not attend the awards. Why is it NBC’s fault it was not taking place? Why would NBC say…well..we have a contract to televise the awards, but no…we will let you have them anyways..why would they do that? WGA decided that the awards would not happen when they would not sign an interim agreement with DCP and then when they said they would strike the event. That is not NBC’s fault.
This whole situation is a mess and needs to be resolved, but it is ridiculous to blame the studios for every single thing.
There is enough blame for both sides! The WGA needs to take responsibility for the situations they created, while the studios should do the same.
Is there a more loathsome individual in Hollywood than Jeff Zucker? Has anyone ever been paid so much to lose a company billions of dollars and take them from first place in the market to fourth? No one put it better than former G.E. CEO Jack Welch, when asked why Zucker hadn’t been fired yet. His response: “Because I’m not at the company anymore.”
As liberal as Hollywood supposedly is, these AMPTP folks sure are taking notes out of the Bush administration’s “Politics Of Fear” as they continue their pathetic attempts at maintaining a stronghold against the creative communities.
Keep fighting writers! And whether you’re with him or not, take a couple of words out of BARACK’S book and keep repeating them, “YES WE CAN!”
Change is coming. And you guys are just the beginning of it. I am certain of this.
These dont sound like vindictive ANTI WGA acts more like NBC protecting its intellectual property. NBC has a habit of having the stars of its shows go on its late night shows just as ABC does its. As for the untelivised golden globes. NBC has the rights to the golden globes. They paid for those rights. If the globes go on then NBC has the right to air them. But as always its slanted to look bad to the WGA. There would be no issue if the WGA leadership wasnt overly greedy with its all or nothing stance.
This kind of bravado is EXACTLY how Zucker turned the number one network into the number – what is it – doesn’t Animal Planet beat NBC? Hope all you top brass are taking notes from Super Whiny Toad. Zucker’s also got the world’s top scientists working on a contraption to suck all of the air out of the atmosphere so all the world’s air will be his – ALL HIS!
Jeff Zucker the colossal idiot who lost One Billion Dollars for GE when he destroyed NBC’s primetime schedule. Jeff Zucker the cowardly putz who should’ve been FIRED instead of being promoted. Jeff Zucker the wimpy whining asshole who realized he’d better blame Kevin Reilly for NBC’s failure instead of taking the blame himself.
Ironic considering Reilly gave NBC its only hit shows. Zucker should’ve been fired and Reilly should’ve been promoted. Jeff Zucker the buck-passing blame-dodging douchebag who thought hiring Silverman would be a really smart way to continue avoiding being blamed.
I guess my question is why does Zucker even have a job? Don’t the GE stockholders and the board realize what an incredibly incompetent nitwit Zucker is? Apparently not.
He inherited the #1 Network and immediately flushed its success down the toilet costing NBC over a Billion dollars in advertising revenue. And this is the schmuck who thinks he’s King of the Fools now?
Well in that regard I guess he is.
I’ve met him and he is without a doubt the dumbest most obnoxious most arrogant little egomaniacal prick in Hollywood. He never should’ve been elevated from his little feifdom on the Today Show. That’s the only thing he was ever qualified to supervise. He has been out of his league and in over his head ever since.
Proving once again that the fastest way up the showbiz ladder is to FAIL YOUR WAY UP IT. Failure really is the fastest way to the top. You can always find someone else to blame for your own stupid decisions.
Someone needs to kick the shit out this asshole. He needs to be terminated for legitimate cause by the GE Board. If they won’t do it the stockholders have to do it. In any other business costing your company One Billion Dollars in losses would be grounds for immediate and permanent termination.
In this business it means nothing. Jeff “Billion Dollar Loser” Zucker is walking proof of this. You really are The Biggest Loser ever Jeff. Congrats for showing your true colors so everyone can see what an incredibly small and cowardly little prick you are.
As someone who works for NBC Uni I am NOT surprised…..
When these moguls were in grade school, were these the kids who always “told” on you, the teacher’s little snitch? I think I grew up with some of these little ass…oh wait, I went to public school! Sorry!!
Being petty about the SAG awards is almost justifiable but in the end petty and dumb. Wow, do you think actors will nurse a grudge long after this is all done. Gee, I wonder if this will affect later deals.
Its sad that this is happening but both side are sinking to this and its costing all the crew members alot!
Its time that both sides STOP this BS and get back to the table and work out a deal. Can’t we just all get along and get this town back to work?
I blame both sides for this silly shit and its time they both get there heads out of there butts and start to talk and get a contract and get everyone back to work so they the people that are on the crews dont lose everything they have worked so hard for.
What a bunch of douch bags.
I have to agree about ABC (or any other company) not wanting to pay for SAG expenses when their stars aren’t even working. It’s ridiculous to expect them to period, let alone when it is giving them a platform to bemoan the current situation.
Try the real world for a while…this doesn’t even touch how petty companies can be.
Does anyone have anything NICE to say about Zucker? Seriously. Is there a classy show he ever championed? I know he takes credit for Fear Factor and supersizing Friends, but is there anything else? Is there any creator or star who speaking kindly of him? Anyone?
And more to the point, why should they EVER pay for hair, makeup, and transportation for these people? I don’t think there a lot of tears being shed for this crowd outside of LA and NY. The rest of us have to dress ourselves for our parties.
Comment by Bob Smith — January 10, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
Wow… Where to begin?
These “parties” are not for the actors. They are for the Networks who owns the show that the actor is currently employed by. Do you seriously think we enjoy going to these parties? Do you seriously think we enjoy walking through a press melee where 117 people ask the same damn question again and again and again?
These “parties” are a part of our contract just as is sitting in a chair for 12 hours while they parade 265 reporters past us to ask the same questions, doing gallery photo shoots, going on any and all promotional gigs and smiling and saying, “I love my show, I love my fellow castmates, everyone is just the best!”
It is marketing. They send us to these “parties” to market their product. We don’t have a choice.
The hair and makeup and clothes and cars are selected for you by the studio and network to promote the image they choose. We usually don’t even have a say in that. It is their way of controlling things.
If they really choose to not pay for cars, makeup, wardrobe etc. it will be very interesting to see who actually goes.
Oh Nikki – listen to your self. Its okay when the WGA strikers would show up on location of sets to try and shut down production or disrupted a show, and often banded together and would chatise anyone who went against them (ala someone going fi-core). How is this different. You should change your site to deadline wga daily. Its fine to have a belief one way or another, just stop trying to parade yourself off as a neutral and fair ‘journalist’.
What is going on with Jeff Zucker? I wonder if Letterman booked ET, yes, the little space monkey, would he not run it on his network ever again.
i actually think this is a good sign. It means that this shit is starting to get to them. They are getting angry, publicly, which is really not like them. Its a change in behavior that should be noted and capitalized on. Perfect timing with the AAA’s getting vocal. WGA, please don’t blow this opportunity.
Ew.
Jay Leno just said that people keep stopping and giving him jokes but he says, No no, I can’t use them
What a liar!!!
His whole monologue is being written by scabs.
And Jay is the King of Scabs.
No wonder he and Zucker are friends.
It’s outrageous that the studios would deny hair, makeup and limo services for the stars! Why, I remember in the big GM strike back in ‘98, the plant owners were bastards, but even they didn’t dare stop the pedicures for the machinists. And I can still recall the photos of the shipyard owners bringing sushi to the longshoreman at the docks during the big strike of ‘55. A little compassion goes a long way, people!
Nikki, where is that piece about Carefree, Arizona? I would love to see the WGA picket that resort in an attempt to restart WGA/AMPTP talks. As for all of this, it is silly to say that the AMPTP is doing all the examples as stated above. You can’t have it both ways.
I get a kick out the “but…but…but…the WGA…” posts in this thread. Ha.
This town is suffering by the hand of the AMPTP. Period. Full stop. End transmission.
Yes, the WGA has screwed the pooch a time or two, but the WGA always had an eye on resolving this. Still does. The AMPTP doesn’t. Never did.
All they have to do is come back to the table, and we’ll all be workin’ in a week. In the words of J. Belushi, “But, noooooooooo…”
Way to go, Captains of Industry. When Larry, Darryl, and Darryl get it through their $500 hair cuts that they’re just slitting their own throats here, maybe we can all get back on the job.
ATTN All ProdCo’s: You wanna be aligned with these jerkweeds? Negotiate. Hollywood is ready to go back to work, and everybody can plainly see the true colors of the “Big 8″.
Don’t get any on ya.
Yeesh. I have to — want to — believe in what Get Real @ 10:12 PM says. There has to be blowback somehow. I have a lot of beefs about how the WGA has handled certain things, but this creepy pettiness is beyond belief. This just goes to show what kind of martinets have been handed the once-proud Hollywood store by their callous corporate owners. I am curious if there won’t be more UA-style companies based and run solely by talent when this all shakes out, as writers are more likely to spit in the likes of Jeff Zucker’s face than want to work for him.
He looks way too much like Ari Fleischer for comfort, btw.
Looks like Weinstien will announce a deal with WGA tomorrow. That puts MGM distribution in a pretty sweet spot. The writing’s on the wall for the mogals at this point. They think the DGA is going to punk out, but with the leverage they’ve been handed, I don’t see it. The longer the mogals wait the weaker they get. Reaching for the popcorn, this is gonna be fun to watch.
Harvey,
Keep it punk rock, brutha! Gimme a call. I’ve got a great script for ya and I’m nothing like that megalomaniac, Troy Duffy.
Zucker,
You a sucker. Don’t call me.
“It’s outrageous that the studios would deny hair, makeup and limo services for the stars!”
Yeah, you’re hilarious. These are promotional events for the studios. They’ve work events, not anything that the stars are eager to attend. It would be like your boss sending you on a business trip, then telling you that since you’re going to such a cool place, you should consider it a vacation instead and happily pay for your own airfare, hotel, and expenses.
I like your website and keep coming to it for information, but this is the first time I’ve seen a complete one-sided rant against the AMPTP in one of your articles. To be fair, some of things you listed do not sound so mean-spirited on the part of the AMPTP. They just sound like the free ride is over until the strike ends.
Hmmm, a surprising amount of bitchy posts focusing on the SAG thing, and nothing much about all that other shit. Have the plants already driven out the real posters? Interesting.
Nikki pointed out one of the AMPTP tactics is to send shills to these blogs to post anti-WGA horseshit (okay, that’s my term, not hers).
And here they are, responding to her post pointing out this very fact, shoveling their anti-WGA you-know-what.
If I had to make a list as to why these moguls’ spec scripts all suck, not being born with an irony tendon would have to be high on the list.
PS – Hey shills get ready. Nikki’s going to be posting about the Weinstein deal in the next few hours, and you monkeys have to defecate fresh feces to toss at Harvey.
Anonymous, re: Zucker – look up the Peter Principle and you shall have an answer to your dilemma.
This is a rediculous list of nitpics. No doubt Nikki, you think the WGA is above such tactics and none of thier strategy is imature. Fact is most of what you are complaining about makes perfect business sense. Why would any business give out cash or services to someone that is going to bad mouth thier business?
The WGA is striking against the studios, to expect that the studios are going to operate business as usual with the writers is crazy. Sounds like some think the writers and supporters think they should have thier cake and eat it too.
How about compiling a list of some of the mean things said about studio execs by writers and others during the course of this strike?
While the AMPTP are by no means angels in this and they certainly deserve criticism for prolonging this strike, neither are the writers and thier supporters angelic by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve been on many a picket line and what I see here is tame compared to most strikes.
Sorry but I am with “Bob Smith” – it’s in your “contract” to go to parties? Please, spare us the hyperbole. I know it’s getting heated on both sides, but to expect to hold onto the dwindling support of the average viewer by whining that you are going to some lavish party and they won’t pay for your frills? And to complain that you have to put up with the photographers and crowds while you make your way down the red carpet to the goody bags in hair, makeup, transportation and often clothes and jewels that somebody else has “gifted” is an argument that just doesn’t play with a guy who works for $13/hr on an assembly line. Do you have any idea what the world outside of Hollywood thinks about, what their priorities are and how they really see you all? And by ALL, I mean the writers AND the producers? Whoever is telling you that you are winning the war of hearts and minds, especially with “gripes” like these, is flat out lying, and you are too busy walking circles in the picket line and holding up with your fellow producers to see it.
Now I know why dearest Nik doan pooblish my comments (bwahaha). When the poyfect lil angels of the we never do anything wrong keyboard brigade, are replaced by bots or monkeys (sober or drunk, take your pick). Nobody will be laughing, no one will have won.
So Long …. From Planet Earth
Wheeeee! See? Gossip and rumor mongering is fun!
The WGA has an equally long list of petty counterproductive behavior. Will that list appear on the site or have we totally abandoned the ‘both sides of the story’ facade?
Can NBC fire Jeff Zucker finally and take his whole mishandling (from “Coupling – current crap on NBC) and write it off as a loss and mistake. That guy is the epitome of corporate talent these days. He should consult for Bush.
TVWatcher
At the very least, that incident with the SNL writers on Letterman has the flavor of an Unfair Labor Practice. I know the WGA staff is busy, but if that story is true, someone should look into it and see if they can go after Zucker on it.
And they wonder why they’re losing the PR war?
How can people who run a business based on image, be so ignorant of their own image.
If you’re being accused of being dishonest, petty, bullying, and greedy, you do not go around being dishonest, petty, bullying, & greedy.
Fabiano & Lehane need some sort of miracle to put lipstick on this pig.
To sidelinedactor bitching about promoting your work: Sounds pretty tough. Care to switch jobs with me? Of course you’d make only $50,000/year. Oh what’s that? Things in Hollywood aren’t so bad?
Get a grip — you and your ilk are the reason why most people loathe Hollywood. May you and the writers strike forever.
Do items bought from CafePress.com really benefit the WGA? I thought the StrikeSwag was the only site that benefits the writers…
Wow.
So while the bosses get to sling mud like the idiots we had to deal with in middle school, those of us who do the grunt work on their shows are forced to duke it out on craigslist alongside the sixteen year olds?
Oh, no worries, Mr. Z. We can afford these tactics. Let’s have the strike go on for two years! We’re ready to proudly support your noble effort to put out the people who, ya know, CREATE the shows for your network. We’ll just try and live off of minimum wage jobs in the hope that maybe when this is all over that we can get back to work.
Yes. We are the young production assistants and writer hopefuls and producer aids who now can do nothing else but sit and watch as you and your co-horts arrive to work in limos and bemoan the evil writers, while we have to figure out how to make use of our degrees that mean nothing and our resumes that can get us zero jobs while we drive around in our fifteen year old cars and pray to God our credit limit is good enough to cover the gas bill.
This strike can’t end soon enough. It may not be the longest stoppage in history, but at least to me (and a lot of my colleagues), this is on par with a miniature Great Depression. Nothing like graduating with hopes and dreams of simply being a PA and working your way up only to be squashed down by CEOs.
I think you’ve lost all objectivity in this matter Nikki. You complaint about the studio’s tactics, when they are the same tactics that the WGA and SGA employ. Why is it OK for the WGA to “bully” people to honor the strike, but it isn’t OK for NBC to “bully” people not to appear on Letterman?
You complain about the “hate-filled rants” appearing against the WGA by the studios, but have yet to say a word about the “hate-filled rants” that appear in the comments on your own website about the studios. Worse, you decide to do your own name-calling, in this current post, calling the people who run the studios “bratty” and “petty, mean-spirited”.
I thought journalists were supposed to be objective, not take sides and try to demonize one side.
Zucker and crowd are morons. And they’re starting to crack. The anger and petty acting out are good signs. They’re cracking. I suspect we are closer to them coming back to negotiate than before. Hopefully very close.
It some ways, this thread is sadly hilarious. Nikki posts a list of activities the trolls of the AMPTP are up to, including posting fake comments denouncing the WGA and suddenly half-a-dozen of the most obvious and transparent trolls attack her on the same post.
Subtle is apparently not a word in Big Media’s lexicon.
Hey
Payback is a bitch
The WGa and Sag are now becoming collateral damage just like the crews and community have been for months.
Feel the pain…
Shill08
This is the most delusional of all of the delusional threads here on the WGA.org annex.
Here are some points everyone conveniently overlooks:
1) The strike is a business issue. It isn’t personal. The studios are analyzing this from a profit and loss POV. They don’t care what you think of them personally. There is no consequence for them if you don’t like them.
2) The new WGA strategy to make individual deals with small companies has no effect on the AMPTP. WWP, UA and the Weinsteins have minimal market share and their ability to hire writers doesn’t harm the majors. The Weinsteins have mostly failed and, I would guess, are starting to run out of money. UA has only released one bomb. Letterman going back to work strengthened CBS’ financial position.
3) Zucker’s doing BETTER now than before the strike. His late-night shows are earning money again at a much lower cost. Their older reality shows (Deal and Loser) have increased their numbers and Gladiators scored big. His football deal, which I criticized in Variety when it was made, has proven to be a win. With the deep cost reductions company wide, they are certainly making more money right now.
ABC’s reality line-up is also doing really well. Fox is doing well also and will start dominating with Idol. Both of their cost structures are strongly improved. Chernin just said all of that at an investor conference. If he were to say something like that and it were not true, he would be nailed hard in an investor lawsuit.
Movies are also doing well at the box office.
4) People throughout the industry are losing their jobs and are really suffering due to this job action. They are turning against the writers. This strike, if the guild’s goals are attained, will benefit a relative few while damaging very many. This is just starting to be understood. An anti-WGA backlash is starting.
As more people like the soap showrunners and John Ridley go fi-core, and nothing bad happens to them, others will follow. John Ridley has been offered multiple feature and TV jobs in the last couple of days. Yes, if a writer wants to get a staff job in the future, going fi-core has a big downside. But, if you are a feature writer or a TV writer who doesn’t want to be on staff, you are virtually immune from retribution.
5) The primary beneficiaries of any gains in residuals are writers who make a lot of money. Who gets the residuals? Credited writers. On TV series, who writes the most episodes? The upper level of the staffs: people who make high-six figure and low-7 figure amounts per year. In the feature business, the largest residuals go to those who write the movies that sell the most DVDs and do the most at the world wide B.O.. Who is that? The guys who write movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, Transformers or The Bourne Ultmatum. Writers who make $5Million and more per year. The same people will benefit disproportionately from any deal in Internet revenue. This is the least progressive wealth distribution system around.
Wake up.
Hey Zucker. Stop the games. Stop the bullying and get back to the table.
The more you act like this, the less people respect you…if that’s even possible.
“This town is suffering by the hand of the AMPTP. Period.”
d dragon – Actually, 100 percent wrong. A strike is a voluntary action. Writers walked off their jobs, they didn’t get locked out.
This is where everyone screams “shill” so go ahead….
Done? Ok, now this is where everyone screams “but the AMPTP refuses to negotiate!!!”
Hmmm…why does this sound familiar to me??? Oh right, just like the WGA refused to engage in any meaningful early negotiation like the AMPTP requested.
Everyone in the WGA seems to forget that they were the cause of this strike, not the other way around. Period. End of transmission.
One word re: Zucker – Emeril. I was at Radio City when JZ introduced “NBC’s newest star,” and watched with glee as Emeril marched down the middle aisle screaming, “Bam!” at the advertisers. A classic moment in NBC history.
Weasel is as weasel does.
(I wish Stewart would talk about this list on the air. Still wondering if he has a gun to his head.)
And good morning to you AMPTP web-chat people! Craigslist does work. Congratulations… no more sign-flipping for you.
Wow. I think the only way the WGA can properly compete with the AMPTP at their level would be to hire Karl Rove. I hear he’s looking for work…
” These “parties” are not for the actors. They are for the Networks who owns the show that the actor is currently employed by. Do you seriously think we enjoy going to these parties? Do you seriously think we enjoy walking through a press melee where 117 people ask the same damn question again and again and again?
These “parties” are a part of our contract just as is sitting in a chair for 12 hours while they parade 265 reporters past us to ask the same questions, doing gallery photo shoots, going on any and all promotional gigs and smiling and saying, “I love my show, I love my fellow castmates, everyone is just the best!””
Except that the actors are refusing to actually go to any of the important parties, remember. Why should the AMPTP pay for them to attend what is, as far as I can tell, a minor shindig intended to benefit the DGA with little publicity benefit. Especially as the DGA is allied with the groups trying to influence them not to attend the stuff that actually matters publicity-wise, it makes no sense.
The stars should go without the fancy hair and make-up and the fancy evening wear and jewellery.
Instead they should show up with messy hair, zits, and all wearing T-shirts* with snappy WGA slogans telling people to hold back buying DVDs and downloaded video until after an agreement is made.
If the moguls are so adamant about killing the film & tv industry, then give them a taste of what it would look like.
*I’d add going without bras, but there’s only so much sag should be seen at the SAG awards.
I’m no fan of Zucker’s or Trump’s but that’ll be the day when ANYBODY tells Trump where he can go and who’s show he can go on.
Trump could buy Zucker 5 times over.
And at this point I really doubt Leno and Zucker are all that friendly. But in certain ways they are 2 peas in a pod.
The WGA really is starting to gain the upper hand, but the problem is that the writers have been suffering serious pain for months, the actors and production people have been suffering serious pain for weeks, and the AMTP people are just starting to feel some significant pain.
The ideal would be if the WGA could somehow get the peopel who physically put TV shows on the air (and on cable) to go on strike themselves or walk out or slow down some other way, so that the networks feel extreme pain immediately.
This is getting sooo low. I am not a shill, and because I won’t blow smoke up Pat Verrone’s ass I wonder if Nikki will post this.
Here is my dream for how this ends…Having been in the business from BEFORE the big media congolmerates bought the studios, then hired the lame ass non-creative folks to run them, and back in the day when people had SOME integrity…I hope the WGA gets their dream of burning this business to the ground. Good for them. Let’s just take it down to ashes. Start all over and rebuild. Maybe the media freaks will pull out, once their stocks tank, and they will move on to greener pastures. Then, people like the Warner Brothers, Irving Thalbergs, etc. REAL creative people with souls, can come pick up the pieces and movies, and our business, can be about something. The vermin will be driven from our lives forever. Agents then might actually DO something, you know, this old time word called PACKAGING, rather than sitting on their lazy asses waiting for OFFERS. INTELLIGENT people will give the writers and producers notes at the studios, rather than saying “Can you put a MONKEY in your script?” Movies will be about collaboration, rather than “who can we screw and squeeze for the bottom line?” Ahhhh…the good old days. Well, a guy can dream, right?
I say the actors go to the awards as they go to the supermarket. Still do all the blabbing about their show, but dressed to contradict what the studio would have them look like. It’s not gonna happen, but it would be funny.
The problem is these big corporations are not based in the areas where their business decisions are felt. These CEOs report to Wall Street, not Wilshire Blvd. Same story everywhere. Multinationals get tax breaks and screw folks who work for a living.
That Jack Welch quote is awesome.
Way to be objective, Nikki!
I wouldn’t use Jack Welch’s dislike of someone as a touchstone for morality.
Most of these things are no worse than things that have been done by the WGA or things that have been suggested for the WGA or strikers in general to do.
Why is it different for studio execs to live as their money allows them to do and not equally wrong for supporters of the WGA (high profile stars and writers) to live a life of luxury. If the negotiations were being handled by people who were unemployed and living off of their limited savings this strike would have been settled long ago. I’m tired of hearing people still receiving paychecks, highly paid execs and highly paid stars tell me to stay strong. I’m also tired of union members tell me to have more concern for other union members (whome I don’t know and who may go home after working a picket line and fax in a few written pages) than I do for my family.
Jeff Zucker destroyed NBC and got promoted. Now he’s helping destroy all of Hollywood. I wonder how he will next be anointed.
Keep up the good work Jeff!
Geez, this industry is stuck back in high school except with gobs of money.
Nikki and the rest of you partisans – anyone bashing the studios in these comments is deluded just like anyone who would analyze and criticize all of the WGAs self-interested moves. its just hypocritical and its this partisanship that has kept the strike going on as long as it has
once people start looking at both parties positions and realizing that only supporting one side of the issues with vigor just perpetuates the stalemate will we start to compromise and come to a middle ground.
it feels great to stand up and fight for your cause and bash the other side but it keeps us from resolving the conflict and finding compromise. look at the wars across the globe, you see the same mentality perpetuating the conflicts. everyone needs to stop banging the table, separate their personal situation from the conflict and look at this like a member of the entertainment industry as a whole, not one side or the other. otherwise we will just go an eye for an eye and keep shooting ourselves in the foot for months and months
Why does any of this shit matter? AT ALL? Seriously, who gives a fuck?
There’s not one writer in the WGA that needs a job that would turn down a pilot or development deal from any of these guys.
Really, you all need to get over yourselves.
Nikki – I love your site… LOVE it… but you really have, once and for all, declared that you are in NO WAY neutral in this arena! I suppose that’s fine – since Big Media has Variety – but it’s a shame because you’re a great reporter. I can’t imagine that the WGA hasn’t done their share of dirty tactics – but your entire base would revolt if you ever posted something like that – not that you ever wood.
By the way – I am NOT a shill – not a member of BIG MEDIA…
While studios are sending out thousands of lay off notices, I would hope they cut back on hair and make-up for the stars first…
Nikki. I support the WGA too, but you have lost your perspective.
Please take a hard look at the balance of your coverage…you are a great journalist. Don’t blow it.
Its time that both sides STOP this BS and get back to the table and work out a deal. Comment by Mitch — January 10, 2008 @ 9:44 pm
the wga would love to negotiate in good faith, and are patiently waiting for the amptp to come back to the table. it is the amptp who walked out of negotions, MORE THAN ONCE btw. it is the amptp, and ONLY the amptp, who refuse to go back to the neogtiating table.
I have to admit, I don’t understand why anyone involved in the Entertainment Industry would be surprised by any of this, but I’m glad that you, Ms. Finke, have posted it for all the world to see.
It’s important for people to know the sort of, um, *stuff* the WGA, SAG, DGA and even some members of the AMPTP are going up against.
Thank you, Ms. Finke.
It takes two to tango, and yes the media moguls are acting like complete jerks, but c’mon, writers have to take SOME responsibility for people being out of work. Just give it to me straight, they’ve done some things that have completely screwed over tons of people also. You lose credibility when you don’t recognize the facts; i.e. why people completely hate George Bush.
They’re upset because they have to pay for people to do what the writers and their fans will do for free!
i didnt realize there were so many bitter people in the world. well off writers strike more well off producers. greedy and greedier. try telling a grip or an electrician (working grips and electricians) about how poorly the writers are being treated. or any of the working crews out there who are no longer working. and please dont give me the wga line about this is for them. its not. it never was and never will be.
what was that line oh yeah “greed is good” should be the wga slogan. strike from a place of power not weakness. and as for who’s going to write this crap when its all over (assuming anyone actually carries a grudge) the answer to that is any available 6th grader.
You’d think Jeff Zucker would be too busy running his network into a ditch to have time to be so petty. Remember his first move as NBC president, “Emerald Live”? The man must be very good at managing up, because he’s been to NBC what Bush has been to America: a disaster.
–>Harvey Weinstein received a number of phone calls from the moguls warning him “You shouldn’t do it,” and “We can get this done with the DGA,” when word leaked out that he was making a side deal with the WGA to be able to hire striking writers.
so, is harvey weinstein still an a-hole, or are you just a shameless opportunist?
I am shocked…SHOCKED to discover there are AMPTP trolls and paid shills making comments on this blogsite, and pretending to be something they’re not. I’ll put a stop to it immediately!
Chris Lehane (look-alike)
Um, Nikki, how long have you been covering Hollywood?
This is typical day-to-day bullshit. There’s nothing Hollywood power people love more than to fuck over and play mind games (especially when it comes to finances) with their workers.
There are no nice people in Hollywood. Everyone’s in it for themselves and they’ll cut your balls (or tits if you will) to get what they want or just because they’re bored.
Uh yeah… CantWaitToGraduate, I think you owe Martin Mull some money. That line is how old?
And not all crew are anti writer. I know exactly who is taking the jobs away, and it ain’t the WGA. Think it through all, you bitter folks. Except the trolls, you can sit and spin.
I’m a nice person and so are most of the people I work with from management down. Unfortunately, we’re all out until the AMPTP comes up with a fair deal.
Wow, child porn charges? Haven’t seen that one since the local elderly crank tried to oust a friend of mine from city council in a tiny suburb of San Jose (the crank didn’t want city taxes to pay for a few new high school teachers on the grounds that kids these days are too spoiled).
Not surprised by the vile Internet posts; the P.R. firm must be desperate, since that’s a task they normally delegate.
Like it or not, Gavin Palone is right. I’m not in love with the guy. But he know way more than most of the people who post here. Sadly, a lot of you aren’t even in the business, or are trying to get in, etc. and are listening to the “hate the “AMPTP” rhetoric. As Mr. Palone rightfully states…this is business. They don’t really CARE if you like them.
I am personally appalled and shocked by much of the WGA behavior. I can’t get onto the studio lots because of the snarky picketers who won’t be courteous and move out of the way. I don’t care if you have a right to legally be there. I have a right to go to my meetings. I have not directly harmed you. So let me get on the lot. No wonder that guy hit Rene Balcer. I am so full of anger and rage over all of this.
The writers I ask the big question…WHY don’t you just take the jurisdictional issues off the table and ask for what you really want…money???? Well, they claim it’s their “leverage.” How’s that working for you guys now? Do you feel great about all the fallout from this? How dare you? Did the agents from ICM who got fired this week cause you this problem? They might not get their jobs back. More than likely most of the people who are out of work won’t come back. But you all just grin and shout at the rooftops that you won’t stop until you burn this business to its foundation.
Please be aware that all of the writers I know secretly question their leadership and the choices made. Will they say it to YOU? You people who call anyone who questions this pathetic mess a loser, scab or shill? No. But they say it to me. All day. The AMPTP will make the deal with the DGA. You will take it. And it will be what you would have gotten had you acted like grownups. Can you then write letters of apology to all of the people who lost their incomes and much worse? That’s the least you can do.
Nikki, I am shocked by how one-sided you are. So pro-WGA. If you don’t post this, I know why. I will just say that this is the first time in my 30 year career that I would be embarrassed for my dead father to know the shame I swim in every day. I might go to Craiglist myself and find a career that doesn’t involve whiny, spoiled children. By the way, it’s the most dumbass thing I have ever heard to accuse anyone and everyone here who doesn’t like the WGA’s nonsense of being a shill or working for the enemy. I can assure you that I am a 30 year veteran of this business who works with writers daily and, until this mess, had a tremendous amount of respect for them. Not so much now. Sorry.
Randy wondered “Can you put a MONKEY in your script?”
That is exactly what needs to be in the final guild contract. All scripts must have monkeys! Monkeys are funny and friendly. Except when they attack people and kill them. They’ll bite your ears and nose off, gouge out your eyes and bite off all your fingers. Ross had a monkey named Marcel on Friends but then they got rid of the monkey and what happened? The ratings for Friends went down the toilet! Look at Planet of the Apes. The original was great the remake stunk. But at least it had monkeys in it. Yes it’s very clear that monkeys are the key to a successful deal with the studios and networks. Monkeys for everyone! Make it happen Verrone. Or I’ll feed you to the monkeys!
New medium, new rules. Except for one: Advertisers always win.
The Internet is a viable business/entertainment model and more people are turning to it every day. The majority of users in the US are on broadband connections now. Web traffic on The Daily Show site has increased since the program returned to air. Surfers can download commercial-supported full episodes of television shows and they do, by the millions.
This is a fight for the future. In the end, it will be the advertisers that end this strike. They’re already asking for refunds and credits, due to audience disinterest in broadcast programming and first-run films. They will eventually, put their collective feet down and tell the suits to knock it off.
Advertisers want eyes. They can get targeted, log-verified eyes on the net. They know exactly how many people click their banners. They know exactly how many eyes see that banner. If the AMPTP keeps up its greedy grab, the advertisers will turn to that as-yet-unproven-business-model, the Interweb.
AMPTP: Pay the writers their fair share of residuals for Internet-based content. What is it you pay them now? Something like four cents for every trillion downloads? Get real and get back to the table.
Since this started I have been seeing very clearly the need of the producers to destroy the writers (and actors union) This has been the Producers change to see what kind of cr*p we the consumers will swallow so they can do more of the kind of outsourcing to non-union activities for profit that the Auto makers have been taking out of the US to defeat the Unions!
(I have my own issues about unions from my Arizona -right to work state but HERE I am solidly pro writers.
I saw a ray of hope last night when I hear of yet another small production company that had signed an agreement with the Writers.
This is IT guys – this is the change for YOU to take down the Producers who have been so abusive to not only you and the other “little” people, but to us consumers as well!!!
Go for the small companies who support you – get them back on line so they can start doing programming that CABLE will buy (and the networks will cave too, when the advetisers start pullin their money, no matter how MUCH they side with the producers in this.)
I have said – I KNOW there are many of us that would give up our favorite shows to start from scratch with shows from the smaller companies to get things back on track with entertaiment that has been such a great contribution of the pleasures of our lives!
make the agreements with the little production studios like Lettermans and thumb YOUR nose at the AMPTP until they come crawling back to YOU BEGGIN for a chance to negotiate – (and then dont – let them drown!)
HanEnuffWGA, I call bullshit. I’m not a WGA member, but I’ve been to four pickets this week. *Not one* of these pickets involved blocking a gate; at all four picketers consistently got out of the way of cars. (This was at multiple locations–NBC and CBS.) At what gate, on what day, at what time were you blocked?
None of the writers I’ve spoken to–and I’ve spoken to a lot–have questioned the leadership. Whatever deal the DGA makes, it’ll be far better than the one they would have gotten, thanks to the WGA’s leverage.
This strike is about getting paid for highly skilled work–as opposed to not getting paid. Simple as that.
Let’s have your name and the location of the gate you blocked. Otherwise, you’re a goddamn liar.
Dear G,
You did not leave your name…why should I? I will tell you that this past TUESDAY, January 8th, at 10:30 am I was at the PARAMOUNT STUDIO WINDSOR GATE and there were NINE CARS (I counted) lined up Melrose trying to get on the lot, honking their heads off and PISSED AS HELL. It took FOREVER to get the snarky ass picketers to move. FOREVER, AND IT MADE ME FRIGGING LATE TO MY MEETING. I went BACK to Paramount on FRIDAY, January 11 (yesterday dumbass) at 3 PM and there were NO picketers. I thought FINALLY that the studio had gotten rid of the nuisance somehow, so I asked the guard what happened when he gave me my drive on pass. He said that the picketers had started early in the am and then went home early. Then we kind of made a few snide comments about how ridiculous you guys are acting. Whatever the case was, I was sooo grateful to be rid of you pains in the ass. I also had it happen at Fox and Warner Brothers, although I can’t give you the exact dates and times. Funny that Fox also had the Rene Balcer indicent. Again, the intelligence level here is soooo minimal. Anyone who contradicts you idiots is a liar, shill or scab. Get a life and grow up. And stop the pissing match you will never win so we can all go back to work. You have NO idea how little sympathy you guys have in the industry now. Oh yeah, and I am really sure that all your picketing little friends would never question the guild. I am talking about REAL writers with a lot to lose, who are losing it. You peons don’t matter to them and they want this settled.,
re Weinstien…. and any other side deal… Union sponsored scabbing… think about it. Where is the solidarity people? How about fighting for your less employed scribes a little too?