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EXCLUSIVE: I wish I had better news about the AMPTP-WGA contract negotiations, but I don't. To sum up, they suck. I took extra time reporting tonight, and some very surprising developments came to light. 
For instance, Peter Chernin is privately telling Hollywood that the producers plan to quit the talks any day now. That they have no intention of coming back with another streaming proposal "until we are close". And that they'll only give a better electronic sell-through formula "at the last minute" when a contract with the writers is virtually signed.
These quiet remarks by the Fox/News Corp No. 2 are the complete opposite of what the AMPTP is telling the WGA around the bargaining table.
I'm told Thursday's talks began at 10 AM, and both the WGA and AMPTP had a brief discussion about streaming, made-for-web content pay and jurisdiction, and electronic sell-through. Then one of the negotiators from the network and studio CEOs' side declared, "The DVD formula is good for you, and you should embrace it with open arms."
The AMPTP then claimed it had "a proposal coming" supposedly based on the writers' streaming counter-proposal from Tuesday and asked the WGA side to wait around. By 5 pm, it wasn't done. Then the producers claimed they would work on the proposal at the hotel straight through midnight or later and give it to the WGA at Friday's session.
But some of the WGA negotiators hung around the hotel and, to their surprise, watched the AMPTP contingent get in their cars at exactly 6 PM and individually drive off.
(This follows what happened on Wednesday when the AMPTP negotiators asked to break early to celebrate the first day of Chanukah -- yet their official statement later claimed it had been the writers side who didn't want to negotiate late into the evening...)
Chernin, CBS' Les Moonves, and some of the other Hollywood moguls this week keep kvetching about how "frustrating" the AMPTP-WGA talks have become and how "pessimistic" they are about a quick resolution. The bigwigs have even concocted this fiction that they wanted to solve the strike in three intense days of negotiations before Christmas but now they see that's impossible because of the level of mistrust and misunderstanding around the table. My sources tell me the CEOs seem to be looking for any excuse to blame WGA chief negotiator Dave Young specifically for "blowing it".
But the truth is this: the Hollywood moguls have not delivered on their promises. And Chernin's statements make clear they never had any intention of doing so right now. Days are passing, and the AMPTP still hasn't come back with a counter/counter-offer to the WGA's counter-offer to the AMPTP's offer on streaming. Days are passing, and the AMPTP still hasn't come back with the 2nd half of its New Media proposal presumably containing ESTs. Days are passing, and the AMPTP and WGA are still paralyzed on Internet issues, which is why they moved way down their list to the subject of Reality TV jurisdiction. Sure that angered the CEOs who own a network -- and I think it was a giant mistake by the writers' negotiating team to get off New Media and onto that. But it came up because of the AMPTP's stalling tactics, and the two sides had to jawbone about something.
In conclusion, I wouldn't be at all surprised if, as soon as Friday, the AMPTP walks out of the talks with a news release in hand that it's all the WGA's fault.
And I now predict the CEOs will make a big public show of deciding to open talks with the Directors Guild right away and thus try to screw the striking writers. (That's already begun -- today's Los Angeles Times virtually announces it in roundabout fashion by noting that 300 director-writers today begged their DGA to hold off...)
And I predict the AMPTP won't return to negotiations with the writers until February at the earliest after declaring force majeure. Please, oh please, prove me wrong.
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Is there a reason the WGA is not publicly speculating on this stall tactic as a reason to dump some development deals?
Why don’t they accuse them of that, and either force them to admit it and look like idiots, deny it and look like idiots when they do it…or deny it and then actually not do it?
These rumors have been swirling FOREVER. Are they really unable to take it seriously after all of the stalling?
Call them on it and let them do their damage control.
When are the force majeur letters suppose to go out? If we’re 5th weeks in, wouldn’t they go out next week? So is this why they’re stalling OR does Amptp really they can still get DGA to neg next.
Here’s an article from today’s Times on that –
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-strike7dec07,1,3328509.story?coll=la-headlines-business
WTF? It’s obvious the Producers don’t give a rat’s ass about those of us, below the line. And they just leave?
Don’t these people have any manners? And the writers, making all those jokes about the producers? Nice way to score some points! Well, looks I won’t be going back to work soon because both sides can’t control their egos.
Jebus!
Then what’s been Bryan Lourd doing — they should be neg round the clock and tha WGA should have had that DGA letter sent out weeks ago to form an official alliance with them. Geez.
Okay, just took a lunestra since I haven’t been able to sleep ’cause of strike and am now getting sleepy and turning into Judy Garland — hey, maybe I’ll turn into Rufus Wainwraight!
Here’s what I think the WGA should do after the AMPTP finds some excuse to break off talks.
Still have them.
Schedule them, pick a place, invite the AMPTP, and leak the time and location to the press.
Then arrive, sit there, and wait.
Let the press take pictures of the writers waiting to negotiate in good faith while the AMPTP does not show up. Let the writers be asked about the details of their unanswered counter-proposal for internet streaming and let them talk about how they hope to have a fair deal by Christmas.
Force the AMPTP to put out a press release explaining why they never showed up.
I would not be surprise if “Big Media” is stalling because the FCC vote is coming up Dec. 18, 2007 and if they can look reasonable and cast the WGA as bully, they hope to cut off Congressional oversite.
I think it’s a mistake to stop picketing in front of Wall Street….that’s where they bleed.
So the AMPTP gets the writers hopes up early in the week and then dashes them later in the week. Two weeks in a row!
Gosh, if I didn’t know better it almost seems like they’re doing this on purpose to break the spirit of the writers. That way the writers ask for less money and SAG follows suit and also asks for less money when it’s their turn to make a deal.
But doing that would be so mean. The AMPTP wouldn’t do that. I mean, to get to be the head of a major corporation you have to be really nice and care about the little guy. Silly me.
What the AMPTP is doing is illegal.
Competitors are not allowed to negotiate together, to even confer together. It’s called collusion. When baseball owners merely created an “information bank” for offers being made to free agent players, they were fined $280 million. Two competitors cannot talk with one another if there’s just a hint of agreement. In this case ALL competitors in an industry are getting together to set ALL wages and ALL labor conditions.
They are engaging in collusion. The time has come to call your representative or senator in Congress and ask why this illegal monopoly is allowed to continue.
NOW.
Can’t.write.too.furious.want.blood.in.the.water.
WGA should offer the presidential candidates free services a la “Speechless” if they pressure Washington to begin subcommittee hearings. Frankly our ads are better than anything I’ve seen on TV for Clinton, Obama or Edwards.
It’s getting to the point where the stars have to intercede. Not the showrunners but the networks’ real assets.
Nikki–
Unfortunately, you’re not going to be proven wrong. Your analysis is dead-on. The studios believe they can come out of this negotiation paying essentially the same for the internet as they do presently for DVD’s.
They’re willing to write off this television season to get that (or at least a majority of them are). They’re about to move on to the DGA, who if they had any integrity would make it clear they won’t negotiate with the AMPTP unless and until they negotiate fairly with the WGA.
If it goes to February, why won’t they wait until June? What’s the point in having the writers back, if the actors walk? Studios are still stuck with no production.
IMO, it either gets done in Dec/Jan or pushed off until June, or early talks with SAG start so there is no strike in June.
As this goes on, it is becoming painfully obvious how unreasonable the moguls are and on a personal level, it is extremely disappointing that they feel they must resort to bullying and lowball tactics. Should they choose to continue this way, I believe a letter writing campaign needs to begin to Congress urging an investigation into media consolidation and the studio’s shady accounting practices. I am not a member of The Writer’s Guild — I’m just a concerned fan who supports them in this strike — and earlier this morning, I noted that at United Hollywood, almost 500,000 pencils have been bought to send to the moguls in support of the strike. If each one of those pencils were converted into a letter to a Congressmen urging an investigation then perhaps the moguls will start behaving themselves and begin acting like adults? Fans like me are ready to mobilize and send thoughtful letters to not only our representatives, but the Justice Department, the FCC AND ALL the Presidential Candidates with a nice reminder that this is an issue that will sway a vote in November. It shouldn’t have to be this way but the AMPTP is CLEARLY insuring that it is becoming necessary. Do they realize how pissed off people are gonna be when the 4th season of “Lost” gets all messed up while they’re playing these ridiculous games? No new “24″ until when? Transformers 2 is on hold? Let me grab a pencil, paper and a bunch of stamps. After the first of the year, the actors in those “speechless” ads might just have to start urging folks to start doing a little writing of their own — letter writing from regular people CAN change the outcome of this.
Wow. Just…wow. They really are a**holes, aren’t they?
Looking forward to the day when the creative folk can cut these guys out of the loop entirely….
It’s time for everyone to settle in for the long haul.
Get ready for force majeure. This thing’s gonna run it’s course before anyone will be ready to negotiate seriously.
So I’m sitting here listening to Imogen Heap “Hide and Seek” as I read Nikki’s words I’m seeing all of the ambition and hopes of moving to L.A and living the dream slowly wither.
I’m glad I invested $80,000 in my Emerson College Master’s Degree. I guess I’ll go teach until this blows over. Well, to everyone who has lost their job, going to lose their house, car, and spouse….Dont ever forget the reason you came to this industry. We have to stand strong and find a way to survive. Maybe who ever wrote the script for LEOLO can write some inspiring words for us to ponder. That was a kick ass movie!!!!!!!!
Jimmy that’s a great idea– like when a politician challenges the opponent to a debate and when they turn it down, show up anyway for the cameras..
It’s an interesting idea.
ANONYMOUS: Collusion? Among the six multimedia conglomerates? Say it ain’t so!
It’s nice to see that some of the directors aren’t willing to undercut their “collaborators” (we’ll discuss possessory credits later). The WGA and the DGA have to stick together here because they really are next in line for the AMPTP’s buttf**king.
How did we end up with guys lik this in charge of the studios and networks? And where the hell are their parents? Shameful..
I’m a feature writer who is “pencil down” on an assignment right now. A few weeks ago I found a non-industry job to pay the bills until this strike ends.
I urge everybody to go out and find jobs elsewhere to tide them over. No one should be waiting for these AMPTP fatcats to be reasonable. Big Media is not negotiating in good faith.
I thought the AMPTP was supposed to deliver the second half of their proposal on Tuesday, December 4th “at the latest.”
They are the ones who promised it. Where the hell is it?
If you are waiting for the FCC or the government to help out in this situation, you are going to be waiting for a loooooong time. Kevin Martin is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch Inc., and this is an election year wherein the PAC’s, which every media conglomerate has, will be doling out cash to campaigns that make sure their interests are protected. Stop being naive, your government is not elected to serve you, they are elected to serve the companies who gave them the money to get in office in the first place.
As always, the real issue is that the WGA negotiating committee is a made up of people who are completely outgunned and in way over their heads. This is a job for professional dealmakers, like Ken Ziffren, Ernie Del, Sam Fisher, Debbie Klein, Peter Benedek, Steve Lafferty etcetera and we should solicit same to do the job, not put it in the hands of writers who are currently being played like a grand piano. Read Nikki’s posts in chronological order since we went back to the table and look at the pattern. See the AMPTP strategy? It is easy to discern. See the WGA strategy? No? That’s because there isn’t one and we are always reactive to the other sides moves as a result. We look like a bunch of fucking amateurs for a reason, think about it.
It’s fine for Verrone, Bowman and their overly inflated Harvard egos to lead the union from a populist big picture standpoint, but business is business so enough of the posturing and the ego driven screwing around. We all know this will settle at some point, eventually, so by definition there is a deal to be made. Let’s get some pros in there to make it.
I’m going start contacting some advertisers and letting them know that I will not support any type of replacement programming. This is getting ridiculous. I’m not a member of the WGA, just a very pissed off viewer. What is the AMPTP doing?
It is the time for the public to get involved in this mess. The writers are not asking for anything other than a fair deal. The public can and should start contacting the advertisers and put the pressure on them. When the fat cats start losing the dollars that keep them where they are, things will change and they will start to bargin in good faith. We the public are able to do that much for our fellow workers.
What you’re reporting, Nikki, certainly dovetails with AMPTP’s move to hire the big PR guns at the beginning of the week. Why bring them on board now (for what is surely well above the “$200,000 average WGA salary”) unless it’s to grab the high ground by spinning their walkout.
Keep on the reporting. This is the first major guild action since the full power of an online community has come into effect. With it, the WGA can leverage it to win a fair deal. And let’s not forget. When a $200-$400 million chunk of revenue from a franchise such as DaVinci Code/Angels and Demons gets moved out of 2008 income projections, into 2009, the media companies and capital markets FEEL it. Same goes for very major feature that was slated for 2008 that gets bumped for script issues. It denies them income and that MEANS SOMETHING, in real dollar terms. The reduced cost outlays DON’T balance things out, as real capital and real income is being denied to some very hungry corporate beasts.
Stand strong. The fight and the pain are worth it. We’re all in this together.
Chicago John
I TOLD YOU. Everyone gets into hissy fits when I post but EVERYTHING I HAVE SAID SO FAR HAS COME TO PASS. I posted the following statement yesterday in the thread regarding the WGA demanding Reality TV (the statement was in response to a writer who disagreed with my take on why the WGA screwed up BIG time with that tactic and will cause you ALL to pay dearly for it). Here’s the statement — it still holds true — and it is coming true (based on Nikki’s post) (also, you all should have KNOWN that when they hired big PR people, the talks were irrevocably broken – seriously, talk about the writing being on the wall – no pun intended):
Previous post from yesterday:
Jimmy, you missed my point (if I’m understanding you correctly). What I meant by this Reality TV tactic coming too late and it being more effective six weeks ago is that it is way too late in the game to pull THIS type of maneuver. Six weeks ago, it would have made more sense to try this exact tactic (the earlier in the negotiations the better) and it would have been met with silence (as you say) and barely a grumble from the producers (but would have still been rejected of course). To pull this at THIS stage in the negotiations is definitely going to warrant anger and retaliation from the producers if for no other reason than that it is so transparent that it’s an effort on the part of the WGA to “play” the producers (it’s an insult to the intellect — at least when the Producers have pissed off the WGA, it has genuinely left you guys wondering what the hell is going on – THIS is just… elementary). It’s like when a child tries to outwit their parents by telling a very obvious lie. The adult punishes the child to put them back in their place. Hate to use that analogy, but the producers are going to retaliate. That is NOT what will move the negotiations ahead. It will set it further behind and cause them to dig their heels in the sand even more. If the WGA is going to play the game (so to speak) at the negotiating table, they’ve got to come with something stronger and less obvious than this (we all KNOW the WGA is not holding out for reality tv and, guess what, so do the producers).
Next Up: FORCE MAJUERE. (like I said weeks ago)
To: Peter Chernin, #2
From: Rupert Murdoch, #1
Re: Your New Employment Contract
Dearest Peter,
I told you last week I would provide you with the second half of my offer this week.
However, I have changed my mind.
I will not make the second half of my offer.
I will not respond to the counter-offer you made with regard to the first half of my offer.
And I will not tell you how much I am willing to pay you until the last minute when your new contract is virtually signed.
Cheers,
Rupert
Unfortunately, I don’t think collusion is illegal, at least not in the baseball example. The owners fined for collusion were in violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, not any specific law, I believe.
That’s not to say that the the studios and networks still don’t engage in any number of illegal accounting practices that they could be brought up on charges for. If they walk this time, I say it’s back to DC and force these assholes to open their books. Or give us a deal. Their choice.
Hold me.
It’s official: They are playing chess, while we are playing checkers.
We all know their strategy, in a general sense, is “divide and conquer.” Last week, through a clever disinformation campaign, they convinced us that a great proposal was coming our way and that the end of the strike was near. They raised our hopes and then dashed them.
They depressed us, but they did not divide us.
Why? Because there was nothing to be divided over. The deal they offered was so shitty — particularly compared to our high expectations — that nobody I know thought for a second that we should take it. Ultimately, depression turned to anger and we returned to the lines on Monday in force and united.
Now look at what’s happening: They, once again through Nikki, are managing our expectations. This time, instead of raising them, they are lowering them. They are letting us know that the situation is hopeless and they are about to walk off and maybe not come back to February… or maybe not even then.
But to what end?
Well, what if, for the sake of argument, they surprise everybody and show up with a slightly improved offer, one that is objectively still quite awful, but slightly improved nonetheless?
How many of us, who had just minutes before been staring into the abyss, would then want to jump at this offer, which would seem awfully good by comparison?
At that point, we’d actually have something to be divided over.
That, in my view, is what we need to be prepared for. Because in the end, their goal isn’t simply to toy with our emotions, but to get us to accept a bad deal. They will ultimately accomplish that by LOWERING expectations, not raising them. And that, I fear, is what they are doing right now.
Please consider one thing, for the sake of objective perspective — The whole ideology behind any strike is the workers ability to stop productive work gives them a large amount of leverage. When the studios generate these rumors that they are in fact looking to prolong the strike, whether true or not, the goal is to reduce WGA leverage, and as a result, negotiating power.
If the perception is that the studios do not need a return to work, then the threat of prolonged work stoppage is suddenly a lot less scary.
The studios will NEVER let word slip that they are in dire straits if the strike doesn’t end soon. Even if that is 100% the situation (and its not, yet), they will continue to generate suspicions that they are happy about not paying writers and breaking free of some expensive contracts.
It’s the same reason you don’t tell the auto dealer ‘Oh my god! I need this car, I will pay whatever you want!’ No – you act like you are uninterested, no matter how motivated you are. It’s not bad faith negotiating, its just negotiating.
Instead of Bryan Lourd mediating, we need Larry the Cable Guy. Git er done.
What does AMPTP stands for?
A-hole Moguls Pretending To Participate.
This is Dec 7. If they are playing tricks trying to demoralize writers, remember that’s same thinking that led Japan to sneak attack Pearl Harbor to knock out our will to fight. You know how well that worked out for them.
Maybe it’s time for Congressional hearings on what studios are hiding in those books.
And to break things up and get the message out wider, the Guild should offer immediate interim deals to the late night comedy shows.
Larry Craig them!
I think the idea of showing up for a meeting is a great idea. Great PR… but take it a step further. Set up a table at each of the picketed gates with three or four member sitting there… pencils in hand, fresh legal pads at ready…
Waiting.
And more critically, wanting results.
pb
For the love of god. Don’t be so naive (as most of you have been) as to think that the studios are going to drop Force Majeure NOW. They’re not stupid. They will wait until after the new year (after everyone has spent their christmas money, after some of this media attention dies down and AFTER their PR people have had a chance to throw some positive shine their way). THEN, towards February (after they spend a few bucks at Sundance on crap they ordinarily would NOT have bought if there were no strike), they’ll say that they regrettably HAVE to let go of dead-weight development deals in order to “tighten their belts” (which will make appease the shareholders which will see the move as the Producers doing what is necessary to protect their interests). But make no mistake, as I said LONG before your friend Nikki posted today, the cuts are coming. What I can’t understand is… the studios/producers have been assholes for the past 50 years. What is the WGA’s excuse for not knowing how to negotiate with the studios at THIS point in time? How could you all underestimate the very people you’ve worked with for decades who have made NO APOLOGIES for being assholes and who have TOLD you time and time again that the only thing they care about is their money. That makes those of you who walked into this expecting a dozen roses fools. Wake up folks. WAKE THE HELL UP!!!
Please get on YouTube, tell us what we can do, besides mail pencils, to help.
It’s a game, people. It’s all a game. Read The Playbook of the Amptp. It’s all there. The Amptp will stall. Then walk out. Then blame the WGA. And the WGA will wait calmly. The WGA knows exactly what is happening.
Tactics, tactics, tactics.
Great idea, Jimmy. Send it to the WGA.
This is the financial condition of the industry: A reckoning may be looming, however. Research suggests that the demands made by A-list actors have turned the movie business into a loss-making industry at the precise moment that it has mislaid its audience at the box office.
A report, Do Movies Make Money?, predicts that the 132 films distributed by the six leading Hollywood studios in 2006 will make a pretax loss of $1.9 billion (£920 million).Another reason in the article is the disappointing drop in DVD sales. It is estimated that bootlegged DVDs cost Hollywood more than $5bln.
Hell no, they won’t sign. People better wake up and smell the red ink.
DGA ARE RAT BASTARDS!
I second Jimmy’s idea of showing up for talks, leaking it, and sitting and waiting for the other side to show up, for as long as it takes. What a great publicity stunt. And if no other side shows up, maybe some actors could step in for the AMPTP and stage a mock negotiation, sort of like a mock trial.
I agree with Jimmy. If the AMPTP breaks off talks, then the WGA negotiating committee should disclose a negotiating location and publicly sit/stand out there to wait for the AMPTP to return. This provides photo-ops and a chance to make it painfully obvious that these companies are not coming to the table.
This overt showing of WGA’s willingness to talk also helps when it comes to force majeure because then the congloms don’t have a leg to stand on when trying to legally enforce it (in case anyone wants to sue their company) because it would have been documented that there is no “act of God” here. Rather, it’s the companies themselves who are manipulating the system by refusing to negotiate in good faith.
Finally, I really do think that the next step (if the AMPTP refuses to continues good-faith negotiations with progress) is to get the industry and public involved in a write-your-representative campaign, as well as more picketing on Wall Street.
When this started, people said it could go to June or July. This will tank this season and next as we’re now looking at development and pilot season being lost.
If Big Media is willing to give this up too, then you know New Media is worth a heck of a lot.
I’m beginning to believe….this is on until well into the summer.
Anonymous @11:55 re: collusion –
I have been doing a lot of research on this topic, and yes the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division prosecutes companies for violating laws such as the Sherman Act. It is illegal for competing companies to work together to set prices, etc.
Unfortunately, there is a non-statutory labor exemption from anti-trust laws which has applied to multi-employer bargaining units. Interestingly, the exemption was created to protect small business from being crippled by powerful unions.
Of course, things have changed. Though the AMPTP, when first formed, may have been a collective of small, independent producers, today it is an oligopoly of six mega-corporations that control an entire industry. Even the networks are now part of those corporations. (They were not in 1988.) Perhaps the courts need to take a look at the whether the exemption applies in the case of entertainment unions in today’s environment.
It is certainly confusing, as labor laws and anti-trust laws tend to be at odds with each other.
In that regard, there have been cases in professional sports (one in particular involving pro-football). And certainly there are similarities between our industries. The Supreme Court ruled that the non-statutory labor exemption could be extended beyond the expiration of the contract and beyond the time when the sides had reached an impasse.
It seems a key reason for that decision is that while each team is a separate employer, there is a symbiotic relationship that exists among them. They need each other to run their business (i.e. play games). Though they compete on the field they are not true competitors in a business sense.
The studios, however, are. Through their cartel, the AMPTP, they are able to limit, even eliminate, competition for our writing services. Due to shifts in the industry, the studios wield enormous power individually, let alone when they collude via the AMPTP. The non-statutory labor exemption no longer protects the disadvantaged side, it helps to destroy it.
I think it’s time to talk to the DGA and ask for their full support. If they would finally put their egos asided and tell the AMPTP that they will not negotiate until the WGA has had an open, honest and forthright negotiation. It’s time that all the unions realize that alone we are week, but united we are invincible. Imagine the panic that would set in if the AMPTP realized that they have not choice but to finish the WGA deal or tell stockholders that their too busy participating in a pissing contest to seek real results.
I cannot believe the WGA is pursuing reality compensation at this time! Let’s get the real writers back to work before we include the bastard step-children whores of the business.
More gloom and doom at DHD. Why do I keep torturing myself by obsessively reading this blog?! Bad enough that my beloved Chi Bears were embarassed by a back-up QB last night.
Here’s some measured NegCom analysis from an insider:
http://artfulwriter.com/?p=293
Quote: “Part of the problem of negotiations—and especially this negotiation—is that both sides tend to interpret the contractual proposals and counter-proposals in one way: as an attempt to fuck them.”
Read the whole thing.
Thoughts would be much appreciated…
Sometimes I’m so dumb. I thought CBS had a board of directors. I thought CBS was one of those American corporations that sought to maximize profits. I didn’t think it was the kind where the CEO is so concerned about falling out of favor with the boys lest it hurt his chances to run a real studio one day that he’d be concerned about losing this television season and next, which is about to happen. I’d think he’d be forward thinking enough to realize this is going to drive a high percentage of TV viewers to other forms of entertainment and they will never return. I’d have thought he’d have read some of those Harvard Business School case studies about how Ralphs and Vons lost a huge percentage of their customers to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s during the grocery strike and how something like half those people never returned. But like I said, I’m dumb.
To the Anonymous who wrote about collusion:
There is an exemption to antitrust law in the area of collective bargaining. Do you hear any calls from the WGA to abolish the AMPTP? Or that it’s a form of collusion? Nope. Wanna know why? It’s because the Guild LIKES to bargain only once. If they bargained with all the studios seperately they’d have to have a full time negotiating staff that would just move from one bargaining table to the next, year-round.
My understanding of the law is that the Guild could very easily say tomorrow: sorry, we dont’ want to bargain with you jointly any more. The Guild could then offer a better deal to whichever studio agreed to be the first one to bargain with us individually. I think it’s something the Guild should consider. But will they? Got me. If people feel strongly that they should try it, they should e-mail Patric Verrone or David Young and tell them so, or post here to that effect, because believe me, those guys are reading these comments.
The general public CAN make difference!
They can refuse to watch all the reality crap
that is being forced down their throats.
Have you seen NBC’s winter schedule plans?
Don’t watch it and make it clear you’re not gonna
watch it.
ANONYMOUS: By that logic, most of the WGA shouldn’t be allowed to negotiate together. How many other labor unions have memberships comprised of people with their own loan-out corporations?
The reality is that this is how its been done since dinosaurs walked the earth, and its a scenario we tacitly agree to. (In the best case, it works for us — in what other industry does labor flow freely between competitors? Answer: none.)
If we want it to stop, it’s very simple: we start making side deals with all of the members of the AMPTP who want to talk seriously. We just have to be prepared for the “then what” when we find ourselves picketing half of our employers and crossing the line for the other half, and trying to work our way through the paradox of projects co-financed by a little of this and a little of that.
We are living in interesting times. I expect to see dogs and cats living together, in sin, any day now.
It’s not collusion when it’s specifically approved by the NLRB.
Interesting article on PAGE 6 yesterday (http://www.nypost.com/seven/12072007/gossip/pagesix/pagesix.htm) about strikers from the Service Employees International Union picketing infront of Henry Kravis’ Park Ave. home…Maybe it’s time to step it up and do the same thing with the WGA???? I’m sure Les would not want to be hated by ALL his fellow “mogul” neighbors!
Just a thought.
Collusion
I think Collusion has more to do with price fixing their products and is usually secretive (at least the illegal kind). The AMPTP are working together to determine contracts with their employees. I don’t think that is illegal and it’s clearly publicly acknowleged. That said, no particular party involved is in any way bound to stick with the rest. Hey, if you can make it stick, go for it but I’m highly doubtful that the studios are doing anything illegal.
If you want this to end quickly, simply invite FASB to the table. Invite FASB and Congress to look into the disclosure and reporting requirements of Producers and Distributors of Motion Picture Films that were set forth by SOP 00-2 ever since FASB 53 was rescinded under pressure from the studios in 2000.
Suggest that all of the WGA’s issues could be resolved simply by opening up the studio’s reporting requirements on the sales of DVD’s and distribution through internet. In fact, while we are changing FASB requirements, let’s look into the costs that actually go into overhead and distribution fee application.
Nothing will make studio sphincters pucker up like the suggestion that the government needs to get involved to enforce more transparancy in the accounting of studio profits.
Don’t play softball. Go for their throats. The distributors of motion pictures have been able to hide the true costs of making films for years. We are entering an election year. Make the accounting standards of motion pictures a political issue. Do you think people in Peoria are going to feel sorry for Les Moonves or Rupert Murdoch when they plead to keep their books closed?
Pull these guys out into bright light of America’s scrutiny, and then let them pretend that they are tough. America hates shifty guys in expensive suits who pretend to be tough; especially when they are shown beating up on little guys. 60 Minutes has made a fortune exploiting that hatred.
Get the politicians involved.
The studios cannot win this battle in a public forum because they know they look bad.
Please don’t wimp out.
Paul
Below-the-line workers are demonstrating this Sunday to put a face on the real victims of this nonsense: strikeadeal.blogspot.com
The AMPTP’s strategy is all about getting to the DGA while giving the appearance of negotiating in good faith with the WGA (strictly for PR purposes).
The reason for this is that whatever guild deal gets struck first will influence every guild/union deal that comes after. Keep in mind that residuals paid to the WGA represent only about 10% of the total paid to all the guilds and unions. Therefore, the first guild/union deal made is critically important to set the bar as low as possible for all the other guilds/unions.
The AMPTP is looking for a chance to negotiate with the DGA in February. At that point, the WGA will have been out for 3 months and the AMPTP believes that there will be significant backlash against the WGA by many members of the DGA and most below-the-line staffers. The DGA then becomes a “soft target” and should make for easier negotiations.
The most crucial element right now is for the DGA to refuse to negotiate with the AMPTP and to continue to hold the line. SAG must also refuse to negotiate until a WGA deal is in place. That’s the winning strategy against the AMPTP. Don’t allow them to “divide and conquer.”
Have you read the article by Robert Elisberg on the Huffington Post that asks the question:
Here’s the question.
Why is it the AMPTP who is negotiating with the Writers Guild of America???
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-j-elisberg/writers-guild-strike-prim_b_75610.html
Nikki, maybe you should post this on your blog. And thank you for your care in this matter.
Point 1- Yes, but isn’t this guy one of the one’s who’ll be well off for ages? Screw him. Focus on the people who want to get this done. Why should they be working together? Let’s knock them out, one by one. Even the hardliners can’t stand alone. Don’t return to work until they all give in, but that doesn’t mean they all have to give in at one time
Point 2- I’m sorry, but sitting around whining and bitching about the AMPTP accomplishes nothing. Yes, they’re responsible. But that doesn’t make us helpless. Call them out on lying to the world and doing things that are completely fucked up. Take action. I can’t support people who use the fact that they’re right to excuse sitting around bemoaning the enemy and not actually doing anything about it. And I don’t think other people should, either, especially not BTL-ers who are suffering and struggling as writers are able to keep picketing for months, insisting all the while that they aren’t as well off as people think. I am on your side, WGA, but you have to do something. Am I “just looking for a way to end this”? Maybe. Because IT NEEDS TO END. There’s more to it than the writers. It’s been said 1000 times before, but there are lives on the line. Yes, it’s the AMPTP’s fault. Yes, they’re the ones causing everything. But that doesn’t excuse us not being more drastic. It should cause us to be more drastic. If what you’re being denied is this important, you need to fight for it. If you’re not willing to fight, it’s not fair to ask others to stand by you. I love you, WGA. But you need to give me reason to.
A major writer told me he was talking to Peter Chernin recently, and Chernin told him that things were far apart.
Feels like Divide and Conquer to me.
Realworldperson that is an EXCELLENT IDEA. If you want to hit the fat cats where they live, you need to literally hit them where they live. Picketing outside of the gates of the studio has no effect on them personally (they slip in through the back for the most part with tinted window shades). But if we picket their mansions, their beach houses, it will make it personal to them, as it is to us.
Let the DGA start talking, the WGA isn’t going to budge.
And just for the record, a lot of these so called “filmmakers” need to realize that WGA members with pull are keeping track of what they are up too — and their actions won’t be forgotten after the dust has settled.
Certainly multi-employer bargaining has been found legal before, however, it was made legal to protect companies from huge, powerful unions. Things are different today — especially with American media. Perhaps this “exception” to anti-trust laws is outdated and does more harm today.
And who’s to say the WGA isn’t looking into this issue?
AnswerMan, we are in agreement. We SHOULD opffer the studios the chance to bargain separately with one added bonus, the promise that we will STALL the bargaining with all studios after one or two have agreed to our terms. In other words, offer to destroy the competition for them. This is a huge bargaining chip and can be used as a wedge to destroy the AMPTP.
Very angry right now. I don’t understand why the AMPTP are such idiots. I mean I think they just don’t care about creativity or anything. They just want to get richer and richer and leave the creative people out in the cold.
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that the studios are resorting to the old “raise their hopes then dash ‘em” playbook, right? That’s what the studio chiefs are addicted to — the tried and true. If they’ve never had the guts to try something original and not something that’s been done to death before, what made anyone think they were gonna start now.
Wow. This doesn’t make any sense. Peter Chernin doesn’t want things wound up before Christmas? That’s preposterous! His network is Fox! Fox will be showing brand new episodes American Idol (A show that slipped in the ratings almost twenty percent last year…) when everyone else will have to show repeats! Why wouldn’t he want things settled, new tv to be broadcast, and American Idol–the only other show other than House that is successful on Fox–to continue last year’s decline?
IT JUST DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!
Seriously, if they are going to play psychotic, Darth Vader, Gordon Gekko hardball, the writers on the picket lines are going to have to stop being so polite. No screaming, no anger, just really annoyingly slow walking across the entrances that truly jacks up their in and out traffic.
The fantastic, hilarious, informative videos will have to start asking the public to ask advertisers to pull their commercials.
More exorcisms outside studios. More honking. Boycotts. Pranks. A greater emphasis placed on educating the tv and movie audiences about how they’re losing a relaxing, entertaining, escapist part of their lives because of greed.
Ultimately, the AMPTP needs to be linked to George Bush’s vision of America (and they’re well on their way with the phony “New Economic Partnership”–there is no partnership, just like “No Child (Isn’t) Left Behind”) and corporate America gone out of control.
Well, I canceled my cable TV service this morning. The customer service rep tried to get me to continue my service. But I told him that I am not interested in paying $70 bucks a bunch for a bunch of reruns and bad reality shows.
I should say I like a lot of reality TV – I’m just not interested in any of the new shows the networks have coming out.
Next step is to call a few companies like Proctor and Gamble to let them know that I canceled my cable and that their advertisements aren’t going to be reaching me.
United Hollywood has a contact list of the top 3 democratic presidential candidates. Contact them IMMEDIATELY. They have all done business w/ this new PR firm the AMPTP has employed, Fabiani & Lehane. Make sure these candidates are aware of your knowledge & how Clinton, Obama & Edwards’ dealings w/ Fabiani & Lehane could become a conflict of interest for them. I’ve already done so and received a (albeit measured) response from Edwards’ online Communications Director Tracy Russo that the matter will be looked into. Let’s make a difference in whatever way we can!
The Muses Guild of America ON STRIKE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSUdpe7nDG0
The Muses of America, the celestial beings who inspire all creative thought,
have gone on strike against the Writer’s Guild of America. When will the
protest madness end?!
From the Wall Street Journal Blog (note: an ETF is an instrument that consists of a basket of stocks in an industry — in this case, the media industry)
STRIKING WRITERS HURT ETFs
Even ETFs aren’t safe from the writers’ strike, notes Tom Lydon in the ETF Trends blog. “Since the strike began on November 5, PowerShares Dynamic Leisure & Entertainment (PEJ) has dropped 5.3% and PowerShares Dynamic Media (PBS) lost 8.2%,” he writes….
Fair use, etc.
enough already with your “moguls,” “ceo’s,” “network owners,” and “big media” nonsense. these corporations are owned by shareholders.
bad news, forfeiting current revenue for the future promise of unearned, unrealized, possibly un-invented potential future revenue is a losing proposition.
the wga sh*t the bed.
i hope this strike ends as soon as possible, with both sides as fulfilled as possible,
BUT the shortest distance between two points is a straight line . . .
so GO BACK TO WORK, and hire a real negotiating team to come to acceptable terms.
you drank the kool-aide. time to spit it out and get back to work.
declare victory and start writing, and getting paid, and get everyone back to work.
Pete Aronson and Chuck T -
I guess that is why the WGA negotiating committee can hear the studio representatives screaming at each other behind closed doors. Because their plan is going oh so well.
Get over yourselves.
This may last into next year. Forget the rhetoric of the AMPTP. At the end of the day, they will have to make a deal.
Studios have shareholders (and the ‘09 pilot season) to be accountable to and that makes them much more vulnerable than in ‘88.
Writers and everyone else put out of work by the AMPTP have bills. Tighten belts, get a non-industry job to tide you over if you must.
In the end, writers will get a fair deal. Who knows, within five years we’ll be making our deals with Apple or Google.
Stay strong.
Walked in 88 Too -
Nice ELITIST ‘TUDE towards the reality writers. It may not be won in this neg, but the more writers we rep, the better it is for everyone.
Matt-
The WGA has been reaching out to the DGA all year, through all channels, but ultimately the heads of DGA have their own interests above and beyond the creative community at large. They historically put themselves first. That’s just the truth.
There are those of us in both guilds who hate the DGA’s elitist ‘tude towards writers. It all starts with that tacky “film by” credit.
The creatives should really all be on side in this fight; it’s unfortunate, but the DGA historically sells others out to serve itself.
I don’t think dropping DVD sales are an indication that audiences are losing interest, it’s just changing technology.
People know that with the new HD formats, DVD’s days are numbered. At this date, it doesn’t make sense to spend much on buying dvds. And unfortunately with the format war, people aren’t that willing to jump on the new formats yet either.
Home video sales WILL bounce back, it might just be delayed because it’s not clear which format the next generation will be (good chance it turns out to be some means of HD downloads).
Agree, the politicians have got to get involved.
However, I don’t think that anybody on the planet would watch NBC during the spring. NBC 2.0 was a spectacular failure during the fall with everything, except for The Office, down. The WGA should just be talking with NBC and GE brass because they will be the first to fold under this plan save for the CW and Time Warner.
This is a textbook example of short-term thinking on the part of the AMPTP.
Fine, the networks will come in about even financially this season. More reruns and cheaper reality versus slightly weaker ratings and ad prices — that works.
Until the downstream revenue disappears. Full-season DVD sets of reality shows don’t sell. The cable nets don’t pony up seven-figure-per-episode offers for off-net rights to “Big Brother.” Where’s the videogame potential in “48 Hours Mystery?” The odds of “The Biggest Loser: The Movie” materializing in 10 years? Pretty low.
In the fractured TV universe of today, what distinguishes the broadcast networks from cable (and even pay cable) is not only the number of original scripted series, but the full-season volume of their production. By reducing the broadcast nets to reality show whorehouses, they become the equivalent of cable channels. Over time, their ratings will resemble those channels. Lower programming costs will garner hugely lower audiences, leading to massively lower revenues.
Short-sighted stupidity? Absolutely.
Oh yes, the WGA should go to the congress for support – especially the Republicans. They must be just devastated now that The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are in hibernation. Think this is only about money?
Thanks Robert. The Huffington Post article brings up some good points. Especially the fact that if the studios all get together and negotiate as one , why aren’t all the guilds and unions negotiating as one also? Too many thick skulled presidents and lawyers in the guilds and unions thats why.
Now I know I am going to get bashed for this but, if residuals and new media is such a big deal for the studios take it off the table altogether. Negotiate better basic rates instead. Double them. Triple if you can. For those writers on hit shows this would be a losing proposition, (but if you are really that good you could cut yourself your own deal), but for the majority of the membership this would probably work out pretty good. After all this is about the membership as a whole right? So now a guy on a loser show that’s never going to make it into reruns more less dvd or internet could make a minimum of $14,000 instead of $7,000 for a half hour t.v. show, (assuming I’m getting the pay scales right from the WGA website). More shows fail than make it right? So more writers work on failing shows than successful ones right? So more writers are being compensated overall.
All you big successful primetime writers are going to think this sucks but isn’t about ALL the writers? Your 24k to 60k minimums per episode wouldn’t be enough?
Oh well the AMPTP would never agree anyway. Let the bashing begin.
This WOULD be a perfect day for the AMPTP to shut down negotiations after all. This is, “a date that will live in infamy” isn’t it? Let’s hope they at least keep talking.
I didn’t drink the kool-aid. Stating the obvious, the companies aren’t the only one with “tactics”. We should not have struck. We should have banded together with the other guilds. I don’t begrudge the DGA stepping in to help their members. We play victim to the bullying companies – playing right into their hands. I for one want to go back to work – and I resent being made a sacrificial lamb in order to raise the stock of our leadership and lead negotiator -”the rock star.”
DA in LA,
I can not speak for Chuck T but are you fucking serious? That’s what you are counting on? That the WGA Negotiating committee says they can hear the AMPTP reps screaming at each other through closed doors? Jesus Christ, you’re pathetic.
Read the Tom Schulman post on the AMPTP playbook, then tell me their strategy is not working.
It’s time for the WGA to write down exactly the fair deal they think the writers should have for everything and start granting waivers to studios that sign off and agree to those terms. The only way to break the collusion is by giving the weak dissenters an option.
I used to work with Pete Aronson…
It’s good to see he is the same self-interested, silly little man.
Go away pal.
There is only one issue – new media (internet, streaming video, and whatever’s next on the tech horizon) – and what the writers’ take will be. It is not about this TV season or the next; it is not about development deals (although they will soon be a thing of the past – remarkably non-cost productive); it is not about bringing reality writers under our WGA umbrella. New media folks; and the creation and dissemination and distribution of product using that new media. And all of us in the WGA should be reading Marx about now where he talks about “the workers controlling the means of production” and Tom Stoppard in The Coast of Utopia where he has Herzen ask the one question he’s been pondering for years – Why do people OBEY other people? Let’s deal from strength and realize the AMPTP isn’t the 800 lb. gorilla in the room; they’re the 40 ton dinosaur. They’re yesterday’s news, they’re finished. But we of the WGA talk to them as if they matter. Folks, a website is a network. Your MAC (c’mon, do you really do anything creative on a PC?) is your studio. If I were younger or smarter I’d be forming some sort of consortium with my talented friends to create and produce the shows and films of tomorrow. Surely there are enough brains on those picket lines each day who can do this? As Joe Hill said, Don’t mourn, organize. And let the moguls sink deeper into the tarpits. Oh, and on another front, War is Over if You want it. Limbic
Pete Aronson, not only do I agree with your post 100% (and thank GOD there is someone with business acumen here) but I also agree with your response to DA in LA. It’s hard to believe that people can be so…. thick-headed and dense.
“The producers did present a new proposal, the New Economic Partnership, which would increase the average working writer’s salary to more than $230,000 a year. The WGA’s organizers have yet to respond directly to that proposal…”
Ah, the beloved AVERAGE writer’s salary.
If you take Howard Stern’s annual salary and the salary of some local schmoe from ESPN’s AM 710? The average talk DJ makes a kajillion dollars a year.
Got a residual check (WGA) in the mail this week: Big thanks to Sony for giving me a LITTLE BIT of breathing room.
Pete Aronson,
Good to see you handle criticism so well. The big difference between us is that I’m not fighting against what already is and selling out my fellow writers. Oh, wait, you’re not a writer, you’re wanna be. You’re a producer above everything else and not a well liked one at that. Yes, I know you.
And, no, I’m not counting on the AMPTP’s infighting. It was simply a strong argument against your simplistic and desperate for attention points. To claim everything is going well when they are screaming at each other is just plain moronic. To think that is all I am counting on is even more retarded.
I am counting on their revenue to shrink. I am counting on their shareholders to ask questions. I am counting on their advertisers to ask for money back. I am counting on CBS to get pissed at WB. Why am I counting on these thing?
Because I read and research what I am involved in. Because my every post is not dripping with a hatred for my fellow writer. Because I do not take out my internal issues, that rage I don’t understand, on message boards.
But that’s just me.
You go girl.
Dear Anonymous–If you don’t have the guts to use your real name and stand behind what you say then why are you posting? Is it the visceral thrill of seeing your brilliant distillation of the situation in print? I for one can not wait to read the next missive as it is sure to be jam packed with a salient intelligent analysis of the issues on the table and a well thought out proposal for action. I don’t know who you are but I hope I had the good sense to fire you when we allegedly “worked together”.
As for being “self interested”, I can only plead “guilty as charged” as I am a WGA member whose sole desire is to go back to work with talented writers as soon as possible. As “talented” is the operative phrase in that sentence, you need not apply.
Wow, Limbic, you quoted Marx AND Lennon. Pass the bong!
DA in LA–I apologize if you think my postings seem to be dripping with “a hatred for my fellow writer” but if, as you say, I am a “not a writer” but rather a “wanna be” then your assertion, like the rest of your ill informed myopic arguments doesn’t make sense.
I am not sure how you define “writer” but all I can say is I’ve written and rewritten produced scripts for broadcast, I’ve run punch up rooms, I’ve broken stories, written outlines and participated in same for others on that staffs I’ve worked on. As a showrunner I have also been treated like crap by the network, the studio and the actors while doing all of the above and if that’s not being a writer then I don’t know what is. Let me be clear, I’m not saying I was any good at performing all of those duties, I’m just saying I did it.
As for your reading and research on the subject at hand may I say that despite both, your posts and proposed solutions are clearly defficient. Your lack of understanding with regard to how the media companies are structured and how they operate in the current advertising environment is staggering. If you had the guts to post under your real name I would encourage you to stop immediately before you do your reputation real harm but your cowardice has once again saved your good name.
Where the hell’s Michael Moore when you need him?
This strike will not end as long as the AMPTP has their heads up their collective asses. It ain’t the WGA who wants to mess around and around and around – this town needs to wake up, grow up, and stop kicking the dog and kick the “master” if you want to get back to the show. So I started to think about the big players in the town who seem oddly silent in this mess. Where is Spielberg? This was the question I asked myself when I went searching the web for a quote from his royal Hollywoodness. I guess I was hoping to find that he had spoken up for the WGA cause. After all, this is the man I grew up admiring in Arizona, a boy whose sisters I went to school with who grew up to be famous, doing what I wanted to do, too. The man who paid tribute to the unsung value of the written word when he won the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Also, seeing that he gets paid a boatload of money for everything he does – whether or not his movie/TV show is good yet alone great (and even he makes turkeys) – I was sure Steven would never begrudge us our small profit participation and would be saying this loudly and with great gusto. Well, I couldn’t find a dang thing from Sir Steven on the strike (and I apologize in advance if you know something I don’t know). So, unable to find a quote from him, I decided to Goggle “Spielberg on Writers” and “Spielberg and Writers” and found the following quotes…
From:
http://www.dga.org/news/features/saving_private_ryan.php3
How closely did you stick to the written script?
Storywise, I stuck to written script very closely, but I had a very good written script. In the combat scenes I did a lot of improvising, both on Omaha Beach and the battle for Ramelle, Also the scenes in the first town in the rain, I did a lot of improvising and kind of got off the page during those sequences.
What do you think are the big issues facing the Guild and directors in general?
The Guild has been addressing artists’ rights for many years, and we’ve been struggling for the last decade to have our government put protection clauses in writing, to protect filmmakers from copyright holders. That’s been the fight over the past 10 years, to give directors, and writers, some kind of legal redress for crassly commercial manipulation of the finished film, We’ve been saying for a long time that once the film is finished, whether it’s a good film or not, it’s still someone’s vision. It’s the writer’s vision and the director’s vision, and in many cases the actors have a piece of that vision. That vision should be respected by the people who own the copyrights, and can through digital futuristic techniques take that film totally out of context and break it up and make 60 or 70 little movies out of it that defile the original author’s intentions. It’s called moral rights, and it’s enjoyed in every country except Russia, China and the United States.
From:
http://www.dga.org/news/v27_5/feat_catchmeifyoucan.php3
Spielberg: What does make it harder today is to find the writers. I think what we have the greater nostalgia for is finding the writers. Most of the greatest writers working in our business today are writing television episodic and television sitcoms. The Larry David Show [Curb Your Enthusiam] is like 1930s perfect screwball comedy, perfect structured scenario. It’s all improvised, so there is improvisation around really good structure. When we get a good screenplay, we’re blessed. I was blessed because I had one writer on Catch Me If You Can. I had Jeff Nathanson, who wrote the script, who was there for the whole movie and who was there on the set almost every day. Marty and I know that the biggest thing that keeps us off the floor is not having a script ready to shoot. That keeps us off the floor for years sometime on a project that we really want to do.
From: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1173367,00.html
On the shrinking window between the theatrical and DVD release of a movie:
I’m sad because when I first started making movies, when I made Raiders of the Lost Ark, we stayed in theaters for a year. But now you’re a hit and it stays in theaters for three months. I think there’s such an appetite for different forms of entertainment, we can’t depend on a big motion picture audience who isn’t distracted by listening to your ipods, playing your interactive video games, watching television, going to concerts or just going to a restaurant and talking. People are just impatient with the distance between a movie coming to your local theater and the DVD being available at Blockbuster, and Hollywood is listening to that impatience. Although I have to go on record saying that I am not in favor of a DVD coming out the same day as the film opens, because I really believe that the average home system is far inferior to a movie house. And a lot of it is the social magic of going out to the movies, seeing it with a lot of people you have never met and sharing an experience. I feel there is no substitute for going out to the movies. There is nothing like it.
On how cell phones are affecting box office returns:
Cell phones play a huge role in diminishing returns in the movies because you can do so much with your cell phones. You can talk on it, you can play games on it, you can watch TV on it, you can watch film clips on it, you can organize your life with it, you can text messages. Cell phones tend to bring us more inside of our lives whereas movies offer a chance to escape, so there are two competing forces. One force is very old — from nickelodeons to silent movies to talkies to cinemascope to cinerama to IMAX. The other venue is the gadgets that sort of anchor us in one place and eat up the hours in our day, that makes us wait for the DVD.
***
Now, none of this means that Steven doesn’t care about writers, cause he clearly gets what writers do and how it helps him and other director, heck, he has written some great films, or that he doesn’t have an opinion worth sharing… he just hasn’t shared anything yet that I can find that would help to end this thing now.
And not just him. Where are all the other big shot, gross-dollar one participating directors and producers on the strike? Why the silence from the platinum players club? Could it be that Steven and the movers and shakers are so in-bed with their studio pals, so used to hanging out on their Geffen-sized yachts in the blue Mediterranean waiting for their screening at Cannes that they have lost all touch with the “common man?” My guess is yes, and this is very sad – because there is not one director, not one producer, who does not owe their success to some writer… and that is a fact, Jack. Even Mr. S.
So hey Mr. Spielberg – Mr. Eastwood – Mr. Scorsese – Mr. Howard – how ‘bout joining in the fight! Hey Mr. Bruckheimer – Mr. Silver – Mr. Rudin – how about speaking up! Come on big time A-Listers – now is the time to put your power behind the gang who writes the stories that have made you all rich and famous gentleman. Get the AMPTP off their asses, back to the table, and start making a real deal that can end this madness.
fred, DVDs are an excellent format already. The jump in quality up to any new HD format will not be needed by most people. HD does not raise the bar in quality, ease of use and additional that meant DVDs were so successful overtaking video cassettes. I don’t think HD format releases will give the industry a long term bounce.
Real Numbers, you = incorrect. Normal NTSC = 480 horizontal lines of resolution. DVD = 720 (a 240 line difference). True High-Def = 1080, a 360 line difference. The difference between High-Def & DVD is GREATER than the difference between NTSC & DVD was, and EVERYONE who buys a High-Def TV in the next year will clearly see the difference.
DVD is a dead format. Even HD-DVD/Blu-Ray is pretty much a dead format already. The future of home entertainment is 1080p on-demand programming, but it most DEFINITELY -is- 1080p high-def. All 480i on-air programming goes dead this March, and those new high-def sets are going to pour out of the Best Buys.
The wga fight reflects what presidential candidate Edwards sees as opposing the killing stranglehold of Corporate power on every aspect of life in this fading democracy. The issue of wga vs. moguls represents the uphill battle against inequality that say 80 percent at least of Americans will recognize if Edwards makes it a campaign issue. He has nothing to lose. Everything to gain. Make Edwards your spokesman.
High-Def Fan, the public at large doesn’t give a shit about resolution or line difference of their TVs. I’ve looked at these high def TVs in the stores and in people’s homes and the quality is, quite frankly, shit. Not a crisp picture at all. The techno geeks shoot their loads over high def but the average person really couldn’t care less.
And they’re not going to throw away their DVDS after having thrown away all their videos.
You think people are made of money?
And in regard to downloading movies online, the majority of the public (even in major cities) doesn’t have a high speed internet connection. I live in New York and I’m sure as hell not going to spend six hours downloading a movie that MIGHT play properly once I’ve finally downloaded it.
While we’re on the subject of computers, are you pretending that computers don’t crash about once every year or two? Which means LOSING everything that was on them. No thanks, I’ll stick to my DVDs which I can grab off the shelf whenever I feel like it (even when my computer has died).