WGA and AMPTP Aim Parting Shots Before Christmas

Amended:

This is a mess. The Writers' Guild picked the wrong time to strike, economically speaking, and now...they are paying for it. Ellen and Carson Daly have gone back to work, absent an agreement with the writers, and now Leno, Conan, Jimmy Kimmel and John Stewart...etc., are all coming back to the air waves without a contract with the Writers' Guild-- Letterman, his company and their exclusive contract deal with the WGA...being the sole exception. The result??? The Writer's Guild's position will be drastically weakened in these negotiations.

Even worse, their (The WGA 's) failure to grant waivers to award shows like the Golden Globes and the Oscars will lead to an implosion of the sympathies that many throughout the industry have given the WGA with respect to the strike, and set-up a number of increasingly split loyalties. Failing to grant those waivers is a tactical mistake...as was the ridiculous decision to strike during this period, our nation's economic downturn, one that is fueled by the ongoing real estate market crash. Hello folks??? Writers have morgages to pay just like anyone else. When they begin to face foreclosures on their homes, as I suspect a good number already have, and are...strike, or no strike...well, many will soon be forced to cross the picket lines, and that isn't a prediction...that is a reality. The studios and networks know this...and are moving to cause as much pain and suffering to WGA members as possible...by either busting or weakening the union...serving to put the fear of hell into other entertainment guilds in terms of negotiations, hence, thwarting future strike efforts, by intimidation and example.

In the end, all I can say for certain is the following: The leaders of the Guild need to seriously re-evaluate their positions, as well, the members of the WGA must re-evaluate their union leadership, as their strategies...again, that of the leadership, have been lacking at best. As I said in a prior post...this is a worthy strike, however...they chose the wrong time to strike, in respect to the short term, and long term financial well being of their members. By the time this strike is resolved, the writers will be forced to accept a contract with the studios, networks and producers that will be drastically less in its worth than the contract they would have gotten if they had waited another 2 to 3 years from now to strike, when the country's economic outlook would have been much brighter, giving the writers some much needed financial leverage (strength), thus helping them to hold-out during a lengthy strike, if needed. Now as things stand, the writers will take a major loss, one that is going to result in this whole strike being a sizable bust for them. The writers, and all artists...who create content which the studios, networks and producers exploit, deserve much better.

Writers, actors and directors...must pull together to form their own companies to create films and television series, and other "creator owned" content, that they exclusively control...absent the participation of third parties, save for Angel Investors. Owning content (the product...such as film prints and authorship of scripts/stories) will put the creative community back in charge of itself, rather than continue to play convenient court jesters for greedy Fortune 500 Companies that buy their way into Hollywood via seemingly never ending corporate mergers, year after year. That is where the writers' royalties are going to, financing the "Golden Parachute" deals of film and TV company executives (corporate raiders/criminals) who are stealing the futures of the Hollywood artists (writers, actors, directors, etc.) and that of their families...and most insultingly, their children.


It is time to take back Hollywood, through creator owned content--this through establishing independant film companies and networks that the artists own. In addition to creating the content therein, the artistic community can seek out distribution through alternative means...,i.e., Netflix, Apple's new I-Tunes Online movie service, Blockbuster Online, Independant Theatres, and Independant Film Distributors--so on, and so forth. This is the wave of the future...and studios, networks and producers need to be told, in no uncertain terms, that the artistic guilds...and their membership are prepared to do what they must in order to protect their royalty interests...even if it means going partially or completely independant of studio and network management, so be it. It is the ultimate scorched Earth Nuclear option that the WGA and other creative artist guilds can play in these negotiations which the powers that be in the executive suites can appreciate, and fully understand. If they, the studio and network management, fail to act as honest negotiation partners with the unions and their members, in respect to fairly sharing royalties, then that very creative community will move to become their direct competition in the marketplace.

That's because of the AMPTP's exploitation. Go, writers! Don't cave in. I'm disappointed in Leno, O'Brien and Letterman. They can afford to keep their staff paid, surely, without helping the networks. After what USA has done to people like Ira Steven Behr, after pressuring them to compromise so much of their work and then cancelling their show, I am pissed! The execs have no talent except knowing how to move around money, appeal to the lowest common denominator by canceling quality and supporting garbage like Heroes to get higher ratings and dumb down the culture. I'm sick and tired of how corporate American TV operates. There's no patience for quality. And relying on Nielsen Ratings all the time, when the industry is encouraging people to use their DVRs to record programs, which aren't counted, is ridiculous. The model is incorrect and the networks aren't owning up to it. They lack soul.

Uhm... the AMPTP is NOT a union--it's management. There's a big difference; you need to fix your report.

The studios appear to be going for the throat here. This is a day where they can make a reality show on a dime and get big ratings...just look at "Clash of the Choirs". NBC is getting huge ratings. Drew Carry's night time game show is doing well...Deal Or No Deal is doing great for NBC...CBS's Survivor does great and American Idol has proven that one hit reality show can fill most of the programming schedule for one network and deliver huge ratings, and that is killing the bargaining power of the writers...and all entertainment unions as a whole.

What is my point??? The studios, networks and producers are now attempting to break the unions here, and if they don't manage to break them, they will at least move to weaken them. It is time for the unions to create a new business model, one of full...or shared writer/actor/director ownership of films and television series. Netflix is accepting films and tv product from independants, leaving the door wide open for dramatic arts troupes encompassing writers, actors and directors to fund, produce and distribute their own product...completely cutting studios and the big networks out of the picture.

Why hasn't the Screen Actors' Guild started its own tv network on cable or via broadcast television??? Or how about the Writer's Guild??? They certainly have enough money to do it...or at least, can attract a large number of super wealthy investors to fund such ventures. Why aren't writers, actors and directors, save for a small few, producing their own movies considering all the alternative routes of distribution these days??? The studios, networks and producers are the middle men. Well, it is time to cut the middle men out of the financial pie.

In just months from now...to a few years...we will see internet direct to television...digital distribution of movies and tv programs provided by services such as Netflix, Blockbuster Online and Apple...etc., networks and even DVD by mail services (the two main DVD by mail services, that being the previously mentioned Netflix and Blockbuster Online, are certain to liquidate their own DVD stocks)...thus, that share of the business will be obsolete or losing ground to these new business models as they begin to rise to dominance by 5 to 10 years from now...and the unions must press to gain their fair share of such promising new distribution streams...or face being pushed to the side.

The sheer threat of the unions positioning themselves to create ownership rights opportunities for their future works (as content providers) is enough to force studios, networks and producers to cut them in as partners, through greater royalty sharing...rather than face them as competitors in the marketplace--this, the short and long term future of the new world paradigm...known as the burgeoning 21st century (entertainment industry) business model.

I should be running the Writers' Guild.--Metal Water

They're gonna cave, just watch. Regardless of what I think of reality TV, unscripted drama gets ratings and the studios don't *need* the writers as much at this point in time. That makes them a less valuable commodity (that is what employees are, commodity). They will cave because they need the studios more then the studios need them.

Well, from what my friends in LA are telling me, the studios are getting letters by the *thousands* from pissed off television viewers, blaming the producers for this whole mess. And it is their mess.

The producers - and their bosses at the corporate level - have seen what money can be made from the 'net and downloads and such - and being the greedy bastards they are - they don't want to share.

The corporate suits have flat out told the negotiators NOT to negotiate with the WGA.

Now, if the DGA and SAG continue to back the WGA, when it comes to *their* negotiations in the spring of 2008, the studios are going to be in a world of hurt.

And the studios are already hurting. Corporate sponsors are demanding money back from companies due to lost advertising revenue streams. Coke, Pepsi, Nike, etc., are not going to pony up big bucks to advertise on reruns and reality television, and the studios have *already* paid back millions of dollars.

I'm just glad I have a DVD player.

The more the AMPTP throws out pot shots, the more pathetic they look. What moron is releasing statements for them?

When does the DGA and SAG contract expire? Is there a potential all three guilds could be on strike at the same time? I hope so, because the studios would be properly fucked if that happened, but I fear that with some people, i.e. Leno, Letterman, O'Brien, already caving that the WGA won't hold out long enough for all three to be on strike at the same time.

I don't think DGA and SAG contracts expire until July of next year or so. I doubt this will go on that long. The studios have other recourse (these reality & game shows), but nothing will pay the bills like original, scripted programming. The strike will end when the studios have decided they have punished the writers enough, then they'll cave.

"Uhm... the AMPTP is NOT a union--it's management. There's a big difference; you need to fix your report."

The AMPTP is a collective bargaining organization for management from competing entertainment companies. It provides management with greater bargaining power with the writers than if these companies were to negotiate individually (e.g. if Sony agrees to pay 3 cents on the dollar for DVDs, while Paramount agrees to 5 cents, more writers will want to work for Paramount).

In the regard that it allows a class of workers (management) greater bargaining power through collectivization, it is a union.
The fact that it represents the wishes of capital instead of labor is irrelevant.