Damien wrote:Damn, I so wanted Gilbert Cates to suffer through trying to do a show without any writers or any stars.
I think he was planning on using penguins.
Edited By jack on 1202594478
Writers' Strike
And we'd BE so lucky to have a more socialist system
That's quite a statement, Oscarguy.
"Because here’s the thing about life: There’s no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days when you need a hand. There are other days when we’re called to lend a hand." -- President Joe Biden, 01/20/2021
NEW YORK TIMES
February 10, 2008
Tentative Deal Is Reached in Writers’ Strike
By MICHAEL CIEPLY
LOS ANGELES — An end to Hollywood’s long and bitter writers’ strike appeared close on Saturday, as union leaders representing 12,000 movie and television writers said they had reached a tentative deal with production companies.
The strike, which began Nov. 5, remains in effect until the governing boards of the two writers’ guilds gauge the sense of their membership this weekend and decide whether to end the walkout. The boards are expected to meet as early as Sunday, and the strike could be over by Monday morning.
A memorandum sent to some writers guild members summarized a four-hour meeting on Friday in which union leaders briefed a group of 300 strike captains. According to the memorandum, the guild boards and negotiating committee are expected to recommend the tentative deal unanimously, but they are withholding action to end the walkout until after Saturday’s scheduled meetings.
A resolution would be good news for the producers, who have been patching together prime-time schedules with reruns and reality shows and have delayed their feature film plans. It would also bring relief to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which was nervously making plans for an Oscar night without writers or stars.
Late-night talk shows that have operated without writers would benefit immediately. Shows like NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” are already inviting writers back to work on Monday, assuming the strike ends. Television series like Fox’s “24” and “Back to You” would likely take weeks to get back in production. Weaker shows might not return at all, and shake-ups in network planning might delay the return of some shows, even though production would soon be possible.
Word of the tentative deal came Saturday in an early morning e-mail message to members of the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East. The deal was to be reviewed by members at previously scheduled mass meetings here and in New York later in the day.
In their e-mail message, Patric M. Verrone, president of the West Coast guild, and Michael Winship, his East Coast counterpart, said: “Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success.”
While approval appears likely, members have warily debated the expected agreement all week, and they are certain to scrutinize the details closely at the Saturday meetings. A guild spokesman on Saturday morning declined to confirm plans for Sunday board meetings. A spokesman for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents over 300 production companies, also declined comment.
The walkout, Hollywood’s longest since writers struck for five months in 1988, closed down dozens of television shows, slowed development of feature films and threw tens of thousands of people out of work.
Writers had demanded a much bigger share of returns from new media than they had received in the past from the distribution of shows on older media like cassettes and DVDs, as well as expanded jurisdiction over reality television and animated features.
Company representatives initially responded by insisting on a complete revamping of Hollywood’s time-honored residuals system, under which writers, directors, actors and others are paid for reuse of their work on television and home video.
As the more expansive demands for wider jurisdiction and a narrowing of residuals were dropped, the sides were finally left with a more conventional negotiation. That turned on precise amounts of, and methods for calculating, payments for the growing digital distribution of shows in the next three years.
In Hollywood, excitement about a possible return to work has been dampened by widespread realization that the Screen Actors Guild, which represents 120,000 actors, is approaching a contract negotiation no less difficult than the writers’ talks. A contract with the actors guild expires June 30, and leaders of that union have repeatedly signaled that they intend to take a tough stance in negotiations. Anticipation of a walkout by actors has created a recent frenzy of feature firm production, as studios stockpiled movies based on existing scripts, but scheduled virtually no production to begin later than early April.
The board of the actors guild was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss plans by the long-allied American Federation of Television and Radio Artists — whose 70,000 members overlap with the screen actors’ membership and which covers a number of television series — to negotiate with companies on its own as early as next month. The federation’s stance on some crucial issues has been aggressive than that of the actors guild.
The 300 strike captains were deeply divided as to whether the strike should be lifted before a full membership vote.
“Returning to work prior to an actual vote signaled it was over and felt undemocratic,” the memo sent to some guild members said, in summarizing the discussion. “Others felt the deal was being ‘rammed down our throats’ too quickly,” while still others felt that “returning to work was imperative.” If members balk at an immediate return, the guilds could organize a rapid-fire vote by fax, Web and meeting, polling writers over the next few days rather than ending the strike by board action. An accelerated member vote might put writers back to work by Wednesday.
The tentative agreement became possible when the sides reached a handshake deal last week on a crucial term under which writers would be paid a fixed residual amounting to about $1,300 for the right to stream a television program online. In the third year of their contract, the writers would achieve one of their major goals — payments amounting to 2 percent of the distributor’s revenue from such streams.
The percentage formula is viewed by many writers as protection against the possibility that traditional reruns — which have paid them residuals amounting to tens of thousands of dollars per episode in the past — will disappear because of Web streams in the near future.
Other major gains include a pay plan that pegs residuals for electronic downloads of movies and televisions shows at nearly double the rate paid historically for DVDs, and calculates the rate as a percentage of the distributor’s revenue, junking an old formula.
The tentative agreement grew from a week-long, and sometimes heated, exchange of contractual provisions. Informal talks between guild leaders and key executives — primarily Robert A. Iger, the chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, and the president of News Corporation, Peter A. Chernin — began immediately after companies reached a deal with the Directors Guild of America last month, pointing toward solutions that helped resolve the dispute with writers.
Television viewers began seeing the effects of the strike firsthand in the last few weeks, as scripted shows faded further into reruns and networks started promoting reality shows like “American Gladiators” on NBC that do not employ guild writers. The Golden Globes ceremony, a showy precursor to the Oscars, was reduced to a news conference when actors agreed to not cross picket lines.
At the Friday strike captains’ meeting, Mr. Verrone said his guild had achieved two of its three prime objectives but securing coverage over Internet work and locking in a residuals formula for new media. According to the memorandum describing the meeting, Mr. Verrone called the failure to win jurisdiction over reality television and animation “a heartbreaking loss for him personally,” though he vowed to continue the fight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/business/media/10strike.html?hp
February 10, 2008
Tentative Deal Is Reached in Writers’ Strike
By MICHAEL CIEPLY
LOS ANGELES — An end to Hollywood’s long and bitter writers’ strike appeared close on Saturday, as union leaders representing 12,000 movie and television writers said they had reached a tentative deal with production companies.
The strike, which began Nov. 5, remains in effect until the governing boards of the two writers’ guilds gauge the sense of their membership this weekend and decide whether to end the walkout. The boards are expected to meet as early as Sunday, and the strike could be over by Monday morning.
A memorandum sent to some writers guild members summarized a four-hour meeting on Friday in which union leaders briefed a group of 300 strike captains. According to the memorandum, the guild boards and negotiating committee are expected to recommend the tentative deal unanimously, but they are withholding action to end the walkout until after Saturday’s scheduled meetings.
A resolution would be good news for the producers, who have been patching together prime-time schedules with reruns and reality shows and have delayed their feature film plans. It would also bring relief to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which was nervously making plans for an Oscar night without writers or stars.
Late-night talk shows that have operated without writers would benefit immediately. Shows like NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” are already inviting writers back to work on Monday, assuming the strike ends. Television series like Fox’s “24” and “Back to You” would likely take weeks to get back in production. Weaker shows might not return at all, and shake-ups in network planning might delay the return of some shows, even though production would soon be possible.
Word of the tentative deal came Saturday in an early morning e-mail message to members of the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East. The deal was to be reviewed by members at previously scheduled mass meetings here and in New York later in the day.
In their e-mail message, Patric M. Verrone, president of the West Coast guild, and Michael Winship, his East Coast counterpart, said: “Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success.”
While approval appears likely, members have warily debated the expected agreement all week, and they are certain to scrutinize the details closely at the Saturday meetings. A guild spokesman on Saturday morning declined to confirm plans for Sunday board meetings. A spokesman for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents over 300 production companies, also declined comment.
The walkout, Hollywood’s longest since writers struck for five months in 1988, closed down dozens of television shows, slowed development of feature films and threw tens of thousands of people out of work.
Writers had demanded a much bigger share of returns from new media than they had received in the past from the distribution of shows on older media like cassettes and DVDs, as well as expanded jurisdiction over reality television and animated features.
Company representatives initially responded by insisting on a complete revamping of Hollywood’s time-honored residuals system, under which writers, directors, actors and others are paid for reuse of their work on television and home video.
As the more expansive demands for wider jurisdiction and a narrowing of residuals were dropped, the sides were finally left with a more conventional negotiation. That turned on precise amounts of, and methods for calculating, payments for the growing digital distribution of shows in the next three years.
In Hollywood, excitement about a possible return to work has been dampened by widespread realization that the Screen Actors Guild, which represents 120,000 actors, is approaching a contract negotiation no less difficult than the writers’ talks. A contract with the actors guild expires June 30, and leaders of that union have repeatedly signaled that they intend to take a tough stance in negotiations. Anticipation of a walkout by actors has created a recent frenzy of feature firm production, as studios stockpiled movies based on existing scripts, but scheduled virtually no production to begin later than early April.
The board of the actors guild was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss plans by the long-allied American Federation of Television and Radio Artists — whose 70,000 members overlap with the screen actors’ membership and which covers a number of television series — to negotiate with companies on its own as early as next month. The federation’s stance on some crucial issues has been aggressive than that of the actors guild.
The 300 strike captains were deeply divided as to whether the strike should be lifted before a full membership vote.
“Returning to work prior to an actual vote signaled it was over and felt undemocratic,” the memo sent to some guild members said, in summarizing the discussion. “Others felt the deal was being ‘rammed down our throats’ too quickly,” while still others felt that “returning to work was imperative.” If members balk at an immediate return, the guilds could organize a rapid-fire vote by fax, Web and meeting, polling writers over the next few days rather than ending the strike by board action. An accelerated member vote might put writers back to work by Wednesday.
The tentative agreement became possible when the sides reached a handshake deal last week on a crucial term under which writers would be paid a fixed residual amounting to about $1,300 for the right to stream a television program online. In the third year of their contract, the writers would achieve one of their major goals — payments amounting to 2 percent of the distributor’s revenue from such streams.
The percentage formula is viewed by many writers as protection against the possibility that traditional reruns — which have paid them residuals amounting to tens of thousands of dollars per episode in the past — will disappear because of Web streams in the near future.
Other major gains include a pay plan that pegs residuals for electronic downloads of movies and televisions shows at nearly double the rate paid historically for DVDs, and calculates the rate as a percentage of the distributor’s revenue, junking an old formula.
The tentative agreement grew from a week-long, and sometimes heated, exchange of contractual provisions. Informal talks between guild leaders and key executives — primarily Robert A. Iger, the chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, and the president of News Corporation, Peter A. Chernin — began immediately after companies reached a deal with the Directors Guild of America last month, pointing toward solutions that helped resolve the dispute with writers.
Television viewers began seeing the effects of the strike firsthand in the last few weeks, as scripted shows faded further into reruns and networks started promoting reality shows like “American Gladiators” on NBC that do not employ guild writers. The Golden Globes ceremony, a showy precursor to the Oscars, was reduced to a news conference when actors agreed to not cross picket lines.
At the Friday strike captains’ meeting, Mr. Verrone said his guild had achieved two of its three prime objectives but securing coverage over Internet work and locking in a residuals formula for new media. According to the memorandum describing the meeting, Mr. Verrone called the failure to win jurisdiction over reality television and animation “a heartbreaking loss for him personally,” though he vowed to continue the fight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/business/media/10strike.html?hp
-
HarryGoldfarb
- Adjunct
- Posts: 1072
- Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2003 4:50 pm
- Location: Colombia
- Contact:
From Los Angeles Times
WGA, studios reach tentative contract
'Continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks,' the union says. If the guild's board agrees, writers could go back to work Monday.
By Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
10:04 AM PST, February 9, 2008
Writers Guild of America leaders and the major studios reached agreement early this morning on a proposed contract that will be presented to striking writers today in bicoastal membership meetings.
In a statement, guild leaders said the three-year deal made significant strides toward ensuring that writers get a fair cut of new media revenues.
"It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery," the guild said in an e-mail to it members. "We believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike."
At the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles and at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, guild negotiators were scheduled to brief thousands of rank-and-file writers on details of the tentative deal.
Their reaction could be pivotal in determining how soon the strike, now in its fourth month, will end.
Many writers and studio executives have been preparing for Hollywood's return to work on Monday. But that depends on the guild's board formally endorsing the contract at a meeting on Sunday morning.
The board also is expected to vote on whether to halt the walkout immediately, effectively sending thousands of writers and production workers back to work next week.
Although any contract must ultimately be ratified by guild members, the board has the authority to call off the strike at its discretion.
Taking such action, however, is not a given.
Hard-liners within the guild have contended that some aspects fall short. The writers agreement is largely modeled on a recent pact with directors that came under fire from some high-profile WGA members, including board member and writer-director Phil Alden Robinson.
Among other things, Robinson and others have been unhappy with a 17- to 24-day window that would allow studios to stream shows on advertising-supported websites without compensating writers.
But writers did get some sweeteners. Like directors, during the first two years of their contract, writers would receive a fixed residual payment of $1,200 a year for one-hour shows streamed online. In the third year of their contract, however, they would receive something directors do not: residuals equal to 2% of the revenue received by the program's distributor.
Writers were pushing for a variable rather than a fixed residual to assure they would share in any future growth in streaming revenue.
Writers also received something tailored specifically to their craft, so-called "separated-rights" provisions that provides additional pay and credit for Web programs that migrate to television or other formats.
The tentative agreement includes a doubling of the residual rate for movies and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over content created specifically for the Web, above certain budget thresholds. Like directors, writers also would receive a 3.5% increase in minimum pay rates for television and film scripts work.
Guild leaders, however, weren't ready to end the fight just yet.
Writers Guild of America, East, on Friday touted that it would stage its next "big picket" on Wednesday in front of Viacom Inc.'s headquarters in New York.
"The strike is still on," Sherry Goldman, a spokeswoman for the Writers Guild of America, East, said on Friday. "Should the strike eventually be lifted, we will cancel the picket."
WGA, studios reach tentative contract
'Continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks,' the union says. If the guild's board agrees, writers could go back to work Monday.
By Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
10:04 AM PST, February 9, 2008
Writers Guild of America leaders and the major studios reached agreement early this morning on a proposed contract that will be presented to striking writers today in bicoastal membership meetings.
In a statement, guild leaders said the three-year deal made significant strides toward ensuring that writers get a fair cut of new media revenues.
"It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery," the guild said in an e-mail to it members. "We believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike."
At the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles and at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, guild negotiators were scheduled to brief thousands of rank-and-file writers on details of the tentative deal.
Their reaction could be pivotal in determining how soon the strike, now in its fourth month, will end.
Many writers and studio executives have been preparing for Hollywood's return to work on Monday. But that depends on the guild's board formally endorsing the contract at a meeting on Sunday morning.
The board also is expected to vote on whether to halt the walkout immediately, effectively sending thousands of writers and production workers back to work next week.
Although any contract must ultimately be ratified by guild members, the board has the authority to call off the strike at its discretion.
Taking such action, however, is not a given.
Hard-liners within the guild have contended that some aspects fall short. The writers agreement is largely modeled on a recent pact with directors that came under fire from some high-profile WGA members, including board member and writer-director Phil Alden Robinson.
Among other things, Robinson and others have been unhappy with a 17- to 24-day window that would allow studios to stream shows on advertising-supported websites without compensating writers.
But writers did get some sweeteners. Like directors, during the first two years of their contract, writers would receive a fixed residual payment of $1,200 a year for one-hour shows streamed online. In the third year of their contract, however, they would receive something directors do not: residuals equal to 2% of the revenue received by the program's distributor.
Writers were pushing for a variable rather than a fixed residual to assure they would share in any future growth in streaming revenue.
Writers also received something tailored specifically to their craft, so-called "separated-rights" provisions that provides additional pay and credit for Web programs that migrate to television or other formats.
The tentative agreement includes a doubling of the residual rate for movies and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over content created specifically for the Web, above certain budget thresholds. Like directors, writers also would receive a 3.5% increase in minimum pay rates for television and film scripts work.
Guild leaders, however, weren't ready to end the fight just yet.
Writers Guild of America, East, on Friday touted that it would stage its next "big picket" on Wednesday in front of Viacom Inc.'s headquarters in New York.
"The strike is still on," Sherry Goldman, a spokeswoman for the Writers Guild of America, East, said on Friday. "Should the strike eventually be lifted, we will cancel the picket."
"If you place an object in a museum, does that make this object a piece of art?" - The Square (2017)
-
OscarGuy
- Site Admin
- Posts: 13668
- Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 12:22 am
- Location: Springfield, MO
- Contact:
If Rupert Murdoch's against them, they must be doing something right. And we'd BE so lucky to have a more socialist system.
Murdoch: WGA Wants "Socialist System"
In an interview on Fox News Channel's Your World With Neil Cavuto Thursday, News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch accused the writers of attempting to impose "some sort of Socialist system and drag down the companies." Murdoch predicted that the strike "is not going to last as long as everybody says," but quickly retreated on that forecast by adding, "But, if it does, it does." Later, he added, "I would be hopeful we will have everybody back at work fairly soon, but maybe maybe a few months."
Murdoch: WGA Wants "Socialist System"
In an interview on Fox News Channel's Your World With Neil Cavuto Thursday, News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch accused the writers of attempting to impose "some sort of Socialist system and drag down the companies." Murdoch predicted that the strike "is not going to last as long as everybody says," but quickly retreated on that forecast by adding, "But, if it does, it does." Later, he added, "I would be hopeful we will have everybody back at work fairly soon, but maybe maybe a few months."
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
Yay.
WGA/AMPTP talks collapse
Dec 7, 2007, 11:19 PM | by Lynette Rice
Categories: Strike, TV Biz
No early present under the Christmas tree today. After another week of talks that had everyone hoping Hollywood would finally put an end to the month-old strike, talks collapsed today between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the WGA. And it's unclear when--or if--the two sides will return to the table.
As has become customary, both sides came out firing with their own statements accusing the other party of derailing talks with unreasonable demands. The AMPTP struck first with this particularly angry missive about the WGA's tactics:
"We're disappointed to report that talks between the AMPTP and WGA have broken down yet again. Quite frankly, we're puzzled and disheartened by an ongoing WGA negotiating strategy that seems designed to delay or derail talks rather than facilitate an end to this strike. Union negotiators in our industry have successfully concluded 306 major agreements with the AMPTP since its inception in 1982. The WGA organizers sitting across the table from us have never concluded even one industry accord.
"We believe our New Economic Partnership proposal, which would increase the average working writer's salary to more than $230,000 a year, makes it possible to find common ground. And we have proved over the last five months that we want writers to participate in producers' revenues, including in theatrical and television streaming, as well as other areas of new media. However, under no circumstances will we knowingly participate in the destruction of this business.
"While the WGA's organizers can clearly stage rallies, concerts and mock exorcisms, we have serious concerns about whether they're capable of reaching reasonable compromises that are in the best interests of our entire industry. It is now absolutely clear that the WGA's organizers are determined to advance their own political ideologies and personal agendas at the expense of working writers and every other working person who depends on our industry for their livelihoods."
The statement goes on to say the WGA has made a number of "unreasonable demands" instead of negotiating, such as asking for restrictions "designed to prevent networks from airing any reality programs unless they are produced under terms in keeping with the WGA agreement."
Within minutes, the WGA replied with a statement of their own accusing the AMPTP of coming back to them with a counter-offer that included "a total rejection of our proposal on Internet streaming on Dec. 3... They are holding to their offer of a $250 fixed residual for unlimited one year streaming after a six-week window of free use. They still insist on the DVD rate for internet downloads. They refuse to cover original material made for new media. This offer was accompanied by an ultimatum: the AMPTP demands we give up several of our proposals, including fair market value (our protection against vertical integration and self-dealing), animation, reality, and, most crucially, any proposal that uses distributor’s gross as a basis for residuals. This would require us to concede most of our Internet proposal as a precondition for continued bargaining. The AMPTP insists we let them do to the Internet what they did to home video.
"We received a similar ultimatum through back channels prior to the discussions of November 4. At that time, we were assured that if we took DVD’s off the table, we would get a fair offer on new media issues. That offer never materialized."
No new negotiations are scheduled at this time.
WGA/AMPTP talks collapse
Dec 7, 2007, 11:19 PM | by Lynette Rice
Categories: Strike, TV Biz
No early present under the Christmas tree today. After another week of talks that had everyone hoping Hollywood would finally put an end to the month-old strike, talks collapsed today between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the WGA. And it's unclear when--or if--the two sides will return to the table.
As has become customary, both sides came out firing with their own statements accusing the other party of derailing talks with unreasonable demands. The AMPTP struck first with this particularly angry missive about the WGA's tactics:
"We're disappointed to report that talks between the AMPTP and WGA have broken down yet again. Quite frankly, we're puzzled and disheartened by an ongoing WGA negotiating strategy that seems designed to delay or derail talks rather than facilitate an end to this strike. Union negotiators in our industry have successfully concluded 306 major agreements with the AMPTP since its inception in 1982. The WGA organizers sitting across the table from us have never concluded even one industry accord.
"We believe our New Economic Partnership proposal, which would increase the average working writer's salary to more than $230,000 a year, makes it possible to find common ground. And we have proved over the last five months that we want writers to participate in producers' revenues, including in theatrical and television streaming, as well as other areas of new media. However, under no circumstances will we knowingly participate in the destruction of this business.
"While the WGA's organizers can clearly stage rallies, concerts and mock exorcisms, we have serious concerns about whether they're capable of reaching reasonable compromises that are in the best interests of our entire industry. It is now absolutely clear that the WGA's organizers are determined to advance their own political ideologies and personal agendas at the expense of working writers and every other working person who depends on our industry for their livelihoods."
The statement goes on to say the WGA has made a number of "unreasonable demands" instead of negotiating, such as asking for restrictions "designed to prevent networks from airing any reality programs unless they are produced under terms in keeping with the WGA agreement."
Within minutes, the WGA replied with a statement of their own accusing the AMPTP of coming back to them with a counter-offer that included "a total rejection of our proposal on Internet streaming on Dec. 3... They are holding to their offer of a $250 fixed residual for unlimited one year streaming after a six-week window of free use. They still insist on the DVD rate for internet downloads. They refuse to cover original material made for new media. This offer was accompanied by an ultimatum: the AMPTP demands we give up several of our proposals, including fair market value (our protection against vertical integration and self-dealing), animation, reality, and, most crucially, any proposal that uses distributor’s gross as a basis for residuals. This would require us to concede most of our Internet proposal as a precondition for continued bargaining. The AMPTP insists we let them do to the Internet what they did to home video.
"We received a similar ultimatum through back channels prior to the discussions of November 4. At that time, we were assured that if we took DVD’s off the table, we would get a fair offer on new media issues. That offer never materialized."
No new negotiations are scheduled at this time.
"How's the despair?"
Well, at least they're supporting a union, which is actually a progressive move on the Dems' part. Or are they just afraid no one will write their phony speeches for them?
New York Times
November 29, 2007
Democrats Cancel Debate Because of Writers Strike
By BILL CARTER
The Democratic National Committee, finding itself in the middle of labor disputes between television writers and CBS, announced this evening that it was canceling the debate among Democratic presidential candidates that had been scheduled to be broadcast on some of the network’s stations on Dec. 10.
Karen Finney, the communications director for the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement that were no plans to reschedule the debate, which was to be held in Los Angeles.
Hollywood’s television and film writers have been on strike since Nov. 5, and most of the Democratic candidates had pledged not to cross picket lines to attend the debate, which had been set to take place in a studio at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. That location has been picketed most days since the start of the strike, and no aspiring Democratic presidential candidate would have wanted to be caught on camera crossing the picket lines.
Even though talks to settle the scriptwriters’ strike were continuing this evening, another threatened strike, this one by news writers employed by CBS News, could have also derailed the debate.
CBS issued its own statement this evening, saying: “CBS News regrets not being able to offer the Democratic presidential debate scheduled for Dec. 10 in Los Angeles. The possibility of picket lines set up by the Writers Guild of America and the unwillingness of many candidates to cross them made it necessary to allow the candidates to make other plans.”
The Writers Guild of America represents both the news and entertainment writers involved in the labor disputes with CBS, but the news writers operate under a separate contract from the scriptwriters. All the networks and Hollywood production studios have been hit by the scriptwriters’ strike, but only CBS News would be affected if the news writers go ahead with a strike. That group voted earlier this month to authorize a strike, but no date has been set for one.
Sherry Goldman, a spokeswoman for the Writers Guild of America East, which represents the news writers, said today that a report posted on several Web sites, which asserted that the news writers had voted to begin a strike on the day of the debate, was untrue. “I don’t know where they got that information,” Ms. Goldman said. She explained that the “board and counsel” of that union would have to meet and vote on setting a strike date and no such meeting has taken place.
“No one in any sense has made a decision about anything,” Ms. Goldman said. The news writers have been working at CBS without a contract for more than two years.
The debate on Dec. 10 was never scheduled to run on the entire CBS network, as individual stations would have been able to choose whether to broadcast it or not. But the 90-minute debate would have taken place from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Pacific time, putting the Democratic tussle into prime time in the East and Midwest and making it unlikely that many stations in the Eastern or Central time zones would have chosen to carry the debate. It would have been available on CBS’s Web site.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007....=slogin
New York Times
November 29, 2007
Democrats Cancel Debate Because of Writers Strike
By BILL CARTER
The Democratic National Committee, finding itself in the middle of labor disputes between television writers and CBS, announced this evening that it was canceling the debate among Democratic presidential candidates that had been scheduled to be broadcast on some of the network’s stations on Dec. 10.
Karen Finney, the communications director for the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement that were no plans to reschedule the debate, which was to be held in Los Angeles.
Hollywood’s television and film writers have been on strike since Nov. 5, and most of the Democratic candidates had pledged not to cross picket lines to attend the debate, which had been set to take place in a studio at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. That location has been picketed most days since the start of the strike, and no aspiring Democratic presidential candidate would have wanted to be caught on camera crossing the picket lines.
Even though talks to settle the scriptwriters’ strike were continuing this evening, another threatened strike, this one by news writers employed by CBS News, could have also derailed the debate.
CBS issued its own statement this evening, saying: “CBS News regrets not being able to offer the Democratic presidential debate scheduled for Dec. 10 in Los Angeles. The possibility of picket lines set up by the Writers Guild of America and the unwillingness of many candidates to cross them made it necessary to allow the candidates to make other plans.”
The Writers Guild of America represents both the news and entertainment writers involved in the labor disputes with CBS, but the news writers operate under a separate contract from the scriptwriters. All the networks and Hollywood production studios have been hit by the scriptwriters’ strike, but only CBS News would be affected if the news writers go ahead with a strike. That group voted earlier this month to authorize a strike, but no date has been set for one.
Sherry Goldman, a spokeswoman for the Writers Guild of America East, which represents the news writers, said today that a report posted on several Web sites, which asserted that the news writers had voted to begin a strike on the day of the debate, was untrue. “I don’t know where they got that information,” Ms. Goldman said. She explained that the “board and counsel” of that union would have to meet and vote on setting a strike date and no such meeting has taken place.
“No one in any sense has made a decision about anything,” Ms. Goldman said. The news writers have been working at CBS without a contract for more than two years.
The debate on Dec. 10 was never scheduled to run on the entire CBS network, as individual stations would have been able to choose whether to broadcast it or not. But the 90-minute debate would have taken place from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Pacific time, putting the Democratic tussle into prime time in the East and Midwest and making it unlikely that many stations in the Eastern or Central time zones would have chosen to carry the debate. It would have been available on CBS’s Web site.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007....=slogin
New York Times
November 11, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
A Bite of the Bagel
By MAUREEN DOWD
Hillary Clinton had the bad luck to fumble a debate before the writers’ strike knocked late-night comics off the air.
Bernard Kerik and his old pal Rudy Giuliani had the good luck to have Mr. Kerik’s corruption indictment handed up after the TV zone of ridicule was blacked out.
“I shudder to think what’s happening to all the kids who keep in touch with world news by listening to reports of late-night comedians,” said David Thomson, the film historian.
Actually, I’m one of those people he’s shuddering about. I keep up on the news by listening to late-night comedians. I read a lot of stuff too, and talk to people. But I’m a satirical news junkie.
Knowing I was going to miss my Weekend Update from Seth Meyers on “Saturday Night Live,” I asked the show’s news co-anchor — and head writer — if he could take some time out from the picket line to give me a weekend update on the writers’ strike.
IT’S SUNDAY MORNING LIVE! (Sort of.)!
First of all, Mr. Meyers wanted to rebut any notion that the writers are well-heeled brats carrying Starbucks and Evian to the barricades in an attempt to get richer, while throwing TV’s steerage class out of work.
Mr. Meyers took issue with the Times article characterizing the New York picket line of Tina Fey, himself and other NBC writers in front of Rockefeller Center as “a glamour strike,” with Writers Guild members in “arty glasses and fancy scarves” rather than “hard hats and work boots.”
“Glamour show?” he asked. “Scarves and glasses? Have those not always been the accouterments of the geek and not the runway model? That’s how Harry Potter dresses, not Kate Moss. And while our glasses can be a little ‘arty,’ isn’t that the least we deserve after the ‘regular’ glasses of our formative years helped push us towards a writing career in the first place?”
Good point.
“I am a fan of studios and what I like most about them is this: They know how to make money,” he continued. “That’s why studios and writers are such a perfect fit. Without studios we’d be back where comedy writers were 100 years ago — in some backwoods farmhouse shouting jokes at each other in a makeshift ring, while drunken audiences throw nickels at our feet.”
The writers know that they have not been clever in past negotiations about new technology, and that their work, as Mr. Thomson puts it, “could be playing on your thumbnail in five years.” But they’re trying to catch up.
“Even my technologically challenged mother watches television on a computer — and she thinks an iPod is some kind of antelope,” Mr. Meyers said. “Our request is simple: we get paid a small percentage of any revenue generated from our creative material.
“As a comedy writer, I am more than willing to admit that I need a world with producers, but do they need us? The answer is yes, for two reasons. First, without writers whom will the studios blame for their failures? Second, seriously, whom?”
Mr. Thomson has more respect for the TV writers than the movie writers because screenwriters are not “putting intelligent ideas and original material in films.”
The huge mistake the Writers Guild made long ago, he said, was not to insist on getting a copyright.
“If you write something for a movie company, they may pay you a lot of money, but they take it,” he said. “It alters completely the way writers get treated.”
Some industry analysts say that the writers may be engaged in a futile act, because they have no real power, can’t shut down networks that can turn to more reality TV, and may not be able to stop the conglomerates from squashing them — a scenario straight out of Paddy Chayefsky.
“Some of these writers are living check to check,” said James Brooks, the writer, director and producer — and a creative force behind “The Simpsons” — who is on the picket line in Los Angeles. “And I fear union busting. It’s happening all over the place, and we’re not immune.”
Dorothy Parker, once an unhappy writer in Hollywood, had an image of the town’s power structure as “a block-long limo with a gloved, jeweled hand sticking out the rear window holding a bagel with one bite taken out of it.”
The writers are running alongside the limo just trying to get their own bite. And maybe a schmear.
Seth Meyers says he is ready “to take the journey to new media with the studios. Ideally, in the back seats of their high-end cars that have computerized British voices telling you how to get there and when to turn.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007....=slogin
Edited By Akash on 1194760326
November 11, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
A Bite of the Bagel
By MAUREEN DOWD
Hillary Clinton had the bad luck to fumble a debate before the writers’ strike knocked late-night comics off the air.
Bernard Kerik and his old pal Rudy Giuliani had the good luck to have Mr. Kerik’s corruption indictment handed up after the TV zone of ridicule was blacked out.
“I shudder to think what’s happening to all the kids who keep in touch with world news by listening to reports of late-night comedians,” said David Thomson, the film historian.
Actually, I’m one of those people he’s shuddering about. I keep up on the news by listening to late-night comedians. I read a lot of stuff too, and talk to people. But I’m a satirical news junkie.
Knowing I was going to miss my Weekend Update from Seth Meyers on “Saturday Night Live,” I asked the show’s news co-anchor — and head writer — if he could take some time out from the picket line to give me a weekend update on the writers’ strike.
IT’S SUNDAY MORNING LIVE! (Sort of.)!
First of all, Mr. Meyers wanted to rebut any notion that the writers are well-heeled brats carrying Starbucks and Evian to the barricades in an attempt to get richer, while throwing TV’s steerage class out of work.
Mr. Meyers took issue with the Times article characterizing the New York picket line of Tina Fey, himself and other NBC writers in front of Rockefeller Center as “a glamour strike,” with Writers Guild members in “arty glasses and fancy scarves” rather than “hard hats and work boots.”
“Glamour show?” he asked. “Scarves and glasses? Have those not always been the accouterments of the geek and not the runway model? That’s how Harry Potter dresses, not Kate Moss. And while our glasses can be a little ‘arty,’ isn’t that the least we deserve after the ‘regular’ glasses of our formative years helped push us towards a writing career in the first place?”
Good point.
“I am a fan of studios and what I like most about them is this: They know how to make money,” he continued. “That’s why studios and writers are such a perfect fit. Without studios we’d be back where comedy writers were 100 years ago — in some backwoods farmhouse shouting jokes at each other in a makeshift ring, while drunken audiences throw nickels at our feet.”
The writers know that they have not been clever in past negotiations about new technology, and that their work, as Mr. Thomson puts it, “could be playing on your thumbnail in five years.” But they’re trying to catch up.
“Even my technologically challenged mother watches television on a computer — and she thinks an iPod is some kind of antelope,” Mr. Meyers said. “Our request is simple: we get paid a small percentage of any revenue generated from our creative material.
“As a comedy writer, I am more than willing to admit that I need a world with producers, but do they need us? The answer is yes, for two reasons. First, without writers whom will the studios blame for their failures? Second, seriously, whom?”
Mr. Thomson has more respect for the TV writers than the movie writers because screenwriters are not “putting intelligent ideas and original material in films.”
The huge mistake the Writers Guild made long ago, he said, was not to insist on getting a copyright.
“If you write something for a movie company, they may pay you a lot of money, but they take it,” he said. “It alters completely the way writers get treated.”
Some industry analysts say that the writers may be engaged in a futile act, because they have no real power, can’t shut down networks that can turn to more reality TV, and may not be able to stop the conglomerates from squashing them — a scenario straight out of Paddy Chayefsky.
“Some of these writers are living check to check,” said James Brooks, the writer, director and producer — and a creative force behind “The Simpsons” — who is on the picket line in Los Angeles. “And I fear union busting. It’s happening all over the place, and we’re not immune.”
Dorothy Parker, once an unhappy writer in Hollywood, had an image of the town’s power structure as “a block-long limo with a gloved, jeweled hand sticking out the rear window holding a bagel with one bite taken out of it.”
The writers are running alongside the limo just trying to get their own bite. And maybe a schmear.
Seth Meyers says he is ready “to take the journey to new media with the studios. Ideally, in the back seats of their high-end cars that have computerized British voices telling you how to get there and when to turn.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007....=slogin
Edited By Akash on 1194760326
Oh, and to make sure a lot of people here click on the link in my original post on this thread, the guy in the videos is super hot. You can also find him here:
http://youtube.com/hollywoodscabwriter
http://youtube.com/hollywoodscabwriter
-
The Original BJ
- Emeritus
- Posts: 4312
- Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm
First, welcome to the board, Zahveed. It will be nice for me not to be the youngest member anymore!!
This strike has created a lot of problems for me, as I work in television production. On one hand, I definitely sympathize with the writers' desire for residuals for their work. On the other hand, and on a very personal level, it's frustrating for someone who makes less than $600 a week to learn that I (and my fellow crew-mates) may be put out of work for months because people who make tens of thousands per week think they aren't making enough. And I'm considered one of the lucky ones -- my show is still up and running (and, fingers crossed, will be for at least another month), and shooting away from the major studios...where productions have been affected by swarms of picketers.
Also, I've been working with a producer to polish a script of mine we would like to send out...that's definitely been put on hold for the time being.
Ah, well, I could always go back to reality tv... ???
This strike has created a lot of problems for me, as I work in television production. On one hand, I definitely sympathize with the writers' desire for residuals for their work. On the other hand, and on a very personal level, it's frustrating for someone who makes less than $600 a week to learn that I (and my fellow crew-mates) may be put out of work for months because people who make tens of thousands per week think they aren't making enough. And I'm considered one of the lucky ones -- my show is still up and running (and, fingers crossed, will be for at least another month), and shooting away from the major studios...where productions have been affected by swarms of picketers.
Also, I've been working with a producer to polish a script of mine we would like to send out...that's definitely been put on hold for the time being.
Ah, well, I could always go back to reality tv... ???
Ok, that makes sense. I was just wondering; my friend and I are working on a screenplay and we planned on getting an agent so we can shop it around whenever we get it perfected and whatnot. That's a different subject in its own though.
How critical was the strike in '88?
How critical was the strike in '88?
"It's the least most of us can do, but less of us will do more."
Yah, this strike really is making no impact on me at all so far. I have no cantacts in Hollywood; so, I can only get my stuff read by independents anyway.OscarGuy wrote:The problem with that is that the WGA has stated that any writer who works for the AMPTP member studios will be barred from ever becoming a WGA member. Those who don't care won't mind.
However, this does not mean that writers aren't working. Not all studios are members of the AMPTP and so writers can still find work with the true independent studios out there.