I am an editor for pay and a writer because I love to write. Though I’ve never been paid to write, I do sympathize with the Writers Strike. But I have to work for a living, like most other people on earth, and need to get to my job in order to do so. It pays for my writing addiction.

What irks me about this strike is that it’s hurting the “below-the-line” people, the teamsters, the grips, the editors, the sound mixers, the engineers, rather than the executives and actors. The people who really work, who bust their asses to make the actors and execs – and writers – comfortable, now have to wait in long lines to get to their jobs, if they have jobs to get to at all with the way television has been shut down.

So, though I do hope the writers get what they want, they still seem to be oblivious to the real damage they’re causing. Ultimately, though, it doesn’t matter. It’s only the entertainment industry and whether or not they get what they want will not stop puppies from being abused or soldiers from dying in Iraq or the Earth from revolving around the Sun.

“Doesn’t this strike have to basically go up to June when the threat of a SAG+WGA joint strike forces the studios to make a deal and/or the two unions strike and basically shut down the industry completly?”

Well, that’s why it was such a big deal when the showrunners walked out; they essentially shut down TV, which has a shorter lead time than features, anyway.

And note that the Academy Awards is scheduled for February 24th.

“Do you think the WGA will get a better deal than what they might have gotten if they had pushed back the deadline and kept negotiating?”

Pushed back the deadline to when? Last time, the Guild went out in March. That didn’t work out so well.

“How many weeks after a strike before studios can start terminating deals?”

They already have.

“If the DGA agrees on a new deal in the next 2-3 months doesn’t that basically give a ceiling to what the WGA might get given the writers will never get a better deal than the directors?”

No. Most Favored Nation means we have to get at least what they get, and vice versa. It doesn’t mean we can’t ask for more than what they are getting; in fact, that’s exactly what’s happening now.

But you also bring up a very important point: the AMPTP has done the projections, and they’ve concluded that a strike costs them less than meeting the WGA’s demands. To put it another way, does anybody here think that, by holding out in ‘88, the studios have saved themselves less than $500 million in residual payments over the course of the last 19 years?

Yeah, I thought not.

So to really hit them where it hurts, the WGA should lift the ban on working for non-sigs. (Now that the contract has expired, the only thing preventing WGA members from working for non-sigs is the WGA.) Once the AMPTP starts seeing all of this revenue generating content going to their competitors…

At the very least, the WGA should find the Disney fellowship writers gigs at non-sigs.

My 2¢ – M

In the last paragraph in your original post you mention the incident with Eva and the Disney fellows, then talk about the WGA choosing to be petty. I apparently incorrectly inferred that you were implying that these were examples of the WGA being petty. I do apologize for my mistake.

Now I realize that I don’t even know what you’re implying is petty, because neither the incident with Eva (why do I keep saying that like I know her?) or the Disney fellow is petty. I guess you’re just saying, in general, the WGA shouldn’t be petty. I agree.

I still disagree about this being a union strike as opposed to a writers’ strike. The WGA constitution describes what a scab writer is, and it’s anyone who writes for a struck company. So, they are expecting non-unioners, like myself, to support them. The fellows really aren’t interns, since the position pays $50,000 + benefits for the year–which is apparently a lot more than the average WGA member makes.

Anyway, we’re on the same side. Our disagreements just show how passionate we are about this, which is good. Coffee’s on me if we meet on the lines…

As for the incident with Eva Longoria, it wasn’t something that “reportedly” happened — it was carried in no less than five separate media outlets that I’ve come across (none of which were the New York Times, by the way, or I, too, would question the validity of the story), which also have included strong words from Teri Hatcher echoing basically what I said, the WGA people at that particular picket were out-of-line because the SAG has directed that their members are still expected to work during this strike. And like it or not, they were WGA members, their actions made headlines, and so unless the WGA leadership wants to come forward and denounce their actions by publicly apologizing to Eva on behalf of the organization, they very much DO represent the WGA in what they did.

All I’m saying is, the WGA have a lot of strong support. Many actors, though they aren’t in a position to walk off the sets and join them, have been very vocal in their support. Many people not related to the entertainment industry at all have also shown support. If the WGA wants to keep that high level of support through this, as an organization they need to be aware of how their actions can be viewed. They need to thank the actors who come out to support the pickets, not berate them for continuing to work (especially since the SAG has instructed them to continue doing so). And, as Paul Atkinson noted so well, they need to recognize that this is a union strike and not a writers strike, that the writers in the Disney fellowship aren’t union, and give them a pass. They’re not scabs; they’re interns, basically.

Any writer who continues writing for studios during the strike — whether the writer is guild or not — will be considered a scab and get a lifelong blacklisting from WGA.

The idea is that scab work undermines the power of the union. If every writer, guild member or not, agrees to not do scab work when there’s a strike, writers have the utmost power. But when writers do scab work, it just prolongs the strike, as studio don’t feel the full force of a work stoppage.

WGA members who do scab work are punished, so it follows that the WGA would also punish non-members who do the same–by barring them from ever joining. I think it’s fair: if you’re not with them during a strike, it’s hypocritical to try to join in the future. I think a lot of people are going to find out a lot about who they really are, morally, during this whole debacle.

I’m not in the union, but I’m definitely on strike, in mind, body, and spirit. And so are thousands of other non-union writers. This is a writers’ strike!

To be honest, I’m surprised all of this is even legal…

Thanks for shedding some light on the Disney Fellowship debacle. The Disney television fellows have been given until tomorrow to make a decision. We must either cross the picket line or walk away from the fellowship (and our paychecks and health benefits).

We will keep you posted.

-Displaced Fellow

Please feel free to contact us at the above email address if you have any more questions or to get our bios and how this is affecting us.

Thanks again!