After a nice vacation, it’s back to the picket lines on Monday. I’ll be returning to my home studio, Paramount, working the 5:45 a.m. to 9 a.m. shift. That’s fifteen minutes later than it used to be, so you can’t say that the WGA isn’t mixing it up for the New Year.
For reasons too nascent to blog about, I’ll probably end up working more van-loading or phone bank shifts this coming month. So if you’re coming out to visit, definitely check the blog the night before.
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January 5th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Picketing is great and all… but when are the negotiations gonna start again? I heard from a fellow IA member that during the last negotiation meeting the AMPTP was willing to meet all the WGAs demands except for having reality writers join the guild.
Is that true? I don’t know the source well enough to know if he’s that reliable, but there are tens of thousands of us who basically lost out on the holidays because of the strike. The sooner this infernal thing ends the better.
Do you see any end in sight?
January 6th, 2008 at 9:29 am
As a beginning screenwriter (1 feature produced, 2nd one on first draft now), I’d just like to give you a hearty THANK YOU for standing up against the studios and fighting for what’s yours. There’s a lot of non-WGA members and future members out there standing in solidarity with those on the picket lines all across the country. I am not in LA or NYC, but you can bet that I, and many of my colleagues, are there in spirit. -a hopeful future WGA member.
January 6th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Timmy (#1):
Wow, that’s some misinformation. Even the AMPTP would disagree with that assessment. There are at least five things in dispute, the biggest of which (by far) is the internet. Here’s the last thing the AMPTP said before leaving negotiations:
link
January 6th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Thanks for the clarification, sir — I figured as much, and while I have no problem with being an ass every once in a while, it really pisses Umption off when I get him trouble…
January 7th, 2008 at 10:39 am
I don’t pretend to know a lot about the strike, but from an outsider’s point of view, I think public opinion will start to turn against the WGA the more they dump on Jay Leno. I do support the writers, and hope they get everything they are demanding. I also am not a particular fan of Leno’s, but I think the WGA made a mistake by seeming to play favourites by signing a separate deal with Letterman. I’m sure that’s not precisely what happened. But that is what it’s going to look like the more they try and punish Leno.
January 7th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Craig,
The difference as I understand it is that Letterman’s company said that IT, WORLDWIDE PANTS, WOULD PAY THE RESIDUALS THEMSELVES and would abide by the terms of what the WGA was asking for in it’s agreement. Leno can not do that because NBC would be the one paying the residuals and following the terms. AND NBC WON’T SIGN THE AGREEMENT. The difference is that Letterman owns his company and can speak for it, while Leno does not own his company and hence, can not speak for it. Anything signed with Leno would be worthless without NBC agreeing to it. Letterman is not in that situation with CBS.
So it’s not a question of punishing Leno, except for the fact that he did scab work by writing his monologue when he’s a guild member on strike and is forbidden like all guild members to work for a struck company. It’s a question of withholding revenue from NBC.
It’s the same situation with the Golden Globes… yes, the GG people want to make an interim deal, but they don’t have the say-so, their signatures are worthless, if Dick Clark doesn’t sign also… and the WGA would be stupid to let DC sign a deal only for one special and let him make money off it, when he refuses to sign a deal for any of his other programs or series.
January 7th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Craig,
The difference as I understand it is that Letterman’s company said that IT, WORLDWIDE PANTS, WOULD PAY THE RESIDUALS THEMSELVES and would abide by the terms of what the WGA was asking for in it’s agreement. Leno can not do that because NBC would be the one paying the residuals and following the terms. AND NBC WON’T SIGN THE AGREEMENT. The difference is that Letterman owns his company and can speak for it, while Leno does not own his company and hence, can not speak for it. Anything signed with Leno would be worthless without NBC agreeing to it. Letterman is not in that situation with CBS.
So it’s not a question of punishing Leno, except for the fact that he did scab work by writing his monologue when he’s a guild member on strike and is forbidden like all guild members to work for a struck company. It’s a question of withholding revenue from NBC.
It’s the same situation with the Golden Globes… yes, the GG people want to make an interim deal, but they don’t have the say-so, their signatures are worthless, if Dick Clark doesn’t sign also… and the WGA would be stupid to let DC sign a deal only for one special and let him make money off it, when he refuses to sign a deal for any of his other programs or series.
Here’s the same kind of situation. This is a quote from Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily blog from today:
“Stewart in more detail, talked about how they joined with cable channel Comedy Central to convince the WGA to accept the same deal that the writers guild made with David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants. (The audience wasn’t told, however, about the difference in the two situations — that Comedy Central, a division of Viacom, owns Stewart’s show, whereas Worldwide Pants owns The Late Show with David Letterman as well as the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Viacom is one of the 8 biggest members of the AMPTP which is refusing to bargain with the WGA at present…)”
Thing is, you have to be very careful when you read anything on the strike and consider the source and bias before you draw your conclusions.
January 7th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
John, if you could delete message 6 and kee message 7, I’d be obliged… I couldn’t get edit things to function correctly.