Wga Strike: Make The Call!

[BlackLantern]

I agree.....a negotiation is supposed to be both sides compromising and coming to an agreement. It appears the writers are not willing to budge on anything, Id say take a deal now and negotiate for more concessions later on, which is a workable solution I think

 

[SoulManX]

I agree.....a negotiation is supposed to be both sides compromising and coming to an agreement. It appears the writers are not willing to budge on anything, Id say take a deal now and negotiate for more concessions later on, which is a workable solution I think

I don't know best to get all that you can NOW because you might not get it LATER

 

[BlackLantern]

I don't know best to get all that you can NOW because you might not get it LATER

on the other side....if you take a little now, the other side would be more inclined to give a little more as time went on....

 

[SoulManX]

on the other side....if you take a little now, the other side would be more inclined to give a little more as time went on....

Hmmm I doubt it

Studios would rather pay more money to a crappy actor than a good screenwriter

 

[Addendum]

Funny, back in the 80's when home video was a brand new thing, the writers agreed to take a little, with the understanding that as that market grew, so would the amount they received. Guess what happened as home video grew and eventually led to DVD?

The writers get the little amount, sometimes.

The guild is not about to make that same mistake again with the new media

 

[BlackLantern]

I also think the talent pooll, as it comes to writers, is a lot deeper today than it was in the 80's....i think the stuidos and the networks are aware of that....

 

[Addendum]

Since when do the studios read fan fiction or watch fan-made movies?

 

[BlackLantern]

Since when do the studios read fan fiction or watch fan-made movies?

I wasnt talking about fan fiction (yech) or fan films (double yech) at all, but I think there are a lot more writers out there now than before.....

 

[Addendum]

I just read an interesting post by JMS about the strike. It's available here

 

[BlackLantern]

whats so intresting about it???, he pointed out the lack of foresight on the studios' part prior to the strike....there was a lot of that here on the Hype...does it only matter because it is coming from a person of note??

 

[SoulManX]

It differs in every way, which is what the studios haven't yet fully
grasped.

During the shooting on TLT, I had dinner with several folks including
an exec from Warner Bros. when the subject of the coming contract
expiration came up. And the fellow from WB, whose name I'll omit for
now, was practically cackling about it...saying that they already had
their positions in place, and that they were looking to the WGA
fracturing and falling apart as it always had in the past during these
negotiations, splitting into factions and internal argumentrs and
dissension, while they just sit there and wait for the implosion to
tell us what the terms will be, and which we would then accept.

And I remember thinking, pal, you have NO idea the full extent and
nature of the wood chipper you're about to walk into face-first.

See, the thing of it is, on one level, he was right, that's how things
WERE. But things had changed. There is a tendency, in military
strategy, for the generals to fight each new war using the techniques
and tactics that had worked in the last war, often without
understanding that the shape of the battlefield had changed. We saw
it in the Revolutionary War, where British soldiers marched in strict
formation into the birth of guerilla warfare; in the Civil War, where
generals still had troops firing at each other from nearly point-blank
range without grasping that this wasn't necessary because the accuracy
of the weapons had improved by orders of magnitude leading to huge
slaughters, and in Vietnam, where we ended up playing the British to
the VC guerillas.

The shape of the battlefield had changed. In the past, yes, the
producers were able to divide the guild along set lines, pitting TV
drama writers against sitcom writers against feature writers against
unemployed writers against working writers.

But now we had a) more determined leadership and b) every writer in
each of those groups had sat back and watched as the DVD sales of
their work in every arena flew out of stores and made billions for the
studios while they saw nothing. It united the hell out of everybody.
So there ARE no fault lines this time for the producers to exploit.
But they're still running the same playbook as last time. And the
more it doesn't work, the more pissed off they become.

One side-effect of this...after the sales on B5:TLT came in, way
exceeding WB's projections, they initiated talks about what to do
next, including commissioning more DVDs. Looking at the calendar, I
suggested that they might want to hurry the bureaucratic process
because we were going to be in a strike situation soon, so if they
wanted to move, they'd better commision a script fast.

And they said in response, and I quote verbatim, "We don't want to be
pressured in the process because we know there's not going to be a
strike this year, we can handle the Guild."

Face, wood-chipper. Wood-chipper, face.

Add great find...this is why I hate THE SUITS

 

[Halcohol]

Heh. Face, wood chipper. Wood chipper, face.

 

[SoulManX]

whats so intresting about it???, he pointed out the lack of foresight on the studios' part prior to the strike....there was a lot of that here on the Hype...does it only matter because it is coming from a person of note??

The real enemy is the THE SUITS...some snot nose Yale grad punk that knows everything

 

[BlackLantern]

The real enemy is the THE SUITS...some snot nose Yale grad punk that knows everything

the real enemy??? the odds are pretty good that a snot nosed yale grad punk will be signing your paycheck sometime in the future.....

 

[SoulManX]

the real enemy??? the odds are pretty good that a snot nosed yale grad punk will be signing your paycheck sometime in the future.....

Not bloody likey.

 

[BlackLantern]

I work for an internet company and the founder went to Dartmouth....but he isnt a snot nosed punk by any means

 

[Addendum]

whats so intresting about it???, he pointed out the lack of foresight on the studios' part prior to the strike....there was a lot of that here on the Hype...does it only matter because it is coming from a person of note??

The lack of foresight isn't the interesting part, the fact that the writers are pretty much more unified in that they all saw what they wrote fly off shelves of stores and they hardly got anything in return, while the studios make some nice stuff, as did the actors involved, and the studios are essentially going to do the same moves they did back in '88 think it will work.

Like the British troops did with the American Colonists, and like the American soldiers did with the VC in Vietnam almost 2 centuries later.

 

[SoulManX]

I work for an internet company and the founder went to Dartmouth....but he isnt a snot nosed punk by any means

Good for him...but he is not a network or studio suit.

 

[BlackLantern]

I see intresting things happening. the writers obviously have a ton of support from within the hollywood community and the general public. the studios/networks seem like they are willing to wait it out because they know that the WGA's strike coffers will start to run dry sooner rather than later. yes, some writers are financiallly ok, but a majority of them are not...they have mortgages, bills, and such.....it will be intresting to see how this gets resolved

 

[BlackLantern]

Good for him...but he is not a network or studio suit.

no, he is an internet suit.....I understand most of the Hype here has a whole "fight the power" mentality thus most everyone on here supports the writers

 

[Addendum]

I don't see it as a "fight the power" mentality. I think it's simply reasonable to pay the writers 8 cents for every DVD sold and to work out a method to pay the writers and actors when the show is on the internet or on xbox live or other methods of distribution that haven't yet been created.

 

[hammy]

no, he is an internet suit.....I understand most of the Hype here has a whole "fight the power" mentality thus most everyone on here supports the writers

BlackLantern, would you please explain something to me? I'm trying to understand your point of view (which is shared by many). I do understand and agree with much of what you said about unions in general. But what I don't understand is why you seem to think it's perfectly acceptable for somebody to profit from somebody else's work ... but the originator of that work, doesn't?



This philosophy makes no sense to me. The studios are profiting, why shouldn't the people who MAKE IT POSSIBLE for them to profit, profit as well?

 

[BlackLantern]

BlackLantern, would you please explain something to me? I'm trying to understand your point of view (which is shared by many). I do understand and agree with much of what you said about unions in general. But what I don't understand is why you seem to think it's perfectly acceptable for somebody to profit from somebody else's work ... but the originator of that work, doesn't?



This philosophy makes no sense to me. The studios are profiting, why shouldn't the people who MAKE IT POSSIBLE for them to profit, profit as well?

I have never said the writers shouldnt profit because I believe they absolutely should, Im just curious about the 8 cents or 8 percent? figure came to be and why the writers feel it is a fair number.....I personally think it should be no more than 6....thats just me

you can bring the argument that without the writers there isnt anything, but you can say that about the studios, production staff and so forth....you can be the best writer on planet earth but if you dont have a studio or network to bring your vision to life, shut your cakehole and bring me more breadsticks......

the writers should get their piece, but it should be their own, not having to share with the WGA

 

[Addendum]

I think a union killed a family member of yours, since you're so obsessed with being against them

 

[BlackLantern]

and people want to go on about how this network makes money hand over fist and so forth.....but think about any one network and how much money they put out producing pilots and tv series....what about those shows that only last 6 episodes and get canned......the network has already spent that money producing the show and has no way to recoup that loss unless more money is spent to produce another show....and that happens to every major network every year......I think another part of it is that if they cave to the writers, whats to stop the other guilds/unions from asking for more residuals or revenue...they can also make the same claim that they are the backbone
and that without them they have nothing....