Strike!! But what happens after?

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  • #46
    Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

    Someone just posted on Mazin's blog that she heard from a credible source about an executive at a signatory asking her assistant to put together a list of decent non-WGA feature writers.

    Uh-oh.

    Thw WGA is up against studios owned by international corporations... the same corporations that ship jobs overseas.

    They will not give an inch.
    Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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    • #47
      Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

      Originally posted by sc111 View Post

      Thw WGA is up against studios owned by international corporations... the same corporations that ship jobs overseas.
      Exactly. This isn't just happening to writers or showbiz folk. This is happening in every field. Employees being nickel and dimed to death, losing pay, perks, and benefits in the name of corporate profits.

      The WGA may well lose this battle, but it is a battle that must be fought.

      I'm not terribly worried about WGA signatory companies going to scabs right away. That will trigger an even greater bloodbath come next July when SAG and DGA go into negotiations.

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      • #48
        Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

        The union says the overall compensation package sought by writers would cost $220 million over three years, a fraction of the $24.4 billion in revenues generated by U.S. DVD sales and rentals last year alone, according to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.


        Is that unreasonable?

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        • #49
          Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

          Goon --

          If they weren't planning to go to scabs right away why compile a non-WGA writer list so soon?

          I think it's a sign that the signatories know this will be a very very long strike if WGA doesn't cave.

          Because the opposition will not give an inch.

          The WGA isn't striking some 1940's studio head wchomping a big cigar.
          They're up against huge, serpentine corporations (Viacom, GE, Time-Warner-AOL) which cane stonewall them indefinitely.

          So -- they lose some film and TV revenue when their stockpiled scripts run out. Big deal. They need the tax write off.

          This is an honorable fight ... about 20 years too late. Thw WGA gave in on video residuals in '88.

          In terms of fairness -- the window of opportunity closed back then.

          I'll say it again -- corporations see all labor as replaceable -- disposable in some circumstances.

          They'll hire scabs.
          Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

          Comment


          • #50
            Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

            Originally posted by Goon Squad View Post
            The union says the overall compensation package sought by writers would cost $220 million over three years, a fraction of the $24.4 billion in revenues generated by U.S. DVD sales and rentals last year alone, according to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.


            Is that unreasonable?
            To the WGA opposition it's unreasonable. You have to understand the mindset of these billion-dollar corporations.

            Their goal is to become trillion-dollar corporations.

            And they don't do that by sharing profits.

            It's not about fairness or reasonable -- it's about grabbing up more-more-more.

            Corporate greed means paying less and less to make more and more.

            And you know what -- it's our fault. All of us who buy stuff made overseas, by people making near-slave wages. We don't think twice about the kids in foreign factories making our GAP jeans.

            We didn't blink when blue-collar workers saw their jobs shipped around the world.

            We shrug when we hear how much these corporate CEOS make -- never realizing that the way they inflated their salaries was by yanking money from the workers' salaries.

            This is the mentality that owns Hollywood now. Do we really expect them to be fair to writers? I think this is naive.

            Maybe if screenwriters left the insular world of LA for a few months and actually paid attention to what's going on in the world ecomomy, what's going on with the average working person, they'd fully comprehend what they're up against.
            Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

            Comment


            • #51
              Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

              It's not the screenwriters who need to leave their insular worlds. We're already out there in the thick of it. Living it.

              Let them write their own scripts. Find out what it takes.
              Last edited by maralyn; 11-03-2007, 06:10 PM.

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              • #52
                Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

                Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                To the WGA opposition it's unreasonable. You have to understand the mindset of these billion-dollar corporations.

                Their goal is to become trillion-dollar corporations.

                And they don't do that by sharing profits.

                It's not about fairness or reasonable -- it's about grabbing up more-more-more.

                Corporate greed means paying less and less to make more and more.

                And you know what -- it's our fault. All of us who buy stuff made overseas, by people making near-slave wages. We don't think twice about the kids in foreign factories making our GAP jeans.

                We didn't blink when blue-collar workers saw their jobs shipped around the world.

                We shrug when we hear how much these corporate CEOS make -- never realizing that the way they inflated their salaries was by yanking money from the workers' salaries.

                This is the mentality that owns Hollywood now. Do we really expect them to be fair to writers? I think this is naive.

                Maybe if screenwriters left the insular world of LA for a few months and actually paid attention to what's going on in the world ecomomy, what's going on with the average working person, they'd fully comprehend what they're up against.
                My point exactly in a previous post. It ain't just 'bout scribes.

                Comment


                • #53
                  Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

                  Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                  To the WGA opposition it's unreasonable. You have to understand the mindset of these billion-dollar corporations.

                  Their goal is to become trillion-dollar corporations.

                  And they don't do that by sharing profits.

                  It's not about fairness or reasonable -- it's about grabbing up more-more-more.

                  Corporate greed means paying less and less to make more and more.

                  And you know what -- it's our fault. All of us who buy stuff made overseas, by people making near-slave wages. We don't think twice about the kids in foreign factories making our GAP jeans.

                  We didn't blink when blue-collar workers saw their jobs shipped around the world.

                  We shrug when we hear how much these corporate CEOS make -- never realizing that the way they inflated their salaries was by yanking money from the workers' salaries.

                  This is the mentality that owns Hollywood now. Do we really expect them to be fair to writers? I think this is naive.

                  Maybe if screenwriters left the insular world of LA for a few months and actually paid attention to what's going on in the world ecomomy, what's going on with the average working person, they'd fully comprehend what they're up against.
                  I do understand all of that. I've made the point many times that this isn't about writers and entertainment only, it's about corporate culture.

                  BUt between us regular folk, I'm asking. That isn't that unreasonable, is it?

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

                    Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                    Goon --

                    If they weren't planning to go to scabs right away why compile a non-WGA writer list so soon?
                    Political theater.

                    It's also an unsubstantiated third party claim on a message board frequented by many vociferous pro-union screenwriters. I wouldn't put it past someone to post it as a joke/scare tactic.

                    (Excuse me if it's attributed, I couldn't find the post on AW, so I'm assuming it was anonymous and unattributed.)

                    Comment


                    • #55
                      Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

                      Originally posted by sc111 View Post

                      Maybe if screenwriters left the insular world of LA for a few months and actually paid attention to what's going on in the world ecomomy, what's going on with the average working person, they'd fully comprehend what they're up against.
                      By the way, this is offensive and inaccurate. Screenwriters are - believe it or not - an educated and worldly bunch. We know EXACTLY what we're up against and we STILL refuse to roll over and take it up the ass. We may lose this fight, but we'll go out kicking and screaming.

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                      • #56
                        Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

                        Originally posted by JohnDoe79

                        As for Writers and the WGA, the studios actually some did back down off some of their demands. They got rid of the proposals to scrap residuals, in part because this would have gotten them into trouble with SAG and DGA.
                        It was also preposterous and no one took it seriously. Taking it "off the table" was meaningless and was greeted as such. The AMPTP hasn't made ONE substantive concession.

                        Comment


                        • #57
                          Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

                          Originally posted by sc111 View Post

                          Maybe if screenwriters left the insular world of LA for a few months and actually paid attention to what's going on in the world ecomomy, what's going on with the average working person, they'd fully comprehend what they're up against.

                          The more I think about this statement the more it pisses me off.

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

                            Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                            They'll hire scabs.
                            And they'll get what they paid for.

                            I don't pretend to know what ratings have been for AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL. I do know that I used to watch it (you're free to judge my questionable TV watching taste). I used to love it. When ANTM struck, I stopped watching. Out of morbid curiosity, I later watched an episode "written" by one of the editors. Its quality was severely lacking <insert "what quality?" joke here>.

                            I suspect, if there is a strike, which I hope there isn't (see Mazin's blog), the hiring of scabs will result in a severe lack of, you know, decent content.

                            Those writers out here who would do anything, including scabbing, to see their stuff produced -- well, those people would have to be very short-term thinkers.

                            Looking at the Pencils Down ad... there are a ton of extremely talented people who are willing to strike -- and that's just *some* of the uber TV talent out here. Seeing that list HAS to have scared the daylights out of AMPTP. No way can they be replaced by a scab. The producers KNOW this.

                            So, yeah, maybe writers are going up against big conglomerates. The producers are going up against some incredibly irreplaceable talent.
                            "I believe that discrimination exists in Hollywood, but ... its much less of an obstacle then poor writing, poor marketing, poor networking and being a whiny little bitch." -- JKK

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                            • #59
                              Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

                              Originally posted by Master of Horror
                              You clearly don't know what a federal mediator is. I suggest you look it up.
                              You really don't know when you're wrong, do you? From the Hollywood Reporter:

                              "The presence of the mediator, while a new twist, is hardly a game-changer. Mediators observe and occasionally make suggestions, but they have no independent power to impose terms of a settlement on the parties."

                              Do you now understand that mediators do not have the legal power to impose a settlement, as I already stated?

                              Comment


                              • #60
                                Re: Strike!! But what happens after?

                                Originally posted by SBScript View Post
                                You really don't know when you're wrong, do you? From the Hollywood Reporter:

                                "The presence of the mediator, while a new twist, is hardly a game-changer. Mediators observe and occasionally make suggestions, but they have no independent power to impose terms of a settlement on the parties."

                                Do you now understand that mediators do not have the legal power to impose a settlement, as I already stated?

                                That's correct. The confusion here maybe over the difference between a mediator and an arbitrator.

                                A mediator looks for ways to voluntarily bring together two parties which cannot agree on their own. Neither side is obligated to settle but sometimes the intervention of an objective third party is enough to find middle ground.

                                An arbitrator hears both sides and then imposes a settlement on the two parties which they are obligated to accept. Usually the way an arbitrator is appointed is by mutual agreement between the two parties or by legislated action of either a state or federal government.

                                At the moment, the mediator option doesn't seem to be working and the arbitrator option doesn't seem likely to materialize.
                                ___________________________________
                                You're going to need a bigger boat.

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