If the jokes are particularly bad at the Golden Globes on Jan. 13, blame the ongoing writers’ strike. The WGA on Monday denied a request by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark Prods. to allow comedy scribes to prepare material for the 65th annual ceremony on NBC. And the Globes aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch of the picket line. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also got a big fat "no way" from the WGA when the Academy asked to use clips from motion pictures and past Oscar shows during the February event, though apparently it does not impact the organization’s ability to use them. In a statement posted Tuesday on the AMPAS website, the organization states that the WGA’s decision "affects only the conditions under which we may use such material, not our ability to do so." That could mean Oscar will have to pay to use the clips.
The WGA hasn’t officially anounced whether it’ll deny Oscar the ability to use writers to help write bon mots for host Jon Stewart, but a union insider says it is prepared to say no if and when the show applies for a waiver. As a result, Oscar may expect Stewart to do for the show what host Jimmy Kimmel did for the American Music Awards in November on ABC: improvise, bigtime. AMPAS said on its website that it has not requested a waiver to use writers for the show, "nor has the Guild told the Academy whether such a request would or wouldn’t be viewed favorably." AMPAS also reiterated the show will go on Feb. 24.
In a statement released Monday night, WGA West President Patric M. Verrone said "writers are engaged in a crucial struggle to achieve a collective bargaining agreement that will protect their compensation and intellectual property rights now and in the future. We must do everything we can to bring our negotiations to a swift and fair conclusion for the benefit of writers and all those who are being harmed by the companies failure to engage in serious negotiations."
The AMPTP issued this response today: "In the category of Worst Supporting Union, the nominee is the WGA. The union, which initiated the strike, continues day in and day out to make good on its commitment to, in the words of a leading WGA organizer, `wreak havoc,’ even though those being hurt include the WGA’s own working writers, the below-the-line workers and their families, the broader LA region – and now the creative artists who deserve to be honored for their work over the last year."
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It is simply amazing to me that people tolerate this diva mentality from a union group like WGA. I would fire the lot of them and hire any number of the extremely talented non-guild writers. This ‘union’ mentality is killing the United States. People wonder why we are outsourcing so many jobs?
I agree with your diva comment. I think we the public need to have a strike against the writers or even Hollywood. After all we are the reason that people make these shows. If we didn’t watch, then there would be no showbusiness. Let’s have a strike against the writers and see how they like it when no one will watch their shows!
It’s not diva mentality. They are not being paid for their work. How would you like to not get paid?
Those of you who think writers are divas are pretty ignorant you would not work for free. They are the ones who w/out them we would have NO shows at all. And they got royally screwed on the dvd negotiation yrs ago. Why don’t you pick on the $20 million salaries paid to actors?
They are getting paid… and very well at that. They just more… fewer and fewer people are watching regular entertainment in regular formats – TV, DVD… People are watching more online or via their mobile devices. And the WGA wants their share of these mediums. The problem is these are all mediums and no one really knows how commercially viable these will be. Will the be able to market these commercially or will it be more of a filler to help generate interest in the programming….
Personally I think the writers may be in the “right” to want compensation. I just think that they should have worked out a way to allow for more time to see how things are going to develop – No one is going to win with this strike… in fact I bet many of those writers are going to find that their jobs aren’t there after this strike is over. Networks are going to find other forms of entertainment, and people are going to forget why they were watching some shows…
This “union” mentality built the United States. What’s killing the United States is corporate greed and profits before people. The only way the “little” guy can fight the “big” guy is by banding together.
“They are getting paid…and very well at that.” ?? Huh? Do you know what the average salary is for the the average television writer? The majority of them between $60-$80K, and that’s in Los Angeles, which means its not a huge amount compared to actors and producers, a lot of actors make that for doing one episode. They deserve their cut of the ad revenue from the internet, and it is there. Its painfully obvious that internet viewing is going to continue to grow. When you air an entire episode online and make money from it, its a cheap trick to call it “promotion” and say the writers don’t deserve to be compensated when their creations are making money for someone else. They deserve their cut.
If it weren’t for unions, we all would still be working 14 hr days, like the poor unionless people who work for pennies an hour in the countries we outsource to. Unions aren’t killing the United States, greed is.
You can’t be serious, unions suck(descriptive, huh).
I agree, hire the non union writers if possible.
Payment to writers should be fair and equitable. However, when they start asking for more than that the water starts getting murky…It seems that the WGA is looking to control more than their fair share and on another subject: has anyone thought of the people who have lost their jobs as a result of this strike?
It’s kind of lame they can’t show clips during the Oscars. Don’t really understand that. They can show the clips during commercials, during talk shows segments, etc, but not during the Oscars?
And there are good and bad things about unions- we won’t settle that argument here.
Unions played a pretty critical role in preventing a communist uprising in the US. It sounds like you are two busy getting pissed at outsourcing to notice that. How’s this for fair – you determine what the writers earn, and then some stranger who doesn’t know jack about your life can set your salary cap. And since your here – you are obviously interested in theiur creative output. You just don’t want to deal with them, you know, as actual people with needs. I know! Lets decapitate them, put their heads on life support, Futurama style, and force them to output creative material that will bring smiles to the children’s faces. Without bodies, they’d have no way to object. Of course, we’d ahve to pay to heat their “head storage” warehouse, but I’m sure you can find a workaround.
Maybe the WGA should have thought about this before there contract expired. The Directors union starts talks 6 months before there contract expires for a reason. The WGA are just idiots that think if they start talks when there contract expires they can go on strike and get more money. They need to learn it doesn’t work that way.
First, the average salary you quote is above the area average and much higher than an average teacher’s salary in that same area. Second, this isn’t about what the salary is exactly. It is about simple market economics. Without going into a debate on the merits of a market economy, the simple fact is that it is self normalizing when you let it run. Unions don’t let it run. They have the same effect as monopolies. People work what they are willing to work and get paid based on market demand. We are not talking about some sweat shop where people are FORCED to work 16 hour days. If you don’t think you are fairly compensated you change jobs. If the fat cats want your product they will pay for it. If you try to bend the rules in your favor and try to force people not to do ‘your’ job then you break the system. The diva mentality happens when people feel entitled to always work the same job and make what they deem an appropriate salary irregardless of market pressures.
All the union supporters here talk about corporate greed–what about consumer greed? I am willing to bet that the so-called union supporters and corporate greed denouncers shop based on price rather than where an item is made. How much “made in china” stuff have you bought because the “Made in the USA” stuff is too expensive? The bottom line is that unions increase the prices on goods. Are you going to download content if you have to pay (more) for it?
The Hollywood writers are acting like a bunch of spoiled brats. If they are so good let the marketplace determine the price they can get for their talents. That is why some actors/musicians/artists are paid huge sums but the majority of others just struggle.
Bottom line: if you don’t like what you are getting paid then quit and find a new job that will pay you what you want (like the rest of us not living in Hollywierd) or change careers. Companies will pay top dollar to get a competitive edge, and that includes labor.
First, when did “irregardless” become a word? The strike is justified in that they’re unsatisfied with their working conditions and doing something about it. End of story. So what the Oscars are gonna suck WORSE this year… big deal. Don’t hate the writers for the production company’s greed. They know damn well people watch shows on the net now and in a few years advertising and revenue online is going to be way bigger than TV and DVDs. The writers are being smart and protecting themselves.
I could care less whether this gets resolved or not. Most TV is just juvenile crap anyway. I’ve spent more time outside, working out and reading. I actually think this strike is better for America. I strongly support network management on this – don’t give in, fire their collective assess and hire some hungry non-union writers. I’d bet the product will be fresher, better and more entertaining than the rehashed junk the current writers are putting out.
Hire non-union workers to do what? Take over writing for the shows created by the people on strike? They can’t do it, the shows are the property of the creators, the writers. Maybe they can just create new shows, and judging from the “tripe” the actually makes it to TV, what do you think is gonna come from the people rejected by the networks before the strike. If there is no money to be made by internet broadcast, then why not give the writers the percentage they are asking. It’s not much of a risk, unless there is money to be made. They said there was no money in DVD and we see how that turned out for the writers. We need to remember that the point of television is to get you to sit down and stay put between the commercials. TV is not there to do anything other than make money, and when someone says anyone who is responsible for making that money doesn’t deserve it, it is just unamerican. Intellectual property rights are one of the founding principles of the US.
That’s right, blame the labor movement… it brought you frivolous things, like the weekend and child labor laws…
idiot.
They are being paid. Writers make residuals off everything they write, they make salaries above and beyond what most normal people make, like in the 6 figures and now they want more! They’ve shut down these shows letting the average guys that work on the set go bankrupt while they sit back and live of their residuals. Its disgusting greed and I think the companies should fire all their writers and replace them with non-union. There are thousands of up and coming writers that would kill for a break in Hollywood that would do it.
Putting aside the argument about whether the strike is justified or not (I think it is), I wonder if this might be the first step toward the postponement of the Oscars? The show can (awkwardly) go on without writers and without clips, but if the WGA decides to picket the ceremony and actors decide not to cross the line…I’m sure ABC and the Academy remember the disastrous 1980 Emmy ceremony. The Globes will probably be the canary in the mine shaft. If no one shows up to present and no one shows up to pick up the hardware, expect ABC and the Academy to start seriously working on a postponement plan.
Here’s a thought: Why not just dispense with all the written “bits” and just hand out the awards? Maybe if they did that, the darn thing wouldn’t run four and a half hours long.
It’s not just the writers. “Hollywood” is a union town. EVERYTHING revolves around the unions-good and bad. The WGA has to make it painful, or what’s the point of the strike? I am kind of concerned if unionization of annimation and reality writers is what’s keeping them and the producers from talking. But everyone, in every union and guild deserves to make money. If you don’t have a script, there’s no show. Writers need to be compensated accordingly.
Wow, where do you think you’re going to find all these amazing “non-union” writers? Do you have any idea how much money the network brass/ big producers make in comparison with you and me — AND with the average working writer? Les Moonves of CBS JUST made a deal that’s worth $36 million — for 2008 alone! The writers are asking for an increase of less than one percent of online/DVD revenue. It makes me sad that so many people have swallowed the corporate koolaid and become anti-union which sometimes, believe it or not, do protect the AMERICAN WORKER.
Remember, “Hollywood” is a union town. This is how they get things done. It looks antiquated and stupid to the rest of us, but that’s how they like it, and they aren’t likely to change. But after the last long strike it took network TV a long time to recover. I don’t think they can afford to drive more of us away. We can find plenty of other things to distract us. (But even for video games, entertainment blogs, and books – you still need writers.) I think the producer’s union needs to wake up, or their investments won’t make as much in the future.
As for the idea that all that needs to be done is simply firing all the writers–great! The next thing you will have to do after replacing every single writer in Hollywood with anonymous non-union writers is replace every single other union member in Hollywood, since I suspect that the other guilds will not tolerate one union being thrown completely out like that. And since pretty much every other person working on TV and movie sets is a member of one guild or another (except for execs and personal assistants)—have fun replacing all of them. On the bright side, since TV and movies will be completely unwatchable for many years, the entire nation can rediscover the joys of reading!
The reason corporations are going overseas is not because of Unions. It’s because they can get away with paying 10 cents an hour for labor there. Believe me, if we didn’t have Unions we’d be getting 10 cents an hour here!
They don’t make the proper residuals off of internet downloads like iTunes, amazon unbox, and others. And that is where everything is headed. Yet the studios make money, they don’t know how much money they will make in the future(biggest piece of crap ever, who does? Movies often fail to meet expectations, but actors get paid, writers get paid, directors get paid. You never know the future 100%).
DVD and TV are outdated mediums on their way out the door, no residuals are tied to the other sources, when they should be. Writers are getting screwed, but it’s a good thing, if it goes on long enough more and more new media ventures will pop up and start producing with their own WGA contracts, and it could be the death knell for hollywood and it’s pretentious crap.
10 cents an hour is better than no cents an hour, which is what you will get when they fire your ass…
If JK Rowling posted Harry Potter online and sold ads to support it, don’t ya think she should get paid for it?
Residuals are the lifeblood of many artists. How do you think Neil Patrick Harris survived between Doogie and How I met your Mother?
As long as someone’s work is making money, they should earn a piece of that. The WGA is asking for less than 1% on Dvd sales and revenue ascertained by the internet.
Sounds MORE than reasonable to me.
Oh wait who walked out of negotiations like a bunch of whining toddlers? oh yeah it was the AMPTP, NOT the writers.