While rumors continued to swirl in Hollywood that both the Writers Guild of America leadership and the conglomerates had hammered out a tentative deal, WGA Negotiating Committee Chairman John F. Bowman sent an email to members late Monday that was obtained by EW.com. “While we have made important progress since the companies re-engaged us in serious talks, negotiations continue,” he said. “Regardless of what you may hear or read, there are many significant points that have yet to be worked out.”
As a result, the guild is scheduling informational meetings on both coasts this weekend to update the membership. Bowman said neither the negotiating committee, nor the WGA councils on either coast, will take action on the proposed contract until after these meetings.
Picketing is scheduled to continue this week in front of all the major studios and networks.
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If the general public and the entertainment industry actually want this strike to be resolved they need to stop reporting that is almost over. I firmly believe that the writers will not sign a deal just for spite because everyone is so convinced it’s over. People tend to forget that the people doing the negotiating are pampered millionaires who don’t care if film crews and other off camera employees ever get back to work.
I somewhat agree with Thom, either pampered, or failed or failing members of thier profession… I do not typically think of writers as overly rich or pampered as a group, but the union heads are very well paid and by-and-large have stopped or given up trying to do the work of the peers they are representing. The other side of the table are cut-throat businessmen which is both an insult and compliment.
There are thousands who are not writers, actors, directors or moguls who are being adversely affected by this strike. We don’t care about your residuals. We can’t! We can no longer fight for your future when ours looks so bleak. We are losing our homes, we pulled our children out of schools and falling deeper into a debt we will never be free from. This strike and your selfishness is ruining lives and holding this town and industry hostage. I say every single person who IS financially hurt by this strike should file a class action lawsuit against the members of the AMPTP and the WGA!
Give me a break WGA! Just make a deal already. Jesus, you’ve had three months to whine and complain and how long could it possibly take to review the deal the DGA made and just agree to something! I understand the WGA wants their fair share of everything, but they have put more than just themselves out of work and I’m sure those people aren’t very supportive of the writers at this point.
I agree with Thom and Betsa. Writers weren’t exactly on welfare before this strike happened, and now all they want is more money at the cost of the shows we love.
No we are not supportive. Three months ago we stood with the writers but almost 4 months later we can’t. 12,000 WGA, but there are 200,000 non WGA who are out of work. The writers don’t care about us. Why should we care about them? The WGA has over exceeded it’s time and now they are just being selfish. I can’t support a strike that is killing me!
Its all fun and games until someone loses a house
Besta, Most people make career decisions based on their and their family’s futures. It is unfortunate that your job depends on others in the industry, but you can’t expect the writers to base their futures on whether or not you are out of work. I don’t think you would make a career decision based on whether a caterer may or may not lose their contract to feed a cast and crew. I do feel bad for you and I would support any fund to help support those in your situation, but you have to base you decisions on your own needs.
I,for one, have had too many negative dealings with union leaders to hope this strike will be resolved any time soon.They are too interested in their personal reputations as ‘tough’ union bosses to give in easily. Unfortunately, this causes undue suffering for the rank and file members, and ultimately results in achieving less than hoped for. Everyone, except the top brass on both sides is hurt by an extended strike, but these executives, despite their protests, care very little for the hard working people they all claim to be so concerned about. Get on with it, and settle this strike! To continue is both petulant and childish. Both sides are equally to blame and the innocent have suffered long enough.
I with Betsa. I work in the industry and as lucky and young as I am to not have kids or a mortgage I’m still getting hit hard financially. The majority of these writers may not be rich or wealthy by any means, but its apparent that there definitely selfish and greedy.
*Frank, how dare you stand next to them in the beginning. I would never do such a thing I knew where this was headed, it was going towards a long cold one. Working for someone else has never entitled someone to a share of the profits.
*Shark, I have no idea what you do for a living although Im pretty sure your a writer or some kind of WGA supporter, if so take a long walk off a steep cliff and die a horrible death. Things between me and people like you will never be the same.
I find it interesting that those non-writers who are out of work because of the strike are blaming the writers and telling them to “just agree to something” and end the strike so everyone else can get back to work. Is it the fault of the WGA for striking, or is it the fault of the AMPTP for not giving the WGA a decent deal? Why not demand that the AMPTP “just agree to something” so that everyone can go back to work? To illustrate, here are some previously posted comments, altered to target the AMPTP rather than the WGA:
“Give me a break, AMPTP! Just make a deal already…You’ve had three months to hem and haw and how long could it take to review the terms of the WGA and just agree to something!”
“The AMPTP has over exceeded its time and now they are just being selfish.”
It seems that everyone wants the WGA to take the last three months of taking a stand, and in the end throw it all away and cave to the conditions of the AMPTP. “Just kidding, we don’t really want more money.”
Tony, Would you go back to work if it meant two other people would be out of work? Of course not; you’re looking out for YOUR OWN needs. As for the personal attacks, “take a long walk off a steep cliff and die a horrible death,” grow-up…
Steve – I think that the WGA mishandled the negotiations in the beginning. They came on too strong with too much bravado. For most of the strike nobody was talking. I also think that the moguls used the strike to push their own personal agendas. I hate the moguls. I think that they are greedy blood suckers. Having said that, the WGA needs to understand that so long as the moguls have the money, they hold the power. They buy the scripts and fund every aspect of a tv show or movie. That’s just the way it is. Until the writers own studios and networks nothing will ever change.
There’s obviously a lot of resentment building, where there once was support. The truth is that we all depend on each other. Those of us who work in the industry work side by side and depend on one another to get the job done. Without pre production there is no post production and visa versa. The writers need to take the deal they can live with even if it isn’t the best deal. Otherwise, you are sacrificing the rest of us for your own selfish gains.
Shark,
You grow up you whiney little spoiled brat. I bet your a little trust fund baby aren’t you? You and your “brothers” all decided to end your careers the day you stopped working and instead decided to hold up wooden signs and stroke each others ego’s all day long at everyone else’s expense.
No one cares about your story there’s only 12,000 of you and 200,000 of us, things will never be the same. What the day you go back to work you think everyone on set is going to run up to you and give you a hug? Get real.
I agree with Frank. What needs to happen now is the AMPTP needs to use this occasion to snap the unions in two by making a historical decision: Hollywood no longer shop.
1. Movie ticket prices will go down
2. You’ll see new stars instead of the same 12 of them in everything
3. Several stars who have “had it coming” for several years will no longer have careers – new eager young talents will have careers
4. New screenplays with fresh ideas
5. Better television ideas
6. More Americans get work instead of the same 5,000 on every movie
7. Movies can shoot in your town instead of the ones not in right to work states
What’s to lose? End union control of the creative industry NOW!
Some more support for Frank, from me:
>Until the writers own studios and networks nothing will ever change.<
That's true. I own and run a pretty expensive television studio, and until the day my writers buy equipment, pay for insurance or pay salaries with health and pension to all my high-priced SAG actors, they can all kiss my butt basically. I paid the millions here. I took the risk. I lost the sleep at night.
When you writers shoulder producer risk, THEN you get producer salary. That's all I can say, really.
Arrogance.
And YES I will write it myself, and better than you. I started off as a writer and I knew my place. I accepted it, saved my money, and worked UP to producer. I earned it.
And you guys? You picketed and hurt people for it. B-r-a-v-o.
Im still on the writers side 100% i will wait patiently for my shows!!! In the mean time im just watching DVD’s. . .oh and BRAVO!
And here’s a question: these residuals the WGA is so hot for… did no agent of any of the writers involved in this strike try negotiating for residuals on an individual by deal basis? The reason I ask is because, as a “hot” writer during the 1990s, residuals were part of the deals I was offered, and if they weren’t, we negotiated for and got them. I get these residuals now. Why is it these writers are using the WGA to perform the jobs their agents should be doing? If you’re hot as a writer and your talents are “of a unique and/or extraordinary nature”, studios will do anything they can do to have you pen a script for their project. Including award points and resids. Something smells in this situation. I see a bunch of writers using their union to do for their whole group what agents are supposed to do for each of them individually. This smells lame.
Could it be this strike is just mediocre talent ganging up together to keep its cushy spots “around the table”?
H – Well said. The writers need to stop whining and do what you did. At this point they also need to do what Betsa suggested, “The writers need to take the deal they can live with even if it isn’t the best deal. Otherwise, you are sacrificing the rest of us for your own selfish gains.”
Frank, I agree that the WGA’s tactics are terribly flawed. However, what I’m seeing here is the belief that whatever I create I have to sell for what I believe is not fair so that a 2nd assistant director or a camera man has a job. Writers don’t want to be out of work. The AMPTP may be losing advertising dollars, but they are getting out of contracts that they regretted signing, not having to pay the 200,000 + salaries of those out of work and testing reality TV at full force. The AMPTP isn’t losing much and what they do lose is a tax write off. Really, who are the bad guys? The multi-million dollar studio heads or the writers who are tired of being cheated? You don’t work for the writers; the writers didn’t put you out of a job. The AMPTP did.
Enough, well said. You must be a writer. I’ve never had much love for unions, but I’ve been sucked in because my wife is in the WGA. My problem with unions has always been that they “out for themselves”. So if you want the entertainment industry to be non-union, great take what management gives you and be happy. If you think unions are a good idea, you’d better support the writers. By the way, my wife works long, long hours and has averaged $34,000.00 a year for the past 10 years.
I can understand where both sides are coming from, but it seems as no cares about the people watching the shows, the fans, the people who are giving both sides the money. We’re left to watch American Idol or American Glaidators. What about the horrible NFL commercials. I work very hard to pay for Cable TV to come home to watch crap. I miss my shows like Heroes and others. What about the fans? Maybe Hollywood can think of others and not just themselves. Should doctors go on strike because insurance companies stiff them on payment? I think there could have been better ways to go about this. If your not happy with you pay check, look into another profession. I’ll write for half of what you people make!
@Jaime,
Well, you’re free to be on the writers’ side. By the way, though, your hairdresser called. She won’t be doing your hair anymore because you still haven’t paid her residuals from all the dates you’ve been on and jobs you’ve gotten as the result of the style she cut for you six years ago. She deserves them, you know. Fair compensation.
Pay up, or announce thyself hypocrite who does not work in our industry.
Tony, I’m not a writer. I live in a small town and make a little over $13 per hour. Those of you that make minimum wage that may be a lot, but to most of you that’s not much. I live from check to check. There were times in my life when grilled cheese sandwiches were a steady diet. I have lost jobs because of other people’s decisions and it’s not fun. However, I can’t fault others for trying to improve their own situation. I don’t think anyone expects hugs when they return to work, but there should be a sense of professionalism, which I see by your writing you know nothing about.
Jamie – What if you were out of work and had no prospect of finding work because the industry is all but shut down? Would you still support the writers 100%?
Jamie – What if you were out of work and had no prospect of finding work because the industry is all but shut down? Would you still support the writers 100%?
@Enough,
We may need IATSE, but we don’t need any of the others. So I say end all the unions except IATSE for now, and put them on careful probation while training new, non-union technicians to replace them in case of another strike. Otherwise your words are sound. You forgot one point though:
Dissolving the unions will cause the bottom of CAA to fall out and their building to go dark and empty. Wait… the end of Creative Artists?
Enough is right! End all unions!
My point “H” ( mediocre talent ganging up together to keep its cushy spots “around the table”?)
What do you think unions do?
There are a lot of good points here, and a lot of writers masquerading insultingly as “ignorant Middle America viewers” in favor of the strike here. That’s fine; I understand why the writers have enough time on their hands to do this. Reality dictates writers do not collectively have the power to bully the AMPTP into anything. Yet they’re swaggering like lords and making enemies doing it. This strike is destructive and should not have been started. Each writer should have done a personal audit then negotiated for more residuals privately with his agent and his studio of employ instead of throwing fellow employees off the galleon to die for what could have been gained righteously, patiently and individually. The WGA has resorted to fiduciary violence to achieve its aims, and a superior writer with a good agent would never have needed to do that. This strike speaks for itself, and studios DO REMEMBER. I have to go to a meeting, but I enjoyed reading the comments here. Luck to all