In Our Business, You Start a Strike Knowing How to End It
Mrs. Wakely, who gives one of her addresses as Carbon Canyon, wants to lecture me about labor politics. Meanwhile, Momosity believes the old Hollywood chestnut about movie stars losing important jobs because they overplayed their hand at the negotiating table. Poor Mrs. Wakely, who I actually think is Mr. Wakely. And poor Momosity, who may be spending too much time reading TMZ or some such show business "journal" so that he/she stays oh-so-on-top of the Tinseltown Poop Pile.
You don't know what you're talking about, Monsieur/Madame Wakely. Supporting the WGA while losing faith in this particular "team" of negotiators are two different things. (Kind of like loving your country even while it's been overrun by a cabal of trust-fund fascists who have Jesus' private cell phone number.) Calling a strike is sometimes a necessary thing.
Having the wisdom and guts and talent to get it over with expeditiously is even more so. The current WGA negotiators do not represent the best hope the WGA has right now and should be replaced. They should be replaced with more skillful negotiators.
Otherwise, the directors, who have typically fielded the most effective negotiators of the three guilds, will step in and, once again, school everyone. In our business, you start a strike knowing how to end it. Not when, but at least how. Otherwise, don't strike.
As far as those one or two readers who thought I was taking a dig at Bruce Willis, you are even more clueless than Senor/Senora Wakely.
Bruce, like all big stars, does not come into the studio head's office with a gun. He is offered the money. He doesn't steal it. And, like many of the biggest stars I have met in this business, he has probably left more of it on the table, rejecting some lame project, than you can ever imagine.
As for Momosity, part of me hopes the strike goes on, just so you have to watch Harvey Levin for another six months.
Read more about the strike on the Huffington Post's writers' strike page.
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Drama should be reserved for the page and screen and not in the armchair quarterbacking of a labor negotiation. Those who are on strike should and do feel strongly about the purpose of their sacrifice, especially during the holidays. The timing of this criticism from Mr. Baldwin seems especially bad given the emotional nature of creative professionals and holidays - a lethal cocktail. There will be no business in television, advertising or production until after the first week in January. There will also be no pressure to finalize any strike either, except from the rank and file writer who is sweating the empty christmas stocking or piling bills. Creating a false sense of doom or urgency is counterproductive to a positive negotiation. The future of this business has more far reaching effects that should be understood and contemplated. The second round of pressure will begin when the late night hosts return without being funny. Egos will roar. As advertisers now begin to contemplate the May upfronts and networks ponder revenues for next year based on reduced commercial rates, writer strikes have a greater impact and will be taken more seriously. It's the nature of the business. The toughness of negotiations matters most in the end, not in the beginning or middle. At some point there will be an aquiessence and a bottom line. Any point above the bottom line will be considered a victory. Emotional frailty favors the opposition. There will be no quick exit from this negotiation until the other side is suffering. Financially there will be pressure felt by all, but psychological pressure creates the difference between winning and losing.
Never let them see you sweat and don't take any bait that shows a breaking of the ranks. If the DGA has such a great strategy and acumen for negotiation, then they should share it with the WGA to set precedent and increase their own leverage.
When I was young, immature and nothing but a punk, worked in mines and factory floors (when I worked at all) I used to think that the knowledge of four-letter words was directly proportional to my worth as a human being. Since then I grew up. Now I do not use swear words, I do not curse and I do not enjoy productions that do. Appearently there are those who are permakids, to whom the writers suck up to still feel that cursing and swearing is the measure of a man/woman.
The writers on strike insist that it is their right to offend adults like myself who no longer enjoy unnecessary obscenities and profane vulgarities.
Let them go down in flames. The world would be a better place in their abscence.
And as an added bonus, the world would not have to see the likes of monkeys like Jon Stewart.
Rock 'n Roll died after the Beatles.
Sit-com died after Seinfeld. (Actually, it should have died with the sannctimonious crap spewed forth by M*A*S*H).
So, as one who does not watch broadcast TV, I could not care less how the strike goes. When you are the paying public, heads you lose, tails you loose.
And the winners are the actors and talk show hosts who could not write a Christmas card on their own.
Holy mother of god! If you posters (posers?) are the writers on strike you're making good the producers/owners. I've never been unwilling to join a picket line but you folks don't seem to have the abilities to which you aspire. I'm hearing/re
What a lot of people are forgetting, are the hundreds of thousands of people who are on neither side of the table.
From technicians to craft services to secretaries to janitors that are all now out of work. Some will not be hired back, even after the strike.
(Another "win" situations for the producers. They get to clean house, and blame the strike.)
The writers are right. The producers are wrong.
The rest of us are out of work.
The strike will end. Later, I'm afraid rather than sooner.
But, how do I keep a roof over my head, and feed my family on principles?
Thanks be to Allah that I don't have to watch television anymore. That said, let the guild and/or all unions kick boss ass. And THAT said I hope Alec will help fund a person on a picket line who's in it for the full tilt.
The AMPTP NEVER wanted to make a deal. NEVER. So it doesn't matter who was sitting on the WGA's side of the table. It could have been Jimmy Hoffa and they wouldn't have made a deal.
Remember their initial offer from last summer? Massive rollbacks, no money for new media, only a 3-year study? That was a non-starter and everyone in town knew it. It wasn't the offer of a company hoping to arrive at a negotiated settlement. And if you want proof, wait until the DGA negotiations: do you think the AMPTP is going to trot out that particular document as their first offer? Of course not.
The AMPTP always wanted to negotiate with the DGA first and then cram down the WGA's throat what they hoped would be a bad deal. I think the DGA is smarter than that--they don't want a bad deal and they realize they're negotiating for everybody's future, so more power to them.
Demonizing the WGA's negotiators is part of the AMPTP's strategy, and sadly it seems to be striking a chord.
Part of the problem is most of us just don't care. There's sooooooooo much crap being peddled as entertainment. It doesn't matter to us that the minions who produce the dungheap think they deserve better benefits. That's sad because there are a few great writers and fewer great shows, and they should be rewarded. The rest should all get canned.
What's funny about it, though, is that both sides strut and posture in feigned importance. But if they ever do settle, they'll all slip back into the wallow and continue cranking out the same old manure.
Alec, do I hear the sounds of retreat?
Uosdwis,
I really don't mean to be the Huffington comment police however I simply must interject regarding your incorrect comprehension of MORRIS1030's very intelligent remarks based on his SPECIFIC experience on strikes.
He said "When I was 20 yrs old I helped strikers in Restaurant Workers Strike." NOT that it was 20 yrs ago that the 1988 writers Strike took place. And "DVD's" have NOTHING to do with what he said.
I have no earthly idea who MORRIS is but his insight IS valuable (From an insider SAG member's point of view~~Me) and deserves to not be misinterpreted by ppl who...uhhh just don't get it and never will...
Marvin Miller. Not Milner. Oops.
Part 2: I would even be willing to bet that VP, Dick Cheney would be willing to take all of the Negoiators out Dove Hunting with him!!!
That would probably Grease the Wheels to an early resolution of this Strike!
Let me try again. HuffPo declined to print my first reply to Alec. Too... something, I suppose. "Mrs. Wakely, who gives one of her addresses as Carbon Canyon, wants to lecture me on labor politics..
First: CORRAL canyon, and, 12 years ago. Now? Westchester burbs. Wife, 2 kids.
Second: I wouldn't deign to lecture you on labor politics Mr. Baldwin. I know very little about labor politics. But, clearly, you know less. You are a talented and entertaining actor. You TALK about politics, but, you are certainly not a politician. Probably to your credit. Of course, I sincerely doubt you could get elected to a local school board, let alone a position that would enable you to discuss national labor politics with anything approaching first hand knowledge. Bit of a loose cannon I've heard. You're a big, scary, crazy actor guy, which I love! But not exactly the "voice of reason" type.
The basic point I'm making, and a cursory read of the reply to this and other posts of yours tells me I'm not alone, is: the problem is not the negotiators. The demands are reasonable, and long overdue. The presentation of those demands by another face wouldn't change those demands, or the producers response to them. There hasn't BEEN any negotiation yet. Just ultimatums and hissy fits by the producers.
Finally, "You start a strike knowing how to end it." (?!) That's about the craziest thing you've said so far. You enter into a strike because you are forced to enter into a strike. The WGA has been forced into this strike. $0.00 for original content on the web? $2.50 for a year's re-use? Do you think, Mr. Baldwin, that these are the reasonable demands of reasonable men? Do you think, say, resurrecting Marvin Milner and bringing him in will change the utter farce of a proposal the producers have made thus far?
My God. Think.
Has anyone thought to Contact the White House and Ask President Bush or VP, Dick Cheney to resolve this matter? I am sure that they wouldn't mind having the WGA on their side and I bet that they would be More receptive to the Plight of the Common Working Man/Woman, and be able to Squeeze the Right Cajones to get whatever Deal you want. I See a Win - Win situation here, and I bet they would be glad to help in any way they can.
Right on, Mr. Fitz!!
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