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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as morris1030 write, "Sympathy of the public and those affected..
Alec Baldwin wasn't arguing against the strike, nor arguing against the union. He obviously supports the writers, and their need to strike.
He was calling into question the union's negotiation tactics.
Anyone who bothered to read his earlier post (or any other relating to the strike) would realise this.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but AMPTP is a product of the whole 21st century fascist/co
AMPTP, therefore, has made a calculated decision to trash pilot season, trash 2008,-9 and -10. Bleed tens of millions, whatever it takes, to literally starve the WGA to death and end Unionism in Hollywood (oh yeah, and totally ruin show business, too, but artistry's for chumps; we're talking hardball, here...)
In the end... bigger crushes smaller. WGA members only think AMPTP will ultimately be willing to negotiate anything. Rude awakening on line two.
Now, in light of that, exactly what would cause AMPTP to give a little back? It would seem from their fraudulence with regard to sitting down, that the decision's been made... they'll give NOTHING. And sit it out and wait until the Union implodes. 'Cause that's who'll go broke, first.
Just like Bush with his weak Congress, AMPTP'll simply get 100% and the concept of "negotiations" becomes a sick joke.
There is, I believe, another answer besides capitulation.
AMPTP may be willing to let it bleed, but I don't think stockholders will. I also don't think stockholders are aware that it's the intention of these media companies (via AMPTP) to use their kids' college money to finance a Union-busting standoff.
Hat-in-hand negotiations won't accomplish squat; you won't be granted the opportunity. You may disagree, Mr. B., that bowing to AMPTP in any way is a fatal error, but I do wonder if the stockholders in these media companies really understand how irresponsible the moguls intend to be, with their money.
LET THEM KNOW.
I think it's high time the labor movement started showing some muscle, and the WGA is the perfect instrument. Everyone gets it. I hope, Alec, that the WGA understands how high the stakes. For the rest of us.
Grievances are taken up on principle, not risk of failure or success. Otherwise, the union is just another bureaucracy.
Ah, yes... divide and conquer...
Always the policy of the bosses (AMPTP)...
Seems, however, that they have failed miserably at dividing. Which leads me to believe that they will fail to conquer as well.
And finally... why do they want to conquer? Film production is a team effort. If you don't respect your teammates and treat them well, how well should you expect them to perform?
Here’s what we do! We, the viewership, all chip in and fund erect the biggest, baddest, Burma shave in the Hollywood Hills telling the congloms where they can stick it (draft yet to written by able, out-of-work writer). We, the viewership, are “mad as hell and are not going to watch anymore garbage ‘reality’ TV”. WE, the viewership, stand for truth and justice! WE want the ad agencies to respect us and get on their knees, no all fours, to get my hard-earned money, and come pry the ducats from my cold, dead hand. I would love to see some piss-ant exec try to convince corps and shareholders that we don’t need any stinking Jack Bauer. The American public will consume anything. What da ya mean? He’s got to serve jail time! I can’t wait that long!
Hey, I don’t watch “American Idol” or “Dancing with Stars”. God, it’s a bad as “Battle of the Network Stars.” What’s next - “How filthy is your fridge?” or “When the last time you cleaned the cat box?” Deal? No, deal I tell you, no! Where’s Paddy Chayefsky when you need him?
Don’t forget to watch the Kennedy Center Honors! Two great writers are being recognized, Steve Martin and Martin Scorsese.
I don't know what background the WGA negotiators have but from experience (in excess of 20 successful contracts negotiated), I can tell you that you should never enter into negotiations without a clear understanding of exactly what is possible from the other side. You make certain that your chief negotiator has at the very least as much experience as that of the negotiator on the other side and that everyone else at the table is on board with your approach. (and remains silent at the table)
After long negotiations, it's difficult to bring in new negotiators as that would likely be bargaining in bad faith. That's only the table team though... it's entirely possible and a very wise idea to bring in a fresh team behind the scenes. Not necessarily because the table team isn't doing it's job, but because fresh minds can be very helpful as everyone begins to become entrenched.
It very well may be that this team is on track to accomplishing what they set out to do. Unfortunately, in order to get an enthusiastic strike mandate, some unions or associations will overstate both what they want and what they think they can get and every strike that goes on for more than a few weeks leaves everyone (no matter how loyally they support the cause) feeling somewhat lied to both from their own side and the "other" side. A strike is always so difficult.
Now is the time to take coffee to the line and shout your support for those on strike even as you offer dissent to the negotiating team. The negotiators are aware that no one is happy but that is what those they are negotiating against are counting on. A huge and vocal show of support for those on strike right now would go a long way to shaking the stance of the other side. A new team behind the scenes to aid the negotiators would also shake things up.
Sorry Alec,
Love your posts, normally, but in this case you're wrong buddy. As a nearly 20-year member of the WGA, I've long resented that onerous DVD deal, and I've waited for my union to find leadership with the wisdom and guts to call for this long-overdue strike. I'm glad they did it, and I believe they did, and still do have a clear and simple exit strategy: make these short-sighted, ham-handed behemoths want to negotiate with us in good faith until we get a deal we can live with. I repeat: make them want to.
That said, petegrif is correct that we're still in a phase where we're hurting and they're not. We want to and need to get this deal done, they don't want to. Yet.
We're united and resolved to strike, for however long it takes, until these overpaid jamokes feel the hurt, and want to deal.
That is the strategy as we understand it on the line, in numbers and with a clarity and unanimity of purpose that I know will continue to surprise this industry when we resume picketing in the new year. Merry Christmas. Join us.
You don't start a strike unless you know how to end it. What an unproductive thing to say. Do you also not start a baseball game unless you know how to end it? A poker hand? A relationship? A war? A conversation??
If the knowledge had existed for how to end the strike before it started, it would never have started. So please, take that home-made aphorism and junk it.
The notion that all the writers need is better negotiators is arguable, but this glib, empty post does nothing to engage that topic.
I would be interested in Mr. Baldwin's idea of exactly what the negotiators are doing wrong in the face of the response they've gotten to their proposals. I mean specific. If Mr. B. thinks there's an answer out there, would he kindly give us some idea of what shape, color and size it is? Because complaining about the negotiators without being in their shoes or being VERY familiar with the DETAILS of what's going on and having a fairly DETAILED alternative to propose is not only silly, but in this context, irresponsible. BE SPECIFIC.
Reply | posted 06:32 pm on 12/26/2007
I hope this doesn't affect the Golden Globes Party at your house Mr. Baldwin. I would hate to see any kind of ugliness break out between you and Mrs. Wakely.
As for the namecalling, if I'm not mistaken Momosity touted your acting ability saying you were a better choice for the role of Jack Ryan than Harrison Ford, so lets not be to quick to take potshots at her/him.
Personally I think the negotiators for the WGA are absolute pussy's for taking DVD residuals demands off the table. I don't know how the negotiations are playing out, but in a war of attrition it is the ones with less resources who are tested the most. If the writers weren't ready for a prolonged Valley Forge type winter, then they probably should've considered this strike a little harder.
But the stars and talk show hosts who toe the picket line and call for the end of the stirke aren't helping matters. You want to get back to work, you don't want the shows to fold, you want to get back together with the wonderful cast of 30 Rock, and that's precisely the WGA's weaponry in this battle. It's all they have, the desire of the rest of the world to get back to storytelling. They want the other side to feel as enraged as you do.
As for watching TMZ, I rather like watching overpaid celebrities lose their shit occasionally. Does that mean I can't come to the party?
Candidly I confess, I haven't been paying enough attention to the strike to know who's better at negotiating what. I'm only familiar with the general principle that writers want to be compensated for new media distribution (at least, I think that's what all the hubbub is about). On that principle alone, I'm with the writers.
What people earn for their work is of little concern to me. Sure, it's a bitter pill to swallow that I work more than 40 hours a week, every week, and only make a small fraction of someone who works a few months out of the year - when they feel like it - but hey, millions of people don't come out to see me do my job, so that's life.
And if the quality of my work was as consistently poor as what comes out of Hollywood, I would have been fired by now but hey, that too is life.
That being said, I'm still hopeful. These issues and debates may fuel the artists who create simply for the sake of the art. And I'm hopeful that with the increase of new media, there will be an increase of outlets for those artists and for us to find them.
I wish the corporations had stayed away from the arts. Corporations are good at making widgets, not art. But like they say, wish in one hand and sh*t in the other, and see which one fills up first. Maybe just maybe, one day fine art will make a comeback. And if it does, that is one line I will gladly stand in.
In the meantime, continued blessings to you and yours Mr. Baldwin. I hope that you had a sacred Christmas and that 2008 will be your best year yet.
I'm sorry, but I still need to understand how the WGA has failed. When you're sitting at a table, and the other side is REFUSING to negotiate, how exactly is replacing your guys going to help things?
I agree with Mr. Baldwin. When my car blows up and I take it to the mechanic, I do not have to know what it wrong with it or how to fix it to know something is wrong with my car. It is obvious that something is very wrong with these negotiatio
Sorry about spelling errors on preceding! Fixed:
An exit strategy in a strike is either capitulation or mediation. The best strategy would be to find alternate means to sell thier product while negotiating. Part of the problem is that the oligopoly is hard to budge and fat with cash. The nimble nature of the internet and the lower production costs of digital production and delivery leave new opportunities available and threaten the very existence of the status quo. Leverage is not in a single move, but many efforts that create a critical mass. When the argument of what is fair becomes aired publicly, it becomes empty of empathy for the rich verses the richer. Find a real hook in this story and you have something to run with. Promote the little guy and real change will happen. Nobody is blown away with the creative talent from the western fable factories. Save what? Say something worth hearing! Write something worth watching! Make us laugh, cry, think and expand our consciousness! The money grubbers run the show because money is the muse in which all pay tribute. Find a real muse and set it out there while you can't make a living anyway. Sooner or later the money machine will grind forward and churn away your soul. It must for it cannot exist on reruns. Even bad producers must produce something.
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