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Let's Hope the Writers Get a Good Contract
I remember the last WGA strike. It was sad. I had been in LA for a couple of years, just getting my feet wet in the movie business after working in TV for five years. The trickle down was incredible. Restaurants, limousine companies, real estate brokers, clothing retailers, travel agencies. The list went on and on. Not to mention all of the direct impact on actors, directors, crews, office staff and accounting, the studios and networks themselves, talent agencies and managers, publicists and business managers. It was a disaster and it was painful to witness.
However, as an actor who has worked in film and television since 1980, I have always been pretty clear about the fact that we are nowhere without the writers in our industry. And that goes beyond the scary concept of a world of unscripted reality TV. Television and film writers are responsible for some of the greatest literature in the history of our society. Go to one of my favorite websites, the Internet Movie Script Database (IMSDb). You can pull up CITIZEN KANE, ALL ABOUT EVE and SUNSET BOULEVARD. You can read, online, hundreds of the greatest movie screenplays of all time. Members of the WGA wrote those scripts.
The studios and networks claim that their profits are eroding and blame the cost of stars' salaries and expensive marketing campaigns. One more thing the studios and networks ought to consider is how overstaffed they are themselves. You've never seen a business where more people are required to do the same job until you have worked at a TV network or film studio. Actors don't put a gun to the studio executive's head. They negotiate a price and the studio agrees, or disagrees, to pay it. Sometimes, as an actor, the price you pay is a pretty big number that you arrive at before you even open your mouth.
The not-so-secret truth is that everyone in show business, of those who live "above-the-line," are overpaid. The only ones above-the-line who usually are not are the writers. Let's hope there is no strike and let's hope the writers get a good contract. Read more thoughts about the strike on Huffington Post's writers' strike opinion page
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It's been a tough week on the creative! Day before Halloween, I sinned by accidentally, ranking on google "above" an NBC oficial web site. I was sure they would revert. Come Halloween, I don't google at all with my fun, friendly video. Perhaps it was my headache, or too much sugar upon Halloween, but I could not get the image out of my head of Jack Donaghey's real counterpart, suggesting me 'ungoogled". Being "ungoogled" is bad, Alec. You can find it by typing in the whole dang link, but not the simple title. (Dear Jesus, please don't ever let me rank "above" anyone's official web site again! Amen!)
I do believe many in "digital media" like me, as I post politely but with pithy comments. I have an aim to keep it interesing when I blog/video blog on the web. I can't believe it, as I know creative challenges call for push and shove, but I think it hurt my feelings. I wore a witch's hat and spoke affectionately of 30 Rock. as opposed to the guy, who has a site forbidding you to watch My Name is Earl. Had I lied and made a video saying 30 Rock sucks, I'd be ranking on google. What does this say about creativity being respected?
I uploaded to a major media source, I googled for months correctly, now after letting them advertise for free on my 450 hits video, without bitterness, because I had creative control, they have changed me to a "mere" forum thread. I can still get traffic there, if you could find me. My title is at the bottom of page one, google. How far will I drop? Creative control will rear it's ugly head, again, sooner than later. The web gave me my much earned shot to fly! I am curious if anyone else has seen their creativity moved, only to near disappear. if so, let me hear it!
Respect, good manners, and a sense of humor with writers would go a long way in solving matters!
Maybe we should see this as a sign of other effects on the film industry too i.e., actor/singer Danny Aiello is called before NYC and denied a legitimate business proposal for the use of the former once proposed US Navy "Homeport" on Staten Island for reuse for film post-production (which doesn't happen in NYC very often, though films are "shot" there); Robert DeNiro, with a similar proposal in or near the world-history significant Brooklyn Navy Yard, is chastised by the then Mayor Giuliani (who flew the state flag of Arkansas over City Hall visiting there contemplating a run for Senator against the then former First Lady, now Senator Hillary Clinton, a now illegal request); The tallest sound stage in New York state opened "out east" in the Hamptons, (blessed by Princess Thunderbird of the Shinnecock I think) has as far as I know, not attracted any major productions at "Pinewood West" (Pinewood "East" presumably in England, the cycle runs summer Hamptons, winter Hollywood); many film festivals have started locally, i.e., Stony Brook University, combined Long Island wine tasting and "Rocket Man", and the Hamptons film festival, all these factors point to perhaps something more problems in the industry than "Hollywood" writers in the WGA.
Once I asked for Iron Eyes Cody's autograph at the Choctaw pow-wow in Mississippi, who had recently lost his wife, (he played "Sitting Bull" and perhaps more remembered recently for the "crying Indian" seen watching the trash thrown onto highways in America) maybe it's again more over the politics of American history and its leadership. It seems the opportunity for writers in America, not just in the film industry, it's commentators and critics, might be the intended target.
In the beginning was the word.
The same day it was revealed that an empty space like the charismaticly gifted entertainer Ms. Spears collects $737,000.00 each and every month, the writers who originate every single moment of the entertainment industry were announcing a strike for wages in an industry where $737,000.00 is a decade's income for many writers lifetimes.
If Hollywood can piss away hundreds of millions on the Britneys and Jessicas and Parises who contribute only the realization that every barrel has its bottom, why can't it be fair to those who are willing to share that rarest of gifts -- a truly creative spirit?
The writers are at fault for only one thing - not publicizing enough how little return they get on the one commodity Hollywood is shortest on -- imagination.
If you are a visual artist you can sew together a par of sock monkeys and have Christie's auction that off for the price of the average mortgage. ( This is verifiably true. I was there to see it).
And probably sell it to the glitzed-out bean-counters who are saying no at the moment.
If you are in the music business--- well, do I really have to say it?
What's theoretical with chimps and a typewriter, is easily provable with baboons and an instrument.
But if you're a writer. It's put up or shut out. It all starts with you casting your net into uncharted seas and yet you are the first to be tossed off the money island.
There is no one gullible enough to keep you in Gold Cards for specious crap.
There's no facade to hide behind on a blank page. No one will ever pay money for litereray pretense.
How many writers can you name that haven't sold themselves short? I mean people with quantifiable creativity, not template pushers.
So, let them eat repeats til they figure out you are worth more than the caterers.
gala
So, you want to share in the profits? OK, but how about you share in the losses as well? Lets withhold 50% of your pay to see if your writing makes a profit. If the projects fails (how many bad tv shows and movies are there?) and loses money, they can take the balance to cover the loses. Does that sound fair?
Don't you understand "residuals"? That's already what the studios do. They pay most writers a pittance for a screenplay, far less then their labor is worth, and the writer only gets more money from residual payments IF the profits from the movie roll in. Withhold 50% of our pay? They're already withholding about 90% of what our labor's worth, and doling out more only when there's a profit. Now they want to keep that 90% and never dole it out no matter how big the profits are.
Writers already share the risk, buddy. So if there's a jackpot, you're damn right we want a share of that, too.
As someone who negotiates outsourcing deals, the issue is IP (intellectual property) rights. Works made for hire are conveyed, transferred, etc. to the entity who pays for it. However, if you designate your work as leveraged IP, meaning you have used inherent ideas that you developed you should license your work to the entity who pays for it and if you negotiate properly - royalties. You don't need a union for that, you need a good base contract that all writers can use to negotiate their deals. And, you need to learn how to deal at the table.
I thought all the screenwriters were financially subsidized by the CPUSA.
Ideally in the marketplace everybody should be judged on their ability, work history and then receive fair compensation for said work.
Now the complications. What exactly is "fair compensation"? If Alec Baldwin and I audition for the same part and we're the final two, does this mean that because I'm an "unknown" I'm less talented and deserve a smaller fee than his normal one? If I get hired and the studio paid me $1 million, am I being overpaid? No. Why? Because nobody's forcing them to sign me. As long as somebody meets your asking price, you're not overpaid.
Would we ever have a union free workplace in Hollywood? No chance because the profit margin is so high. And because of that, you need union protection. Why should Michael Eisner make megamillions in stock options or a severence package while people below him make due with much less? If the studios think that the unions are too greedy, then try doing one/all of the following:
Stop paying A-list actors $20 million a movie.
Do these people REALLY need their posse hanging out with them on the set?
Stop using the "we can make it up overseas" excuse if a movie with a bloated budget bombs domestically.
Force everyone who pitches ideas to actually come up with original ones. Don't remake everything that's been remade already. If it's been done already, say no.
When an industry is so high profit, not all but most people get lazy. Until somebody stops the gravy train and they're forced to make changes, they never will. You don't need an (fill in famous school name here) MBA to figure that out.
Bravo! The parasitic cost of making a movie is what makes a trip to the cinema a fifty dollar experience.
And, while we're at it, howzabout doing away with the practice of evaluating movies based on how many idiots pack themselves into multiplexes over the first weekend? Touting the gross is...
...gross.
Alec, I'm with the WAG's strike as the first of, I hope, MANY labor actions in the months to come. I am in awe of WAG for showing the way, in a way that will hurt the asleep-at-the-wheel viewing audience. The only way you can wake them up. To react to other labor actions.
I also hope the other unions strike, and strike for a long time. I hope the studios get creamed and unions get busted. Hollywood and their unions are just like the music and other dinosaur industries who rely on archaic business models and bloated infrastructures. They try to monopolize all means of production.
By getting the content out of the hands of a select few, the entire viewing audience will benefit. The internet is ushering a brave new world - the writers see that as a main point in their negotiations. I wish no ill will on the hard working people of this great industry. However, for things to change, the evil empire needs to come crashing down.
Compensation in film unions is a guaranteed MINIMUM amount, to compensate hard working established workers - most really talented people, be they writers, production designers, or DPs pull waaaayyyy more money than the minimum - and many many others that are skilled need the minimum to work and survive. So all of you above arguing that "we don't need unions if you have real talent" have no concept of the real facts. The other thing is this, film work IS hazardous and typically a solid person works maybe 28 weeks out of the year. Guarantees ARE needed.
No one is disputing the fact that talented people get paid a lot more than the minimum - this discussion is on Alec Baldwin's blog. What I am against is people that feel that they are entitled to more than they deserve.
If mediocre people need guarantees to survive, there are too many people in the industry. If they are only working 28 weeks a year, they have plenty of time to pursue other ventures. Again, back to the entitlement.
Before I started my production company (with my writer/director business partner), I came from the computer software industry. There are no unions protecting programmers. If you write good code, you will be fairly compensated. If you do not or don’t like the working conditions, quit and find another job.
Film work can be hard and grueling, but other than the grips, it is NOT hazardous especially for writers. To me this all about bloated infrastructure on both sides of the coin. Evil studios + evil unions = why I am independent.
May I add to IndieProducer,
That as long as unions are there to propagate themselves and not to work on behalf of it's members and as long as studios continue to put out scripts, that do nothing more than make actor's mouths move with lots of "sound and fury signifying nothing," bringing the quality of entertainment to a screeching halt, the movie/tv industry is bound to kill its audience with boredom. If writers are forced (if they are) to flesh out a formula week after week or movie after movie then audiences will go elsewhere for a thrill or for a fine performance (depending on their level of sophistication.)
Besides fighting for money, would love to see writers fight for the integrity of their work, so that eventually the hacks leave and the decision makers at all levels will have to create something worth while. In the interim we are left with, pathetic sitcoms, car chases-shoot-em-up, and worse boring police and detective morbidity (how many disgusting images does it take to vomit your pizza? Ask CSI!) What Hollywood and tv offer is nothing more than a culture of death.
I've just received this exclusive quote from with the writer's guild on the strike,
" "
Frankly, I couldn't have said it better myself.
Having worked as a writer in various career capacities, I know that WGA rules and rulers are unfair as long as unionization limits pay scales to humble pecking order substandards and inequitable contracts that insult artists.
Moreover, in an ageist left slanted generation that caters to a sociopolitical agenda where only certain sheepish writers make it, why should one care about selfish wolves whose only job it seems is to take care of their own?
When media reflects the opinions and stories of a full spectrum of humanity, it will be worthy of set standards. Right now it only serves the interests of certain people who act like selfish children. They'll never get fair pay. The WGA is but their slave wage playpen.
I have no idea how the writers union works, but it seems to have no other function then to protect bad writers. If you write a good script, and the free market ruled, you'd get paid what it is worth. If you regularly write good tv episodes, and the free market ruled, you'd get paid your value. Inject a union, and the talented getting screwed. As far as I can tell anyhow.
Baldwin's analogy could be easily paralled to our resource producers. Without America's resource (agriculture, mining, logging, fishing et al) producers, America would have to shut the door, throw away the key, and go out of business.
American's would have to look to possibly un-friendly nations to then feed, clothe and shelter us.
Yet each dollar you and the federal government give to groups, including Sierra Club and The Nature Conservancy, brings us closer to that end.
That would be a disaster more far reaching and painful to witness than a writers strike.
Can't imagine what kind of work would come from a shivering writer with an empty tummy.
Loggers, fishermen, miners, and farmers are more accurately viewed as resource reepers, who still have jobs by virtue of the fact that we have not yet managed to deplete all of the resources they still have to reep. Without limits on 'resource producers', you'll soon be looking at a wasteland, and they'll all have to try to compete for jobs as writers too (our last vital economy that we haven't yet totally outsourced). I hope you become aware enough to appreciate that there are people informed, worried , or just broad-minded enough to form the Nature Conservancy and The Sierra Club, and start the long struggle to prevent the short term destruction of the planet, which is happening for the sake of the destructive and mostly pointless consumption that drives our 'free market' economy. And unless you know something different, I've never heard of the Federal Gov't giving money to the Sierra Club and Nature Conservancy, other than typical non-profit tax breaks.
Dear Silknspark,
We are there now, please read your food labels and dry goods labels. Where have you been for the past three decades?
It is these very groups you mention that are working to bring attention to the fact that we are abusing our resources and are being forced economically to buy foreign. The last time I bought a product made in the USA, it was a beer can opener - Bud anyone? Let's wake up and smell the coffee.
Yeah, by all means, let's stop funding the Sierra Club. Archer-Daniels-Midland is teetering on the edge of oblivion.
"Yet each dollar you and the federal government give to groups, including Sierra Club and The Nature Conservancy, brings us closer to that end."
This is factually incorrect. The Sierra Club supports hunting and fishing directly, just for one example. Another would be my former employer, Clean Water Action. I spent ages canvassing the upper midwest working on environmental and water issues. What specifically, you may ask?
The farm bill. No, really. The farm bill had specific monies set aside to help small farmers plant strips of poplar trees at the edge of their land to diminish runoff (pesticides, chemical fertilizers, what have you) into the rivers up there like the Big Sioux. What goes into the Big Sioux goes all the way down through the Mississippi, by the way, and has helped to create the miles of riverfront in Louisiana known in environmental circles as Cancer Alley. (see the documentary "green" for more on that.)
Runoff isn't just a problem for wacky environmentalists and the folks what live downstream, though. Runoff can kill a farm. It takes decades to replace an inch of topsoil and, without buffer zones like poplar trees to protect it, mere hours to lose it.
I suggest you examine what environmental groups actually do before making the claim that we're selling out our future to "unfriendly nations."
It's also important to point out that we're already there. In the past ten years we've shifted from a country that exports finished goods to a country that imports more finished goods that it exports. This is one of the main qualifications, by the way, of a third world country.
This is not because of the Sierra Club. Wal-Mart is in fact the biggest perpetrator of this particular crime against our nation. They're just the biggest offender, of course, it's not as if they're the only company here that's importing cheap, asian goods. What we need to do is keep big box stores out of our communities through pressure on local government and, to borrow a phrase from the right wing, Buy American.
As an independent Producer, I hope that both sides come crumbling down. To me, this is evil empire versus evil empire. I am all for someone getting fair compensation, but I will not be dictated what someone must paid by Unions. That goes for SAG and the whole bunch.
Hollywood is nothing more than a system to perpetuate a system. The unions are defiantly part of that bloated infrastructure. The best thing that could come from this is that studios and networks are crippled and the unions get busted.
I am an entrepreneur - I make things happen for myself, and I do not rely on arcane rules to make my hay.
Do you really think Alec Baldwin needs to be in SAG? Of coarse not - He has talent. This strike is not about protecting the rights of talented writers. It is about protecting the rights of mediocre people that hardly work, and that is what I have a problem with.
Oh, well, Indie Producer, I guess by your estimation, the rights of mediocre people that hardly work should be non-existent. And, of course, that judgement would be solely yours, right? Consider this, Mr. Indie Producer, mediocrity is the basis of this industry and probably your indie films as well. So, as per your opinion, when it comes down to it, the few extremely talented people (some of whom hardly work, as well) who work all the time are the only ones with the right to union protection. Well, now, that's a pretty small union, aint it?
You missed my point completely. America is a free market system where people SHOULD be judged by their talent and paid accordingly.
Unions, whose officials I am sure are better paid then the vast majority of its members, fly in the face of that premise. I am not bashing all unions - Certain unions with hazardous working conditions and standardized jobs are need of representation.
However, when you force creative jobs like writers, actors, etc. in a box, it does not make sense. The more talent you have should lead to higher paychecks. What about this is so hard to understand???
As to your statement that mediocrity is the basis for this industry, I could not agree more. That is precisely why I got in to this game - Because with talent, hard work and lots careful thought, we can create a product that is significantly better than projects with many times our budget.
I am not against the writers - I understand that a film needs a great script. I am against bloated infrastructure that makes budgets skyrocket where people feel they are entitled to something that don’t deserve.
If writers or any one in this industry want a bigger piece of the pie, go out and start your own company and control all the variables - There is nothing more American than that...
Quite frankly, Americans have placed entirely too much importance on the film/tv industry. This same sort of "worship" is also pervasive in professional sports and music. Where are the priorities here? Our society has become terribly misguided in it's materialistic approach to life. Living vicariously through the film/tv/sports/music industries simply diverts us from the important things. Entertainment is generally a good thing but it's just not necessary at the level that it is right now. We don't really need movies or tv or professional sports. We need to focus on values that far exceed entertainment. I do like a good movie now and then but that's how frequent "good" movies are created. The overal entertainment industry is generally an over-paid, over-publicized industry. As far as I'm concerned it has very little social redeming quality. It would serve our people well if this industry falls apart. Maybe a new paradigm of entertainment would emerge from the ashes. America is a beautiful country. Each of the states has immense beauty. Visiting a beautiful state park with my family has much more intrinsic value than any movie or tv show. Come on people. Stop the excessive consumption of materialistic values and start contributing to the quality of life of all Americans. Movies and TV have no real value....it's all perceived value.
We are operating on a star / genius / hero basis. Ideas that lead to projects and products just do not pop up on their own. Most employee contracts contain the clause of your ideas are not yours while on the clock, they belong to the studio or corporation so that the big guys (CEO, chairmen, executives) can take the product of their employees to their bank account. ("Who's making my money?") That is as much for Hollywood as it is everywhere people use creativity. If you mention that some of your ideas went into a project and you document and prove it, you are a socialist, communist, ungrateful, selfish, not a team member etc person. Do you really think that Steve Jobs came up with the whole implementation of the IPhone, the code, contents etc. No he did not. I worked with a team of computer scientists on a similar project in 1989. In our culture creativity and implementation is put on the well established mass media personalities of a company. The many worker bees that contributed with ideas and sweat are powerless and ignored. A mention in a 100 feet trailer does not cut so does the 25 year with the company golden watch.
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Posted October 30, 2007 | 07:59 PM (EST)