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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I remember the run-up to the strike, thinking this couldnt be good. Then the strike. That was the start of a glut of reality shows because the execs decided they didnt need writers to make shows and profit. Survivor proved that. Game shows proved that. America's funniest Home Videos and Jackass proved that.
Unfortunately, all those shows are absolute ass. If the writers strike again, what the hell are we going to be subjected to?
And since most of the vested comments have come from the LA area, I have to say I remember and sympathized with the writers from the other side of the continent, in Maine. We are all in this together if we want to be entertained.
As someone struggling finishing her first novel, thank you Mr. Baldwin. I studied screenwriting, but chose to write a novel, after learning just how difficult it is for members of the WGA. You are gallant to notice the 'lowly' writers, many who could not even gain entrance to watch their own film being shot. I suppose that is why so many talented screenwriters also feel compelled to direct their own work.
Although you are a standout talent in everything
During recent phases of award shows, I noticed with what grace, Helen Mirren never failed to call attention to, and credit the writers of her material. Watching the also stellar Meryl Streep accept her award for "The Devil Wears Prada", I cringed, as she mentioned lawyers, managers, but not once, Lauren Weisberg who wrote the book, or the scriptwriters. Sorry, don't know their names. But I can tell you Joseph Mankiewicz wrote "All About Eve", very pleased you mentioned one of my favorites.
The worst? Is when certain actors have amnesia about the people who created the vehicle for their success...
I was a creative writing major myself, with a book and three screenplays done and at least one more of each in the works, and I've always considered screenwriting to be just an issue of formatting and stripping down of any given story to the dialogue and absolute essential description. If you get the paperback of Barry Eisler's THE LAST ASSASSIN, it illustrates the difference in an appendix.
Alec you threw in some great writing when you brought up Sunset Blvd, All About Eve, and Citizen Kane. What about the majority of writing that brings you such everlasting prose, like Spaceballs, any of the Scream movies, or any mainstream network television show. Just terrible writing. For every gem there are a thousand turds.
I realize this is a serious issue, but I couldn't help but be reminded of the negotiation episode of 30 Rock.
"Be a crab! Fight the worm!"
Often comedy highlights serious issues. I'm currently shopping around a script entitled BLACK FRIDAY that denounces the commercialization of Christmas by showing what the season is like on the other side of the cash registers. Real-life headaches get exaggerated, such as customers eager to start shopping are slamming a medieval battering ram against the mall's doors.
Many of the recent Labor talks that have reached a pinch point center on benefits such as health care.
When the market crash hits soon(20% or more housing bubble) and Chinese currency underwriting make for strains on the Dollar(worth almost half its values when Clinton had a surplus) we'll feel the hit, just about the time peak oil and climate change affect water and agriculture to new lows...
Best get ahead of it now and develop a cohesive health care plan. Developing that kind of awareness to stay ahead of trends with lifestyle and dietary choice, getting improved wage levels so we can begin to curb the work week to 32 hours plus overtime instead of 40 plus...
These items can expand the revenue base, satisfy supply-sided pricing and reduce demand constraints by addressing pre-emptive care. Americans deserve more time off and better pay so they can share in the family values we hear used as an excuse to keep wages down...
Pre-emptive care or pre-emptive war. That's what is on the ballot.
Props to Alec for giving the Union concerns a voice. Your Local peers are fortunate to work with you and write great material for you.
Next round, a toast to Alec, and Springsteen is playing Radio Nowhere...
Why don' they take the glamourization of drug use and celebrity smoking out of movies? Let's see some action for a change. In "Constantine" it was clear, we do not want Chinese cigarettes; should we accept stoggies and purported corn silk or substitutes? How many celebrities and impressional people out there have to die from this shit before someone does something?
Why don't YOU write a movie script, Alec? I'd like to see a good sci-fi story, something that
isn't 19,000 rounds a minute, has killer
alien robots that talk in a german accent, but
a REAL sci-fi type thing that doesn't involve
the end of life as we know it, either by
freezing, nuclear holocaust, invasion,
collision with another heavenly body, well,
they haven't turned off the sun yet on the
silver screen, but that'd fall under freezing,
not have one person get shot, have EVERYbody
keep their clothes on, um, no pestilence,
that was done in The Stand, Maximum Overdrive
was kind of fun, Stephen King-style, but
some kind of sci-fi story. I'm sure if they
dug around in Asimov's writings, they'd come
up with another golden oldie, but as far
as they've come with the CGI, I'm sure they
could take a fair stab at something like Niven's "A World Out Of Time", or "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel", a Heinlein book
from the way-back, hell, if they really wanted
I could send in 50 or 60 good titles for
consideration. But, drop the political dramas,
they've been overdone, let's see a good
sci-fi movie. Just think, Alec, you could
be Jaybee Corbell, the corpsicle.
Have you seen Sunshine? It sounds like you might dig it.
The Fountain was a pretty good sci-fi flick as well. I always thought that it is way past time that they made Stranger in a Strange Land.
Alec, Writers are the Rodney Dangerfields of Hollywood.
And without them, Hollywood wouldn't exist, outside of such generational classics as "Celebrity Dumpster Dive".
Just so everyone knows what the WGA has requested, this is from a flyer it handed out today: "Our demands are fair and reasonable. We are asking for Guild coverage of writing for the Internet, basic residuals for Internet content re-use, a modest increase in DVD residuals, and the tools to enforce our agreement. Residuals are not a bonus for the writer; the are a critical part of a writer's income."
-- Christian Gulliksen
You're right.
Writers are treated like party crashers when their work makes the party possible. I just wish that the television industry would allow good writers to work in the business. The wretched state of network TV as a whole makes me wonder if the writers are that bad or if the suits are that stupid.
30 Rock is actually fun to watch and the writing is clever. Stars like you and Tina Fey make the dialogue sing. Only an Alec Baldwin could deliver a line that carries that delicious dose of mordant wit, irony and comic restraint. There are a few good shows anyway.
I hope the writers get a better deal, but I'll feel better about it when I'm given a reason to turn the TV on again.
It's just the sheer greedy arrogance of producers and studios at work, unwilling to share their overpriced piece of the pie.
It's their pie.
But you can still cut that pie in eight equal slices. I mean at least cut it fairly without calling the dogs (writers) for the crumbs. We, I mean writers, had it screwed bad for awhile now, it is time that the pie is shared fairly even if it's so freaking hot, they can still squeeze their finger in it and get a piece.
OK, that's a fair comment.
So, let them provide the creative content of that pie and see what profit comes out the other end.
and they stole the ingredients.
No, it's NOT their pie. They didn't write it, direct it or act in it. They didn't design the sets or shoot the thing or drive the trucks. The point is, film and TeeVee are collaborative mediums. Everybody should share in the profits. Not only are the producers NOT allowing the writers to share in new media, they're actively seeking rollbacks. I'm a WGA member. I loathe the way the negotiations have been handled, since this directly affected me this year. But I still support our right to not get screwed by greedy folks who want to present their shareholders with more money. It's not fair. And to Provgrays -- there ARE good writers working in TeeVee. There are bad writers working in TeeVee. Please understand that nobody is trying to put out bad product, but when you have as many cooks as there are, it's bound to happen. It would be lovely if writing a TeeVee show was as pure as writing what you want and then shooting it, but that's not the case. It's the entire system that's broken, not just the writing!
No, they're merely the vendors of the pie.
Sadly, this seems like a power issue. Studio execs are renowned for venality, ignorance and arrogance. They seldom appreciate the value of writers, stars or anybody else but themselves. In the case of a star, they don't have much choice. If they want Alec Baldwin, they have to get Alec Baldwin. And pay Alec Baldwin.
In the case of a writer, the exec is just going to say, "Who does this guy think he is, demanding royalties for that crap he already sold to us. Get somebody else, and get him by noon or I fire your sorry ass. And get me a coffee. My nephew can write crap as good as that."
They abuse writers for the same reason they abuse secretaries: because they can.
Do I have that studio boss rudeness right, or should I have included some profanity?
LOL, well said! You got the attitude right, and if you put in all the M-rated words from the average suit, the server would meltdown!
Bravo, Alec. Your support means a lot.
Solidarity forever!
Kobe8lal
To badly paraphrase William Goldman...
No lay person would dare tell a doctor how to operate, or a pilot how to fly a plane, but everybody knows the typewriter keyboard. Everyone thinks they can write.
Hollywood writers are like bloggers ... a dime a dozen.
Oh really? Try it some time and see how far you get.
Alec, the 'trickle down' as you termed it. How appropriate. We're all interconnected in this country. You've seen then, firsthand how this is so in microcosm.
What do you make of all the superlatives ascribed to your career and talent? How do you spend or bank all of that 'capital' which is yours? I don't even know how to properly compliment you, save to say that I admire you.
Thanks for taking the time to acknowledge the writers in the industry. Best wishes to you and your loved ones.
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