Writers' Strike Diary: It's Officially Ugly

Week five of the writers strike, and it's officially ugly.

The low-lights from last week: That poorly sourced internet "scoop" that a deal was in place to end the strike. No such deal ever existed.

Carson Daly being vilified for saving his staff's jobs by going back to work.

Carson Daly being on TV at all which, in and of itself, is sorta a low light.

Jay Leno -- who promised nobody would "miss a car payment or lose their house" -- (initially) leaving his staff to flounder as NBC shut down the Tonight show. Hey, it's hard to make good on your promises of financial support when you're only banking $27 Mil a year.

Speaking of money: the guild got at least an initial portion of a new offer from the producers. Then, promptly walked from the table saying they needed four days to digest the proposal. Then, took all of four minutes to publicly shred the offer.

The AMPTP took all of four minutes to publicly shred David Young who has "no experience in these sorts of negotiations," and is "not capable of making a deal."

And then there was the AMPTP's offer itself; the New Economic Partnership. I'm on strike, so go ahead and write your own Orwell quip.

The good news? The strike will have less of an economic impact on Los Angeles than originally predicted. $380 million dollars if the strike goes 22 weeks as it did in '88. That's down from a forecasted one billion dollars.

Prior to the guild's Thursday walk off, someone close to the negotiations told me they thought the strike would not be resolved just after the New Year. I've since been told January would now be wishful thinking.

What's more likely: if there's no movement this week, expect the AMPTP to bypass the guild and negotiate in earnest with the DGA. If that's the case, look for an early March end to the strike. Best case. Otherwise the DGA's got 'til the end of June to conclude things.

June.

By the way, if you want to read a truly heartbreaking narrative of the "forgotten" writers guild strike -- you remember which one I'm talking about, and it's not the '88 strike -- check out this piece which ran in the LA Times.

Read more strike coverage on the Huffington Post's writers' strike page.

Comments

[MrCoffeeCup]

Yo John, it's a sad case. Been there, done that union thang and have always competed against the competition. I truly DO NOT want to see anyone out of work. Work defines the person, provides the the employer with tremendous universal dynamics that accomplish heavenly goals. Work, the opportunity of and hope for rewarding careers is the soul of free enterprise. Even them dang commies want ta Work!
HOWEVER, some of these folks CAN easily be replaced by more than half of your responders/commenters. Judging from the many television, movie studio, playwrite products out there; we have better folks for these openings. Don't believe me? Then why in hell is the Discovery Channel, Travel Channel and Food Channel so damn popular? People are tired of garbage! Poor writers, lousy presentations, without any meaningful stories.
See what I mean Bille Jean! They are their own victims of bad products.

[feanorr]

Good luck with the strike John.

I remember touring the Keys with you as part of NFAAs Arts fundraising.

"My names Freddy, man"

"You're names Fredddy-man?"

Remember?!

;)

Take care,

Sean Osborn
www.osbornmusic.com

[JFWilliam]

What da F@*k did ya expect from da man ;)

My two cents...

WRITERS vs. THE MAN / ON STRIKE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfeObquD9y8

Meanwhile...

" We are watching a poorly staged rendition of " Wag the Dog" , interpreted for the morbidly stupid and performed by the criminally insane." - Jules Carlysle

[Doubtom43]

Fire them all, there's not much talent there anyway. If there were, we wouldn't constantly be seeing old classics being re-hashed with new actors. How pathetic!

The writers have just awakened to the fact that movie moguls and actors make ridiculous tons of money and they want their share. Presumably the stage hands are not far behind, after all they actually do manual labor, as opposed to arduous task of imaginative scribbling.
The truth is that no matter how much screwed over the writers feel, they still make a hell of a lot more than the average real worker, so can we dispense with any more coverage of this sorry spectacle. The world is going to hell in a Cadillac and we're suppose to worry about Hollyweird?

[wrabbitt]

Sorry, but the longer it goes on , the more the public thinks its about greed and, the almighty dollar.after baseball,football went on strike I stopped going to games, and, stopped watching them on tv. because i thought it was about greed,well it was! The writers have a good point,but the price of a DVD keeps people from buying them now.Come on,$19.95 to see a movie and then put it away? After a year or so the price drops but, its still outrageous. and, TV? fast forward thru the commercials and watch the 1 hour show thats 38 minutes long? And you want what?

[Lane]

Nothing like being held hostage in your own country. And here we have Bush stating we have to "fight them over there to keep them from attacking us over here". How about stepping in and resolving your own nations crisises, one crisis at a time, Mr. Prez? let's start with this one!

[Rudym]

Thanks to the writers strike, I have been watching the daily sessions of both houses of Congress. TV networks should re-run both of the sessions of what is taking place daily in Congress. Most Americans work during the time of the original broadcasts. Why not rerun them at night. It is by far the best soap opera going. Writers should watch too. They will get to see how creative politicians manage to get more money by deficit spending, instead of union negotiations.

[RedBarberian]

Snobbery within a strike? How come you guys ignore your New York brethren who have to picket in the cold?

[Writerchick]

Okay--here's what I don't get. Here's what I don't EVER get about things like this strike, and arguements between individuals who have or will continue to have long-term relationships:

We all know this strike will be over SOME DAY, right? Right! We all know that the writers will get at least something of what they want, right? Right!

So why the hell don't they make TODAY that some day? Just friggin' DO IT, already! It's going to happen anyway, so why not TODAY?

You know, once I had a disagreement with a significant person in my life. Actually, he was the one off the wall, but why quibble? There was ranting and raving going on, basically about nothing that would eventually NOT be resolved. So I said to him "Look. Are you ever going to not be angry with me about this? Do you envision not being angry with me about this?" and He said "Yes, of course I do." So I said "Let's try something. Let's pretend that it is three days from now and you're not angry any more. I have been forgiven. The fight is over. And let's just go out for dinner and not discuss this issue again."

To my amazement, he did just that. We ate dinner and never discussed the stupid thing again.

So, basically, everyone KNOWS the writers deserve a cut. That's the stupid thing.

Without writers, there is NO HOLLYWOOD INDUSTRY. (unless some enterprising slug decides to bottle smog and arrogance and sell it as Eau de Ego)

So ENOUGH ALREADY! End the strike, give everyone a Merry Crimble, and BE DONE WITH IT! Do it TODAY, not six weeks from now.

Borrow Nike's slogan, and JUST DO IT!

[Propagandist]

More "I Surrender" from a writer who hates his own Guild. Must be nice up there in that ivory tower, but down on the street, not a single writer believes a single thing you're spewing, Ridley.

[thenicerguy]

elizaW, you have commented on my comments. So I took the opportunity to check out all your past comments. On the behalf of the AMPTP, thank you for so eloquently stating their position.

I'm sure your check is in the mail.

[cinemaven]

"Speaking of money: the guild got at least an initial portion of a new offer from the producers. Then, promptly walked from the table saying they needed four days to digest the proposal. Then, took all of four minutes to publicly shred the offer."

This runs counter to every other assessment I've read and it runs counter to the most basic bargaining techniques. A union does not walk away from a viable offer and it's a poor management strategy to table an offer at this point in a strike that does not come close to the middle ground.

I'm surprised that your first "low-light" was to skewer internet gossip when you go on to offer your own gossip later in your column. "Prior to the guild's Thursday walk off, someone close to the negotiations told me they thought the strike would not be resolved just after the New Year. I've since been told January would now be wishful thinking."

Each of your columns on the strike has left me shaking my head at the way you are always so quick to point out that you are on strike while offering nothing but criticism and naysaying.

[VicPerry]

What was "officially ugly" was Ridley's commentary on NPR's "Morning Edition" the other morning. If one judges credibility on tone, Ridley is believe- it-or-not-territory.

[DAinLA]

I guess blogging allows one to completely distort facts, or just lie. Not sure which you did here, as I would probably just chalk it up to a combination of ignorance and bravado.

This statement:......

Speaking of money: the guild got at least an initial portion of a new offer from the producers. Then, promptly walked from the table saying they needed four days to digest the proposal. Then, took all of four minutes to publicly shred the offer.

.....Is amazingly false. Considering it comes on the heels of you calling out the way Nikki Fink was played by the AMPTP, I find it quite hypocritical.

Actually, the Guild did not walk away from the table. The AMPTP dropped a bizarre offer on the table of fixed amount, even though they had stated in June that there would never be a fixed amount. The Guild negotiators then went to caucus. When they returned to the table 15 minutes later, they discovered the AMPTP had decided to end the media blackout by sending out a press release. They were also informed by the AMPTP that the offer was only 1/2 complete. The rest of the offer would come on Tuesday. So, the Guild is actually just waiting for the other half of the offer, not walking away from the table. All we know is that the 1/2 we have received is amazingly insulting.

Now, you have either made a false claim, or simply conducted an example of irresponsible blogging, but either way you have shown that you cannot be trusted, much like Miss Fink. Please explain your false "reporting" Thanks.

[thenicerguy]

Other members of the WGA have tried to bully and shame you off your perch and clearly, from this posting, you are sticking with your guns.

I won't try to do that. Instead, I'd just ask you to spend some time talking to your fellow members, the ones out on the picket line.

Many member - in fact I'd posit the majority of them - seem to have realized what you seem to be unaware of: this is the final struggle. Not just for the WGA, but for Hollywood writers.

We are standing on the edge of the new and perhaps final frontier and the decisions we make, the concessions we hold out for, the points we win will be the basis for another whole generation of writers in Hollywood.

John, if I may be so bold to call you that, you've had some success in Hollywood and I expect you have pocketed some nice money from your writing.

Now imagine how much you would have received if there were no WGA. Do you really thing Big Media would pay for your health and pension benefits?

Judging from the way large corporations are sucking the life from this country and screwing the common man, the only thing separating writers from this pillage is the WGA.

This is not some ill-conceived battle. This is a fight that has been coming for some time now. The lines are drawn more distinctly no than ever before.

We truly believe we are fighting not just for our future but for the future of the writers who follow us.

Why not come down, talk to your fellow members and re-access your position?

As I said, I don't know why you seem to be hewing so close to the AMPTP's position, but we need articulate men like you, John. In your heart, I have to believe you agree with our decisions and our cause.