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The Writer and the Gun -- How the WGA Is Being Rewritten
A producer once told me that when the writer is working, the script is the gun that holds everyone else hostage. When the writer stops typing, he hands the gun to the producer and director and immediately joins the other hostages against the wall.
On November 1, 2007, The Writers Guild of America typed "Fade In" by going on strike. Last week, when the Directors Guild and the AMPTP announced that they'd made a deal, we watched as the WGA leadership handed over the gun and took their place against the wall, hands high in the air.
It's a cliché in Hollywood. The writer has an idea, structures a story, pours his blood and tears into it, only to turn in the script and watch helplessly as the studio finds someone else to rewrite him and take credit.
I'm not talking about the deal points here. I'm not talking about residuals, distributor's gross, or 17 free days of internet streaming. Those are all items for us to hash out in the coming days. What I'm talking about is the single most obvious failing of the Writers Guild leadership throughout this labor dispute -- controlling the narrative that they began on November 1st.
When the DGA and the AMPTP proudly announced their deal, the WGA leadership needed to swiftly and decisively grab control of the story. There should have been a press conference -- immediately. There should have been a membership meeting -- announced to the press. It didn't matter whether the leadership had any official opinions yet. It only mattered that they showed they were in control, that they were responding deftly, with agility and strength, and that they sent a loud and clear message to the AMPTP and the world that there is an intimate relationship between the WGA leadership and its members, and no one else is going to step in and lead them.
For much of this struggle, that relationship between the leadership and the members has been robust and authentic. But last week, instead of direct conversation at a critical juncture, when nerves are frayed and people are exhausted, we received a very polite, yet subtly terse press release that communicated absolutely nothing. And a day after that release, we received another, followed by a weekend of rumors of "back channel talks," guild leaders scrambling to see the actual DGA contract, emails shooting from writer to writer with petitions and letters to be signed expressing solidarity, another that threatens a strike for as long as it takes, another that says we should take the DGA deal now (though it hasn't actually been analyzed or even offered).
The DGA deal has elements in it that many writers I've spoken with hate immediately -- specifically the 17-day free window for internet streaming and the $1200/yr flat fee after that. Other writers feel that the phrase "distributor's gross" is significant enough that we should disregard the rest. Some screenwriters are rumored to be discussing going Fi-Core (though nobody seems to have met any of them yet). One showrunner asked me how the "movie writers would like it if their movies were offered for free for three weeks." A screenwriter then said that this has been "a TV strike from day one" and he's had enough.
Anarchy is defined as a state of disorder due to an absence or non-recognition of authority. While our leadership is hunkered down, trying to determine what the deal really is and how much to push that deal, the members are spinning their own narratives in the absence of any other. The type of thoughtful, behind-the-scenes work that the board is doing right now is vital, yes, but it's only one front in this war. The other fronts are the organization and galvanization of the members and the controlling of the story in the media. In just three days, we've come dangerously close to losing those battles.
There may be a deal to be made with the AMPTP in the coming weeks. I happen to think there is. But it's only going to happen if our leadership re-establishes that intimate connection with its members. It took this community of writers to type Fade In. It's going to take the same community to type Fade Out.
Read more strike coverage on the Huffington Post's writers' strike page.
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okay - time to report from the picket line
just got back from Paramount. I thought it might be helpful to report on how real writers are responding to the recently reported DGA deal.
The striking things were:
a) there was a huge turnout on the picket
b) there were a good number of SAG members present
c) the mood was calm and morale was high. Everyone I spoke to reported themselves still focused on getting a fair deal for the writers. They had expected the deluge of reporting on how great the DGA deal was and how we should all just jump on it and didn't seem that impressed with it.
All in all - a good morning's picketing.
get back to the negotiating tables...our economy is unstable, and to secure work is a task in itself! in my opinion it seems arrogant for the parties concerned not to show good faith and hash this out, reasonably and intelligently in win win fashion...this is the 21st century, after all!
A TV strike? That shows some ignorance of the technology changes and distribution methods that are in the works for feature films...
Link to David Sirota's latest post. This, in the context of our strike, is what I'm talking about. It takes GUTS to stand up to the Jeff Zucker's of the world. What do we want? Fairness. That's all. Why is fairness such a problem for the AMPTP? In the era of this post, and in light of today's observance of Dr. King's memorial day, the question for me is: do we have the guts to demand what's right? To correct past inequities? To demand of OURSELVES fairness to ALL?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/are-we-ready-to-rise-up-a_b_82492.html
Mrs Wakely, the article at this link kind of says the same thing is happening at CBS:
CBS cans 20 projects — writers’ strike
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14716
Here's the Zucker link:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/877c999c-c784-11dc-a0b4-0000779fd2ac.html
From my point of view it wasn't possible for either side to control the "narrative". I see the studio bosses as a bunch of greedy sleaze-bags. Most of what they green-light in the form of TV and movies are sequels, remakes, and copy-cats. Even the junk they call "original" is the same old crap catering to the lowest common denominator. I stopped watching most TV and movies thanks in part to them. BTW, whoever begat the notion it's better to spend half the budget on big name celebrity actors instead of quality script writing should be shot.
The writers as a whole are very well paid compared to a factory worker's or coal miner's salary. The writers can work work in any industry in any part of the country. They choose to sell their soles to write the crap that gets aired on the big and small screens. They aren't writing Shakespeare. They're too busy writing scripts for Saw IV, Mission Impossible VI, That 80's Show: The Movie, and (God help us all) Spice World: The Series. The Hollywood writers are the other half of the reason I don't spend much time or money watching TV or movies.
If the writers don't like the deal, they shouldn't settle. They can either keep striking or change careers. We probably won't notice a difference anyway.
Relax my friend. The negotiators sent a timely email to let us know they were studying the deal. Give them a week.
"...the members are spinning their own narratives..."
...and sadly, no better than those they told when creating much of the boring melodramatic situation soap tales for the millions and millions of somnabulating and numbed-out boob tube chronics.
The fact that we writers and our guild have nothing to show thus far is painfully stark evidence of the paucity of imagination necessary to tell a compelling story (okay, the producers don't know the difference between that which will keep the sheep through the commercials vs. great and important story telling, but that is a parallel plot line) that galvanizes individual's emotions and stirs collective consciousness and memory that erupts into action... action that alone can storm the greedy barracades and overcome economic and artistic injustice.
"Calling Norma Rae. Norma Rae, please pick up the terminal phone. You are being paged by a dying art form."
Michael
I think you have written some excellent pieces on Huff Post that we have all benefited from but I think you are mistaken about this one. If the leadership had held such a press conference it would have further blown up the 'significance' of the DGA deal and thereby INCREASED the pressure on themselves. As MrsWakely points out, their job at this point is to get into the specifics. For now the job of striking writers is to wait patiently for the results of that analysis.
Michael, I'd gladly trade a few fat feature film residual checks of mine if the Guild leadership would pay some attention to crime #1: the cannibalism of writers' work by other writers for profit. How can we require the suits to respect our work when we are climbing all over each other for jobs eviscerating the writing of our brothers and sisters, for profit. And then fighting, cut-throat, for credit and a bigger share of residuals at the expense of other writers. The diminishment of the culture of the writer as the 'prime creator' is a fact of life in Hollywood because writers make it possible. The relative silence by the WGA leadership re the DGA deal is a case in point.
The consumer has learned the lesson! We all have plenty of VHS dinosaurs. Everytime the technology changes we are expected to go out and purchase overpriced, replacements of our favorite movies, well, the well, has gone dry! No Blu-ray, no HD i might get a player when they are priced where they are affordable. but, until then no way,Rental stores are the way to go. A trip to the movies for two people is 25$ What are you people stupid? raise the price of dvds more, make them 50$ in twenty years will they end up in a garage sale like the VHS ?
If the same people that "negociated" the voluntary 80% cut in cassettes & DVD are still in charge, chances are they'll be eaten alive by the army of lawyers and contract-mercenaries-hit men The Man will throw at them...
Since that flagrant error, Big Media has changed a lot, The Man is firmly in charge & with an agenda to boot...
David & Goliath reruns anyone ?
What are the odds indeed !
With Directors Guild and the AMPTP deal, THE MAN wants to further isolate the writers so they can put the burden of economic slowdown squarely on their shoulders in a divide & conquer fashion.
Their putdown line of choice is to tag them as snotty retarded privileged adolescents lost into World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero antics. As if cinema's & TV's great work obviously came from immature minds... let's see how many films & TV classics will spring from the mind of bean counters for fun ?
BREAKING SOLIDARITY IS THE NAME OF THE GAME !
Just as Union busting...
The writers strike is still crucial. Its resolution will determine how creative minds will be paid in the future. Intellectual property and publishing rights are sacred in civilized nations. When money is generated, content creators should be compensated.
WRITERS vs. THE MAN /ON STRIKE !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfeObquD9y8
"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all." - H. L. Mencken
To me the WGA strike is about the entertainment industry trying to find ways to keep the income from new sources and keep it away from others at a time when that income is declining. This worsened by that all but a small percentage of the industry is based in LA and NYC, 2 of the most expensive places in the USA as to costs of living, meaning everybody working needs to make more money. People are not going to the movies like they used to and now most of those going are aged 14-25 mostly for dating or just to get out of the house. Many people don't have the time to watch TV due to work or family time needs as well as we have other diversions including the web and I-pods for entertainment.
The production companies need to pay for the new media, perhaps having some formula of payment so there is a base, but if something is a hit or measurably profitable (and not by 'Hollywood Accounting' standards)the rate would go up and for longer and for internet and other new media.
Those that watch TV still want good dramas not a bunch of phony 'reality' shows. To the producers: Make a fair deal and not a half-baked one like the Directors got.
All I know as one of the shmucks who watch the stuff you people write is that the content is getting ugly and were it not for PBS, the Military Channel, and the Discovery Channel offerings, I would be reading a lot more books right now. I hope you all get a decent deal on internet revenue... really I do... the studios should not get a free ride on your backs when you create the content they use. Those of you who work steadily were making a pretty good living though and although the execs in the studios are making an obscene amount of money from advertisers and internet "pay for play" deals, I hope you know a good deal when you see one and will take it! Meanwhile I refuse to watch some of the shows that came back on without you guys, and certainly do not watch the ever growing tripe they call reality programming, though my wife seems to like The Amazing Race for some reason. Hope to see you all back at work soon... Not having a wonderful time... Wish you were here!
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Posted January 20, 2008 | 07:27 PM (EST)