Dread & Certitude - Notes from the Writers' Strike
In Robert Stone's majestic, Conradian novel about Americans screwing around with Central America in 1980, A Flag for Sunrise, there is an hallucinatory riff about dread. It popped into my head this morning, after a bad night's sleep. In the passage, the protagonist, an American anthropologist finds himself over his head, way south of the border. He goes diving some 120 feet off a coral reef, and down there, in the dark, he becomes preternaturally frightened, struck by an unnamed dread, and feels himself to be close to an abyss, and closer still to something terrible. A "Shadow within a shadow, a silence within a silence." In Stone's utterly black inoculation, the solitary diver ponders what it was; shark, bottomless bottom, the end of all light, desolation.
Today, I feel that we writers are on the edge of just such an abyss; a sudden drop-off that can not be seen but can sure be felt. I have only my gut and my instincts to guide me, and I pray I am wrong. However, if indeed, 'character is fate', then the actions of the studios' negotiators are very telling. They want more than just this strike. They want to break the guild. To entirely dictate the terms of remuneration to artists in all the emerging electronic and new media markets.
If that is the case, the fight and the strike is going to be long and bloody, and at the end, the CEOs of the big media companies will be left with no way to justify their hallucinatory pay-packages. Or will they? Yes. Because the write-offs in deals they can trash, in a lackluster TV season will probably more than make up for the losses from the strike. The lawyers will pick up the pieces, and maybe the collateral damage for them will be some jobless creative executives, sacrificed by over-paid bosses, whose hubris has gored an entire industry.
The studios want the strike. They are clear-eyed and mercenary about it. The hard-core realpolitik equation in the boardrooms has got to be that the numbers will work out. So what if the industry is shut down for four or six or nine weeks. Or more.
And the guild members who are striking -- we have got to insist and pray that our leaders negotiate responsibly, wisely, and bravely. And insist that they do so without blinking, now that the trigger has been pulled. And insist on cunning and resourcefulness and stamina. (Not having been in the room, I cannot account for the DVD fracas of this weekend, which seems, on the face of it, to have possibly left the writers slightly less well armed for the siege I am worried we're headed into).
The studios probably have already noted the less than sympathetic reactions from the viewers. In fact, you would not be wrong to guess that the studio folk are enjoying the spectacle of watching the writers dance around to sell the idea of unfair wages to an unimpressed populace. An unimpressed populace who are only too happy, at this point, to say "who cares" to the writers responsible for the nightly, woozy miasma of lame jokes and mewling, sentimental crap that makes up a percentage of prime-time. (By this logic, the studios are simply blameless lending libraries that innocently stock porn on the shelves of the kiddie section.)
This fight with giant corporatism is the canary-in-the-coal mine of how labor deal with big business in this country. And with each day that passes, the actors and the directors and all other interested parties are getting closer to their own show-down over the same issues with the same negotiators for the same studios and networks. Careers are about to suffer. For those of us who are not rich -- the majority of guild members, that is -- the strains will be cruel and maybe even tragic, if the thing goes on and on and on. The ripples will get bigger, and other boats will get swamped. Crews and their families. The economy that depends on the industry. And frankly, it in this hubris-laden equation that the cold-eyed calculations of the studio heads begins to corrode.
And it begins to backfire. A smart strategy can turn into a bitter mistake very quickly. As the generals will remind you, once a war starts, the only thing you can count on is being surprised by what happens next. Wars get expensive and when people lose their livelihoods, you lose their hearts and minds. An industry is shut down not by the writers (the workers), but by the men who own it and run it. Why? Because it is in their interest to clear the slate of bad and costly bets.
That decision results in people who have nothing to do with the movies and TV, other than the fact that they live in LA, to lose what they have worked a lifetime for. People who are already trying to keep ahead of a faltering economy and sub-prime lenders (more corporate greed and hubris at work). Because the studios' negotiator would not discuss a deal over paying for downloads and on-line viewings with the people who created their product.
As the days pass, the indifference on the part of the public starts to shift. The attitudes about the fat-cat rich writers starts to shift. Because the message gets through. No matter how much the Reagan revolution transformed Americans into accepting the notion that "greed is good", and that unions can be broken without consequences, there will come a point at which the worm will turn. This thing will end. The writers will be weakened, but standing. They will be more unified than ever. They will get a piece of the pie they are asking for. Some piece. Something.
And somewhere, some CEO of one of these huge companies will start to wonder if it was all worth it. All the destruction. The rancor. The mistrust. The ill-will that will develop. The lost viewers, the lost audience. All of it. The ruined relationships with the people who create the product they need. Is it worth it? Was it worth it? Did we put our best man, and our best strategy in play?
May that epiphany happen sooner rather than later. It is my sense that in this stand-off the writers are not going to budge. Too much is at stake. The writers will not budge. How can you when you are being offered nothing, not even words? Even as we head towards a shadow within a shadow and silence within a silence, circled by sharks. The writers will prevail.
Read more thoughts about the strike on the Huffington Post's writers' strike page.
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To me, it's very simple.
I support the writers.
If they lose, it is just another reason to justify piracy.
Writers create content, so, as I feel that their labors are part of the raw materials of product, they shoulds be paid.
I resent paying the obscene wages of the C.E.O.s,
who, (by and large) produce nothing).
Well, isn't the timing just perfect! What could be better for Patriots now, right now, than shutting up the most visible Jesters who tell us exactly what the emperor is not wearing.
The writers might ask themselves if the WGA really has their interests at heart, or are they the entertainment world's new blackwater.
Ninety years ago today (Nov. 7) the Bolsheviks began their revolution against the Provisional Government of Russia. To read some of the anti-capitalist, anti-establishment rhetoric here one might think that there'd be red flags fluttering along in the WGA picket line.
Painting studio executives as white collar tyrants out to crush working class artist-peasants merely perpetuates the class-warfare theme of American Democrats. No wonder someone suggested throwing in a protest against the war in Iraq, since the writers are out there anyway, walking around with nothing else to do and most of them are Democrats.
I just received a letter from the WGA reassuring me that our pension fund assets were well-invested and the fund is completely solvent.
What, perchance, do you think the WGA has invested in? Collective farm futures or American corporations? What does the IA invest in? Communes or capitalism? Where do cops send their pension money? To Wall Street or to North Korea?
Instead of complaining about our economic system the WGA membership ought to be looking closer to home -- to the historical pattern of WGA sell-outs like Brian Walton who over the years weakened the union instead of building a powerful alliance with the DGA and SAG.
WGA members can't get it in their heads that we're not really a union that can shut down an industry. We're a GUILD (it's right there in the name, in case we forget) that every now and then behaves like a union, or tries to.
That is, it tries as long as it can before reality sets in and we realize that Hollywood can somehow muddle on without us for a long time. A very long time.
So, you can talk about throwing off the shackles of the oppressors all you want, but realize it's just that: talk.
Until the WGA finds a way to really shut down Hollywood it might just as well hand out anti-war signs and red flags.
Robbie,
This is all painfully true. But it's time to look amongst ourselves and the other painful truth that in this day and age of the corporate monolith-- we need to really unite. What does that mean? WGA, DGA, and SAG MUST work together. It has apparent for many years but what? The ugly truth that everyone is looking out for themselves? You bet. The writers can not scratch the surface until this happens. Walking under the GE sign we are ants. But putting the Army, Navy, and Air Force together we might have a chance. The military illusion is apt for GE by the way. This doesn't have to be so heartbreaking if the artists got together and realized for once we're all in the same boat. And THEN the public would REALLY understand what all this means and finally the bosses would as well.
JRB,
Quick question: What about showrunners who stockpiled scripts in order to keep their respective shows in production? Am I misreading this situation or is that an attitude of "I support the Union but I support my show first?" I've heard a rumor that Ugly Betty has four published scripts ready for production and yet Marco Pennette was out on the picket line on Monday, back at work on Tuesday. Do you find this hypocritical? Am I missing a bigger picture?
Thanks in advance.
Fellow Guild Member
Amen Brother!
The studio only pays if they have money from a sale. They are guaranteed profit because if it doesn't sell there is no payment. Hundreds of corporate executives do nothing all day long, but e-mail each other.
The writers, cameraman, directors, and editors produce and write the shows. They don't need help. The shows only fail when a producer isn't smart enough to say no to the hundreds of idiotic notes that they get. After all they have to prove their salaries deserve to be 3 times more than anyone else.
On top of that you get notes from competing executives who might gain from a fellow execs show failing so they can get promoted. So you have idiots sending notes to ruin shows. Or Idiots assuming that all of America is stupid, so they need to make the shows stupid like Americans. Every moron thinks because they like movies that they can write one.
I swear if I posted any of the notes I received on the 14 movies and 3 network television show I have worked on as an editor, you would never side with the studio again. Every producer knows that if the studio gets their way and TAKES OVER a show, the shows always bomb and the executives are never blamed. It would be like Coke wanting to invent a new flavor of soda and hiring someone with no experience in chemistry to go into the lab because he likes sugar.
As far as some of the comments Everyone needs a good slave. So keep begging for everyone to just fold and call us GREEDY We see through it, and know it is because you've lost your will to fight. Just because your a failure doesn't mean I am obligated to just die without a fight.
I can write. I can edit. What can you do?
As Dr Thompson said "We'll gnaw on your skulls, because it still hasn't gotten weird enough for me"
You think YOU are the canary in the coal mine?
Sorry, that bird died about 40 years ago if not with Regan. No, the "many" are in a very poor bargaining position with the "few" even when the many produce the initial spark to get everything going.
Thats just the way power works when government is asleep or pandering to the same few.
I'm rooting for you, Mr. Baitz, but the canaries all died long ago -- beginning under Reagan with the air traffic controllers.
We should have stood with them and with those whose manufacturing jobs were offshored by the millions. We should have stood against NAFTA, CAFTA, the WTO, PNTR for China and media conglomeration, which has led to bloody slaughter in newsrooms across the nation and lately the shipping of journalistic jobs to India. And we should have refused to watch idiotic "reality" TV, which from the start was clearly a means of NOT paying writers, performers and others traditionally associated with entertainment.
Through my three decades of working mainly as a writer and editor, that work has grown steadily less lucrative for most of us. OF COURSE the networks are out to get your group next. You're the last car in the train wreck, not by any means the first.
An opinion of one Scotsman.
I have watched over the years as the small guy is continually beaten down by the large guy so the large guy can get even fatter. It seems to have happened in every industry in your country. When all most Americans seem to need is a few smarmy panel members and some "desperate to be famous" folks willing to do just about ANYTHING, for their tele viewing, I wouldn't count on the writers getting much. It saddens me to see the ever dumbing down of America. AND it always floats across the pond to effect the rest of us.
All of the talk about "Television" and "Theatrical Release Films" and compensation for their re-use in the internet is missing the point. What about content created explicitly for the internet? Was that material covered by the recent contract? There are WGA members participating in the growing number of sites producing episodic content for the web. If their pre-strike work was not covered by the contract are they allowed to continue working on webisodes?
If the WGA takes an elitist stance by saying, "We only work in *film* and *television* --not the... internet (gasp)... that 'YouTube' place everybody keeps talking about." then they will be making a mistake much larger than the DVD debacle. Content continues its move to the internet. Negotiators had better be looking at more than residuals for re-use online; they need to be organizing a whole new group of writers as well as laying claim to internet only content created by the big boys.
Beautiful post, I might actually watch your show, if it is as well written as your posts.
I don't see as dark of a prediciment as you do with this strike. I actually think that the Producers are making what could be a fatal mistake.
They have no fear of a strike because they think they can survive much longer than the average writer. Most writers have very little savings, and need a steady paycheck to pay the bills. These Producers work for huge coporations that can literally lose 100 of millions of dollars and not miss a beat. They know they can outlast the writers. They did it before, many times.
But the very issue they are fighting over, new media, changes everything. Before, Producers could take a big hit, lose viewers, because they knew they would always come back. There was no where else to go.
But now there is. The internet and mobile distribution is exploding on a daily basis. More and more people are watching shows on their computers and ipods these days. And when TV is in reruns for months, even more will discover how easy and enjoyable mobile and internet shows are to watch, and many will not go back to regular TV.
Everyone knows that in Hollywood writers are considered pondscum. How dare these people demand a little sliver of the pie. Who the hell do these writers think they are? All they do is think up the ideas that everyone else earns billions of dollars off of. I say screw the bast ---- Oh DAMN, there is nothing on TV tonight but reruns and stupid reality shows. That sucks!
I don't know that Mr. Batiz is a "fat cat", but I find his use of the statement like "for those of who are not rich.." a bit disingenuous. I prospect that Mr. Baitz's base earnings (before residuals) for the first season of his series were in the neighborhood of $1M (give or take a $100K).
That'd place him in, what, the top 2-3% of wage earners in the world during that period?
And, no writer who worked the full first season of Mr. Baitz's show could have earned less than around $120,000 (that'd be for the entry level gig) which would put that writer in, what, the top 5-6% of wage earners in the world last year.
With excellent pension and health benefits atop that, they might not be hedge fund managers, but (as readily as I fall for Mr. Baitz's otherwise exquisitely well-crafted sentences) I would suggest that his reference to this labor dispute as a "canary in the coal mine" for labor in America generally is a real stretch and maybe even somewhat insulting.
The best thing you can suggest the public do (the very few who care or support us at present) is to cancel their cable subscriptions. It's not enough to pledge to not watch TV over the course of the strike. It will mean more if the Guild can galvanize enough citizens to stop feeding the money-hoarding machine.
Jon,
Thank you so much for these carefully written and beautifully eloquent posts. You quickly go to the heart of this all-important matter. Creative talent is to be respected and valued if our culture is to thrive. Please keep posting. Keep fighting the good fight.
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