"Prodese Quam Conspici"

A day and a half ago, I wrote the following:

"As this week ends and an agreement is not reached, I wouldn't look to any day in what is left of this unfortunate year for a resolution. The hard candy of bad faith negotiating and slightly amateurish pageantry from the studio side has done nothing but further strengthen the resolve of the writers."

Now that there are known-knowns, to use my favorite Orwellian phrase of the decade, it is worth making certain that the membership of the WGA knows what it is we fight for. Because the next phase of this battle is now beginning, and it is very important that we all be familiar with the chapter and verse, and all the stations of the cross at the core of this matter. We will not win without specificity. We cannot win by fighting in the dark. (Josh Green's very clean-edged and righteously simplified video explanation not withstanding.)

It is about to be winter, despite global warming's charming entreaties otherwise. And winter, this year means, rather than looking a lot like Christmas, it's looking a lot like siege season. A long one. If one is to believe Nikki Finke, and thus far there has been no reason not to, we are talking about weeks and weeks, possibly months. And it is about to get even more expensive. We must be prepared to endure the lengthy process by which the AMPTP heavies slowly and inevitably splinter. And splinter they will, because, as has been noted by the clear-headed and gimlet-eyed Robert Elisberg elsewhere on HuffPost, the producers have many bifurcated agendas, and many different constituencies, not to mention differing levels of hubris, sociopathic disorder, sense of history, and comfortable shoes. (Note to moguls - expensive shoes do not by definition mean comfortable ones.)

In the meantime, added to my list of worries is the hard calculus of trying to make sure that those of us who have more resources than others do everything we can, to give support both materially and in any other way we can to our brothers and sisters. A sentiment even the more and more questionably contrarian John Ridley surely shares, and perhaps might consider as the days get longer and colder for so many. I note this on the day my own show, Brothers & Sisters has shut down, leaving the many people who work on it, the crews and merchants who rely on it, to their own devices. As we go into the second half of December, I remain entirely certain that my Guild will prevail. It will do so through solidarity, and it will do so through an educated, articulate, energized, politicized (and unerringly media savvy) membership, and through the cool, calm anger of the just.

When I lived in South Africa as a kid, I spent a little time at an all boys school that seemed the very model for the island in Lord of the Flies. It was a culture that, in addition to training the young ruling class in the modes and quixotic operations of apartheid, also worshiped at the sticky psychosexual alter of corporal punishment. (As Roy Sekoff, the Max Perkins of HuffPost could tell you, I am not a very good speller, and was caned constantly for this offense, which I continue to blithely commit, thereby putting to rest the notion of caning as deterrent). The general population of boys at Clifton School and Durban Boy's High had less civility than the average rabid dog you pass on the street. (Clifton produced some ranking cricketers and a surfing champion, which is not nothing.) I learned in the fall of 1972 through the winter of 1975 that there were many ways to fight bullies: You could shame them. You could out-tough them (no easy task for a pre-Anglified-American Jewish smart-ass pre-hipster in Durban fucking South Africa). You could seduce them. You could charm them. You could turn them into sclerotic objects of ridicule. (My favorite, and one I see working now with the studios, but working slowly.) I employed all at various times, all strategies. But this, I know; if you were strong and had cojones, stayed your ground, through either direct action or subversion, well then, by the first act of bullying, the last act was writ.

The motto, incidentally, of the Clifton School is "Prodese Quam Conspici." Latin for "To accomplish rather than to be conspicuous..."

Ever was it thus. Courage.

The Clifton School Crest

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

Comments

[maxlaw65]

Integrity and honesty. Reputation and legacy. These are all we, as humans, can truly measure each other against. Does it matter that words on a page, or out of the mouths of actors, derive from the sweat and creativity of one or another man or woman? If not, then this strike is senseless (as are film or play credits, book authorship, or newspaper and magazine bylines).

But it DOES matter. Why should the "suits" get richer, while the creative minds see their work promulgated in places and ways that only a decade or two ago failed even to exist? It is inconceivable that the writers, the CREATIVITY behind the little man behind the curtain should be penalized for their inability to soothsay the creation of media and outlets for their work.

Shanda. It's a shame the way the studios are behaving. I wonder what their mothers say to them.

I know what mine would say to me.

[gcalknet]

Every time a strike occurs, especially a protracted one, I have to wonder why union members continue to support those who deprive them of their livlihoods, meaning of course, the unions. The unions are the least democratic of all organizations around. If Mr. Baitz, or any WGA member wanted to go back to work, to support his family, to buy a new car, or just because he disagrees with the union majority position, he would be kicked out his union, and thus unable to work again. If he chooses not to picket, or publicly speaks against the position, then again there are consequences. No group should have the support of government to punish their members this way. Unions should exist for expressing opinions and annual picnics, but not have the force of government behind them. Too many persons and businesses are suffering as a result of this ill conceived strike; those who desire should be allowed to return to work with no consequences. Let's wake up and do away with unions; if you're good enough, you don't need them.

[NuAgeDok]

Studios/producers be damned!

Writers - you have only the chains that bind your creativity to lose.

Write your stories and publish them or produce them and stream them and we will avidly greet your works with the appropriate recompense.

The studios are no better than used car salesmen or real estate agents - they add no value to our culture. They are simply no-talent vultures who fancy themselves to be arbiters of viewing tastes and suck huge amounts of profits away for their own vainglory.

I am reading book after book now instead of channeling reality smut into my tired brain and I support your stance wholeheartedly. Carry On!

[Milkywayan]

Why do writers strike only when the issue is money? They never strike for more freedom of expression in the media, they never fight for elevating the quality of films, and they never strike to habitate the film world with denizens of mixed blue states and not red states. And so on.

If you want a larger piece of the pie, why don"t you millionaire writers conglomerate and build your own content-producing-and-broadcasting entities? You can then flood your own network and webcasts with wall-to-wall quality, significance, empowerment . . .

If you don"t multi-dimensionalize your efforts, you will lose your power to new softwares that weave marvelous stories in ten minutes. Just input, the genre, the tone, the degree of sex, violence, thrills, chase scenes, etc, and voila the writer departs to the ash-heap of history. What a pity. Soon after, devices will be used to actually read the brains of people. The nature of their desires will be synchronized to the storyteller (see Brutus) which will then construct a story that satisfies perfectly.

[nemo1043]

Quixotic operations of apartheid?

Don't you mean quotidian?

[jeskiley]

Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie.

Fiat voluntas tua. Amen

[pljlehsp]

I keep hearing how the AMPTP wants to "divide and conquer" us.

But for that to work, they need to give us something to be divided about.

Nobody I know is happy to be on strike. But I have not talked to a single person who thinks we should take what the AMPTP has offered. Because what they have offered us is, quite simply, our own destruction.

Yesterday, before storming off (as they had clearly been planning to do), the AMPTP demanded that we surrender on a number of huge issues. But what did they offer us in exchange for these gigantic concessions? Nothing.

We are scared. We are angry. We are worried. We are tired.

But we are not idiots.

I'll be back on the lines bright and early Monday morning. See you all there.

[guru75]

Nice post, Robbie. Difficult times make us recall what made us strong in our youth. Pity the man with an easy childhood. Yours sounds fascinating. The WGA will prevail because to lose on the question of DVDs and internet residuals will mean the end of the Guild. The new technologies have created a new world - and without a share in it the writer will face diminshing income over time and a wretched retirement. If writers go back to work without obtaining their rightful rewards for their talents the situation with producers will only become more complicated and worsen; these producers even lack the paternalism of the old style Hollywood producers, and those Louis B's and David S's were no friend to the writers who labored in their vineyards. Nothing last forever, and that includes the resolve of the producers to make reasonable concessions - they too want to pursue their careers - albiet at the expense of everyone else.

[provgrays]

You've topped yourself again for insight and pure narrative power. It's interesting that a man named Counter walked out of the negotiations and extended the misery for your membership.

[middleoftheroad]

I agree with you that one needs to fight a bully, but shouldn't you also fight the fights you can win? It seems that the WGA wanting to unionize reality and animation and wanting "no strike" provisions cut will keep the AMPTP from the table. I like your threads so Ill ask you- What do YOU think you CAN get. Not what do you want in a perfect world, but what do you think will end this strike ASAP and get people back to work? On Nikki's blog is says that "a WGA board member explained. '"We're not accepting an ultimatum. We're here to bargain and to talk.'" regarding the AMPTP non starter attitude regarding the above two points... No increase in DVDs may be a non-starter for the WGA, but it's obvious that unionizing animation and reality AT THIS POINT is a non-starter for them? What would you advise the WGA other then hold on and stay united while the bills pile up?

[pundit27]

Once more, JRB hits the bullseye . . . Stay strong Guild members, and it will be the Alliance that shatters not you . . . ya think the Disneys, News Corps, Viacoms et al will quibble over talent deals when the giant digital domains start their rear-guard actions and achieve critical mass to threaten the distribution core of their businesses? does anybody remember the music industry? the world is changing faster than the moguls can change into their slippers . . .

[tommybones]

As a member of the DGA, I am going to do all I can to make sure my own union does right by the WGA members.

My wife, a member of SAG, feels the same way. We will be very vocal within our own union meetings in support of labor.

Stay strong, hopefully help is on the way...

[RedWhiteandBlueState]

Good post Jon. It's the known unknowns I tend to worry about. I do hope someone out there is listening. And without a smile (of any size) on their face.

[kellygrrrl]

I'm sure the holidays will be rough for a great many of the writers, and the other crew affected by the strike.
Times are tough for MOST Americans.
and Holiday Cheer is hard to even fake.
Our thoughts are with you guys.
fight on