WGA Strike Primer: Merry Christmas from Your Friends at the AMPTP

On Friday, the multinational corporations of the AMPTP broke off negotiations with the Writers Guild. For those watching events, interested in where things stand, let's recap:

1. The AMPTP offer for Internet streaming is $252.94. Unchanged. Well, actually, that's only for hour-long TV shows. Half-hour programs would get $139.15. To be fair, that's not really the offer. If the corporations themselves decide that these reruns are "promotional," then the writers get zero. (In dollar terms that's $0.00.)

2. The AMPTP corporations offer for original content written for the Internet is zero ($0.00). Unchanged. Mathematically you could say that they quadrupled their previous offer, since zero times four is still zero.

3. The AMPTP corporations offer is to pay 1/3 of a penny for each dollar royalty downloading videos. Unchanged. There is a rumor that they also offered to add a lump of coal, but the rumor isn't true.

4. The AMPTP gave an ultimatum that unless writers dropped several issues without the corporations giving anything in return, they would not even negotiate. This is known among circus folk as "demanding that someone negotiate with themselves." It's considered a Really Bad Thing by most people. It's considered a really stupid thing by the rest.

5. And then the executives from the AMPTP called off negotiations and walked out. There is no record of whether anyone said, "And to all a good night," as they departed.

Several things must be noted out of fairness to the AMPTP -

The AMPTP position is that what the Writers Guild is trying to negotiate for is horribly unfair. That the Writers Guild is trying to take over the entire Internet, somewhat like Mordor ruling Middle Earth. That the Writers Guild wants to force reluctant animation writers and reality TV writers into accepting health care, pensions and residuals against their will. That the Writers Guild are greedy little piggies who wear fancy scarves and can actually afford gasoline for their Rolls-Royces, which are given to every member free.

Let's assume that's all true.

The AMPTP corporations' offer is still: $252.94 for Internet streaming. Zero if they call it "promotion." Zero for original content. 1/3 of a cent per dollar for Internet downloads. 4 cents for every DVD sold. Still.

You just can't dance around that sinkhole.

Most people grasp that this is a shameful offer. Most people grasp that the Internet is not a new-fangled invention.

(Note: Time magazine named Jeff Bezos its Man of the Year for founding Amazon.com in 1999. That's nine years ago. Making big money on the Internet is not a new thing.)

Still, you have to admire Major Corporate leaders trying to convince anyone that others are rich, little piggies. Last year - last year alone - Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone made $56 million. News Corp. president Peter Chernin made $34 million. News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch got $26 million. CBS CEO Leslie Moonves received $25 million. Last year. It gets worse - former Viacom CEO Tom Freston made $80 million just for being fired! It gets worser. When Michael Ovitz got fired from Disney after a measly 14 months on the job...he got $130 million.

Maybe that should be the Writers Guild strategy. They should just get fired.

Executives of the AMPTP (General Electric, Sony, Time-Warner, News Corp...) actually want to paint others as greedy. They like to throw out big numbers about "average salary."

Average salary. Last year, Sumner Redstone and I together had an average salary of just over $28 million. Cool.

The AMPTP corporations - international competitors negotiating as one entity - will now be putting out how wonderful and decent and put-upon they are, and how grubbing the sniveling writers are. And how evil WGA leaders are. Watch.

Keep in mind that these are the same people who fought James Garner in court for six years trying to insist that The Rockford Files had never made a profit in 16 years of first-run and syndication. So, you have to ponder just a wee bit about the AMPTP corporations' ability to tell the truth. And hide money.

The AMPTP corporations effort is now out of the Republican playbook (The "L" word, the "Democrat" Party). They have already begun referring to the WGA negotiators as Writers Guild "organizers." Oooo, shiver me timbers.

It's like the rule for lawyers - when you have neither the law or facts on your side, pound on the table and holler.

But then, when polls show that 63% of the public support the writers, and only 4% support the AMPTP corporations, sometimes all you can do is pound on the table and holler. The problem is that when you've walked away from the table, you have nothing to pound on.

Should anybody not in the Writers Guild care about this? Care whether the AMPTP corporations are willing to pay more than zero - or simply negotiate? No, not really all that much.

Honestly, it only matters if you're in the Screen Actors Guild or Directors Guild. Or a craft union. Or IATSE. Or Teamsters, since pension payments are tied by formula to residuals. Or if you work on a TV series or movie that's been shut down. Or if you've been laid off by the very network corporation which walked away from negotiating. Or if your business happens to service the entertainment industry. Or your business is impacted by economics in Los Angeles. Or you work in any union in America., where employers watch other industries. Or if you are part of the middle class being squeezed out of existence by wealthy corporate interests. Or care about fairness. Because you know you'll likely be next.

Other than that, no.

The multinational corporations left the negotiating table before Christmas. Watching them try to defend their greed and actions won't be very interesting. What will be interesting, though, is to see whether or not they are visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve.

Bah, humbug.

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

Comments

[petegrif]

it is luminously clear that he i not making a political point here - he is simply comparing the studio's tactic to the outrageous spin used by this republican administration - that's it.

[fromthecheapseats]

BAH HUMBUG! For this strike not to have a good ending for the writers during this season only proves this race to the bottom is in full swing.

Now that Hillary's go-to guy Lehane crossed over to the darkside, all I can say is Dems better think twice before casting their ballots in 2008

http://tootruthy.blogspot.com/2007/12/chris-lehanes-new-book-ex-lax-for-soul.html

[timbrehse]

Well said.
Though it is the "Holiday Season", this strike is more reminiscent of Groundhog Day.
Historically, the Big Media companies have consistently sought to reduce or eliminate the content creator's share with the introduction of every new format. Audio cassettes, video cassettes, Laserdisc's, CD's, DVD's... Same, same, same. While 4 cents for every DVD sold is pathetic, remember, this "New Media" has virtually no manufacturing or shipping costs. No duplication, packaging, or warehouse facilities, no freight costs. Whatever the revenue is now or becomes in the future, the profit margin could not be higher.
Question:
If one is to believe the AMPTP's negotiating stance, that they're not making any money or they're loosing money on "New Media", shouldn't the SEC be looking into what then must surely be false and misleading statements made to their shareholders? Some silly rule about corporate officers attempting to unduly influence or manipulate their stock's price through lies or deception?

[Kingpin5022]

This is a disaster movie of the Irwin Allen kind but the main nemesis is the EGO of Hollywood. In the "ego world" there are winners and losers and the collateral damage the working class in the world become the new homeless of downtown skid row.

Earlier today I got a call from my well placed friend at a studio who said the studios are planning an early Holiday because of profits they're making on the Writers Strike. So, the AMPTP will find a small excuse to end the talks until after the Holidays, That way the fourth quarter profits will show a huge increase in last year mainly due to Force Majeures clauses all over town.

This is a tactic only Dickens could conceive of ¦ "Scrooge" them at Christmas time so that AMPTP can only have toys for their kids and as they watch all working class eat from the garbage cans on the street below.

I don't totally blame one side or the other I blame the EGO of Hollywood wherever it breaths.

Peter Chernin you know who you are. You had the chance as well as your counter parts to give us all a good Christmas but now we must eat the food SOVA gives us in the soup lines in West Los Angeles.

Merry Christmas Peter Cherin. Ba humbug!!!!
Happy Hanukkah Jeffery Zucker

Chris Jackson
Writer-actor
My URL: myspace.com/chrisjackson5

[Steve Real]

It takes real talent to write a number one hit single on the charts.
Don't be fooled by the corporates.

It takes talent to be the "Beatles".
It takes practice and hard work to be the "Rolling Stones".
It takes commitment and talent to write the "Right Stuff".

The corporates are going to have to pay out millions of dollars this fourth quarter.
Because they promised
GM and IBM and other advertisers that Jay Leno
will pull in a certain share of the audience.
That'll be hard to do when it's in reruns.

This strike will continue.
Get through the fourth quarter
it's going to cost them millions in pay outs.

They might show a profit,
but so didn't Enron.

Keep up the good fight fellas.

No more "24",
No more "Prison Break"
No more Tonight Show
and no more "Conan O'Brian".

They want to pay the writers $250.
dollars on reruns on the internet.
When it's $20,000 dollars on TV.

Break the accountants
because these corporates can't write
a number one hit single, movie or comedy show.

F them

Everytime i hear the word Google
or AMPTP i reach for my sidearm.

They're money grubbing heathens.

[Spikethedog]

Amazing how Elisberg manages to portray the greedy AMPTP people as being part of some Republican plot to crush the little guy,
"The AMPTP corporations effort is now out of the Republican playbook...."

In fact, Sumner Redstone has been a frequent contributor to Democrats, whom he clearly is in league with: Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Tom Daschle, Patrick Leahy, Al Gore, Ed Markey, John Dingel, Gephardt, Levin, Rangel -- the list is long and expensive for all the Democrat powerbrokers he donated to.

He gave a little to a couple of Republicans on committees he needed to deal with, but clearly he's a Democrat in fact and in spirit, not to mention in checkbook.

The list for Moonves is shorter, but just as clear, since he never gave to Republicans at all: Gore, Leahy, Lieberman, Gephardt etcetera.

Also on Elisberg;s list of the greedy is Ovitz, another Democrat who donated heavily to all the usual suspects: Kerry, Kerrey, Kennedy, Klinton, Bradley and on and on.

Peter Chernin's another Democrat benefactor: Al Franken, Hillary, Obama and so many more.

Tom Freston's got his own Democrat list: Hillary, Mfume, Franken.....you know the others.

In fact, of all the "greedy" ones that Elisberg mentions, only Murdoch is clearly in the Republican column, and even he's given plenty to Hillary, Ted Kennedy and other powerful Democrats.

So when Elisberg says about the AMPTP, "Still, you have to admire Major Corporate leaders trying to convince anyone that others are rich, little piggies," we all ought to be clear that almost all his named culprits are members of the gang of Hollywood's limousine liberals, not Republicans whom he would like to paint as the villains here.

I joined the WGA in 1977 and have no patience with the AMPTP, but I resent Elisberg's attempts to stab Republicans in the back when we all know what party rules Hollywood.