strike

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

Plus, it's mainly to demonstrate that they deserve the respect.  Not that they'll keep writing until a deal eventually comes up, but they have the power to deny the gigantic industry the stepping stone for projects.

I think the resurgence in game shows and reality TV is giving us all the wake up call as to how important writers are.

However, it does turn out to be sort of selfish because a lot of up and coming writers had their careers stymied and had to find employment elsewhere, and until the resolution still have to find a way to thrive until the strike is lifted, which is unfair.  Maybe the fight will justify itself in the end and roll in more benefits from the money they'll make from internet revenue.

[Chest Rockwell]

it has nothing to do with not appreciating their jobs.

ok, but i didn't mean to imply that was the reason. all i meant was i find it hard to sympathize with them. we're not talking about blue collar workers living paycheck to paycheck. we're talking about rich people doing a dream job and wanting more money. deserved or not, it still seems silly in the grand scheme of things.

and it was my understanding that those internet dollars they're fighting for don't really even exist yet.

You're sounding a lot like this guy.

[©brad]

it has nothing to do with not appreciating their jobs.

ok, but i didn't mean to imply that was the reason. all i meant was i find it hard to sympathize with them. we're not talking about blue collar workers living paycheck to paycheck. we're talking about rich people doing a dream job and wanting more money. deserved or not, it still seems silly in the grand scheme of things.

and it was my understanding that those internet dollars they're fighting for don't really even exist yet.

You're sounding a lot like this guy.

©MBmiscalculation.

[Stefen]

Please. Just do something!!!

I can't take anymore American Gladiators or Moment Of Truth!!!

[Sleepless]

Don't know if anyone else reads 'Script', but there's a very interesting article in the Jan/Feb issue by Aaron Mendelshon, a self-described "blue-collar writer" who sits on the board of the WGA and who voted for the strike despite it wound up disrupting many of his potential deals. It's really insightful, and if anyone can track down a copy, I urge you to read it. I'm not going to bother to transcribe the whole thing, but there is this section which I thought might shed some light on the situation and add to the debate here.

"We all know computers and TV are going to merge. But, as episodes of Lost and the umpteenth broadcast of Die Hard yippee-ki-yays itself onto the internet and away from traditional rerun and syndication patterns, the cushy 1.2% and 2% residual formulas writers are used to will shrink to a paltry 0.3% for downloads and a whopping 0% for streaming content. No matter how they try to spin it, that amounts to a dramatic reduction in a writer's pay.

"Yeah, that's right, residuals are a part of a writer's pay - 20% to 50% of it, to be exact. With nearly half the Guild's membership out of work in any given year, residuals are what enable us to soldier on. Marc Cherry lived on residuals for eight years before he came up with a little money-printing machine called Desperate Housewives. Paul Tamasy and I wrote a micro-budgeted independent movie called Air Bud which, between it and its many sequels, has gone on to make tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars for Disney. The residuals which spun of it (fours cents for every $20 DVD sold - crumbs really) have covered many a mortgage payment and put food on the table when I was between gigs. If the companies were paying then what they want to pay going forward, I'd be long out of business and the world would be short one Wisteria Lane."

[squints]

is it over?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/23057002

[Sleepless]

WGA.org says no.

[cinemanarchist]

Please. Just do something!!!

I can't take anymore American Gladiators or Moment Of Truth!!!

I say let's not do anything too hasty before we all get to behold NBC's "My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad."

[Sleepless]

The latest from WGA.org: "We have a tentative deal." That's all I can read, I'm afraid, you have to be a guild member in order to read the full article. So it seems there's no official news right now, they're still flying under the media blackout.

[MacGuffin]

Hollywood writers consider studio offer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Striking Hollywood writers on Saturday gave resounding support to a tentative agreement with studios that could end a strike that has crippled the entertainment industry. However, it appeared the approval process might briefly delay their return to work.

About 3,500 writers packed the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to hear from union leaders about the proposed deal that was finalized just hours before meetings were held on both coasts by the Writers Guild of America.

A person familiar with the guild's plan, who requested anonymity because of a media blackout, said the WGA board would meet Sunday and decide on whether to authorize a quick, two-day vote of its members to determine if a strike order should be lifted.

Giving writers a 48-hour window to vote on lifting the strike order would help alleviate concerns that the agreement was being pushed too rapidly by the guild's board.

If guild members support lifting the strike order, they could return to work as early as Wednesday.

"The feeling in the room was really positive," said screenwriter Mike Galvin, adding that no one at the Los Angeles gathering said the deal "was crummy."

Compensation for projects delivered via digital media was the central issue in the 3-month-old walkout, which idled thousands of workers, disrupted the TV season and moviemaking and took the shine off Hollywood's awards season.

"I believe it is a good deal. I am going to be recommending this deal to our membership," Michael Winship, president of the Writers Guild of America, East, told reporters before the New York meeting at a Times Square hotel.

Winship said afterward that he was encouraged by the membership's response.

"We had a very lively discussion. I'm happy with what happened. ... At the moment, I feel strongly it (the proposed deal) has a strong chance of going through," he said.

Writers leaving the two-hour-plus New York meeting characterized the reaction as generally positive and said there was cautious optimism that the end of the strike — the guild's first in 20 years — could be near.

Carmen Culver, a film and TV writer, lauded the guild "for hanging tough."

"It's a great day for the labor movement. We have suffered a lot of privation in order to achieve what we've achieved," Culver said.

Michael Moore, the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker ("Bowling for Columbine") and a nominee this year for his health-care film "Sicko," attended the New York meeting.

"It's a historic moment for labor in this country," Moore told The Associated Press.

Winship cautioned that it's not a "done deal" until the contract is ratified by members who need to be polled by mail in a process that usually takes two weeks.

An outline of the three-year deal was reached in recent talks between media executives and the guild, with lawyers then drafting the contract language that was concluded Friday.

According to the guild's summary, the deal provides union jurisdiction over projects created for the Internet based on certain guidelines, sets compensation for streamed, ad-supported programs and increases residuals for downloaded movies and TV programs.

The writers deal is similar to one reached last month by the Directors Guild of America, including a provision that compensation for ad-supported streaming doesn't kick in until after a window of between 17 to 24 days deemed "promotional" by the studios.

Writers would get a maximum $1,200 flat fee for streamed programs in the deal's first two years and then get a percentage of a distributor's gross in year three — the last point an improvement on the directors deal, which remains at the flat payment rate.

"Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success," guild leaders Winship and Patric Verrone, head of the Writers Guild of America, West, said in an e-mailed message to members.

Together, the guilds represent 12,000 writers, with about 10,000 of those involved in the strike that began Nov. 5 and has cost the Los Angeles area economy alone an estimated $1 billion or more. Studios are represented by Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

One observer said the guild gained ground in the deal but not as much as it wanted.

"It's a mixed deal but far better than the writers would have been able to get three months ago. The strike was a qualified success," said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment attorney with the TroyGould firm and a former associate counsel for the writers guild.

The walkout "paved the way for the directors to get a better deal than they would otherwise have gotten. That in turn became the foundation for further improvements the writers achieved," Handel said.

[Fernando]

Just heard on the news that the strike is officially over, I can't find anything on the net yet, they only said the vote was in favor of ending the strike.

[Sleepless]

Link to the tentative agreement: http://www.wga.org/contract_07/wga_tent_summary.pdf

[Stefen]

So, realistically, how soon can we expect to get new episodes of TV shows now? Specifically 30 Rock and The Office?

[Sleepless]

30 Rock is due back April 10 with 5 new eps. Office is due April 10 too, with either 5 or 6 new eps. Heroes looks like it's waiting till fall.