November 08, 2007
it's a solidarinosc life for us
11/8/07
Dispatch from the Front Lines (by Tessa):
While Ian has been dealing with wretched dental surgery (bone graft? yuck), I have been walking very slowly up and down Pico Boulevard carrying a large red sign all week. Lucy came with me two days and proved an irresistible photo op for the press. What’s cuter than a striking toddler?
.jpg)
that’s Larry David behind us!
Ian made us super cool t-shirts. If only he applied himself, he could be a real t-shirt talent one day!
Physically, picketing is harder than it looks. My hips are totally locked up. I keep threatening to start Protest Yoga on the sidewalk. I have to believe that 30 people doing sun salutations in front of Rupert Murdoch’s empire would cause some kind of psychic tremor.
Emotionally, it’s a mixed bag. When you’re there it’s kind of cool. You run into people you haven’t seen in ages. You make new friends. You wave like crazy at the nice people honking in support. You’re part of something.
But everyday after I leave, I wither. It’s such a David and Goliath fight. These companies, these mega-machines of entertainment, they just refuse to share the wealth. They’re big and mean and ugly. I am proud to be standing up against them but I hear their cackles of indifference through the ether and it makes me sad.
A number of commenters have asked questions about the strike. Here’s Ian and Tessa’s STRIKE FAQ (feel free to ask more):
How long do we expect this to last?
A long time. Everyone has their prognosis. Here’s mine: Late January/February.
While lots of productions have shut down already – The Office, Desperate Housewives, Two and a Half Men – the networks still have enough in the can to last into December. And then they can fill the airwaves with reruns, reality, sports and holiday hoo-hah for a while.
But because TV works on such a tight schedule, the networks will start to panic in earnest over the holidays. Usually, they would be reading the 100 scripts that were turned in (by, um, you guessed it, WRITERS) and they would decide which 15 to shoot. Sure, they have some completed scripts on hand but they can’t give any notes, and they can’t make any changes. So, I’m betting they're not going to be willing to spend 3 million dollars on a script that hasn’t been polished.
And then they’ll start thinking about the “up-fronts” in May - that’s when they bring their dog and pony shows to the advertisers in New York - and realize that they have neither dog nor pony.
They’ll start thinking about their export market. “24” is big money in France. “Desperate Housewives” is huge in China. And you can’t export reality shows.
(And while we’re on the subject of reality, I read a fantastic analysis some time ago claiming that reality programming had hit its saturation point. People who watch reality have plenty to watch. People who prefer scripted are not going away. The networks will only dilute their own reality market by programming more reality.)
This is all to say, the producers WILL feel the impact of the strike, but not for a while.
In the meantime, the people who will suffer the most are the crews. This is not their fight. They don’t get residuals. They are astonishingly hard working people who are being laid off. And that sucks. I really wish that were different.
Aren’t the networks dinosaurs anyway?
And the answer is… I don’t know.
We’re in an uber-capitalist juggernaut now in America in 2007. These guys are worth gajillions of dollars.
For some perspective:
Peter Chernin, President/COO News Corporation, parent company of FOX:
Salary, Fiscal Year 2007: $ 8,100,000
Other Compensation '07: $25,885, 578
TOTAL Salary, 2007: $33,985,578*
*Not including holdings of 10,137,500 stock options.
They have a huge stranglehold on a vast sector of the economy. I am totally happy to entertain that they are dinosaurs but they are not dying any time soon.
And right now, they’re the only game in town. My strike captain (the astonishingly talented Pippen Parker) sent us our strike team list. I had two reactions. One, I was deeply moved to be in such venerable company. And two, wow it’s hard for playwrights to make a living as playwrights, huh…
If you want to write dialogue and support your family, you’re working for one of these big guys. We would love more options and more avenues (and xuxE, under strike rules we can definitely work for the web channel you described and, if our contract demands are met, we can still work for your channel as long you meet the Guild minimums). But until then, we’ve got to negotiate with Fossils.
Isn’t the business model about to change so much that all these negotiations will look dated before they’re over?
Much has been made of the internet being a competitor to television: you know, "as internet content grows, television will become irrelevant." But when I hear this I get confused. Is television the box… or the show… or the commercials… that drive the industry? I guess I feel like the delivery mechanism will change, but we'll always have all those things - a screen with original programming and, god love us, advertising. I’ve begun to feel like the distinction between television and internet (2.0 or otherwise) is false.
Also, am I the only one who knows 18 year-olds? They watch TV while surfing the net. Hell, I watch TV while surfing the net. These are not mutually exclusive mediums.
Film was supposed to kill Theater. Television was supposed to kill Film. Now the internet is supposed to kill Television? Not buying it.
How does this strike affect you?
Hmmmm…. We have a script that we’re really proud of that is sitting in deep freeze at Big Guy Studio in valley. We have producers that we respect that we can’t really talk to. We have projects that we should finish but we feel kind of hopeless. After stumbling around for a couple of years, we have a great new agent and a fantastic manager and cool lawyer, all sitting on their thumbs.
That being said, we are a lot better off than a lot of folks. We’ve been hedging our financial bets for a while, so we can weather it. Ian has always kept his journalism contacts, and is working in that arena again. I'm doing some real estate. And overall, we believe in our work. So, all we can do is put in our time at the picket line and hope for the best.
What can I do to help?
Donate to MercyCorps. They do incredible work in Africa, the Middle East and all over the world fighting famine, helping agriculture, even saving victims of Hurricane Katrina. They're the best. In other words, we get it… this WGA fight is very important to all of our livelihoods, but we haven't lost perspective.
But if you've become remotely engaged in what we're doing, here are some ideas…
Educate other people. Tell them that the writers just want eight cents for every time you watch their shows in any medium and the companies don’t want to give it to them. This video sums up everything perfectly.
Sign this petition.
Write letters to your editors.
Read this other stuff to keep informed…
The WGA East Strike Blog
The WGA West Strike Blog
The BEST info/gossip site
If you live nearby (LA or New York), come join us! We welcome everyone. Come for five minutes or a couple of hours. Bring cookies. Honk when you drive by. Let me know when you can make it and we’ll meet you!
To echo the sentiment that the crews will be hit hard, here is an article talking about that a bit. Since most of the media seems to be focusing more on who is bringing doughnuts to which picket line, rather than the hundreds of people who are walking out the door with pink slips in their hands every day this goes on. This includes everyone from a decently paid cameraman to the guy washing catering dishes for minimum wage. None of these people have a voice in this dispute at all, but are the first casualties and will be suffering far more than the studios or the writers.
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071030/BIZ/710300303
Because of the scores of businesses that rely on the entertainment industry, a long walkout would inflict pain beyond Hollywood's studio gates.
"It would affect everyone: the people who mow your lawn and those who serve you at restaurants," said former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who helped avert a Hollywood labor dispute when he was in office in 2001. "It's not just the wealthy that are going to get hurt."
The entertainment industry contributes nearly 7 percent — an estimated $30 billion annually — to the county's $442 billion economy, supporting not only studio jobs but also a panoply of companies that directly and indirectly service Hollywood, from hotels and restaurants to florists and dog groomers.
Although tourism and international trade employ more people, entertainment remains the region's signature industry, accounting for about 250,000 jobs and as many more that are indirectly tied to the business. That is up from about 69,000 in 1985, although certain jobs that are counted now were not included then.
If a strike were to occur, one of the hardest-hit sectors would be the tens of thousands of technical workers who toil behind the scenes on the sets of movies and TV shows. Electricians, camera operators and other blue-collar crews work under separate contracts and don't have a say in whether writers walk.
Fight the power, y'all!
This post was frightfully (and I mean that in the full sense of the word, due to the bummer nature of this David v. Goliath sitch) informative. But unfortunately after watching (too much) tube in Bangkok and London during the past six-plus years, I can attest that somehow the Man does indeed manage to export certain cretinous (can an inanimate object be cretinous?) reality shows.
Over here in the Land o' Smiles we get treated to the likes of Survivor: Whatever Brahma-Forsaken Place They've Chosen Next and various iterations of The Bachelor. And Londoners must feel they truly understand Yanks cuz they get to see some wretched show called Bounty Hunter or similar, and you can imagine how that showcases chocie characteristics of the lovely Home of the Brave. Shudder.
I'm not saying all is lost -- far from it. But the juggernaut of reality shows (and competition shows like the brainless Deal or No Deal and the mildly entertaining America's Got Talent, shows that require no scripts) may prove more resilient in overseas markets than previously counted on.
But never mind my fuss-potting. At the end of the day, right (or 'write') shall overcome might (corporate)! Intelligent advertisers and audiences will settle for no less.
I meant 'choice' characteristics. Heh. The copy editor in me rears her ugly head despite my being knee-deep in nappies these days...
Here's another resource we've been following at home:
http://twitter.com/writersstrike
The writer's strike on twitter. Discovered by my girlfriend on her regular copy editing mailing list.
Both of us are part of the publishing world and the strike is being thoroughly discussed (and supported) in our world. It may seem like no one is paying attention, but I think there's more support out there than you think.
Keep up the good fight.
Thanks for the info, as I'm one out of the uninformed masses. Very helpful.
Oh, and Lucy is WAY cuter than Larry David.
Keep fighting the good fight, guys. Even from a distance, those of us who have always hated reality tv and loved the good writing are behind you!
Nice to hear from Tessa, and I appreciate all the background and context. The timeline for settlement sounds about right to me. "Holiday hoo-ha" -- LOL.
Keep on keepin' on, guys.
Hang in there, Union Maids!
TS Eliot once wrote something to the effect of
"Shakespeare and Dante divide the world. There is not third"If he had lived to see Larry David, I believe he would have amended that quote.
I love your comment on not losing perspective, and donating to those worthy causes.
Ian definitely is a great t-shirt designer.
I get the sense that you and Ian believe that the public isn't getting the right gist from the news reports about what the strike is about. But from the clips I've seen, this is the message they seem to give: Writers are getting very very little from the new technology that makes use of their material over and over and over, and just want a little more than the pinch they are getting. So I DO believe that your message is getting out and that the general public understands that the writers are fighting the good fight.
I agree with CL in that this is an easy issue for the general public to understand.
For Online Content: The Studios are making money off of something you wrote and they aren't paying you for it. They should. End of story.
For Home Video Sales: The Studios are making GOBS of money on something you wrote and only paying you a little. You want just a little more. Pretty simple.
I am visiting my beloved New Orleans right now. I met a guy at Cafe Negril Weds nite that works as crew on K-Ville.
They shut the whole thing down yesterday and we drank into the wee hours at mid city lanes. He is going to fall back on photography for the time being. 300 people laid off yesterday locally and a very big hit to the local economy.great t-shirts... that is a potential income source during the strike!!!
Keep the faith.
As a fairly conservative/libertarian guy, I generally don't lean towards Labor during strikes. I supported President Reagan 100% when he fired the air traffic controllers. But on this one, I have to side with the writers. It is simply un-American for talented people not to be compensated for their work. I fail to understand how the Studios expect the writers not to receive any royalties for their work being broadcast on the new media. Based upon the education I have received about the issues on this blog and elsewhere, I'm with you guys all the way. Good luck.
love that t shirt! i agree with kevin that they are a good side business during the strike. in fact my daughter was complaining about the hideous t shirt the WGA gave her at her strike location....any chance i can pay you to make one for her?
kjf - absolutely! Contact me via email...
Life without the Office?? I look forward to every Thursday night to laugh for 30 minutes at Steve Carrell and great writing! I'm wishing you well with all you efforts (a) because you deserve it and (b) because life without the Office is just not quite as humorous.
Great t-shirts and love the hat on Lucy. Nice plug for the Heels (as if they needed any more).
Good luck. I think the majority of the country is behind you (except the scabs in the money seats and they are going to be feeling it in short order).
you may not be able to hear it out there, but i'm driving all over nc honking for y'all. the people in front of me are a little paranoid, but i promise it's for you guys.
congratulations on having an opportunity to stand up for yourselves. looking forward to seeing the outcome and enjoying your updates.
keep up the great work.
xo
I know this is a very serious subject, but I can't help but wonder about your lawyers. Is sitting on their thumbs, as opposed to their hands, a west coast lawyer thing? It does have a little more flare. I should really learn to keep these thoughts to myself.
mmm idon't know I think if the content is there and the bandwidth and speed is there I'd watch tv on my computer instead. I already watch shows on it, but they're either i-tunes or net based shows of inconsistent quality. I mean, if my tv has a gigantic hard disc and it's already connected to the internet, there should be some way to get internet programming to show up on my tv...