Writer's Guild strike: "Farther apart than ever before"

[villager]

From the Deadline Hollywood blog:

For days, only sources within the moguls camp, but not the writers guild, have discussed what really went on at the Sofitel Hotel Sunday. And the Hollywood studios and networks were especially savvy in getting their spin out first and foremost about how the writers were to blame for the bargaining talks breakdown. And they’re still spinning. (Just read the producers-slanted coverage by Variety and The Hollywood Reporter and even the major newspapers which all depend on studio and network advertising while I stay smack in the middle.) But now the WGA leadership is breaking their silence.

Top guild sources tell me they were “deliberately duped” by the moguls in a backchannel deal to bring the guild back to the bargaining table Sunday. The lure was a promise by two Big Media CEOs -- Peter Chernin and Les Moonves -- that, if the writers gave up their DVD residual demands, then the producers would respond by improving the formula on the central sticking issue of Internet downloads for movies and television. My producer sources confirmed to me such a deal was indeed made. In other words, it could have been possible that a settlement might be only days or a week away, with enough progress to induce the writers side to suspend the start of the strike.

The writers say they kept up their end by dropping their DVD demands – a huge concession which later puzzled the WGA membership because it seemed to come out of nowhere and had to be explained by WGA president Patric Verrone without revealing the whole backstory. Why didn’t he? Because the WGA was abiding by the “mutual pledge of confidentiality” that applied to Sunday’s session. Today, sources there decided to spill to me because the producers’ heavy spin has gone unanswered. The WGA accuses the producers of not delivering in kind on the all-important electronic sell-through issue all day Sunday. So, according to guild sources, that’s the real reason the 12:01 AM strike wasn’t averted and DVDs were dropped and then put back on the table.

As a spitting mad WGA leader put it to me today: “All I can say is, if someone calls me and says, “You do X, and I do Y” and that someone doesn’t do it, then I’ve been lied to and I’ve been played. It’s a complete betrayal. I just don’t know what the studios’ game is.”

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http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/

[Luminous Animal]

1. The best way to support the writers

is to turn off the TV, don't view or download anything from online, and don't rent or buy any DVDs until the moguls negotiate in good faith and reach an agreement with the writers.

[tired_old_fireman]

6. Let the studios know.

Tell the studios you miss your favorite scripted shows when they stop airing. Don't watch reruns, reality, or whatever filler airs in their place. Tell the studios you won't watch their filler. That's about all I canl think of to help the writers (and everyone else out of work as a result of this.)

[valerief]

2. Hollywood is gonna off-shore the work anyway, just like every other American job. nt

[dysfunctional press]

3. doubtful.

for example- kind of hard to have people in india writing sitcoms based on american life.

[valerief]

9. Uh, no, it isn't hard to do. Besides,

It isn't like Hollywood sitcoms represent American life now anyway.

And Indians would cost too much. They'd get Filopinos to do it.

[dysfunctional press]

11. yeah...sure....

:eyes:

[Mojambo]

4. I can't believe that writers don't get DVD residuals.

No wonder they are striking.

I support them all the way.

[tired_old_fireman]

5. They do get DVD residuals

The strike is over internet downloads and streaming shows. They don't get residuals on that.

Also. the DVD residuals they do receive are really small.

[villager]

7. 4 cent DVD residuals. They had the temerity to ask for 8 cents.

n/t

[MadHound]

8. GO WGA!

Not only is it a good thing to support unions, but it would be wonderful if this lasts for a long, long while, and gets people to simply turn off their TV and engage in the real world.

[riverdeep]

10. So you're saying Hollywood management types are lying weasels?

My world, it is shattered.

This doesn't affect me personally on an immediate level, the only written shows I watch are Stewart/Colbert (others, like the Simpsons, have a stockpile of reruns), but anyone who cares about what unions bring to the table for American workers, it does matter in the long run.