According to Variety, the WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike has now cost writers over $160 million in lost fees and benefits (based on 2006 WGA statistics)… when according to the WGA they were hoping to get a plan worth $151 million over 3 years. In other words, they’ve now lost more than they were hoping to gain. So in theory, even if the AMPTP suddenly caved in tomorrow and gave the WGA what they wanted in terms of residuals and Digital Media… they’d still end up worse off than they were before striking. Go team!
Meanwhile, the Producers association has put up a running meter on their website showing how much money the writers have lost (up to the second) and how much money the strike has caused non-writing crew staff in the Los Angeles area… as of this writing the number is at about $275 million.
These numbers are staggering. However, let me address the two numbers being given above. First of all, it is a TRAGEDY that non-writers are ending up as the big losers in this pissing match between the WGA and AMPTP. It’s good that the AMPTP is putting that number up on their website… except for one thing… the AMPTP is portraying this as if the money the non-writers are losing is because of the WGA strike. Thus, those poor non-writers are losing all that money because of the WGA!!! However, the reality is that those people are losing their jobs and their money because the WGA AND the AMPTP have failed to act like intelligent human beings and reach an agreement. Those non-writers being out all that money is every bit the fault of the AMPTP as it is the WGA.
With regards to how much money the Writers themselves have lost… it’s a shame, and just goes to show that the current leadership in the WGA doesn’t know what the hell they’re doing. HOWEVER… what exactly does the AMPTP hope to accomplish by flashing that number around? Win public approval??? I said it before when the WGA was trying to win public approval, so I’ll say it again here: PUBLIC APPROVAL DOESN’T MEAN SQUAT! Maybe if both of these sides put as much energy and time into trying to reach a deal as they do making cute little videos and press releases, this strike would be over by now.
All I know is that if I was a member of the WGA, seeing how much money I’ve lost because of the strike isn’t going to make me cave in at this point… it’s just going to make me mad at everyone. Mad at the AMPTP… and mad at my own incompetent Union leadership.
So what does this mean for the WGA members now? As their Union leaders continue to apparently not care how much money their members are losing and just seem focused on expanding their own industry political power and influence (by trying to get control of reality tv, news, animation… and the ability to “sympathy strike”) it becomes more and more murky. What is the answer?
The Union leaders are more concerned with Power than their members. The producers seem more interested now in trying to punish the WGA instead of reaching a fair deal. No one is budging and everyone just seems to be getting more and more pissed off. Happy New year everyone.
Vonda, your “rebuttal” strikes me as exactly as “propagandist” as anything John has said, only in the other direction.
As I said in my comment above, I think both sides of this argument are acting shamefully. Your article and John’s have changed nothing about that opinion. Though I admit that hearing two sides of an issue is often helpful, since the truth is always somewhere in the middle.
the longer the strike goes, the more this site becomes a propagandist apologist mouthpiece for the studios.
http://www.mediapundit.net/2007/12/john-campea-still-doesnt-get-it.html
visit for truth.
Meiran,
That’s just it. Neither side is blameless and right now, neither side is willing to negotiate. They’re waiting to see just who has the ultimate upper hand. Right now it’s a war of attrition. The “innocents” should pick a side and help end the strike sooner. Of course, I’m biased as to which side I’d like them to pick, but like Mr. Miyagi said, “Middle of Road, get squished like grape.”
If the WGA and the producers were actually about working this out and making a deal, then the deal would have been made already.
The team in charge of the WGA lead a small group of writers on a strike last year, and those men and women ended up without jobs, abandoned by everybody. Exactly why does everybody assume their ideas are so much more noble this time around?
No matter what their motivation was, both sides here have hurt people who have done nothing to them. To that, I say that I don’t care what their aim was. I don’t care how perfect they think they are. I can’t support somebody who sends a craft services worker home without a paycheck for weeks, with no money to feed their family, because they can’t negotiate. I say that to the writers AND the producers.
Both sides should know better, and shame on the producers for trying to make it seem less like it’s their fault too. But shame on the writers for acting like they’re blameless.
John, what is the AMPTP giving you for this article?
I’ll give you the Reality shows (as I said, they have editors, not writers), but animation should definitely fall under writers. Now, as for sympathy strikes, seeing as how the WGA is the guild that consistently gets shafted by the AMPTP (when was the last SAG or DAG strike?) then they ability to consolidate power with other guilds make them that much more of a bargaining opponent. For everyone out there complaining about the quality of film and television keep in mind that the writer is the least respected talent on a production. Hell, you can sell a script and end up with only Story By credits once a Producer, Director, and Actor has made so many freaking changes to your script. Now, you don’t see writers getting this kind of treatment when it comes to novels.
Stop thinking short term, think long term. More power for the WGA is a good thing.
I see a lot short-sighted, stupid comments on this post. The post itself misses the point of the strike. People always lose money when they go on strike. The point is not the money lost in the here and now, it’s the money that will be made in the future. Besides that, how do you negotiate with studios when they won’t be reasonable? If they find it difficult to get up off a very small percentage of earnings that will be made from internet downloads and purchases and other forms of new media entertainment, perhaps it’s because they’ve forgotten about whom their product originates from (writers).
I have to agree with Stewart and Oliver who seem to get it. It has nothing to do with “whiny bitches” and simply “wanting more money”. It has EVERYTHING to do with making sure that writers (who help make up the backbone of this industry) get paid in the future for the work they do when new media becomes the way we all consume entertainment.
I guess it’s too much to ask when the people who create the stories for the movies and TV shows we all get to sit on our collective asses and enjoy want to get their fair share of the financial pie. Sheesh!
Hey Stewart,
To use your own words: “Don’t you understand anything”? For the Union Leaders this isn’t about residuals. That’s obvious now. It’s about the Union leaders trying to gain as much industry political power and influence as possible by gaining control over every writer in the industry making it MANDITORY that all writers join the WGA if they want to work in Hollywood at all, and trying to gain control over Reality TV, Animation and Sympathy strikes.
They say it’s about the residuals… they tell their union members it’s about residuals… but it’s really about power. That’s why the AMPTP walked away from the table.
Do you understand anything? This strike isn’t about the next three years. It’s about whether writers will ever get residuals again. Everything is migrating to new media, and if the writers don’t ensure that they continue to get residuals, it’s over. They’re done. They might as well work in fast food for all they’ll be paid, because the stuff they get residuals for now is all going away. Very soon.
Caving to the AMPTP = DEATH
Period.
I got to thinking the other day.
The writer’s strike is likely going to cause several popular TV series to end up with shorter seasons.
When DVD releases are put out, shorter seasons tend ot cost less than longer ones.
This suggests that in a year or so if/when things are fixed, there will STILL be residual profit losses on both sides.
Wow you guys don’t get it. The strike is not about making money now but ensuring future writers aren’t stuck with a shifty deal like the VHS/DVD one. The want to make sure a deal is done before new media takes off (which will be at least three years away) not try and get some extra pocket moneyao they can buy that shiny new bike before summer.
John, I totally agree with everything you have to say about this stupid strike. They’ve crossing the line and becoming just as greedy and now they’re going to pay for it. That’s what I call Self-Pwnage.
It’s like every year teachers go on strike…….right before schools starts.
And they say that they are “Doing it for the children.”
Yeah, right.
I miss Bauer. Lost with 8 eps is not a season. Just as
well not release it like 24 is doing.
Shane
Well luckily for me, because of how horrible TV is written today, I watch very little TV. Because I am so tired of re-runs, before the strike, and SO MANY COMMERCIALS, if I like a show, I wait for the DVD.
lol….i agree with kristina a bit….yea they are gettin the shaft in a couple of ways but really…..they’ve been denying a ton of innocent people jobs…..i understand they are not happy, but it seems like they can care less about the under the line people…..tons of grips, camera men, and other important elements of production are out of work now….its a shame all around and i miss my TV…..well at least the Wire is comin back
@Mr Smile
I never said they WEREN’T valuable. I said that they are behaving like a group of whiny bitches, and until they can sit their tails in a room and hammer out a deal, they will continue to lose money and deny me my 24. Anyone who stands between me and Jack Bauer is dead in my eyes.
This article seems a bit AMPTP slanted in my opinion, seeing how it is more focused on what the AMPTP thinks the issues are and not what the WGA thinks the issues are. I agree the grab for power over reality shows is idiotic (they’re editors, not writers), but not in animation. Writing an animated script is way more detailed than writing a live action script. All those camera angles and movements you’re not supposed to include in a film script have to be in an animation script as well as detail about every thing seen on the screen. The news? Depends on how much writing broadcast news relies on. Seeing as how much of it has gone the way of entertainment as opposed to journalism I can see why the WGA wants newswriters under their umbrella. Finally, it’s still about internet revenue and residuals. And these guys are fighting for more than just these numbers represent. I hope to be a member of the WGA some day and definitely don’t want to be making $0.04 per DVD sale, or $0 on anything of mine that goes online.
Well, the shit has hit the fan, and we are all becoming losers now.
What would Bruce Campbell do?!
I do not agree. We can see now how much writers are valuable. You (producers) can’t treat them like shit. There’s a bunch of money in that industry. Actors, filmmakers and producers shouldn’t keep all of it for themselves. Without writers there’s no story. Without Cruise or Allen there will still be great movies.
Yeah. When I first heard about Letterman’s working it out, I thought, maybe he has some answers.
I always get annoyed by these disputes, because it seems to me, there is enough money to go around.
Hey Hero Stew,
Letterman runs his own production company, and specific demands that the AMPTP is insisting the WGA take off the table don’t apply to Letterman. less issues mean it’s easier to deal.
Why was Letterman able to pen a deal with the WGA so easily?
Very well put. Nice touch at the end as well.
Alec balldwin called for new negotiators, he is right some new blood is needed
Happy New Year!
And this strike is really getting on my nerves now. Typically, I don’t side with spoiled stars, but there was a piece on TV recently about whether stars would cross the picket line to go to the Golden Globes. One of those reporters made an excellent point: how many times are you going to be nominated for a big award like this? You never know if it’s going to come around again, and if I was nominated, I’d be pissed off if my big moment was being tarnished by a group of whiny bitches who can’t sit down in a room and hammer out a deal. It’s not fair to the people who worked so hard on their films and TV shows to face repurcussions for going to an event that honors their hard work, and I hope they all cross the picket line just to stick it to these writers. This whole situation just sucks.
And I miss 24. A LOT.
Wow, John. I have really enjoyed your coverage of the strike and your assessments have been right on the money. This strike was pointless before it began and has done nothing but harm to all parties involved as well as the rest of the industry. Time to end this thing and move on. Unfortunately, too much has been invested (and lost)for either party to cry “uncle” at this point. This is gonna get uglier before it gets better.