The WGA strike goes on. The positive news is that it appear both sides are starting to make some concessions… but there’s still no deal. How far apart are they? A measly $20 million according to the Associated Press.
The Producers Association made an offer to the writers that would have seen $130 million extra dollars being paid to the writers over the next 3 years. The WGA put together an offer that they say would have them getting about $151 million more over the same time period. So in just pure dollar values, they’re only about 13% apart. For Pete’s sake just split the frigging difference and call it a day people!
One of the main sticking points is how money gets paid out for the new media streams (internet). The WGA appears to want a solid system in place, but David W. Rips, director of Deloitte Consulting’s media and entertainment practice says:
At this point, there isn’t enough information about digital distribution’s value to “have a legitimate negotiation” on compensation, he said. Rips suggested the studios’ offer was an attempt to shift the decision a few years to a better-informed future.
I think Rips is correct. FACT: The internet is making money for the Producers right now and therefore (if you’re going to accept a pitifully outdated and flawed residual system) the WGA should get some of that. BUT, the Producers are sort of correct in saying the medium is too new and unstable (it’s changing every week) to lock down a bona-fide accounting and residual system for it. The Producers seem to want to pay a flat amount and then re-visit the issue again in 3 years when the internet distribution picture becomes a lot more clear. I can’t say I disagree with them.
Sorry, but if the Associated Press has this right… then on this one isolated issue I have to side with the Producers. The internet distribution model is a rapidly changing one at this point and to set a solid residual system in place right now makes no sense. Give it a few years, and in the meantime, figure out another TEMPORARY way to ensure the writer’s also get compensation in the interim.
Maybe $130 million is too low, maybe $150 million is too high… but for heaven’s sake you two are close enough that a deal must be makable. GET IT DONE!
If this strike is going to put all of the greedy s.o.b.s in Hollywood out of business–I say let it continue FOREVER!
There are enough movies and tv shows from the past that all of us haven’t seen. We can just watch them. There are enough of them that no one would ever be able to see them all in one lifetime.
Go watch “Glenngarry Glen Ross”. Go watch “Twin Peaks” or some episodes of SNL from the ’70s. There have been like 30 high-quality tv drama series in the past 10 years, and there’s no way you’ve seen them all yet; so go rent “24” or “The Shield” or something like that. It’s new to you if you haven’t seen it.
We should thank the strike for halting production of new material, giving us a chance to actually catch our breath as audience members. We can now actually spend time with our loved ones, and maybe even think about READING a book for a change.
Like CD’s, DVD’s are a thing of the past. Soon the whole thing will be downloadable and cost nothing to produce.
You cannot gage reviews into a current contract. The best you can hope for is a better deal on the next picture. But what if there is no next picture? Take the writer of Galaxy Quest,, a critical and financial hit. The guy was has yet to be able to put together another project.
Harper Lee wrote one American Classic. Should she not get a percent of the audio book?
i know…that was pretty much my whole point….
thats why i raised it…
i just remembered you saying ages ago about the reviews being good and that proved the studio was right but since the reviews ultimately wound up being for the most part bad that surely it means they wer wrong if we were to go by your way of thinking.
i totally believe is entirely unprovable exactly what the reviews meant…it could have gone either way but i wasn’t the one claiming it went a certain way to validate my opinion. thats why i raised it…..i was having you on.
but for me it doesn’t matter ….i will always side with the artist over the suits.
Hey Alfie:
You said:
john its impossible to say that if the studio hadn’t have stepped in it would have gotten more bad reviews.
And the same would be true in reverse as well. You can’t say the reviews would have been better or that it would have made more money if they did it the other way.
john its impossible to say that if the studio hadn’t have stepped in it would have gotten more bad reviews.
impossible…it in no way makes you correct but i do love how you spin anything argument so that it reflects your view.
once you believe something you stick to it…..
This is so damn irritating! :(
Hey Alfie,
What’s the point of that video? All it shows is that people believe there is money and a future in digital distribution. The Producers aren’t saying there isn’t.
The Producers are just correctly pointing out that how that digital distribution works, in what form it takes, and ever changing channels it uses are in a state of flux right now because it’s so new. And they’re 100% correct.
That’s why they offered $130 million right now, and then re-visit the issue in just 3 short years once the medium stabilizes and people have a better understanding of how it works and what it will look like.
Are Studios greedy bastards? YES! But guess what dude, if you don’t think writers and their agents will fuck you over every chance they get, then I’d like to know what color the sky is in your world.
And I was 100% correct about Across the Universe. If the studio didn’t step in, a lot more critics would have hated it. Than movie was never the kind of film that was going to make a lot at the box office… if the studio didn’t make the changes, it would have made MUCH less.
Once again.. I am correct.
john when the producers and studio heads claim its all to new and that they don’t know how much money is to be made from digital they are lying. plain and simple.
the studio and network heads certainly weren’t unsure of how much money was to be made from digital until the
writers asked for.
you will see when you really need to watch this clip..you can see the glee in their faces and how excited they all are….the guy from disney even knows a figure of much they are making..now that the people responsible for it want a piece all of a sudden they are unsure?? BULLSHIT.
anyone who thinks the studios are telling the truth need to watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a37uqd5vTw
look at the greedy gleefull twinkle in their eyes….
what a surprise…the non creatives are lying to rip off the creatives…..how novel.
only a moron would think the future is not in digital so the writers are completely in the right to try and make sure they get a piece. they got fucked in the 80’s with the home video market..the studios were uncertain about that back then and they are not going to let it happen again.
why is that unreasonable?
the guy who makes battlestar galactica was asked to make some webisodes for the internet. the network said it was purely promotional and there was no money in it so he made them for free…the same thing with the makers of the office.then when the networks played them online they had commercials..paid commercials.
so the writers and showrunners who were asked to make these things for free because there was supposedly no money in it were lied to and ripped off.
they did them for nothing while the networks sold commercials with them.
I know we are never going to agree on this john but whenever it comes to studio vs creative i will go with the guys responsible for the characters and situations and dialogue and stories everytime.i might have a little more time for studio heads if they didn’t have history of fucking people over again and again out of points and putting up the losses of a bomb against the earnings of a hit to cook the books so they don’t have to pay people but unfortunately for the most part hollywood producers and studio heads have behaved like crooks so fuck em.
the only reason your website exists or any movie website exists is because we love this form of STORYtelling.
and thats what it is.
you bring up transformers all the time as example of a bad script which it is but without a script the film would never have been made and i am sorry i know we all talk about “just give us 2 hours of non stop action” but if they made a film with no story at all and literally just a showreel of effects it would not make money.every film needs a story.you can argue the merits of each one individually but at the end of the day no film gets made without a script. (improvs and docos aside)
so I will always side with the creatives and not the suits who are more interested in getting a shot of a coke bottle in every second scene so they can pay the mortgage on their condo.
oh that reminds me i noticed you never corrected yourself about “across the universe” either? its final RT rating was rotten and it tanked.
now when it initially got a few good reviews you mentioned that was some sort of proof that studio interference is a good thing….but now that it bombed and its final rating was rotten, well, surely if good reviews somehow justified studio interference with the majority of reviews ultimately being negative that proves they should have kept their noses out of it???? ;)
I don’t think that’s everything. I saw that number from AP, but I don’t know who that journalist is/works for. I do know that on unitedhollywood.com, they tend to have the writer’s side of things and I have yet to find one for the AMPTP. From what I was reading, they were not offered anything for streaming movies(totally f&^%ing inevitable) and they were only given $250 for a one year buyout on streaming tv episodes, whereas they get $20000 for reruns currently. Reruns were never the issue, as most people just buy the DVD and writer’s only get 4 cents per DVD. Today, WGA offered a tiered payment system. We’ll see.
I also back up the Heroes S2 comment.
I second Mr AjaxLou’s comment. We want to hear you rant about this in high quality video Gio:)
I am about to consider buying Heroes today, so if the deal is $20 Million apart, GET TO FINISHING THE DEAL SO HEROES: SEASON 3 CAN MAKE UP FOR SEASON 2 (with all due respect)! Also, the longer the strike is, the sooner it will hurt movies badly, just as it is costing jobs on TV.
No podcast this week?