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"Guild Negotiations - The Real Biz of Writing"
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"Guild Negotiations - The Real Biz of Writing" |
Posted by Larry Brody  on
May-02-04, 06:53 AM (PST)
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood's screenwriters, engaged in potentially contentious contract renegotiations with the studios and networks, will continue to talk, even though their deal has now expired, both sides said.
The Writers Guild of America's (WGA) minimum basic agreement expired just after midnight Sunday, after almost a month of talks that have yielded little progress, according to recent reports in Hollywood's trade newspapers. A two-sentence statement issued late Saturday did not give any information about the state of talks for a new three-year pact since both sides are operating under a news blackout. The studios are represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), who are joined by the ABC, CBS and NBC networks. It is not uncommon for talks to continue past the contract expiration. At the last talks, three years ago, a tentative agreement was reached three days after the expiration. Hollywood's writers last downed pens in 1988, for 22 weeks. The main issues this time include the studios' contribution to health care funds, DVD residuals and jurisdiction over areas like the booming "reality" TV genre. The DVD issue has the potential to be the most explosive, since writers want a greater share of profits from the hugely lucrative market, while the studios argue that DVDs are one of the few areas offsetting the spiraling costs of feature films. The WGA, through its West Coast and East Coast arms, has about 10,300 voting members. The AMPTP represents over 350 production companies and studios in 80 industry-wide collective bargaining agreements. ABC is a unit of Walt Disney Co. CBS is a unit of Viacom Inc. NBC is a unit of General Electric Co.
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Speaking of Negotiations,
Larry Brody, May-02-04, (1)
  RE: Speaking of Negotiations,
Newbie Reaction, May-02-04, (2)
RE: Speaking of Negotiations,
SOTE, May-02-04, (3)
Latest Negotiations,
The Superannuated Man, May-02-04, (4)
RE: Speaking of Negotiations,
Happy Jack, May-03-04, (5)
RE: Speaking of Negotiations,
SOTE, May-03-04, (7)
RE: Speaking of Negotiations,
Ken R., May-03-04, (6)
What I've learned since last time.....,
Soup, May-03-04, (8)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
Larry Brody, May-03-04, (9)
The times they are a changin-,
Soup, May-04-04, (10)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
SOTE, May-07-04, (11)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
Larry Brody, May-07-04, (12)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
SOTE, May-07-04, (13)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
Larry Brody, May-07-04, (16)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
SOTE, May-07-04, (17)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
Happy Jack, May-07-04, (14)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
Larry Brody, May-07-04, (15)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
Tim Muncher, May-07-04, (18)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
Happy Jack, May-10-04, (19)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
The Superannuated Man, May-10-04, (20)
 RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
Piers, May-10-04, (21)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
Sean Rooney, May-10-04, (22)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
Larry Brody, May-10-04, (23)
RE: What I've learned since last ti...,
Sean Rooney, May-10-04, (24)
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1. "Speaking of Negotiations" |
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Posted by Larry Brody on
May-02-04, 06:54 AM (PST)
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Three years ago, when the previous WGA deal was being re-negotiated, this Board received a number of posts from newbies asking if a strike was their big chance to get started. This year, nada.Have you guys learned something, or is it that you no longer care? Inquiring Brodes wanna know.  Brody
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2. "RE: Speaking of Negotiations" |
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Posted by Newbie Reaction on
May-02-04, 11:01 AM (PST)
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Who wants to be a scab and immediately hated by the very same people you would later be trying to get a job working with?
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3. "RE: Speaking of Negotiations" |
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Posted by SOTE on
May-02-04, 12:03 PM (PST)
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Studios learned from the experience last time, having bought up far too many properties from non-WGA writers. This time they seem to be playing it close to the vest, which is hard on us "scabs". I have a script property that we have interest in, but my agent is hearing that buyers are being cautious this time out, so we're taking a "watch and see approach" to the market at the moment.
(My script is on WriteSafe, Larry, just in case you've got some loose change in your pockets.)
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4. "Latest Negotiations" |
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Posted by The Superannuated Man on
May-02-04, 08:02 PM (PST)
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Writers and Studios Exchange Offers After Contract Expires
By SHARON WAXMANPublished: May 3, 2004
LOS ANGELES, May 2 — Hours after the contract between the Hollywood screenwriters union and movie and television studios expired, negotiators exchanged proposals for a new three-year contract on Sunday but did not reach an agreement.
People close to the talks said that the two sides would probably take two days to consider the new proposals and that the negotiators were likely to meet next as a full committee on Wednesday.
They also said the proposals covered several issues, including the main divisive point, royalties for DVD's. Representatives of the West and East Coast branches of the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers negotiated Sunday after agreeing to continue past the expiration of the old contract at midnight Saturday. Talks have been under way since April 5; the union and the studios have agreed not to speak to the news media until the talks are over. Each side had more than two dozen negotiators and experts at the Writers Guild headquarters here, where the talks were taking place. The talks are considered crucial for many Hollywood labor unions, as concessions won at this negotiation are expected to be demanded, and granted, for other entertainment industry guilds when their contracts expire. Representatives from the Screen Actors Guild, the Directors Guild of America and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists attended as observers. People close to the negotiations said significant progress was made on an important health care issue. The Writers Guild had wanted the studios to make a greater contribution to the union's health care fund, which serves 11,000 members. On the issue of DVD and video sales and rentals, the union is seeking a greater share of the booming profits in a market that has exploded with the popularity of DVD's since the last contract was negotiated. In 2003, the DVD market totaled $22.2 billion, far more than people spent to see movies in theaters. Under the current formula, writers receive royalties of 1.5 percent of 20 percent of the wholesale revenue from DVD's and videos. In a recent mailing to members, the union enclosed a DVD-sized cardboard sleeve and put a nickel inside, saying it represented the writers' share of a typical DVD retailing for $16. But studios argue that DVD revenue alone is keeping them afloat as production and marketing costs rise and the threat of piracy grows more serious by the day. Their position has been to give writers nothing more in DVD royalties than the current formula allows, saying that studios would not be profitable if they had to share more DVD revenues. People close to the talks said the two-day break was necessary so that the proposals could be scrutinized by the studios' financial experts and then approved by the studio chiefs. The Writers Guild also wanted to require the studios to use union writers on reality shows, as they do for scripted, nonreality shows. Reality shows now constitute a major part of prime-time programming. Studio officials say that using guild writers is not feasible and that the guild must get those writers to join the union before asking studios to change their hiring practices. Despite the lack of final agreement in major areas, there was little indication that either side was in the mood for a strike. The guild last went on strike in 1988, delaying the fall television season.
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5. "RE: Speaking of Negotiations" |
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Posted by Happy Jack on
May-03-04, 09:54 AM (PST)
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I still care, but it's never right to use the lapse to promote yourself, is it? Not to mention stupid and counterproductive. I'd be making calls right now, coincidentally, because I have something new to show, but am hesitant to say anything while the talks are still unresolved.Maybe you've accomplished your mission, and weeded out the scabs. I mean, educated them.
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7. "RE: Speaking of Negotiations" |
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Posted by SOTE on
May-03-04, 01:21 PM (PST)
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Did Larry mention "weeding out scabs"? Hmmm, I missed that. I must pay more attention.
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6. "RE: Speaking of Negotiations" |
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Posted by Ken R. on
May-03-04, 01:21 PM (PST)
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Inquiring Brodes,Ethics aside, it's safe to say that even if the talks do go in the dumper and writers choose to strike, issues will eventually be resolved and they'll return to work. Scabs will subsequently be dumped and ignored like reality show losers. I'd prefer to be patient and earn a job with quality writing. Crossing the picket lines would also wipe out all the karma points I've saved up since I left TV News with a balance of zero. Ken R.
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8. "What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by Soup on
May-03-04, 02:34 PM (PST)
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Is that being a scab is no "big chance" for any Newbie, it's cutting your own throat.
Even if you do get your "big chance" working as a scab, then what?
What's it a "big chance" for? A one time only chance at a low six figure check?
Bullshit. Newbies don't get six figure checks from studios trying buy up anything they can to sock away a few s/p's to live off of if a strike continues long enough to start running dry on s/p's, they get offers that are so low they ain't worth spit. They're being used, and paid just enough to be useful.
After the strike you're blackballed (and at this point I'm convinced that that's probably a fitting punishment), and now your entire writing carreer boils down to having made a single, one time only low ball check, at the expense of everyone else.
Even if you're not caught, acting as a scab STILL undercuts the W.G.A.'s ability to do it's job. There are always complaints that the W.G.A. is able to do precious little now, but I don't see scabbing as anyway of improving that situation. For all its flaws the Guild is all writers have got, and from what I can see from the outside lookin in, it's still looks one HELL of a lot better than nuthin.
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9. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by Larry Brody on
May-03-04, 06:26 PM (PST)
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Scabbing is immoral, unethical, and self-defeating.I guess that's why I figured more people would be into it. Oh Lord! Can it be? A new generation of genuinely idealistic television writers? Thank you, thank you, thank you...  Brodolf
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10. "The times they are a changin-" |
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Posted by Soup on
May-04-04, 05:39 PM (PST)
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Not to blow smoke up yer butt L.B., but sites like this one, Wordplayer, Zoetrope, and many others, ARE starting to have an effect.It used to be "you had to know someone" to get into "the Biz". No doubt you still do, but, "who" you knew, even "back in the day", probably had a hell of an effect on where your career went, and what kind of person you wound up being as a result don't you think? These days there are a surprising number of VERY experienced people, out there forming quite a bit of the next generation's crop of writers earliest viewpoints on the craft, and although I certainly can't claim to "know" any of them really (I've never met you, never so much as shook hands with most of these people), but regardless, these are still people forming my own viewpoints on how things should work, (not to mention how they DO work), all long before I ever really "hit town", and I doubt I'm in any way atypical. Ever been over to Wordplayer?
(www.wordplayer.com)
I like to lurk over there too. I only VERY rarely post, but it's a good place to learn.
Ted Elliot (Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean) did a thing last year I thought was a DAMMED good idea.
Each week he'd start a thread on the boards called
"Ethical Dilemma - (followed by that week's number)"
In each week's "Ethical Dilemma" he'd offer an example of the kinds of situations writers can expect to find themselves in sooner or later that would test anyone's ability to figure out what "the right thing to do" would be in that situation. And each week we were all stuck trying to figure out what in the living hell WE'D do if caught in a situation like that.
All of us responding would then be poked, prodded, and pushed to think through our responses by each other, as well as by a few pretty dammed experienced people (like Chuck Pogue, who's been VERY active in the Guild in the past, and who often weighs in on labor issues in particular).
That site is geared much more toward writing for feature length film, so many of the scenarios were different. Maybe doin something similar here geared a bit more toward the kinds of issues TV writers can sometimes find themselves in wouldn't be a half bad idea. Zoetrope gets slammed quite a bit for teetering too close to the edge of the blind leading the blind, but the format FFC pushes members into using to review other people's work, along with the fact that before anybody reviews your work you have to review 5 other people's work, FORCES you to get in the habit of reading, and nothing helps you re-evaluate your own work like being forced to read somebody else’s, especially if it's bad, and suddenly all the well past ripe passages of your own work go from what you at first thought was passable, or as good as you thought you could do, to glaring trouble spots you'd dammed well better find SOME way of attending to before letting your own work see the light of day. Then there's this place. There's just nuthin like it I've found for anyone interested in writing for the tube. The experience level of some of the people in here is frankly, not to butter back sides, it just is what it is, and stunning ain't a half bad word to use in describing it.
I'm sure plenty of times it can seem like taking the time to post here is a waste of time. Answering the SAME basic questions, and seeing the SAME really mistaken attitudes, over and over and over again, has GOT to be frustrating. But I'm willing to bet that it really is making a difference. Some people in here ARE going to make it. Some people in here ARE going to be writing what's on to watch. Some ARE going to wind up running shows. And many of their attitudes and earliest viewpoints on what television could do are being formed right here. So, back a'cha B, and to all the other experienced pros in here patiently tryin to make just a small dent... "Thank you, thank you, thank you..." Soup
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11. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by SOTE on
May-07-04, 04:15 AM (PST)
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Is selling a property during a strike different for TV and film?
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12. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by Larry Brody on
May-07-04, 06:45 AM (PST)
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Whether you've got a screenplay or a teleplay or a series idea the situation's the same. During a strike you can't sell it. Not via a Guild contract, nosir.And believe me, everyone, you DO want to work Guild. If you don't, creative and business conditions can get pretty damn crappy. (Unless you're Quentin Tarrentino, who still hasn't joined!) 
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13. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by SOTE on
May-07-04, 09:38 AM (PST)
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I was under the impression that before or during the last strike many properties were snatched up.
I guess it was probably before the strike?
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17. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by SOTE on
May-07-04, 12:07 PM (PST)
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My agent wouldn't let me be a scab. Darned the scruples of WGA signatories! hehe
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14. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by Happy Jack on
May-07-04, 10:04 AM (PST)
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>
>crappy. (Unless you're Quentin Tarrentino,
>who still hasn't joined!) But wait, he's written movies others have produced and directed. Aren't those prodcos signatory to the guild? Why doesn't that exclude him?
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15. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by Larry Brody on
May-07-04, 11:17 AM (PST)
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Signatory companies have to give him a Guild-based contract and abide by Guild minimums. He doesn't have to join and therefore gets the best of all possible worlds--or so claim some Guild honchos.There's no rule that says a Guild signatory can't hire a non-Guild member, and there's certainly no rule that says a DGA member, say, can't direct a script written by a non WGA member. Otherwise no newcomers could EVER get started, could they?
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19. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by Happy Jack on
May-10-04, 09:32 AM (PST)
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>Otherwise no newcomers could EVER get started,
>could they?
>Isn't that how the rules work? Viz. the famous catch-22(s).
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20. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by The Superannuated Man on
May-10-04, 10:27 AM (PST)
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No, that's not how the rules work. There isn't any Catch-22 here. A Guild member can't work for a company that hasn't signed the MBA and agreed to abide by Guild rules, unless that company works in an area that the Guild doesn't cover. A non-Guild member can work for anyone, including MBA signatories and is protected just as though s/he was a Guild member. However, a non-member can't collect the pension funds or use the health plan. These days it's worth joining just for those. (In fact, they may be the only reason to join these days, but I should probably stay away from that for now.) SAM
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21. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by Piers on
May-10-04, 11:05 AM (PST)
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Thass interesting.I was under the impression that a non-guild member could sell their first script to anyone; but if an MBA signatory wanted to buy script #2, the writer had to have joined. No longer the case? Or was it never the case? Piers
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22. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by Sean Rooney on
May-10-04, 12:47 PM (PST)
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>Thass interesting.
>
>I was under the impression that
>a non-guild member could sell
>their first script to anyone;
>but if an MBA signatory
>wanted to buy script #2,
>the writer had to have
>joined.
>
>No longer the case? Or was
>it never the case?
To my knowledge, when a writer who isn't a member of the WGA makes a first time sale to a sig producer, said writer is automatically joined because the sig producer can't buy from a non-member. The guild's deal to its sig producers was always, "if you want to buy from a non-member, let us know and we'll join them. Then you can buy."
The system worked this way for decades. The WGA then introduced its points system and I do not know how this effects a first time non-member who sels to a sig producer. I assume if the sale doesn't generate sufficient points the writer is not "auto-joined," and has to wait until he or she makes another sale or sufficient sales to sig producers to garner enough points to be joined. All in all, and viewing the big picture, writers are way ahead having the WGA than not having it. Had the guild never been formed, writers today would be paid far less for their wares than they are. Sean
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23. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by Larry Brody on
May-10-04, 01:21 PM (PST)
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No one HAS to join the Guild. The point system puts you in a position where you CAN join. SAM, having been on the membership committee for about a thousand years (he's much older than I am) should know what he's talking about, 'cause if he doesn't, who does?(Or maybe that's another place we'd better not go?) Hi, Sean. Long time no see.
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24. "RE: What I've learned since last time..." |
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Posted by Sean Rooney on
May-10-04, 07:11 PM (PST)
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Brody wrote:
>No one HAS to join the
>Guild. The point system puts
>you in a position where
>you CAN join. SAM, having
>been on the membership committee
>for about a thousand years
>(he's much older than I
>am) should know what he's
>talking about, 'cause if he
>doesn't, who does?
>
>(Or maybe that's another place we'd
>better not go?)
>
>Hi, Sean. Long time no see. Sean comments:
Indeed, how are you? Looking pretty busy from here, and that's good. I do hope it's fun for you, and I'm pretty sure it is. The site is freakin' great, I love it. Superannuated Man posted the complete rules of becoming a member of the WGA in another conversation here, one he created for that purpose. I guess all the answers are therein. I've continued to slug away in the trenches, with the skills steadily improving as more work gets done. Seems I learn something new every day. Above all, it has been a continuing grand time. Keep giggling, Sean
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