Monday, August 21, 2006

Today's Political Comment

I can't find a working link to it online yet but anyone who's interested in the future of the world and the Iraq War ought to watch the press conference that George W. Bush held this morning. He was uncommonly flustered and defensive, giving nervous and desperate answers to what were mostly softball queries. I've asked tougher questions on Cartoon Voice panels. Throughout, Bush reminded me of a losing gambler in denial...the kind who says, "If I keep using my system, eventually the cards have to go my way." Well, no, they don't.

Earlier, I quoted the line that suggested we'll be in Iraq as long as he's in office. As a couple of you noted in e-mail, that's the kind of defeatist attitude that Republicans label "doom and gloom" when it comes out of a Democratic mouth. One of those correspondents, Tom Nawrocki, wrote me...

What's amazing about Bush's pledge to stay in Iraq for the remainder of his presidency is that he seems to be ruling out any possibility that we could actually win the war there over the rest of his term. Now I have no idea what it would mean to "win," but I'm surprised (and rather alarmed) that Bush doesn't have any sort of plan to win, either. He seems content to simply fight and fight and fight in perpetuity.

Yeah. It must be tough to still be at least an official supporter of this man. I have a theory that around half of those who claim they support Bush are inwardly revulsed when they have to say that. In any case, backing the guy seems to require that you maintain the jury is still out as to whether there was a connection between Iraq and 9/11...and then along comes Bush, in an appearance like the one this morning, saying that there was no link and no one in his administration ever said there was. Or you'd like to suggest that some reports of ancient, non-working weapons of minor destruction over there are proof that Bush didn't lie, nor was he wrong to say that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction. And then you have Bush sawing the legs off your position, admitting this morning that there were no WMD. All that plus the man's stammering and inability to state his position in clear, declarative sentences must have his believers cringing. He sure isn't making their job easy.

• Posted at 2:20 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

You're about to see a Kellogg's Raisin Bran commercial starring those famed rockers, Mr. Jinks, Pixie and Dixie. They dress up as The Beatles for it and toss in some "Yeah yeah yeah"s...but whoever wrote the jingle seems to be referencing "California Sun" by The Rivieras. Daws Butler provides the voice of Jinks and Dixie. Don Messick makes sounds for Pixie and the announcer. It might not make you run out and buy bran but it's a fun way to spend a minute...

• Posted at 9:37 AM · LINK

The Decider

A quote this morning from George W. Bush...

The strategy is to help the Iraqi people achieve the objectives and dreams, which is a democratic society. That's the strategy. The tactics — now — either you say yes it's important we stay there and get it done or we leave. We're not leaving so long as I'm the president. That would be a huge mistake. It would send an unbelievably, you know, terrible signal to reformers across the region. It would say we've abandoned our desire to change the conditions that create terror.

We're not leaving so long as he's the president. For those of you not near a calendar, that means — in the absence of impeachment — 882 days from now.

• Posted at 8:37 AM · LINK

Residual Damage

It's that time again. Around once a year, either the L.A. Times, the Hollywood Reporter or Variety will run pretty much the same article about the plight of the Animation Writer, a breed that occasionally includes Yours Truly. The pieces can all be summarized pretty much as follows: Writers who work on live-action shows that fall under the Writers Guild minimum basic agreement receive residuals and much better deals, as well as certain important protections such as health insurance and credit arbitration. Most folks who write animation are up the creek, sans paddle. Some of them are covered by no union whatsoever. Others are covered by Local 839 which, we used to say, was worse than no union whatsoever. Under its current leadership, 839 has gotten much better but it's still unable to serve the unique needs of its writer members.

This year, it's the L.A. Times doing the honors and here's the article in question. While generally accurate, I often feel these do our cause more harm than good. As even the reporter admits, there are deals in animation that pay residuals. There have always been such deals here and there, and because of in-roads by the Writers Guild, there are now more than ever before. Still, for some reason, the articles are never headlined with that encouraging development. Instead, we're subjected on this annoying annual basis to the press telling us how Animation Writers don't get residuals...and in some instances, making it true or truer.

Here's a story that illustrates the point. In 1985, I wrote about a half-dozen scripts for CBS Storybreak, a Saturday morning animated anthology on Guess Which Network. I had a little clout there at the time — Dungeons and Dragons was doing well — so my agent said to them, "Either Evanier gets residuals or he doesn't do it." That's what agents are for, after all...to say such things. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This time, it did. The CBS guys gave in and it was written into my contract that I'd receive — and I quote: "Residuals at Writers Guild scale." Remember that phrase.

The shows I wrote ran. They ran a second time and as per the contract, CBS paid me the same rerun fee they would have paid if the show had been a live-action show produced under the WGA contract. The shows ran a third time and, again, CBS paid what the WGA said you paid a writer for a third run. The shows ran again and again and again...and each time, I received a check. The amounts diminished but they kept on coming, just as we'd agreed.

Around about the time of the tenth runs, one of the articles I'm discussing here ran in Variety. It went on and on about how Animation Writers don't receive residuals and it even quoted a high official in the Writers Guild lamenting that injustice. A staff weasel over at CBS read Variety that day and got an idea. The next time I was due a payment, I instead received a letter from CBS Business Affairs. It cited the article and noted that according to the high official, Writers Guild scale for an animation script was zero. Ergo, no check enclosed for Mark.

My agent at the time was the legendary (to his clients) Stu Robinson. Stu's reaction looked a lot like this, only with more flames. He phoned the weasel, threatening lawsuits and bodily harm. The weasel, being a weasel, gave in and sent me money. The amounts were by now pretty trivial; certainly not worth going to court over. More relevant was that Stu also represented writers and producers on some of the top CBS prime-time shows. So he wasn't the kind of guy it was cost-effective to piss off.

Financial negotiations in show business are largely a matter of precedents. How much they pay you for a job has almost everything to do with how much others have been paid for comparable gigs. If you keep saying, "Animation Writers don't get residuals," you're telling the industry that's the norm, that's standard. In truth, more cartoon scripters than ever are sharing in the ongoing value of the shows they write, and I don't know why the WGA isn't trumpeting that fact from the highest of the Hollywood Hills.

The Times article is, unfortunately, right about the coming war over DVD money. I think this town is heading for The Mother of All Strikes as the guilds demand a better deal for home video and the studios pursue their wish-dream of sharing nuttin' with nobody. Some observers are saying, as the Times piece suggests, that union jurisdiction over cartoon writing could become an issue in upcoming negotiations. Maybe...but it's the smaller war, the one that'll be easier to drop or postpone if the WGA is going to the mat over compensation for DVDs, cable and pay-per-view. Which is why it's even more important than ever that we who write cartoons make it clear that "no residuals" is not a given.

• Posted at 2:00 AM · LINK

August 20, 2006 • Current • August 22, 2006