Saturday, October 13, 2007

WGA Talk

I'm being asked a lot of questions over what appears to be a jurisdictional dispute between the Writers Guild of America and The Animation Guild. From what I can tell, the argument as it's being depicted in news articles such as this one is not exactly the argument that those two entities are having in real life...or at least, the WGA position is not being accurately represented.

Here's an example. The above-linked article in Variety says, in part...

In addition to a ban on any guild-covered work in features and TV, a draft recap of the WGA rules said the guild plans to prohibit any writing for new media and declare that writers can't do animated features — even though that realm is not under WGA jurisdiction.

That's not true. The recent animated Simpsons movie was written under a WGA contract [Correction] and others have been or are pending. The press coverage so far has made the mistake of acting like all animation work is covered by the Animation Guild, and that's not true, either. There are animated projects where the writers are covered by the Animation Guild. There are animated projects where the writers are covered by the WGA. There are also animated projects where the writers are covered by neither.

What union has jurisdiction over a given project? It's the one that negotiates a contract to cover that project. It isn't automatically the WGA or the Animation Guild or the Loyal Order of Water Buffalo. So to the extent that the WGA is asserting jurisdiction over areas where it has a contract — or even projects where no one does and the WGA is attempting to stake out its turf — the WGA position seems entirely reasonable to me. And with regard to the part that has some folks upset, I suspect they're either not reading properly between the lines or not understanding that in time of war, you stake out the widest possible position and then negotiate down from there as necessary.

• Posted at 9:17 PM · LINK

Peanuts Vendor

Regarding the controversial Charles Schulz biography...Schulz's son Monte summarizes the family's view of the book over in a comment on the Cartoon Brew website.

There's a website for the book that includes a video with the author, David Michaelis.

I already pointed you to a review by Bill Watterson. I should have also sent you to this review over on the Aaugh! blog, which is part of the best website on the 'net for Peanuts info. Plus, I should have pointed out a certain irony to the Watterson review. Here's a guy who has been fiercely private about his own life and he's applauding a book which delves deeply into Schulz's personal history.

In case you want to order the book, this link will get you one from Amazon.

• Posted at 6:54 PM · LINK

The Answer

What got cut last night on Real Time With Bill Maher: As many of you have informed me, when Maher went to New Rules, the TelePrompter was malfunctioning and it took about twenty seconds to get things moving. I'm guessing they would have left all this in for the rebroadcasts if it hadn't put them over in terms of time...though it seems to me that Maher's show has occasionally run long and in the past, HBO has trimmed some of their between-show promos to account for overage. The usual philosophy here is that a live show ought to be left the way it was done, warts and all. I mean, the program is called Real Time.

I also recall the 'prompter going out one other time but then, Maher had back-up paper copy in his pocket and he calmly hauled it out and continued. Guess he didn't have it last night...but will, from now on.

Thanks to all forty-two of you who wrote in response to my question. Like I said: We get answers fast around here. Here's the full video clip of last night's New Rules spot as it was aired live...

• Posted at 11:06 AM · LINK

I Get Ripped Off Again...Twice!

Hey, did you read the message I posted an hour and a half ago? This one? Someone allegedly named Rick Strandrel of Rock Island, Ill. had a letter printed in the Chicago-Tribune that borrowed generously from text of an item I posted here.

Well, it turns Mr. Strandel has been busy. Pretty much the same letter appeared last Monday in the letter section of The Washington Times. Here's a link to that page.

But it doesn't stop there. If you scroll down a ways, the same page in The Washington Times has a letter signed by "William Stosine of Iowa City, Iowa" that's plagiarized from this item that I posted about the S-CHIP expansion veto.

This is not the first time Mr. Stosine has cribbed from my postings here. Back in February of '04, my words turned up in a couple of newspapers over his signature. Here's one example and here's another.

I'll bet you ten bucks that Rick Standrel and William Stosine are the same person. In fact, I'm pretty sure I know what his real name is and it isn't either of those.

• Posted at 1:43 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Someone posted this on YouTube. It's a promo for a 1980 production of Oliver! that played the Aquarius Theater in Hollywood. Shani Wallis was playing Nancy, Dick Shawn was playing Fagin, Tessie O'Shea was playing Mrs. Corney and Stubby Kaye was playing Mr. Bumble. I remember when it opened and got pretty good reviews. That, plus the fact that I always liked the show, Dick Shawn and Stubby Kaye caused me to want to see it. At the time, I was working for Sid and Marty Krofft and our offices were at KTLA Studios, just a few blocks from the Aquarius.

So one day on my lunch hour, I walked down Sunset to buy tickets. At the box office, the lady looked surprised. It was like, "Really? You want to buy tickets?" I convinced her I did and she sold me a pair with an unmissible sense of skepticism. Her attitude made me suspicious and so did the seats I got: Third row center.

I walked back to the office and happened to mention to Sid Krofft that I'd just bought tickets to the production of Oliver! down at the Aquarius. Sid said, "I heard that was closing." I told him no, I'd just bought tickets for the following Saturday night.

Then I walked down to the stage where the dancers were rehearsing a number for the show we were about to tape. I invited one I knew to go with me to see Oliver! and she immediately said, "It's closing." I said, "No, it isn't." She said, "Yes, it is. My roommate's brother is in it. I just called her about something and she told me."

I went back to my office, phoned the Aquarius box office and got, I think, the same lady who'd sold me the tickets an hour earlier. "Is the show closing?" I asked her. She said no. I asked her if she was sure. She said, "Wait a second...I'll check." She put me on hold for about four minutes, then came back on the line and told me the show was closing. This was on a day when there was no performance scheduled and she said they weren't sure at the theater if there would even be another one but they'd been told to stop selling tickets and start issuing refunds.

I walked back to the Aquarius and she gave me my money back and an apology. She said, "We're always the last ones to know." Another lady in the box office chimed in, "I knew. We've only sold twenty-three tickets for tomorrow night and there are twenty-five people in the show." That was my introduction to an old show business maxim that I made up as I walked back to the office that day: When you have more bodies on the stage than you have in the audience, you're in trouble.

Here's the ad for the show I didn't see...

• Posted at 1:25 AM · LINK

Real Cut

Bill Maher does his Real Time show on HBO live at 8:00 PM Pacific time, I believe. I TiVoed the 10 PM rebroadcast of it on HBO2 and there was a big, sloppy edit in the show, just at the top of New Rules. Anyone have any idea why?

• Posted at 12:22 AM · LINK

The Write Stuff

On the matter of these flag pins, I find myself in amazing agreement with this letter that was published yesterday in the Chicago-Tribune...

Waving the flag pin

Some people are questioning Sen. Barack Obama's patriotism because he doesn't wear an American flag pin on his lapel ("His lapel naked, Obama makes a fashion statement," News, Oct. 5). This is three notches below ridiculous. A gesture that small should never be confused with actually doing something meaningful.

It's like the folks who buy a $3 sticker for their car and act like they've made a substantive contribution to the war on terror. Putting a flag on your car or coat is just about the dictionary definition of "The Least You Can Do."

I think of something my father told me. He worked (reluctantly) for the IRS and dealt with a steady stream of very wealthy people whom he caught doing everything in their power, much of it illegal, to not pay taxes. This was during the Vietnam War and some of these rich men were quite vocal that the U.S. had to spend every nickel necessary to build every conceivable weapon to defeat the communists, but God forbid it should be their nickels. Dad said every one of them had an American flag in his lapel and thought that merely wearing it made him a Good American.

Is Obama a Good American? If he genuinely defends the Constitution and the principles on which this nation was founded, then yes — regardless of what's in his buttonhole. Anyone who works against these principles is not — and it wouldn't matter if he had a flag, the Statue of Liberty, Plymouth Rock and John Wayne on his lapel.

Rick Strandrel
Rock Island, Ill

That's a great, sane way of looking at this situation...and I have to praise Mr. Strandel for his fine writing skills. Where does someone find such eloquent words?

Oh, wait — I know! He finds them here.

Y'know, I don't mind the guy stealing my writing...but he also stole my father. Thanks to Kim "Howard" Johnson for letting me know about it. (And Alan, if this is you borrowing my words again, it's okay with me but you could ask my permission.)

• Posted at 12:14 AM · LINK