Sunday, November 4, 2007

Strike News

They're saying now that talks have broken down. This is obviously not good news but it's still better than if there had never been talks at all. Some progress, after all, is better than none.

The statement released by Nick Counter, representing the Producers, included this line: "We made an attempt at meeting them in a number of their key areas including Internet streaming and jurisdiction in New Media." This is the same Nick Counter who said they would never give an inch on Internet streaming. So if they did, that's something.

I'm picketing CBS tomorrow, I think. I'm going to see if I can figure out a way to blog while picketing.

• Posted at 11:44 PM · LINK

Strike News

The "buzz" seems to be that producer-writer (and former WGA President) John Wells is now in the mix, talking to the power brokers on both sides, trying to get them close enough to avoid the strike. This is an old, cherished tradition in Hollywood labor negotiations. Years ago, the legendary super-agent Lew Wasserman would end strikes. Everyone would stake out their hardass, "I'm not budging" positions and then Uncle Lew would make his calls and work out ways they could climb down from their mountains without losing too much face...and a deal would emerge. Since Wasserman went to that big ten-percentery in the sky, others have filled this role.

Wells is an odd choice...or maybe not. His regime at the WGA was peaceful but many felt that too much of his heart was on the producing side of his life. Neither he nor his shows suffered any hardships because of the policies he invoked, which is not necessarily a bad thing but it can raise red flags of concern. I suspect a lot of members are leery of his involvement — more so than if the person filling that position was, like Lew Wasserman, inarguably on the side of Management. Still, a lot more of our members are eager to see the Producers come across with enough in the areas of DVD and Direct Delivery that we can avoid a strike, or at least a long one. The AMPTP has taken such a firm position against movement in those areas that it's probably necessary for a third party to massage things and give everyone an out.

If John Wells can be that person and break that logjam, good for him. Whether he succeeds or not, it may be a good sign that these conversations are even occurring. Because that probably means the logjam is breakable.

• Posted at 4:09 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Ezra Klein on why health care in America is a whole lot worse than it oughta be.

• Posted at 12:42 PM · LINK

Live From Louisiana...

Universal is soon to release the complete second season of Saturday Night Live on DVD and you know what that means: Huge profits for Universal and NBC, a few dimes (if that much) to the folks who wrote those shows. But never mind that for the moment.

TV Shows on DVD is reporting that the set will include the 1977 SNL prime-time special done from the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. You remember that? It was a broadcast widely hailed, especially by those involved in it, as a fiasco...at the time, the worst disaster ever in that fine city. Because of the crowds and tech problems, and also the fact that the cast and crew did a bit too much partying instead of prepping, darn near nothing went right. They had Randy Newman at a concert hall somewhere singing songs and they kept cutting to him for an extra number because the comedy sketches, which were being performed at various locations around town, weren't functional.

It was said that Lorne Michaels would never allow the show to be rebroadcast in any way...not that there was any clamor from the network to reair it. But ninth-generation tapes have made been seen on the trading circuit so there is some interest, and now it's apparently being included on this forthcoming set. You can order a copy here, though if the inclusion of that special will make a difference to you, you might want to wait for official confirmation that it'll be in there. Even without it, there's plenty of great material in that year.

• Posted at 11:38 AM · LINK

More Strike Stuff

I should mention a few places on the Internet where one can find information about the WGA Strike. The two biggies are the websites of the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East. The info there is, of course, solid. Any hour now, they'll begin posting information on picketing and where to show up if you want to support the WGA position.

(Whoops! Just checked and the East already has such information available. Tomorrow, they'll be hiking around Rockefeller Center all day. Wish we had a great place like that to picket out here.)

I'm not entirely sure who's behind it but United Hollywood is a good, pro-WGA weblog full of useful and credible information. Go there often.

Moving a notch downwards on the reliability scale, the L.A. Times has set up a blog for strike news. You also have Nikki Finke over in the L.A. Weekly and she's been getting pretty accurate news and getting it before almost anyone else.

Then you have Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. The trade papers have an unfortunate tendency to be ultra-impressed by statements from studio heads. It's like the more powerful you are in the industry at the moment, the more credibility you have. Or maybe it has something to do with not pissing off powerful people, especially the kind who might someday hire you and/or who buy a lot of advertising.

For general opinion and discussion, the Huffington Post has this section. Pay special attention to anything written by Bob Elisberg or Howard Rodman. They know of what they write.

Lastly, in the spirit of fairness, here's a link to the website of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (i.e., "the other side"). Oddly enough, they link to a number of newspaper and magazine articles that cite statistics that would seem to be in conflict with their public posturings. I wonder why that is.

• Posted at 9:37 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

We love Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding. Here they are with Mr. Carson on The Tonight Show from February 13, 1981 where they performed two routines that were probably written by Tom Koch. The opening of the first one is chopped off but it starts with Ray introducing Bob as the winner of the Most Beautiful Face Contest. Then they go over to the couch and do another funny bit from there. Take note of Bob's answer when Johnny asks him if any of his kids are showing signs of heading into show business.

• Posted at 8:58 AM · LINK

Strike News

As far as I know, there isn't any. A number of 'net sources are reporting rumors this morning...or maybe they'd more accurately be called rumors of rumors. The "buzz" is that something's happening that will avert the WGA Strike, which at this moment is still on for one minute after Midnight tonight. It would be nice to think that's possible but right now, better to take one of those "I'll believe it when I see it" attitudes. One way in which a strike wears on you is through the constant lifting and dropping of your hopes as rumor after rumor jerks them about. If you disbelieve everything that comes without a solid source affixed, you'll be right at least 95% of the time, which ain't a bad average.

A couple of aspiring screenwriters seem to be using the Internet to advertise that they're available for scabbing. I say "seem" because a few that I've seen are so over-the-top pathetic that you wonder if they aren't clumsy satires. Or maybe they're clumsy satires but the folks doing them are holding out the hopes that they'll lead to some sort of offer to write clumsy satires. I'd hate to think they're legit because, well, I don't like the idea of anyone trying to undermine any strike (especially mine) and I also feel sorry for the wanna-be scabs. I suppose there are exceptions but if your career is predicated on that kind of "break," it usually doesn't turn out well. Even those who might be desperate enough to hire you don't have a lot of respect for you, your work or — especially — your personal integrity. Offering to scab is like admitting you're second-rate and you know you can't compete when the first-string people are available. Once the strike is over, those who do the hiring not only won't want to use you, most of them won't want to admit they ever knew you. And of course, once the strike is over, a lot of the hiring will be done by those who were out, those whose strike you sought to sabotage. All in all, it's a great way to make nobody like you.

My e-mailbox this morning actually has more messages about the strike than it does offers for penis enlargement. Not that those two subjects are always unrelated. It's important, methinks, to keep the following in mind: All the negotiating, picketing, striking, public statements, etc., all have but one valid purpose...to make a deal and get everyone back to work. Writers and those in Management frequently have issues of respect, power, ego and other personal flashpoints which underscore all interactions and bubble to the surface in time of war. Understood. But the point of it all is still to make a deal. And the more we can leave the emotional baggage out in the hallway, the faster we can get to that deal.

When I get a moment, I'll write something here about how I think the key to that may be trying to unwrap our brains from the concept of Winning and Losing. Rarely does either side "win" a strike in the sense of getting everything they want in the way they want; not without paying a terrible price for it. Most strikes are not wars where one side crushes the other. They're drastic ways of arriving at an agreement to work together in the future. If we don't arrive at that, nobody wins.

• Posted at 8:56 AM · LINK