Saturday, November 10, 2007

Lightnin' Strikin' (Again)

Here's news of another strike: The union that represents Broadway stagehands has been working without a contract since July 31 and has chosen today to walk off their jobs. All but eight Broadway shows are immediately going dark and no one seems to know how long this will last. The previous strike, which was in 2003, ran for four days.

I'm heading for New York this coming week for some meetings with publishers, some bicoastal picketing, a comic convention and a bit of show-going. So am I afraid that the strike will mean the shows I intend to see won't be playing? Nope. I'm lucky enough to have tix for two shows that are among the eight that are unaffected by the strike. They're at theaters that have signed a separate deal with Local One, the Stagehands' union. I tried to get seats to Jersey Boys, which is among those that will close, but it's sold out and all my "I can get you house seats" friends found that they couldn't.

• Posted at 1:06 PM · LINK

Today's Bonus Video Link

After I posted what I just posted, I came across this video which makes a lot of the same points. This is from the WGA General Meeting of a week ago Thursday. A writer named Howard Gould, who's a member of the Negotiating Committee, explains in a little more than three minutes how he came to see the necessity of this strike.

His speech came a little late in the proceedings. A lot of members had left by then, which is why you'll see a lot of empty chairs. But those of us who were still there gave Howard a standing-o because what he said seemed just so right.

• Posted at 11:01 AM · LINK

Saturday Strike Thoughts

This is my fifth WGA strike and while many things are the same as they always are, many are different. The main one in the latter category is that for the first time in my experience, there is no real opposition within the Guild.

That is amazing. Our members...they are a contentious lot, partly because the nature of writing seems to attract the highly-opinionated, partly because we have such varied specialties and lifestyles. Within the WGA, you have guys who wrote for Eddie Cantor and gals who just graduated Film School and sold their first script. You have the producer-writer who's way more producer than writer. You have the scribe who's unhappy with how his/her career's been going and who's always taking it out on the Guild, blaming it because he/she still doesn't own the house next door to Paul Haggis. You have game show writers, comedy writers, soap opera writers, dramatic writers, variety show writers, people who write slasher films, serious dramatists, people who write The Simpsons, documentary writers and Bruce Vilanch. You have a certain number of people who make a million or two per script and an awful lot who are sweating next month's mortgage payment, and you also have some people who are very brave about Not Working and others who view that in abject terror.

It's quite a mix.

In my previous four strikes, I heard a lot from what we might call the naysayers...the faction that argues that striking at a certain moment or for specific issues is a bad idea. Sometimes, I even think they're right...though with some of them, that's due to the Stopped Clock principle. They always say it so it's occasionally true. In 1985, the "Don't Strike" crowd got their wish and stopped a strike. I think they were spectacularly wrong that year, especially the ones who screamed, "There will never be any money in home video!" Yeah, right. It's amazing how many of those people could now pass polygraph tests and swear that they were loyal supporters of that strike and can't believe how many lunkheads opposed it.

In this strike, I am hearing none of that. So far, not a peep. Not from within the WGA ranks, anyway. Now, granted: The strike's only about a week old but usually, this view is heard by now, heard before the strike happens, in fact. Commencing on or before Day One of previous strikes, it was receiving a disproportionate share of attention because, after all, the Producers control a lot of the media and they like "Dissent grows within WGA" as a headline. Plus, of course, a divided union is a more interesting news story than one that's hanging together. If the strike goes on another few weeks, there'll be some members starting to cave and their number will be blown all out of scale in the press.

But so far, the mob that yells, "Take the offer and let's get back to work" has been pretty much non-existent. Why? Well, a huge reason is that the idea of agreeing to let the studios make as much money as they can off the Internet with us receiving bupkis is just too outrageous. Even those whose hearts are with Management have a hard time siding with that one. But there's an even bigger reason that no one in the WGA wants to take the offer and that is that there is no offer.

It struck me the other day that that's one thing that's different this time. My last four strikes, the Producers had presented us with a unilateral and rotten contract proposal — a few increases in minimums, generally below the cost-of-living rates...a few rollbacks, some of them quite large...and there's always one little item that we can celebrate as a "gain." Usually, these offers aren't even a product of two-way negotiations. Usually, the Producers just refuse to listen to anything we want to say and instead hand us a bad "take it or leave it" offer and to leave it means to go on strike. This time, there have been some talks — apparently fruitless — that have led to no offer. There is no piece of paper that the "Don't Strike" mob can wave about at the moment and insist is good enough.

As I understand it, the Producers' position at this moment is as follows: Take the two most important issues — DVDs and Internet delivery — off the table. Drop all your demands in those areas and then (and only then) we'll sit down with you and make a decent offer that covers the other stuff.

So if someone asks you why the WGA is striking...well, there it is. We haven't accepted the deal because there is no deal. All there is is a demand that we surrender before they'll discuss surrender terms. Matter of fact, given the Producers' long history of "negotiating" by dictating their terms and then walking out of the room, it's unlikely that they will discuss anything in a give-and-take manner even then.

I have one friend — well, let's call this fellow an acquaintance — who I've known since we worked on a variety show way back in the days when there were variety shows. He's always been terrified of a strike...any strike for any reason at any time. He's always talking about burning his home down. Every time anyone mentions the "s" word in his presence, he starts hollering, "Why don't we all just save time and burn our houses?" If the Producers were demanding their hedges be trimmed "or else," he'd be on Peter Chernin's lawn with the clippers at this very moment.

Even he doesn't see that the WGA can do anything but what it's doing. I hope the boys at the AMPTP understand that when they can't even get this guy on their side, they've really botched this thing up.

• Posted at 10:47 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

I'm not sure when it was done — and I don't know where to find a copy of the whole thing (does anyone?) — but Stephen Sondheim did a TV special some years ago where he taught students how to sing some of his songs. A while ago, in this posting, I linked to a clip of him critiquing a brave young woman who was attempting to sing "Send in the Clowns," not only in front of its composer but in a public spectacle where he was expected to find fault with her performance. Here, three brave students take on one of Sondheim's most difficult songs with him playing teacher. The most interesting thing about this clip is the look on his face when he hears something he likes. It's a look I've seen on the face of every great songwriter I've been able to look at when he's hearing his song the way he wants to hear his song.

• Posted at 12:16 AM · LINK