Thursday, December 20, 2007

Strike Update

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will return to the air with new shows on January 7, sans writing staffs. What are they going to do? Probably a lot more interviews, some rerun segments and a seriously reduced capacity to do new material. There's kind of a gray, arguable distinction over when a writer-performer's words are the work of his writer side, and there will be pressure on Stewart and Colbert (as there will be on Leno, O'Brien and the others) to expand the definition in favor of their performer functions. They'll also all probably spend a little time on each broadcast trashing Management for not making a deal. That maybe in apology to their guild for going back but it will also apparently also reflect these folks' true feelings.

By the way: A number of articles about this have made the assertion that Johnny Carson was able to return to work, when he did in '88, because he was not a member of the Writers Guild. I don't think that's true. I don't know it for a fact but I believe Johnny was a member.

The question I'd like to see someone put to Jon Stewart would have to do with his intentions regarding the Academy Awards, which he's supposed to host on 2/24/08. I would guess that if the strike isn't over by then — or isn't over in time for him to adequately prep for that date — he won't wanna. I would further guess that if the strike is not over, the Powers That Are might be afraid of giving him that bully pulpit. It all adds up to just another reason the AMPTP would be wise to get this thing settled well before then.

• Posted at 9:38 PM · LINK

Christmas Stories

This is the time of year when I get a lot of e-mails asking me to post my Mel Tormé Christmas story. It's right here year 'round and it's the "most hit" page of my website.

Also, every year I point you to some wonderful online animation over at the ICQ site involving Santa and his reindeer. They used to do a new one of these each Christmas but they seem to have discontinued the tradition. The old installments are still available here, however. [WARNING: Music may begin the second you go to that page. And make sure you check out all four cartoons.]

And I really like Garfield's 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar. Check it out every day between now and December 25. (Full disclosure: I work with the Garfield company but I had nothing to do with this.)

• Posted at 8:57 PM · LINK

Thursday Strike Stuff

Well, let's see where we are with this puppy...

There's still no news about the AMPTP returning to the bargaining table with the Writers Guild. One presumes this will occur after the first of the year and probably after the AMPTP has opened discussions with the Directors Guild on their contract. A lot of folks seem to be assuming that the DGA will rapidly make one of its quickie deals that gives it a little bump while setting up some sort of precedent that undermines other unions.

I doubt that. For one thing, the DGA is in no real hurry. Their contract doesn't expire until the end of July. Secondly, a lot of DGA members — especially those who are also writers and/or actors — have made it clear to the guild leadership that they don't want to see the DGA allow itself to be used against the other unions, nor do they want to accept a deal that concedes many of the points that the AMPTP is refusing to give the WGA. Lastly, if played right, the DGA could have a lot of leverage as a result of what's happened with the WGA. It's too good an opportunity to blow on a fast sellout.

Or so all the logic tells us. Then again, this is the Directors Guild that sometimes thinks the best way to deal with the AMPTP is to not make trouble for them.

The AMPTP is out trying to sell the idea that the current strike is all the fault of those stupid writers, not of the organization that has refused to bargain in good faith or, lately, at all. I don't see this p.r. campaign as gaining any real traction, nor do I see it weakening WGA resolve. For every one writer who begins to doubt that we're doing the right thing, another twenty get angry and more determined. But I guess Nick Counter has to say something.

David Letterman's company is about to open talks with the WGA about the possibility of an interim contract...and do take note of how many news sources were reporting last week that such a deal was close or near-certain or even already completed. It's a good reminder of how totally wrong and rumor-driven some of the news coverage of this strike has been. They commence discussions tomorrow, and the consensus in the WGA seems to be not to grant such a deal.

I know there's a respectable argument that the WGA should pact with Letterman's outfit, Worldwide Pants. Dave is likely to return with or without an interim deal, and having his writers back — and the removal of a picket line that will scare away desired guests — would give him an advantage over competition with no interim contract. If that would help Dave clobber Jay, wouldn't that put additional pressure on NBC to settle? (Answer to that: Maybe but maybe not. And CBS, which would see two of its key programs probably return to at least their old levels of profitability, might figure that they then had less reason to settle.)

There may, however, be even a better reason that the WGA will not make that deal with Letterman. According to this article in Variety...

Situation is complicated by the fact that while Worldwide Pants owns the CBS latenighters, company cannot dicker with the guild on the central issues of new-media distribution because CBS controls most of the new-media rights on those shows.

This whole strike is about new-media distribution and if Letterman's company can't make a deal in that area, that's a contract-killer right there. We're on strike against companies that don't want to share those revenues.

So it looks like Dave will be going back to work on January 2 but without his writing staff. It seems highly appropriate that his only announced guest for that night so far is Donald Trump, a man who believes that in any dispute between employer and employee, the employer is always right.

Lastly: Folks keep asking me how long I think the strike is going to last. The other night over dinner with some writers, I made what everyone seemed to think was a strong case: All logic-based indicators would, I think, point to the AMPTP trying to make a deal on or around February 1 and not, as some have suggested, keeping the WGA out until next June or so. When I get some time, I'll write up that argument for this page...but it will have to be qualified with a reminder that so far in this strike, and many times in other labor disputes, the Alliance has not done what you'd think would be in its best interests. Sometimes, the execs involved are stubborn, much as some of our elected officials cling to strategies long after they should have course-corrected.

The AMPTP also has this "rule of one" where one of the core member companies can veto a deal that the others all want to make. In the '88 strike, there were several major studios that thought it was insane to let the thing go on as long as they did. But they were not unanimous so that strike went on longer than even some on their side wanted. This one may, too...but when I get a chance, I'll tell you why I think it would be really foolish of the AMPTP to let this one go much past Groundhog Day.

• Posted at 3:49 PM · LINK

Go Read It

Jeannie Schulz — widow of that guy who drew Charlie Brown, plus she's also a very bright, lovely lady — has some comments on the David Michaelis book on her late hubby. I recently got a copy (free) which I'm working my way through and so far, it seems to be everything Schulz's associates have been telling me it is: A lot of good, well-researched revelations about the man interspersed with so many odd deductions about his character and personality and too many questionable factual assertions as to despoil the good parts. I think, when an author who never met you says you never hugged people, and all your friends and family are saying you did, the author is on wafer-thin ice.

• Posted at 9:29 AM · LINK

Neither Wild Nor Crazy

Steve Martin's new book, Born Standing Up, is quite a surprise. It's kind of an autobiography, though he says it comes close to being a biography because he feels so detached from the person he's writing about. He covers his childhood, his adolescent days working at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, and then his break-in to comedy writing and performing and stardom. It stops when he makes his first movie, The Jerk, and gives up stand-up forever. Amazingly introspective — which is not to say all his self-observations ring true — he depicts his subject (himself) as not particularly gifted in the way we think a successful comedian is born funny. To Martin, it was all a matter of figuring out how to do something that, he seems to feel, did not come naturally to him.

It is not, in some ways, a particularly flattering self-portrait. I came away from the book admiring Martin's candor and willingness to display his warts but I'm less certain of how I feel about him as a comedian. In portions of Born Standing Up, he seems to be conducting a final burial for his stand-up act, drawing a hard line between that guy and the person he is today...and even the old Steve Martin, the guy in the white suit with the arrow through his head, doesn't seem to have ever been the real Steve Martin. He writes of anxiety attacks and of feeling lost in his own career...and at time, I found myself wondering why he wrote the book.

Which is not to say it's not a fascinating read. You can order it from Amazon by clicking here and I'm going to recommend you do that. It's a quick read and a good chance to get inside the brain of a very successful performer. You'll understand that stardom, especially in the area of stand-up comedy, ain't always as wonderful as it may look.

• Posted at 1:50 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

I link to this little Christmas cartoon every year and people seem to love it...

• Posted at 12:03 AM · LINK

December 21, 2007 • Current • December 19, 2007