Posted on 11/10/2007 10:19:50 AM PST by Beachcomber
Nobody in their right mind (who ever expected to work again as a writer after the WGA strike of 2007 is settled) will dare utter the three taboo words rattling around in the collective unconscious: and those three taboo words are "Right To Work". Ironic, ain't it? Grown men and women (writers!) censure themselves and like Orwellian mind-cops, bite their tongues until they bleed, rather than exercise their Constitutional freedom of speech: "Right To Work" But then, everything about Hollywood is ironic. (The more cynical amongst us would say "hypocritical". Let me be very specific, lest I am accused of the curse of obfuscation: Are you paying close attention, my brothers and sisters of the pen-craft? Marxism repeats itslelf. The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce! Ironic, ain't it? Picture this: Here you have the spectacle of millionaire screenwriters parading around in a circle outside the studios run by millionare executives. You'd think that none of these writers and executives had never seen "The Formula"....the only movie to star the two actors who had the testosterone to reject the little gold trophy proffered by the Academy, Marlon Brando and George C. Scott. What's so interesting about "The Formula"? The unforgettable sentence: The Overworld controls the Underworld! You'd think none of these writers and executives remember that yesterday celebrated the 18th anniversary of the smasching of the Berlin Wall when jubilant slaves of the Cold War arose as freemen. (Right To Work). What am I driving at? Simply this: Marxism lives on in Hollywood when it has been destroyed everywhere else. Remember what I am telling you: "Marxism repeats itself. Firstly as tragedy, secondly as farce!" The Writers Strike of 2007 is one big, fat ugly betty of a farce....in living color, playing out on prime time t.v. and your internet and blackberry, ruining the lives of everyone caught up in this malestrom (except, ironically, the millionarie screenwriters and millionaire executives who can financially ride this one out!) Why is this happening? Because the Overworld controls the Underworld. Think very carefully about how this has come to be. A small cadre of brain-dead Marxians run both the Writers Guild and the Oligopolist MPAA (AMPTP). They think alike...they look alike....at times they even TALK alike...cause their cousins...identical doppleganders... Think I'm exaggerating? What's the number one rule of a labor stoppage. Quick...consult your Jimmy Hoffa (Walter Reuther) playbook, my brothers and sisters. YOU STRIKE TO SECURE PRESENT GAINS AGAINST ROLLBACKS forced upon you by the evil corporate bosses. You do NOT STRIKE to secure FUTURE uncertain possibilies. That's raw insanity! The MPAA (AMPTP) did not put rollbacks on the table. They are not taking money OUT of your present pocket book. They are not taking BACK gains granted in previous negotiations, wage cuts, salary clippings....baby food out of the mouths of your kids. So, what's really going on? MARXISM REPEATES ITSELF, firstly as tragedy (the 1988 WGA strike), secondly as farce! The MPAA didn't lock out the writers. No, the millionaire executives are way smarter than their millionaire doppleganger writers....they got the WGA to strike! Sheezam....calling Machievelli. Calling Sun-Tsu. (Repeat after me: FARCE!) 3 taboo words: Right To Work. This strike will end the second Jeffrey Immelt, Rupert Murdoch and Sumner Redstone pick up their cell-phones for a conference call and say: Okay, over. Not a second before that triangulated call. The MPAA (AMPTP) got the WGA to fire the first shot. Now, all they have to do is wait until the bloody conflict allows them to prune their bloated overhead production deals and get lean and mean again. Calling Machievelli! Calling Sun-Tsu! IRving Thalberg was right. He once said that writers are not laborers...what the hell do they want wiht a union. Writers are artists! Are songwriters unionized? Are novelists unionized? Are playwriters unionized? Of course not! What do they know that screenwriters forget. One word: Copyright. When you watch a film, look at the end credits. It always must say: For purposes of copyright, the author of this movie is THE STUDIO! Who owns the copyright to your intellectual property? It ain't you, my sisters and brothers. The Overworld owns your intellectual property in the formula of the copyright, and gets YOU to walk out in a strike so they don't have to lock you out. Only two men had the testosterone to REJECT the little gold tropy from the MPAA, and they appeared together in the movie "THE FORMULA". While you have so much free time (between walking around in circles and thinking you are Lenin, Trotsky, and Gramshi) go watch this movie, and then kiss your copyright goodbye! Meanwhile, do not even THINK to utter the 3 taboo word: Right To Work. Be an obedient little Marxian slave....the part that you have written for yourself. Ironic, ain't it? Forget the freemen who demolished the Berlin Wall 18 years ago, yesterday. And no matter what you do, do not repeat after me: Marxism repeats itself. Firstly as tragedy, secondly as farce. (P.S. Somebody send this by blackberry to Immelt, Murdoch, and Redsone). Can you say: Right To Work ?
Hollywood's millionaire writers -- the ones who didn't make their money as actors, directors or producers -- could hold their convention in a minivan.
Most of the Marxian cadre calling the shots of this strike have a net worth in excess of a million dollars, but it's impolite to discuss these facts in an open forum, isn't it?
Any researcher can check out the names for themselves, but remember...we're never supposed to "name names", and I adhere to that admonition.
Can you say "Copyright: ? ? ?
Thanks for the “clean up” on aisle 11.
FYI
Obviously I am not a writer, as racing dan pointed out.
And "NOBODY CARES" except the thousands of people thrown out of work, innocent bystanders, all of them.
But, thanks, anyway.
That's inaccurate. Soaps are taped weeks in advance. New episodes will be airing until around January.
Bush is Dumb. Bush is evil. The War is Illegal. Christians are evil. Homosexuals are saints. Blacks are saints. Drug addicts are saints. Hookers are saints. There, I just wrote 6 mos of SoddomWood scripts.
Pray for W and Our Victorious Troops
What you just described perfectly matched what Michael Medved wrote in his book Hollywood vs. America. And you wonder why the less political the movie, the more popular it becomes with American audiences.
Also, a little dose of patriotism in the movie every now and then won't hurt, either. Remember how Superman Returns lost part of its audience when the writers refused to use the phrase "Truth, Justice and the American Way" in full? Or how in the first Spider-Man movie the last scene in the movie (you have to see for yourself) made everyone stand up and cheer?
ping
I have been a member of the Writers Guild for 26 years. I am not a Marxian slave. The issue of copyright has been discussed many times over the years. It has been difficult to get the writers united behind it, because the studios will never give it up. Politics is always the art of the possible. It is more than possible, it is probable that we will get a reasonable deal that specifies residuals for the new wave of distribution methods. Copyright will return as an issue in the future, but it will be a tough nut to crack.
I’ve been a member of the WGA for 29 years. I’m not a Marxian slave either. I’m a Freeper, for Gawd’s sake. It’s not ideology. There’s no left or Marxism in it whatsoever. It’s a business negotiation. It’s the free market. We have a service, they want to pay us X for it, we want X+whatever for it, they’re saying no, and we’re doing what everybody knows is the only way to win in any bargaining situation: walk out of the store. If the shopkeeper calls you back in, you win. If not, you lose. That’s the risk we’re all taking. No Karl Marx anywhere to be found in the whole equation.
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
I have been a member of the WGA longer than both of you.
karnage wrote "Politics is the art of the possible"
Yes, and ethics is the art of the principled.
Surely the protagonists of your screenplays choose ethics over expediency when faced with a moral dilemma.
You both wrote: I am not a Marxian slave.
Respectfully, I disagree and here is why.
We all know the history of the WGA. It was founded in a jurisdictional dispute between the Screenwriters Guild (today's WGA) and the ScreenPlaywriters Guild.
At the time, the USA and Hollywood was enthralled with Marxist ideology (The Blue Eagle National Recovery Act...the Harry Bridges-Herb Sorrell CSO, etc.)
Cut to the chase. The FDR administration (Department of Marxian Labor) and the Supreme Court (NLRB vs Jones and Laughlin 1937) settled in favor of the Screenwriters model.
The ScreenPlaywriters lost. And with that loss, you and I lost the ability to negotiate as freemen for the copyright of our intellectual property.
That was 1937. Stalin was killing zeks by the millions in the gulag.
70 years later, the only Marxian writers union left in the world is the WGA in Hollywood.
What's up with that?
I can prove it to you.
I dare you to attempt to negotiate as a freeman for the copyright ownership of your next screenplay.
I dare you to even attempt to get a contract where you retain ownership of your intellectual property.
Just try it, boys.
Both the MPAA (the studios) and the WGA will crush you like a wasp.
You will be expelled from the WGA, lose your P & H, and put on a list at the studios never to do business in this town again as a screenwriter.
By the way, that's called a "black list".
You will be mocked, roughed up, belittled, and dehumanized.
Like a zek in the gulag.
You will be called terrible names, socially ostracized, your children will cry; finally your steadfast wife will get depressed and threaten to leave you.
Sounds like Marxian thug politics to me.
What would your protagonist do at this point in your narrative?
CLOSE ON PROTAGONIST: His hands clasped tightly around his head (Brando in Streetcar)
This is why Hollywood scripts suck.
Screenwriters who write these stores are Marxian slaves.
When a writer cowers in real life, his fictional life becomes crap.
I am a Freeper, too. But more than that, I am a Freeman
I have lived through this horror-show many times before.
Do I have to worry about my livelihood now that I have written freely on Free Republic?
The Berlin Wall came down 18 years ago.
Why do some of us still fear for the well being of our families?
What the hell was the Cold War all about, brothers?
Marxism repeats itself, firstly as tragedy, secondly as farce.
On the picket line next week, speak the 3 taboo words of Hollywood and see what happens next:
Right To Work.
God bless you both. Show courage.
Respectfully, "beachcomber"
P.S. Do I have to worry now about my livelihood?
Do I?
What’s wrong with being rich?
Of course I won’t try to negotiate as a freeman, out there on my own. I’d be crazy to, when I have a waaaay better chance of getting a good deal if I negotiate with Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and J.J. Abrams (Lost) and John Wells (E.R.) and Joel Surnow (24) on my side of the table sharing their clout with me. It’s just business, and with the showing we’ve made this week, it stands a good chance of being good business too. But of course there’s a risk that it won’t be good business—just like there’s always risk in the free market. If it were Marxian the outcome would be set by the state and guaranteed, and in this strike there is no guarantee whatsoever. Because it’s not Marxian. It’s the free market.
"Hollywood scripts suck" today because (1) TV series, drama or comedy, are written in boring, soul-crushing formats and (2) movie screenplays are written by 22 year old MBAs (the current trend is teams) from Yale.
The next time I have to go into the WGA office, I'm going to slap everyone in there wearing a baseball cap. Enough is enough for the love of GOD!
When I write on spec, I own the material and can dictate my own terms within the parameters of what the market will bear.
When I write for hire, that’s what it is: a job for hire.
I take it, from your description of attempting to negotiate ownership of the copyright, that you tried it - and was kicked out of the WGA. If so, I’m sory to hear about it.
As a conservative Catholic in Hollywood, I have been “called terrible names” and “socially ostracized” for many years. But, like Popeye, “I yam what I yam.”
Do you have to worry about your livelihood because you’ve spoken your mind on FreeRepublic? I dunno. Do I? I’ve been posting since the Clinton years, and have somehow managed to survive.
We all do what our consciences dictate...
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