Posted on 11/05/2007 1:23:49 AM PST by abb
Hollywood's film and television writers went on strike early this morning after last-ditch efforts to negotiate a deal with the major studios failed Sunday.
Despite the aid of a federal mediator and back-channel talks between top writers and studio executives, the sides were ultimately too far apart to bridge the massive divide between them and avert the first writers strike in nearly two decades.
After three months of contentious negotiations, talks broke down Wednesday night when the writers' three-year contract expired. Although they made minimal headway on some issues Sunday, the parties could not come to terms on such key issues as how much writers are paid when their shows are sold online.
The question now is no longer whether or when they will strike, but how long a walkout will last and how much pain it will inflict.
Both sides are girding for what many believe will be a long and debilitating strike, potentially more disruptive than the 22-week walkout by writers in 1988, which cost the entertainment industry an estimated $500 million.
"Once it starts, it's going to get ugly," said one of the guild's strike captains Sunday.
snip
"It is unfortunate that they choose to take this irresponsible action," alliance President Nick Counter said.
The guild said that although the union had agreed to withdraw its proposal to double DVD pay, which had been a stumbling block in negotiations, producers refused to make concessions in other key areas. Among other things, producers refused to grant the union jurisdiction for most new-media writing, the guild said. They also insisted on a proposal that would allow them to reuse movies or TV shows on any platform for promotional purposes with no residual payment.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Hollywood hasn’t had an original thought in at least 30 years anyway. No great loss.
Advertisers pay billions upon that assumption. They would not spend their money for decades if brainwashing did not work.
That crap is actually written? I had always pictured fields of monkeys pounding on typewriters.
Well, at least he’s contributed: I loved that movie!
Yes, who's going to write all the *spew* that passes for entertainment? I got slapped in the face last night when I was channel surfing and happened to land on Bravo TV -- a pornographic commercial was showing, which I hope my brain can forget! These are evil people. And this wasn't at 2 in the morning or something -- this was early evening. To think that children could have been watching this spew. It's disgusting.
[If anybody knows what commercial I'm referring to, please don't post back to me what it was. I'll ask to have your post deleted. That's how much it offended me. It even bothers me that I am posting about it, thereby making it stick in my memory a little bit longer.]
Gasoline up 16 cents in the past two weeks. This news has been carried every hour all weekend and today. The writer’s strike is bigger news. Oh, and Turks are massed on the border and Rice mumbled something about Pakistan.
"Hollywood, Ca.--
“Lately I’ve caught “The Public Enemy” and “The Jazz Singer””
Me too!
Worst movie ever made. I wish I could get that 138 minutes of my life back. Absolute garbage.
Are you in LA or NY?
I’m pretty much firmly on the writer’s side. They screwed up with the DVD residuals and are simply not trying to make the same mistake again.
Letterman? Is he still on?
Hey DW, people I know who have turned off or gotten rid of the TVs say their kids are less materialistic and acquisitive. The “dumb father” image on commercials reflects the “dumb dad” image on sitcoms and movies. Our FOX affiliate has been showing reruns of two and a half men... what a piece of tripe! And the MSM slants every story and does not report half of the news. I will be glad when other news outlets have parity with the MSM and people rediscover real stories, as opposed to the crap written by the WGA.
NY.
Why do you ask?
Wow, I want royalties on the thousands of pages of technical documentation I’ve written over the last 18 years!
Negotiate it with your employer.
Under those terms, the studios are likely to treat writers with more contempt than they did James Garner when it came to residuals for The Rockford Files.
I was in a film class, and somebody was ranting about McCarthy and HUAC. I was about to say something when a girl in the front said, “Since when do Senators head House committees? He had nothing to do with the Hollywood blacklist.” God, why didn’t I marry that girl? Or, at least ask her out? :)
The myth is that there are 10,000 people who could do just as good a job. In reality, it’s artisan type work. Highly specialized and only a few peple can do it.
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