UPDATE: The UA deal has been officially announced. It is, according to a WGA letter to Members, "virtually identical" to the WWP deal.
WGA is likely to announce a deal with United Artists today which is similar to the WorldWide Pants deal which allowed David Letterman and Craig Ferguson to return to the air with their writers.
Rumors are also swirling that similar deals are being discussed with Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company.
Meanwhile Dick Clark Productions, the company behind the Golden Globes telecast, has been unable to work out a deal. NBC is finally giving serious consideration to canceling the telecast. If the broadcast is canceled, the awards ceremony could still go on, only without pickets and with full attendance of the evening's nominees, including writers and actors.
DCP has maintained that they are not AMPTP signatories and would sign the same deal which was signed by WWP. WGA has offered no public explanation why they won't sign a deal with DCP. Rumors and blog comments suggest that WGA does not want to give NBC advertising revenue, and wants to deny AMPTP members the promotional aspect of the telecast.
This rationale does not make sense, however, since identical arguments could be made about the WWP deal. CBS gets advertising revenue from those broadcasts, and Alliance Members can freely send stars to Letterman and Ferguson to promote their upcoming releases.
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3 comments:
BTL Guy,
My current understanding is that they are indeed playing favorites, and can pick and choose who they want to make a deal with as it bests works for the overall strike strategy.
The current idea (I'm guessing) is to pit NBC against CBS. I'm not sure why NBC and not say anti-union Fox, but that's my understanding. So that explains the Globes and Letterman over Leno. Maybe it's because NBC is #4, "hurting", and needs the pilots. That's the only scenario I can come up with so far that makes any sense.
I can tell you I've done dozens of pilots for NBC that weren't picked up, many of which were quite good. They are certainly presentable to advertisers for potential future shows.
And just because there isn't a pilot, doesn't mean any of the proposed series can't go forward in the Fall.
(I'm still going with July settlement in prep for the Fall despite all the WWP, UA, Lions Gate, Lucas, etc. side agreements).
Anyway, that's the logic as I see it.
Nikki "I love rumors" Finke posted this morning that the Golden Globes ceremony and broadcast have been cancelled. I have been unable to confirm this, but it makes sense. No real point to holding an event about watching the stars if none of them appear. I don't think there will be any real consequences for this one, other than a bad taste in people's mouths. On the other hand, if the Oscars get crashed, there will be serious consequences for the WGA, and I hope they're ready for them when the strike is settled.
Post Guy is right. The WGA is absolutely playing favorites. If they just wanted to make a deal with anyone reasonable enough to come to the table, they would have made one with HFPA, as well as with Comedy Central. But that's not their intention. As they themselves have put it, they intend to "divide and conquer." And I would agree that the attempt to cause more problems for NBC right now is part of that idea.
There will be more side deals with smaller independent companies, depending on which ones the WGA feels can give them a bigger headline at the time. If they complete the UA deal today or this week, they'll want that - not because UA is a studio (which it isn't anymore - it's a transplanted Cruise/Wagner boutique), but because it might cause embarassment for MGM. If they can, I'm sure they'll make deals with Lionsgate, etc.
But the side deals are neither good nor bad. They don't end the strike, and they don't extend it. And they don't provide pressure because the majors still have a full stockpile of feature scripts, some of which are already in production, and others of which are in prep right now. Side deals happened many times during the 1988 WGA strike and had no effect on ending that one. They allow a few writers to go back to work on their feature scripts, but beginning a new production from scratch right now is dicey, due to the fear that SAG will walk out on July 1st.
It is important to note that SAG has not done any preparation yet for the negotiations. They don't have their negotiating committee selected, and they haven't done what one member called their "W and W's". When I asked why, I was told that they are intending to do crisis negotiating. On the other hand, I've been told that in past negotiations, SAG didn't prepare heavily then either. Instead, they would wait for the DGA deal and then tweak it to their own liking.
There will still be a few pilots that will get shot. I know Warner Bros has several scripts they want filmed, and I'm sure the other majors have a few each. But this will not be anywhere near the usual amount. And I agree with Post Guy that there will be some shows that go to series in the fall without pilots (with, say, a 6 episode order to see if they get the ratings).
Timeline right now could be July, if SAG or WGA reject the DGA contract. Or it could be earlier, if the DGA contract is acceptable to them. I still think it will take until March to finish a new DGA contract, and that the AMPTP will turn to SAG at that point to head off any problem in July. By the time they get back to the WGA, you're looking at May. And by the time the WGA signs the contract, you're looking at June, which would put us back on the job by July. Of course, this could go faster. If the DGA deal is done by February and both SAG and WGA make positive noises, there could be a WGA deal done earlier. But the WGA's attitude and behavior of late (trying to block permits???) has become so cranky that it's hard to see the AMPTP wanting to reward them for it.
And to be honest, I don't see an "overall strike strategy". I see a guild that got in way over their head, that thought they could get multinational companies to back down quickly. The showrunner on our series told us that the WGA negotiator (David Young) "is known for short strikes". I don't think they really thought they'd be out for up to 8 or 9 months when they did this. And at this point, they have no leverage and can't get the attention of the AMPTP until they do what they were told on Dec. 7. Now, if they take the DGA deal, they will be doing exactly that, since the DGA deal will not be giving them reality jurisdiction or removing the no-strike clause. I only hope they can accept that and act like adults about it. If they can't, or if the AMPTP chooses to rub their noses in it (say, by making a comment stating that the WGA's signing of the DGA pattern shows that they have indeed followed the instructions from Dec 7 and taking the 6 items from the table), then this could indeed go all the way to July. And if SAG is in a similarly cranky mood and goes out, then we could be looking at September. But I really hope it doesn't go that way.
I could be wrong, but Dick Clark Productions may have a legal option here against the WGA. The WGA is giving waivers (and that's what they are) to similar production companies. I am generally in favor of the Writers here, but I think they are going a little overboard here.
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