The Hollywood Reporter writes that ICM has sent several lit agents home, though they get strike pay and will come back when the strike is over. So far, no assistants at the majors have been laid off.
Assistants and staffers at many smaller agencies, however, have been let go and some of those are leaving the business for good.
Meanwhile Warner Brothers has notified many of its staffers and facilities employees that they may be next.
ABC Nightly News covered one casualty on its nationwide broadcast the other night - a craft service person with 20 years' experience who has already lost over $20,000 and has no real options right now.
I'm sure there are many who have lost much more.
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And yet with all of these stories the WGA and to fight on with prediction of the strike going into Summer being OK with them.
They have residuals and strike funds and of course their "rainy day money".
Meanwhile the rest of us are losing their homes as this turd of a strike grinds on. Is the DGA in talks? When will they meet?
When and if I finally get back to work don't tell me that you are a writer and need a ride to set - sorry, you'll have to walk pal....
The negotiators are having informal phone conferences, but there have been no formal meetings yet. The DGA group is ready to start, but the conditions haven't been set yet. I had thought they would be at the table this Monday, but they're not quite there yet.
And in fairness, while many of the writers have residuals to fall back on, there are many others on the lower rungs who are now realizing that they have to get another job until this is over, and are beginning to comment about it.
I agree that it is really unfortunate to see both sides posturing about how much they don't care if the strike goes on through the summer. That's scary for everybody who's stuck in the middle of this thing.
I don't think the WGA understand that if this actually goes that far, there would be much more serious consequences for them. The AMPTP isn't trying to break them at this point - but after another 5 months, that will change.
"And in fairness, while many of the writers have residuals to fall back on, there are many others on the lower rungs who are now realizing that they have to get another job until this is over, and are beginning to comment about it."
Yeah, but at least the writers will get a pay off when a deal is reached. We, on the other hand, will never, ever recoup the wages that we have lost.
I hate the writers and the AMPTP equally.
Not all the WGA members will be getting that payoff. Most of those lower level members will simply lose wages like the rest of us. And the business climate we come back to will likely have less jobs for them as well as for us.
I agree that both the WGA and the AMPTP are responsible for this mess. I wish that both sides could have gone about this negotiation with less belligerence.
But in the end, the moguls will still have their jobs and their extensive incomes, and the writers and many of the crew will have suffered unrecoverable losses.
And in the aftermath of an 8 or 9 month strike, not only will there be an upheaval within the WGA as they toss out Verrone and David Young, but I tend to doubt that you'll see the louder and angrier public voices getting any more scripting work in Hollywood. Those are the consequences of these actions. It's unfortunate and sad, but I agree that it doesn't equal the thousands of crew people who are losing their homes now, and who will be forced out of the business by summer.
I wish they could have seen the wisdom of dumping Verrone and Young sooner rather than later.
From the beginning they went apeshit if you even questioned their strategy or their leadership. Blind followers.
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