The Guild Leadership changed their minds about lifting the Strike today, however, swayed by some prominent Writers (and United Hollywood admins) who felt that the Membership would feel better if they got to vote before the Strike was lifted.
As I said on UH yesterday, when this idea was floated out there, I agree with this in principle, but only if it seems the vote might be close. If the vote was going to be a slam dunk, I argued, then all the Guild would be doing is delaying people's misery by an extra two days, just so the Writers could have a nice little feel-good moment.
The Deal is going to pass overwhelmingly.
But the Writers still want their feel-good moment. So the rest of the town will suffer for an extra couple of days. But at least the pain will be blunted by the fact that the light at the end of the tunnel is actually sunshine, and not a train...
It should also be worth noting that not lifting the Strike until after a vote is technically a violation of the conditions of the Deal. Now, I don't expect a 48-hour vote (as opposed to a 10-day vote) to derail anything -- the Studios aren't THAT crazy -- but it's worth noting nonetheless.
Finally, before anyone goes out and makes some big celebratory purchases, it's important to understand that SAG's contract expiration still looms large on the horizon.
Most people feel secure that SAG will successfully pattern their deal off of the WGA deal, but their stance in this whole affair has grown increasingly militant. The industry is definitely going to want to take their pulse before greenlighting projects that extend past June 30.
Pessimism aside, the fact that the Writers have finally got their contract is great news for all of Hollywood and great news for the Writers. When all is said and done, the strike will have been 100 days, and they will have a contract that gives them the most important thing: jurisdiction over new media.
And it's going to pass the vote.
Whenever hope sprang up in the negotiations, my constant refrain was "cross your fingers, but don't hold your breath." Now it's time to hold your breath... we're almost done.
I would especially urge any non-writers who are critical of the deal (or the path to it) to stay silent for a couple of days. If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. Don't put anything out there that could potentially derail the Deal (and thereby continue the Strike) until after it is signed.
There will be plenty of time for a Strike post-mortem AFTER the Strike is over.
That should be right around Wednesday!
13 comments:
Someone like Michael Moore gets in front of a mic and says this is a HUGE win for labor in America. This is coming from Michael Moore, folks!!
It makes me really laugh at the hardliners STILL crying about the loss and the horrible deal and the end of their WGA - what a joke. You folks who hate this contract should spend more time practicing you craft and getting some work.
TV showrunners okay'd to go back to work Monday before the 48 hours.
Hooray! Now, will MY show be one returning. They went on soft wrap and were doing very will for the network (who ordered the back 9) during the strike. I hope this will be back - I know for a fact that my showrunner on this is chomping to get back to it and has been disgruntled with the WGA for a while during this strike.
I plan to remember every last 1 of you who spewed hate @ striking writers.
I'm pretty sure lots of people are going to remember the Writers who went on strike, too.
And who, by the way, has "spewed hate" towards the writers, other than the AMPTP?
Read through all the posts and all the comments on this site. Show me where anyone was hating the Writers...
I'm fairly sure the showrunner and the top level writer/producers will be back in the office tomorrow, having the necessary meetings with network and studio folk to arrange the rest of this season, and how we will do the next season. Since this work kind of needs to happen first anyway, the additional 2 days shouldn't really hurt us. Further, I'm willing to bet real money that the writing staff is already working on outlines or drafts at home, which they can bring in to work on Wednesday.
I'll absolutely second the note that the non-writers who've been posting hardline rhetoric really need to cool it. It's one thing when the poster really is a working writer with a track record. (Say, Joss Whedon or Shawn Ryan) When those guys get pissed, they tend to have a point, and they tend to be pretty eloquent. But to have this thing armchair quarterbacked by people who have no horse in the race is simply offensive to me.
Regarding SAG, there is very much a possibility that SAG will go out on July 1, but there are some major roadblocks to that happening. Even now, SAG has not selected its negotiators, has not done its W&W's, has not voiced any kind of strategy other than to stand by the WGA reps and yell "Yeah!" It took the WGA nearly 2 years to coordinate this strike, and that was with only 11,000 members to potentially wrangle. SAG has done no outreach yet, and they're looking at 120,000 people to wrangle. If they try to go out without any organization behind them, it will be one of the quickest and most embarassing pickets in Hollywood history. My gut says they won't really go out - they're just playing chicken until the last second. Although I have been enjoying the anonymous poster on NF who seems to think that the whole business is going to shut down on March 1 due to bonding issues. I think that guy hasn't heard of this little invention called TELE-VISION. It's this cool device that's been around since the 1950's, you know, and, well... oh heck with it...
SAG won't go. Rosenberg and Bateman are even bigger clowns than the WGA NEG COM.
SAG is a divided guild thanks to Rosenberg. Dropping the AFTRA ball was a huge mistake. They lose half their voting power. I maybe wrong we will have to see.
This strike will have one legacy that will change the way strikes happen: the blogs. I am sure that this brought more people in that would otherwise have had nothing to do with it. It also created more ill feelings along with the so-called solidarity. News agencies reported blog opinions like they were true indicators of the majority though in the end the naysayers were actually a few. Nikki Finke got her 15 minutes as the Perez Hilton of labor reporting in Hollywood and the rest of the industry became even more divided.
Now onto SAG to either PLAN to negotiate early or plot to strike....
See you on location!
TranspoBill BTL 399
Now the waiting game begins. Will our show come back or will the writer's strike have costs us those jobs forever? Will the cost to us be oh so much more than the wages we lost during the last few months?
The word is starting to come out about the shows that won't come back.
it's definitely a new day, good for some, bad for others.
And, my anonymous writer friend, every penny you won with this misguided strike came out of the pockets of people who didn't vote for it, were harmed by it, and won't benefit from it's result.
To be threatened now by you is extremely repulsive.
A lot of people are being displaced. They were going to be displaced in December. Crews let go during Xmas. It happens every year.
The only thing this strike has done for me is a lost job in November and I reinforced my skills as an alcoholic.
People time to get off the sauce of striking and think about what's in store for the future.
Wow. Josh Olson is an asshole. I mean, I kinda knew he was an asshole, but now I KNOW he's an asshole. His latest rant on Seriocity is proof positive. He's an asshole. And I love that he describes himself as a "top earner" and his work as "work that matters" and lets everyone know he is "paid handsomely". Ok. Whatever, dude. I'm happy you were nominated for an Oscar for "A History of Violence". All I can say is .. must have been a slow year for quality material. And I'm sure the latest Batman will be quality writing. Probably right up there with "Titanic" as best dialog ever uttered on the silver screen.
We get it. You don't like Craig Mazin. I'm amused by the fact that Josh feels the need to spend so much time, energy and profanity peppered blog posts bemoaning Mazin, when Mazin barely acknowledges Olson's existence. Who's the bigger man?
And, yes, it appears to all boil down to a dick-measuring contest .. at least in Olson's eyes.
Dude. Let it go. Mazin doesn't matter and neither do you.
"I plan to remember every last 1 of you who spewed hate @ striking writers."
Hey, who are you? I need to know so I can spit in your latte.
I always knew writers were arrogant. Now I know they are bastards.
I wouldn't worry too much about Josh Olson. He clearly has a lot of demons. Either that, or he's really learned how to imitate Harlan Ellison to a level I hadn't considered. Olson has been toxic to many of his own fellow WGA members, who tired as quickly as everyone else of the constant attacks. He still has not adequately explained his behavior regarding the Tyler Durden email, which cast a distinct shadow on his perch.
That said, A History of Violence is actually a very good script, and was correctly nominated for an Oscar. Don't know about anything else he's done.
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