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December 15, 2007
The Beginning Of The End?
I have been sitting on an entry that I wrote on Tuesday… I will print it here now…
I reluctantly read Variety's story, Awards Show Brace For Strike," on the principle of "been there, done that."
But the note, which might have escaped my notice before, about WGA giving the SAG Awards a waiver for writing and pickets really hit me like a ton of bricks.
Put down your pens!!!
It's so basic... either you are going to let all the awards shows pass... or not! Giving your pals a pass is so profoundly wrongheaded I can't believe that so many smart people are doing something so dumb!
Let me understand... it's ok for WGA members to write the very best show they can and garner a ton of attention so Time-Warner can make the maximum amount of money for this TNT program? Can't wait to watch the show streamed on the internet for free!!!
Maybe the WGA shouild give a waiver to The Daily Show and Late Night with David Letterman. The guys fronting those shows have been mensches. I'm sure they'll do a strike segment bashing the AMPTP each night in exchange.
Do you think there is a little ambivalence out there now about the strike? How about when WGA causes a hassle at BFCA, then HFPA, then gives SAG a free ride? Do you think the actors involved are going to feel happy about being challenged to cross a picket line to receive an award from a show that isn't employing writers against the strike rules?
And let me put my money where my mouth is.
If WGA is picketing the Critics' Choice Awards with the intent of forcing people to cross a picket line to attend an award show – as opposed to just putting on a show for the cameras - I will not cross.
I won’t be happy. It’s shitty for business. It’s not terribly helpful to the BFCA, of which I am a member. And I really want to be part of honoring the many fine films, the people who are in them, and the people who crafted them.
Of course, I think it is about as reasonable for the WGA to picket in front of the Critics’ Choice Awards as it would post a picketer in front of my door to keep me from crossing the line to get the DVDs that were sent to me so I cold vote for the awards.
What kept me from publishing this piece is that I really wanted to consider what I was saying. Was I really prepared to walk away from the Critics' Choice Awards, amongst others, if there was a WGA picket line?
In the days since, I have asked questions and considered my position. And the answer is, "yes." I will not cross a seriously intended picket line - not just a protest scene for the cameras - just to go to an awards show... any awards show.
It lowers the bar a bit that BFCA does not expect to be picketed, being that it is on a non-union network, in a non-union auditorium, with no writers being hired to work on the show.
But my greatest concern, then as now, is the idea that WGA is undercutting its effort by picking and choosing who can give out awards without the talent being challenged. This is not a social action, it is a labor action.
And now, what inspired me to grab the earlier piece and post it today is the rumor – you never know with Nikki – that WGA is seriously considering giving Letterman a waiver to go back to work with his writing crew. The bullshit twist is that the waiver is for Worldwide Pants, not CBS.
WHAT?!?!?!
I was kidding!!!
You cannot start making choices about who is being struck and who is not! That is the beginning of the end of a union. When “no” means “sometimes,” you’re ability to hold the line is finished. “Under the bra but over the panties” may work – for a couple of weeks – in the backseat of a car, but not in a union battle.
But I guess I have forgotten that pivotal moment in Barbara Kopple’s Oscar-winning doc, American Dream, where the union decides that Hormel can makes round sausage patties, but not square ones or bacon or hot dogs, because the foreman of the round sausage patty section was on their side.
Oy!
This comes hot on the heels of the rather desperate – and I don’t care if the AMPTP has used the word in its effort to spin the situation – idea of separately negotiating with each studio/network/producer.
Let me get this right… the union that has been screaming that the AMPTP is union-busting (absurd on its face… WGA and the other talent unions are critical to stability in this industry now… AMPTP just wants to molest the writers, not bust their yoke) is trying to guild-bust? And because they know that there are some more militant studio execs and more reasonable studio execs, they really think that The Money in this town is going to crack? Does the WGA realize that there are FOUR major television networks and they control the flow of product with massive marketing and that none of those four is Warners, where the most militant exec is said to be? The integration of these four companies with four studios may be a monopoly in this industry – one that serves the writers rather well, all things considered, since no matter how shitty the deal, it is the writers’ interest for profit to be the #1 motive of producers and distributors – makes such a rift all but impossible.
And then there is this…
2007 in Hollywood is over.
Done.
There will be no substantive negotiations before January 2 unless the union shuts down the airports in all the high end resort towns on the planet.
Maybe all these maneuvers are being made to keep the membership from revolting… the next two weeks may be the most divisive non-bloody period in the middle of a strike in the history of movie industry unions. So the best the union can really do is to try litigation, try dividing the studios, try threatening award season… anything to prove that they are taking action and not just sitting, waiting for The Bosses to “graciously” allow them to start talking again.
In any case… most of these moves seem dangerously vague and almost built to create dissention in the ranks.
My position hasn’t changed. I wish they had held back in striking until March or so, hopefully making steps towards not striking in the meanwhile, building the SAG alliance further, and making the case for public opinion much as they have in the last 6 weeks… but before being on strike.
That said, once in the strike, I am a hard liner. It’s not about feelings or respect… it’s about money. And if the union feels forced to go out, the upside has to be at least as big as the pain of a strike… more than they were asking for 6 weeks ago. Or what’s the point?
Please… make these bad ideas stop!
Posted by poland at December 15, 2007 04:55 PM
Comments
Heat; that's the best post you have written about the strike. I do agree that their ideas are stupid. However; they cannot piss off SAG. Thus putting themselves in a vicarious position.
They also could have waited til March. They could have waited. Yet... you always forget one thing and it's a big thing: THIS IS THE ERA OF TV.
Unless the people are totally stupid and back the producers. The moment they lose their shows. The moment they do not have anything more to watch but Gladiators and Idol. This will be the moment the strike ends.
Posted by: IOIOIOI ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 15, 2007 08:59 PM
>>>>Thus putting themselves in a vicarious position.
WTF? Well at least we know that you're not a WGA member.
The word you want there is precarious not vicarious. Ask Santa to bring you a dictionary for Christmas this year, IO.
Posted by: grandcosmo at December 15, 2007 10:31 PM
i think when it comes to television, people are sheep ..... sure, they'll miss 'their' shows but they won't turn off their sets .... and they'll just miss their shows until they get used to the crappy reality shows they're handed (and if the strike lasted, say, two years, they'd miss their favorite crappy reality show when scripted stuff came back).....
and, btw... judging from the reality pilots that have been pouring in my office over the past week, 'crappy' is a very kind word......
Posted by: scooterzz at December 15, 2007 10:33 PM
Has IOIOIOI ever given the meaning behind his "Heat" nickname for David? If not, will he do so now?
Posted by: Ju-osh at December 16, 2007 10:58 AM
Grandcosmo; it's a freakin type. You may or may not be a right, but you are a dickhole. You can go crawl back into your hole now, troll. You really think that you can play with me? Really? Ha.
Scoot; this is the era of TV. It's not the era of film. People will be pissed when their shows do not come back. Seriously, wake-up to the world you are living in. It would be appreciated by all of the people who spend tens of thousands of hours of their lives loving TV and loathing crappy reality shows on it's way to replacing shows that are 9 out of 10 times better than any film that has come out over the last 5 years.
Finally Ju, Heat has a tendency to rock his shirt open. While he also hails from Miami. So... Miami... Heat... and there you have the explanation for his nickname. Due to his love of rocking his shirt open, and showing the world his manly chest hair.
Posted by: IOIOIOI at December 16, 2007 02:10 PM
Good lord; the typos above are horrible. It is the internet. These things happen :D!
Posted by: IOIOIOI at December 16, 2007 02:12 PM
Well I agree with Heat on this one. From what I see the WGA is cutting off its nose to spite its face now. Kneecapping the industry during the holidays is wrongheaded enough, but making a play for the ghetto of reality TV is akin to the Corleone family getting into narcotics. Believe me, I work in reality. It has nothing to do with the integrity of writing and writers. We don't create weird people, we cast them.
And yes, giving ANY production a get out of jail free card would be a declaration of defeat.
Posted by: Crow T Robot at December 16, 2007 03:15 PM
io -- i'm pretty much in touch with the world in which i live... and, as a twenty year vet of the tca (and i'm sure, in your infinite wisdom, you're aware of what that entails) i think i have a handle on what hard-core tv watchers go through...
i do agree with dp and crow that a 'get out of jail free card' is a really bad move....
Posted by: scooterzz at December 16, 2007 10:58 PM
io --- i'm pretty much in touch with the world in which i live....and, as a twenty year vet of the t.c.a., i think i have a handle on what hard-core t.v. watchers go through..... so i stand by my post....
i do agree with dp and crow that a 'get out of jail free' card for anyone is a huge mistake....
Posted by: scooterzz at December 16, 2007 11:03 PM
grrrr....sorry 'bout the double-double
Posted by: scooterzz at December 16, 2007 11:05 PM
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