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January 07, 2008

Evil Genius Strikes Again

How will NBC find a way to make their money out of The Golden Globes? Turn it into a news event the WGA has no basis to strike, as they are not striking news shows.

It really is an evil stroke of genius.

And who will pay for the shortfall? The HFPA, of course.

And as HFPA pays, so do the charities it supports. (As well as their overfed members... who will be thrown a few extra fish by the studios in the next year as make-up sex.)

And who escapes the clutches of the WGA's efforts? GE/NBC/Universal.

Yes, they will not make as many gross dollars on the event. But they will be profitable - maybe more profitable, though it is hard to know what the ratings will be like for their packages - with significantly lowered expenses and likely less than $1 million going to HFPA/Dick Clark (even with DC Prod building out a clip show).

Another interesting part of the potential for evil is the degree of control NBC and their Access Hollywood franchise will exert on the party scene. Will they be allowed to block the higher rated Paramount product, Entertainment Tonight, from equal access as a part of this deal? After all, a big part of the loss of The Globes for NBC was the weeks’ worth of footage gathered that night for use up until Oscar. Does NBC actually get a step UP for all this paranoia?

Nikki Finke gossiped, "The nominees -- actors, directors, writers, producers, etc -- will have a Red Carpet event outside the Beverly Hilton." No sign of that in the plans announced by NBC... and with good reason. Any event like that could well be picketed and, again, shut down.

But this too is an issue... how much access will everyone else get, as opposed to NBC/Access Hollywood?

AGAIN... this is why a union strike should behave like a union strike. It's not a strategic game for public consumption. When NBC made its hardball claim on Friday - which was obviously a lot more pliable than they were allowing the public to think – successfully pushing WGA and SAG to overcommit... which gave NBC, et al, the map of the battlefield... which they have now strategically struck back on.

Over the weekend, SAG's Alan Rosenberg found himself forced to back off the threat to ask SAG members not to attend BFCA's Critics' Choice Awards, which were never being picketed. The awards go live tonight without being weighed down by either Guild suggesting talent not attend... because talent pushed back.

And now, The Globes will go on with The Most Party-Like Party Award Show Ever, without the long intros. It's just stars partying, darn it!

And Leno is still doing monologues.

And tonight, we'll see what Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert come up with.

And the negotiating asshole that is the AMPTP is still not at the bargaining table.

And today's big event... signing UA to a non-binding temporary agreement to pay residuals that will never be paid under this contract unless the strike is still going on at this time next year? The "B" story.

Here's a fresh idea... how about the union gets back to talking about the issues instead of trying to be clever, splitting hairs, and picking and choosing when they are on strike and when they aren't? Instead of Woody Allen, etc being speechless, how about they go out on the stump to these talk shows to discuss the reasonable demands of the union for a segment before doing a "fun" segment? How about breaking it all down to bite sized chunks of issue that people can consume and the great Hollywood United machine can push hard?

There will always be wins and losses in these situations. But all this "we won," followed by, "We got fucked again" cannot be good for anyone.

It is time to make a deal with the talk show guys about writing for themselves and making it official, instead of getting smacked in the face every time Leno or O'Brien tells a joke. And move along. Give The Oscars their waiver they haven't even applied for, but only for the show... and shut down the red carpet with the threat of picketing... and move along.

So long as this strike is on, the WGA has to understand that they are not in charge and will never be in charge. But they can get some nice wins. They have to be careful and pick the right spots. And they have to let the talent that is supportive, but not thrilled about too much self-sacrifice - actors and publicists included - have some things they want, in order to seem reasonable about the things WGA wants to shut down.

Posted by poland at January 7, 2008 02:18 PM

Comments

I think I'm misunderstanding something about your strike stance. You seem to be saying just about everywhere that the WGA should not pick and choose what they strike and what they grant waivers to. How come you're saying the Oscars should get a waiver here? Isn't that more picking and choosing? Or are you saying *all* awards shows should be waived?

For the most part, I think your strike coverage is right on. The WGA has an important cause, and if I ran the AMPTP, they'd already have what they're asking for. But the strategic mistakes they've been making are really piling up.

Then again, I realize it's easy for me to criticize. I've got nothing at stake, and I'll never get slammed if my own strategic analysis is wrong.

Posted by: Sam [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 9, 2008 07:46 AM

The Guild has already created the inequities. So now, it's clean up.

I don't think there is anything to gain from going to war with AMPAS... and a ton to lose.

Now, I can see the POV of the WGA member who feels that things are going to go horribly wrong anyway, so let's burn down the town. I don't agree with it... but I can respect the logic.

What I have a problem with is the inconsistency. So they shut down The Globes, but not BFCA or People's Choice (which always had a lot of taped acceptances) and not SAG or Indie Spirits... so the idea is that they only want to fuck with the places they can make the biggest mess?

And the argument that NBC is more of an enemy is just bullshit. The ENTIRE AMPTP is the enemy until a deal is done.

I would have had no problem with picketing the Oscars if they just plain picketed everything. But instead of being a labor action, this has turned personal and petty... and sadly, more so on the writers side than the studios. The studios are evil, but they are consistently so. You don't see them targetting writers who are "too extreme," or making strategic choices based on what can most damage the WGA. Doesn't make them right, but it does make it a more honest game.

My #1 thought now is that WGA and SAG find a way to negotiate certain clauses in tandem, right now. If AMPTP could take, for instance, the internet thing off the table by settling it for both guilds, it would make everything else flow much more easily.

I know this would be very, very unusual and perhaps even illegal by some rule or another. But the goal is to end this strike and to avoid a SAG strike... to everyone's benefit. And SAG sitting out there is a big barrier to a WGA deal, rightly or wrongly.

Posted by: David Poland [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 9, 2008 12:31 PM

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