2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike

By Hurmoth
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2007 Hollywood Strike  

282 members have voted

  1. 1. Who do you support in the strike?

    • The AMPTP
      35
    • The WGA
      140
    • Undecided/Don't Care
      107

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Grand Master

Hurmoth

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So a little recap of what shows might or will be effected in the near future...

  • Desperate Housewives - Will stop production after Wednesday because they have no more scripts
  • Back to You - Will not return from a planned hiatus
  • The New Adventures of Old Christine - Stopped production already
  • Til Death, Rules of Engagement, Two and a Half Men, & The Big Bang Theory will all stop production shortly
  • Lost - Expected to have eight of 16 episodes prepared, likely to premiere Feb. 8, 2008
  • The Office - One unproduced Office script that's ready to go
  • The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Late Show With David Letterman, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson - Immediate reruns beginning November 5, 2007
  • Smallville - 15 scripts written, studio expected to produce all
  • 24 - Eight episodes of 24 will be completed
  • Everybody Hates Chris - All 22 episodes of season completed, done with production for season
  • Friday Night Lights - 15 episodes
  • The Shield - All 13 episodes of season six (the final season) will be completed
  • Scrubs - 12 of 18 ordered episodes completed. Series Finale episode could possibly not be produced or broadcast, if this was to happen, series creator Bill Lawrence will try and release a straight-to-DVD final episode.
  • 30 Rock - 9 Episodes Fully Completed; Episode 10 due to be filmed the week that the strike began, it is doubtful that episode 10 will be filmed on schedule due to Star/Writer/Executive Producer of the show, Tina Fey, taking to the picket lines outside of the real-life "30 Rock".
  • Pushing Daisies - The final draft of the ninth episode was turned in by creator Bryan Fuller before midnight on November 4, 2007. As of November 6, 2007, the eighth episode is currently filming. Executive producer Dan Jinks expects to keep the show in production until Thanksgiving.

...more to come as I find the information out :)

Grand Master

redfish

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This won't last long. Big studios aren't going to watch their wallets empty.

But they're still going to get advertisment revenue from re-runs. And viewers will still tune in just like they do in the summer; it will just be like a long summer of re-runs.

I hope this goes on, and at some point people realize, nobody cares that much.

I'm sure you all like following certain TV shows, but I'm sure you all don't value it that much either.

Grand Master

Hurmoth

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The TV writers’ strike will enter its third day, Wednesday, without any new talks scheduled between the scribes and producers.

The 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America were still off the job Tuesday, after declaring a strike Monday, Nov. 5, following failed negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The last negotiating session, with a federal mediator present, was Sunday night in California.

The WGA East is picketing at different sites each day this week in New York City. On Wednesday, the writers will be at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan, and are scheduled to move to Time Warner Studios/Time Warner Center on Thursday and News Corp.’s headquarters Friday.

On Tuesday its members were at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens. On Monday, the first day of the strike, they had been manning picket lines at Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, where NBC has offices and studios.

In California on Tuesday, the WGA West picketed 14 sites, including various studios and media-company offices, in the Los Angeles area.

So far, two Democratic presidential candidates have put out statements in support of the WGA: Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John Edwards.

"The striking Writers Guild members are fighting an important battle to protect their creative rights,” Edwards said. “These writers deserve to be compensated fairly for their work, and I commend their courage in standing up to big media conglomerates. As someone who has walked picket lines with workers all across America and as a strong believer in collective bargaining, I hope that both sides are able to quickly reach a just settlement."

As a result of the strike, late-night shows such as Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report have been forced to go into reruns this week.

The WGA and AMPTP can’t come to terms on compensation for the use on content on new-media platforms, or on whether DVD residuals should be increased.

Source: No New Talks Set In TV Writers’ Strike

Grand Master

Hurmoth

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and what about us loyal fans and their fan base do the writers care about us?

Oh my! What is with some of you? This is their livelihood we're talking about. Who cares about us right now! Our lives will go on, but out of the 12,000 members most don't make $30,000 a year, why can't these writers try to better themselves? They haven't gone on strike since 1988, they deserve this right now. Why do the companies have to be so greedy?

Grand Master

Doli

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Those will continue as long as they're not scripted and if they're scripted, then they're not reality.

I rember a few weeks ago TMZ's TV show did a story of one of their "reality" shows, showed a girl being droped off at LAX international then 15 mins came out in diffrent clothes acting like she just arrived. Then another shot of three women walking from a club only to hear the camera man say "lets do that shot again".

MTV... ha

Grand Master

Rappy Veteran

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I rember a few weeks ago TMZ's TV show did a story of one of their "reality" shows, showed a girl being droped off at LAX international then 15 mins came out in diffrent clothes acting like she just arrived. Then another shot of three women walking from a club only to hear the camera man say "lets do that shot again".

MTV... ha

There is your 2008 schedule!

Rising Star

fkid

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Oh my! What is with some of you? This is their livelihood we're talking about. Who cares about us right now! Our lives will go on, but out of the 12,000 members most don't make $30,000 a year, why can't these writers try to better themselves? They haven't gone on strike since 1988, they deserve this right now. Why do the companies have to be so greedy?

You make it sound like they should be awarded for not going on strike for x number of years. In a way, that sounds like union blackmail. How does that justify increases in wages and other benefits? If a certain wage was not fair, individual employees should seek higher wages through their own means. Creating a club where every writer is automatically included may be efficient, but it's an unfair, bullish method. It also stands directly opposed to free-market capitalism that is so widely accepted and cherished in America.

Unfortunately, increasing employee wages has proven to be a very poor method of motivation. Thus, profits and quality of work does not increase, while total costs increase. No rational business would follow this path freely. Of course, a strike like this may force them to increase wages very slightly, but they will attempt to negotiate about other benefits and improvements aside from monetary increases. Again, this union will most likely fail to negotiate rationally or agree on fair terms for a lengthy period of time, until they are simply forced to lower their expectations and finally go back to work because they really start to need $$$. Regardless of what happens, they have the most immediate ability to determine how long this bargaining process will take.

Something else to notice: as with most strikes, communication to the public for reasons and arguments in favour of the union has been ambigious and varied. No press conference, no proper media statements. No proper leadership. However, although the burden falls more greatly on the striking union, neither side has communicated well thus far.

Based on what I've read and heard, the writer's guild should definitely have a better argument than we deserve higher wages because we say we do. This is often a major flaw in striking initiatives. Individual selfishness thrives in ignorance of total welfare and business profits, not to mention real term wealth. Having a higher number in your chequing account does not automatically make you better off. Based on the size of the industry, if the sort of hefty increase of wages that unions generally seek was to be agreed on, prices of many good and services would increase in parallel, although probably with variation and latency throughout different market segments. That means the US dollar would fall even further and nobody would have any more wealth in real terms.

If the argument they make is that they deserve higher wages, they have to clearly explain why. Is it because the producing companies and employess have much higher wages than writer's? If that is true, what is the evidence? Moreover, should there be a parity between production company total wages and writing employee total wages? It seems that logically, all that is required to write a script is time and talent (and writing tools). Producing a movie takes a lot more than that. Which indicates that total wage disparity is relatively fair between production and writing employees. Furthermore, even if the production companies had such high profit margins that they should be handing out higher wage contracts to writers and decreasing wages for some production employees, why should consumers and customers suffer in the interim of the strike? Is it fair to damage the film and television industry in an attempt to create more fair wage distribution in production and writing contracts? These are difficult questions to answer. However, without some answers, this strike deserves absolutely no support and their arguments are thin and shallow.

As a member of the general public, you have to be aware that as a result of reasonable non-satiation, no average employee would rationally not vote for wage increases. Generally, unions help organize and attempt to justify (although often failing or using false arguments) this non-satiety through a strike like this.

<extreme personal opinion starts> Based on the ocean of sh*t that has plagued the television and film mediums in recent years, it's very difficult to be sympathetic to the writer's guild. Maybe that's why most of the 12,000 employees receive 30K or less. They simply deserve it. <extreme personal opinion ends>

Edited by illz55
Grand Master

Hurmoth

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^ It doesn't matter if the majority of the stuff coming out of Hollywood is "****". There are still people watching it and the creators still deserve to get paid. If the "fans" really had a problem with the content coming out of Hollywood they'd stop going to see the stuff.

I don't think you understand what's at stake here. They're not asking for more money for their work, they're asking what is due to them. "New media" residuals is going straight to the studios bottom line, not to the creators of the content, the actors, or even the directors. You don't get it. Most of the writers don't make a lot of money on writing, very few actually make a living off of writing, out of the 12,000 members of the WGA.

On top of that, a lot of the "****" that comes out of Hollywood, a lot of times it is the studios who get that put together. Some producer has an idea and they hire a writer to write and then the producer has him change it to "****". You can't always blame the writer for that sort of stuff, the director has a lot of leeway to change content while filming, so there's a long process from penning a script to seeing it in the theaters or on TV where a lot of stuff can change.

But that still isn't the point, the point is when someone goes and buys something from iTunes or Amazon's Unbox they are pay directly to the studios bottomline. When you go to NBC's website to watch a missed episode of Heroes, there's ads and the studio is the one getting the money, not the writers, directors or actors. They deserve the money that's owed to them!

EDIT: Also, most of the writers that make the millions (which is an extremely small amount) are the ones IMO that write pure crap.

Grand Master

Hurmoth

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Canadian writers told to down pens on U.S. work

The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) is telling its members not to accept work from U.S. producers looking to replace striking American writers.

"Their fight is our fight," the WGC said in a notice to its members. The notice went on to explain union rules on how the strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers effects WGC members. The strike in the United States mainly revolves around the amount of payment writers receive for sales of films and TV shows on DVD and other types of digital distribution. The Canadian guild said that "the issues the WGA is addressing will affect every professional artist seeking compensation for their work in the digital age."

Under Canadian rules, writers who belong to both the Canadian and American guilds and who live in the U.S. have to abide by the American strike rules. Dual members of both unions who reside in Canada can work for Canadian productions, but a WGC member in Canada cannot accept work from U.S. producers.

A spokesman for the WGC noted that U.S. productions shooting on location in Canada, such as the TV series Battlestar Galactica, tend to have American writers. So those productions will be affected.

Representatives of the WGC argued that negotiators for the producers in Los Angeles "had complete disregard for our colleagues' bargaining issues" and that, "as a sister guild and fellow member of the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds, we will support the [WGA] during its strike to the fullest extent possible."

In the U.S. yesterday, the production of three sitcoms was halted because of the strike, networks said. Back to You, starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, will not return from a planned hiatus today, said Chris Alexander, a spokesman for 20th Century Fox Television. In addition, the sitcoms 'Til Death, which airs on Fox, and Rules of Engagement, on CBS, will also stop production immediately because of the strike. The shows are typically written the same week they are filmed, with jokes being sharpened by writers even on the day of production.

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ertainment/home

Grand Master

Hurmoth

Posted
  • Author
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So a little recap of what shows might or will be effected in the near future...
  • Desperate Housewives - Will stop production after Wednesday because they have no more scripts
  • Back to You - Will not return from a planned hiatus
  • The New Adventures of Old Christine - Stopped production already
  • Til Death, Rules of Engagement, Two and a Half Men, & The Big Bang Theory will all stop production shortly
  • Lost - Expected to have eight of 16 episodes prepared, likely to premiere Feb. 8, 2008
  • The Office - One unproduced Office script that's ready to go
  • The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Late Show With David Letterman, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson - Immediate reruns beginning November 5, 2007
  • Smallville - 15 scripts written, studio expected to produce all
  • 24 - Eight episodes of 24 will be completed
  • Everybody Hates Chris - All 22 episodes of season completed, done with production for season
  • Friday Night Lights - 15 episodes
  • The Shield - All 13 episodes of season six (the final season) will be completed
  • Scrubs - 12 of 18 ordered episodes completed. Series Finale episode could possibly not be produced or broadcast, if this was to happen, series creator Bill Lawrence will try and release a straight-to-DVD final episode.
  • 30 Rock - 9 Episodes Fully Completed; Episode 10 due to be filmed the week that the strike began, it is doubtful that episode 10 will be filmed on schedule due to Star/Writer/Executive Producer of the show, Tina Fey, taking to the picket lines outside of the real-life "30 Rock".
  • Pushing Daisies - The final draft of the ninth episode was turned in by creator Bryan Fuller before midnight on November 4, 2007. As of November 6, 2007, the eighth episode is currently filming. Executive producer Dan Jinks expects to keep the show in production until Thanksgiving.

...more to come as I find the information out :)

Adding...

  • Boston Legal - 14 or 15 episodes will be completed.
  • Cavemen - 12 of 13 episodes have been completed.
  • Heroes - New scenes were shot for episode eleven that enabled it to function as a season finale, rather than just the conclusion to 'Volume 2' and a mid-season finale as was originally intended by the producers. Additional episodes of 'Volume 3' were in the can before the strike began.

Grand Master

Hurmoth

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Stephen Colbert is the biggest cop out of them all... I don't see Big Pappa Bear Bill O'Reilly shutting down The Factor because his writers left. Colbert could go try going funny on real news and see how that works out for him.

There's a little difference there though. O'Reilly is opinion news (which the writers aren't under the same union) and Colbert is a comedian and his writers do work for the WGA. Most comedians now days don't write their own stuff. Sad, but true.

Grand Master

Rappy Veteran

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  • Veteran
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There's a little difference there though. O'Reilly is opinion news (which the writers aren't under the same union) and Colbert is a comedian and his writers do work for the WGA. Most comedians now days don't write their own stuff. Sad, but true.

Yeah I saw Leno on the news giving out Donuts and admitting he doesn't write his own stuff.

Grand Master

raskren

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Posted
and what about us loyal fans and their fan base do the writers care about us?

Sure, they "care" about you. But not enough to work for free.

Would you work for me (for no money) just because you cared about me? If so, you're hired!

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