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« WGA Post-Strike Watch: News About Returning Shows
Grey's Star: Strike "Needs to Stop; Producers Need to Have a Heart"
T.R. Knight by Lester Cohen/WireImage.com
The last new pre-strike episode of Grey's Anatomy airs this Thursday and cast member T.R. Knight just wants to go back to work. "It's gone on too long," Knight said at the Monday premiere of Grey's mate Katherine Heigl's 27 Dresses. "It needs to stop. [The producers] need to have a heart."
Knight voiced concerns for the crew and others involved in the production whose salaries are no match for the actors, noting, "There are a lot of children that are being affected by the strike." Stressing how fortunate he feels to have this job, he said, "Most actors aren't as lucky as we are to get this kind of job. Most writers are living on their residuals, and they have families."
Calling the past two and a half months "dark times for the entertainment industry... and it's getting worse," Knight offered up an idea that could apply pressure to the networks and production companies. "People should write into the advertisers and tell them that they won't buy their products until the strike stops. I don't know what else to do besides being vocal about it." — Bekah Wright
More strike coverage:
• NBC Refunds Golden Coin to Globes Sponsors
• Tom Cruise Strikes a Deal with WGA
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Jan 8, 2008 11:42 AM
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Yet another reason to love T.R. Knight.  It's stars like him that we need to speak out about this right now. Nobody want this strike to continue, everyone wants a fair way out of this.
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Jan 8, 2008 12:56 PM
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JJ,
You are partly right! Everyone wants a fair way out of this. Everyone needs to give and take. When I said everyone, I mean both sides, not just the producers or the writers!
Either side should not point finger at each other. Sit down and act like an adult, and come up with a workable solution. If there is a God, there is a way!
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Jan 8, 2008 1:09 PM
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Exactly, I agree. Once both sides can manage to sit down and agree to something fair to both, this thing will finally be over. Of course, things that seem so simple, usually aren't, unfortunately. :/
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Jan 8, 2008 1:48 PM
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Comeon enough is enough already. This strike is gone on enough and needs to be resolved. I am so sick of reruns when I could be watching the new episodes I have been waiting all summer to see. I feel the producers are greedy and don't want to share what is fair with the writers.
Get with it. The late night guys did.
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Jan 8, 2008 1:58 PM
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Its about time someone spoke up. Good for you TR Knight maybe more celebs will wake up. And if this goes on I think there is going to be a revolt. How would you like to be out of work for 2 or 3 years. That is what this union is doing making a everyone do there bidding. They will find out that the networks can work without award shows. Have a press conference give out the awards and leave.
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Jan 8, 2008 2:28 PM
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Aucin05
If this the same attitude that the WGA and its negotiators have bringing to the negotiation, there will be no solution.
Both sides have to put aside their assumptions and emotional baggages about the other sides so that they can reason and come up with a workable solution for both sides. If either side think that the other side is going to take advantage of them, the negotiation will go nowhere. And this is exactly
what is going on right now!
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Jan 8, 2008 2:53 PM
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If either side think that the other side is going to take advantage of them, the negotiation will go nowhere. And this is exactly
what is going on right now!
So you, John_c11, know what's going on? Not. You have been one who consistently doesn't have a clue what's going on. The negotiations are going nowhere because one side is so determined to take advantage (THE AMPTP, in case you need to be told) that they aren't even willing to go to the negotiations. Even if the WGA is as dogmatic as you say (and once again you show your ignorance) in the attitudes they bring to the table, it doesn't matter because there is no table as long as the AMPTP won't come sit at it.
But every day, there are you, John, spouting the company line that it's the writers who are the bad guys... and what about the absentee AMPTP? Oh John must love being their dupe.
By the way, John, have you even looked at what's going on with the DGA talks with the AMPTP? Granted, the DGA isn't as publicly outspoken because they aren't on strike yet, but apparently their TALKS have led to their conclusions not to schedule negotiations yet (they have 6 months until their contract runs out and they have to vote what to do) -- why? Because the DGA and AMPTP are TOO FAR APART on guess what? NEW MEDIA. Guess the DGA, like the WGA, refuse to take no residuals either.
So when, John, are you going to start haranguing the DGA as bad guys too? Meanies to those perfect AMPTP heroes of yours who should have the right to keep everything to themselves, even though they do nothing to create it. How dare they want a deal that is probably very similar to what the WGA is asking for!
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Jan 8, 2008 3:23 PM
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For those of you who are constantly trashing the WGA and the striking writers (or at least those of you who aren't shills for the AMPTP), here's a quote from yesterday's Variety:
No talks yet for DGA, AMPTP
Sides remain too far apart on key issues
By DAVE MCNARY
Despite much buzz in the blogosphere, the DGA is still far from reaching the bargaining table with studios and producers.
Though neither side will confirm details, recent informal talks have not yielded enough progress to justify setting an official date for the start of formal negotiations. Insiders indicate the two sides remain too far apart on key issues to go forward.
"They're not yet within shouting distance," one said.
The DGA has indicated that its proposal will focus heavily on new-media compensation issues -- one of the key areas in which the WGA-AMPTP negotiations derailed on Dec. 7.
There is also a Variety article which mentions specifically a sticking point being New Media, I just don't have the time to find it as well. But this should give you guys a clue as to what is going on.
This is an industry wide issue, not just a writers' issue.
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Jan 8, 2008 3:37 PM
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TR is exactly right on this one.
If viewers really want this thing to end, it will definitely help if they write to the studios and parent companies.
Stop buying the DVD's, stop watching the reality show filler, watch Dave instead of Jay, and stop buying other products made by the parent companies.
The writers are willing to go to the table and negotiate, but the studios won't even show up. They need to feel the pain in their wallets to pressure them to cooperate. This HAS gone on long enough.
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Jan 8, 2008 3:51 PM
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So let me get this STRAIGHT Golly Sunshine. Nobody will be working in the near future. All is loss and the 2009 2010 season are in jeapody. So if nobody talks nobody works..... I assume that somebody will start talking when all moneys dry up and that will be in the 2010 season RIGHT
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Jan 8, 2008 3:52 PM
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T.R., well said.
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Jan 8, 2008 4:06 PM
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Here's hoping his sentiment is the same if/when the actors go on strike. Or can we expect to see him on the picket lines?
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Jan 8, 2008 4:09 PM
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marg49-
Not nobody, apparently. I don't think UA has any television productions, but if no one else is working, what's to stop them? Oh, right. The collusion of the companies that own the networks.
It's fairly simple. The writers want to get back to work. With a fair contract. They have demonstrated their willingness to negotiate in every possible way. The producers who come to the table equally willing to treat fairly quickly manage to get a deal and, lo and behold, get back to work.
The only thing, THE ONLY THING, holding back negotiations from resuming is the AMPTP's refusal. They won't even talk. They won't even talk about talking. They won't even begin to talk about talking.
TR Knight talks about how 'they need to have a heart.' Corporations don't have hearts. They don't have emotions and they don't have feelings. I'm talking about the AMPTP and its members here, not even really about the CEOs of those corporations. Though they could be soulless money-grubbing automatons too for all I know. This isn't even about ego.
It's about money and strategy. They are counting on the emotions, feelings and heart of the viewers, writers, and crew people, though. Because they see it as weakness and the one weapon they have in a blatantly unfair dispute.
The thing is, we can succumb to that emotion, waste it feeling helpless and angry, attacking each other on blogs, or put it to use, like Knight says. Write to the advertisers.
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Jan 8, 2008 4:59 PM
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Well I am sure I will be accused of being a shill again but I must comment on the main problem I see with the strike. The talent believes that they are special and should be given most of the money apparently. They do not believe that the cost of production has gone up enough and that every show that is done makes huge amounts of money. They do not believe that audience fractionation has reduced the ad money that the networks get. They do not believe that 100 million dollar movie flops really cost the studios any money. They must believe that every movie DVD more than pays for all the box office flops and that all TV shows on DVD sell 20 million copies. They also must believe that everybody is salivating to download movies and TV shows to their computer and watch it on a 20" screen. While the WGA continues the strike and more money is lost and jobs are destroyed I am sure they will magically be victorious and will soon be standing over the bodies of GE, SONY, Viacom, Newscorp and the other conglomerates who can weather the strike for months or even years.
I had hoped the DGA could get a deal done quickly but apparently that will not happen so we must get used to what TV will become. Reality shows and repeats for at least a year.
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Jan 8, 2008 6:06 PM
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