In This Section
|
« WGA Post-Strike Watch: News About Returning Shows
After the Tentative Deal: Winship and Verrone Rehash
The presidents of each wing of the WGA sat together Monday for one of their first joint interviews since they announced their boards' approvals of the tentative deal reached on Sunday. In their postmortem on Fox Business Network, the chiefs commented on key points of the deal, plus on the value of the strike overall.
One of the big questions they addressed following the contract approval is how the new 17-day window will affect programming and payment. In the deal, which writers are expected to ratify over the next 10-12 days, writers will not get paid during a 17-day window after the first airing of a program. WGA East prez Michael Winship acknowledged, "We would have liked to have closed that window completely. That is one of the things we did not achieve in this contract and something we will be working on going forward."
When asked whether he thought networks would actually air shows after that window, he said, "I think that they will because they'll recognize the value of those programs being on beyond that window." He added, "It's a tremendous start for us."
For his part, WGA West honcho Patric Verrone was disappointed about dropping animation and reality TV writers from the new contract. "It was a heartbreaking thing for me as an animation writer," he said. "Those writers are more or less the sweatshop writers in this industry and our hope going forward is that we can improve that situation and get coverage from them."
The chiefs also responded to some of the criticism that's been floating around about whether striking was necessary at all, especially in light of the strike-free Directors Guild of America deal. Winship was frank, saying, "I think the Directors Guild deal was achieved largely because we went on strike." What's your take? Do you agree with Winship's assessment? Or think they were too soft on certain points? — Anna Dimond
|
|
|
|
Feb 11, 2008 4:17 PM
|
I think the deal was probably the best they could have gotten, and that they would never have gotten that much without the strike. Remember the initial offer way back when was for, basically, nothing.
I really wish DVD percentages hadn't been taken off the table, though.
|
|
Feb 11, 2008 7:27 PM
|
I'm fine with reality writers being shut out (I mean, wha?), but the animation bit is puzzling.
I don't know whether I agree that the Directors Guild was successful because of the writers' strike...they seemed to have a different philosophy regarding internet and DVD sales than the writers did.
|
|
Feb 12, 2008 9:18 AM
|
It would have been great to get animation as part of this deal, but it just wasn't going to happen. The writers for animation are going to need to unionize show by show. A number of shows have done this already, all writers on a show need to be willing to insist that that show be a union house. That's how it's going to have to happen, once enough animated projects are union they'll have a much better shot at getting jurisdiction.
There's no way the directors would have got that deal without the writers strike, and there's no way the studios would have offered that deal (or the one they ended up with) to the writers without the strike.
|
|
Feb 12, 2008 11:09 AM
|
I did'n realize animation writers were not members of a union. But then, I didn't think about them having to be members of a union.
Those of us watching from the outside really can't conjecture about union stuff since we have no frame of reference for what the entertainment industry unions do to serve their members.
|
|
Feb 12, 2008 11:54 AM
|
Absolutely they were too soft! They piad such a high price to coe this far and with the Actor guild being right behing them with strike potential (remember their refusal to cross the picket lines?) they never had so much potential power!
With the 17 day wait issue they have not addressed the online review that laready most of the population is starting to do so that they can watch shows with their friends at work.
Sigh, in thre years they face going through this and even more momentum will be hard to generate because those guys already know how much money is to be made with online so now the writers will have to start with pennies (IF they can get anything) rahter then work to increase the precentae of what they so richly deserve!
|
|
Feb 12, 2008 12:37 PM
|
I did'n realize animation writers were not members of a union. But then, I didn't think about them having to be members of a union.
Those of us watching from the outside really can't conjecture about union stuff since we have no frame of reference for what the entertainment industry unions do to serve their members.
milkmaid, You have hit it right on the head. Many good people in the general public who are nay-sayers just don't understand what unions do for entertainment people because you get your benefits from your job. And some corporate type people at studios do too. For example I once temp'd at a studio among all the financial analysts... all of whom in that group had been working there less than five years and had come over from one of the big oil companies. They crunched numbers and talked numbers and it didn't matter to them that they were now crunching numbers about TV shows and movies instead of oil shares. They got their benefits from the studios and they'd stay years until they got better offers and moved on.
Creative people and film/TV crews aren't hired that way... the studios don't keep them on staff sitting on their thumbs until they have a project. They hire them when they have a project, whether you are an actor, writer, director or costume person. So if you are lucky to be on a show that takes off, you are set for years, like ER. But if you are hired onto a show that is canceled after 6 or 13 episodes, you are back to being unemployed. And you can't tell which is going to go. Grey's Anatomy was on the development slate for a couple of years. More than once I saw it on the list of shows picked up and then not given a time slot. So they put it in a successful show's time slot (Boston Legal) for 6 weeks hoping that enough people would watch it and like it that they could put it in another time slot and people would go there and watch. To everyone's surprise, it did so well, that they were loathe to move it so they didn't bring Boston Legal back that season and then on the next season, they gave it the different time slot. There's no way to predict that, or how long you will work, so you have to be able to get your benefits from a stable source... that is what the unions are all about.
For the crew unions it's just about benefits, but for the creative unions, it's different because it's also about being paid for their creations. And like books and plays and comic books and every other intellectual property out there the companies have to pay royalties for every time they make money off it, the creative people get residuals for it, part of which goes into their benefit funds and part they get as an extra check.
Animation workers -- for the first 9 years that The Simpsons was a hit, the writers did NOT get any benefits -- that means NO HEALTH INSURANCE OR PENSION -- because they were not in a union. Did you ever try to buy individual health insurance? It cost a fortune and if you have any sort of condition that may have had you use your health insurance in the past, they reject taking you.
Now some of those Simpsons writers who were already big names or who worked their way up to the big bucks, had side deals with the studios to get their health insurance -- those are the kind of deals you heard the studios force majeuring in this strike, but that's totally at the discretion of the studio thinking you are so valuable they don't want you to bolt to another studio. Hence, the guys who are making the most amount of money, and can afford to pay for individual health insurance, gets it through side deals, while the new writer starting out making the lowest salary and trying to work his way up the ranks (which takes years) and has far less money to buy an individual policy, is left with nothing. Often no insurance at all if they can't afford the $400/month premiums most individual insurances are at these days.
The only reason Simpsons writers and Futurama writers got to be in the union is because they threatened FOX with a strike and not only did FOX not want them marching out, but they didn't want them giving the other animation show writers ideas. So FOX allowed Simpsons and Futurama to be unionized, and not the others.
You need power to force a corporate boss to give up anything... hence only the threat of losing its two most lucrative shows got FOX to be willing to let them be in the union. But any show that wouldn't be a big loss to them financially, well, they didn't get to do so and wouldn't until they are powerful enough to threaten. Mind you, we are talking NO HEALTH AND PENSION BENEFITS until you are powerful enough to force an issue.
And the reality writers are in a worse situation. The guild tried to help the little shows by forcing the issue into the negotiations. But not only was there little support from the uninformed public for unionizing animation and reality, but there was little support among guild members who openly refused to strike one more day than they had to get animation and reality into the guild.
The Studios knew this and exploited it. Can you imagine how Patric Verrone felt as an animation writer himself (go look up his credits) having to give up the issue that would protect the people he actually works with day to day?
Now, it's like mindbender says, each show will have to do it on its own... and as you see, it's not easy to get the studios to cough up even pennies. And think about it on whatever job you have -- what if all the bosses decided that for your job title, they didn't want to pay health insurance anymore... so you can't just quit that company and go to a different company and get that same job title with health insurance. How would you get your health insurance out of them?
|
|
Feb 12, 2008 2:04 PM
|
I don't think the industry will know if this strike and results were good or bad until it all has time to play out. My initial sense is that the WGA won the battle but lost the war. Here is a news blurb from IMDb.com: "Several analysts have suggested that the strike will end with each side losing. Ratings at each of the networks except Fox are down substantially since the strike began, with advertisers being given rebates or "make goods" because of the ratings fall. Producers of scripted television shows have been informed by the networks that "efficiencies" are being instituted that in some cases will result in the networks skipping the pilot process. Networks often pay as much as $2 million to develop a pilot, only to decide later that it is unsuitable to develop into a series. Indeed, the networks are likely to cut back on scripted TV series in general after audiences demonstrated during the strike that they preferred many cheap game shows and reality series. With fewer pilots and scripted series in production, writers are likely to find work opportunities substantially curtailed. Moreover, while it had been presumed earlier that existing series whose production had been cut short by the strike would resume once it was settled, several reports cast doubt on whether marginally rated shows would return. It had previously been reported that Fox's 24 would be postponed for a year and that ABC's Lost would probably have its 16 episodes cut to 13 this season.
|
|
Feb 12, 2008 2:30 PM
|
|
The writers (WGA) should have held out longer for what they richly deserve...and they only got a 3 year deal with a 17 day window and animation writers get zilch... just my opinion...
|
|
Feb 12, 2008 2:49 PM
|
|
My take? Both ... WGA Strike certainly had an impact. How wouldn't it have? It weighs heavy on all of the minds of those living in these areas and working this business. And, the Directors did go soft on some points ... apparently deciding to live with the deal for now. But, I also believe their deal also impacted the WGA strike ... making it harder for the writer's to continue to ask for all of their longed for points.
|
|
Feb 12, 2008 10:37 PM
|
|
|
