This Dang Strike!!!!
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- Start date
*KT*
Well-known member
Here's the latest...
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Strike Struck?!
Joal Ryan and Natalie Finn, eonline
/
To the pencil sharpeners, pronto.
The award-show-killing, TV-season-altering writers' strike could be all over pending the response to a new contract hammered out this week between the scribes and major studios.
The ins and outs of the tentative deal were presented to the Writers Guild of America's East Coast members Saturday evening at New York's Crowne Plaza hotel, and a West Coast briefing is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with Hollywood's response considered to be the real litmus test in gauging how close the light at the end of the tunnel really is.
There was no vote during the 2 1/2-hour NYC session, which was described as largely informational, but the 500-plus writers filing out of the hotel seemed pleased overall about what they had just heard.
"This is a historic moment for writers in this country," filmmaker Michael Moore told Daily Variety after the meeting. "There is a certain irony about the achievement. I would have thought it'd be autoworkers or ironworkers getting this victory but instead it's the people who got beat up in school for writing in their journals."
"I think the meeting went very well," WGA East president Michael Winship told reporters at an impromptu press conference outside the hotel. "There was a frank discussion of ideas, and everyone who wanted to ask a question got to ask a question."
Pending approval from WGA leadership, which is expected to meet Sunday to formally endorse the contract, the strike that began Nov. 5 and took down the Golden Globes—and perhaps a little bit of Hollywood's soul—along with it, will be formally, officially and finally over.
While he couldn't guarantee that everyone would be back to work by Monday, Winship called the matter "pretty much done."
Leaders don't necessarily have to wait for a membership vote to lift the strike—which, per regulation, would have to occur 48 hours after the board votes if the writers meet in person, or 10 days if they vote by mail—but not everyone is agreed on whether to pull the plug before the majority of the guild has been heard from.
After meeting with 300 strike captains Friday to appraise them of the deal, Winship and WGA West president Patric Verrone sent an email to members at 3 a.m. informing them that a deal had been made with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that "protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery.
"It creates formulas for revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those formulas, and establishes the principle that, 'When they get paid, we get paid.'"
"We believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike," they wrote, noting that it's high time to put an end to the industry-debilitating work stoppage, whether or not they think the new three-year deal is one for the ages.
"Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success."
One immediate winner is the 80th annual Academy Awards, which seemingly can proceed Feb. 24 without the threat of star-deterring picket lines.
Other beneficiaries include fans of union-approved gags on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, Conan O'Brien's Late Night, Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report and Jimmy Kimmel Live. All of those shows had gone on without their regular staffs since shortly after the New Year.
As Stewart reminded his audience Thursday night as he searched for the proper retort to a Mitt Romney snafu, "It's just me up here."
It was unclear how much of this TV season will or can be salvaged, but there's hope that the networks can get a hefty portion of their prime-time lineups back on track for spring. Most scripted series normally don't wrap production until around March, so some time presumably would remain to get cranking and resume shooting.
The deal also comes in the wake of a string of mini-deals between writers and independent production companies, such as David Letterman's Worldwide Pants and Tom Cruise's United Artists.
As for the terms that finally set pens a-scribblin' and hands a-shakin' this week, much of the proposed contract mirrors what the Directors Guild of America and the alliance were able to come up with several weeks ago—an agreement that highlighted new media jurisdiction and increased compensation for downloads and content streamed online.
The WGA's deal would also give the writers jurisdiction over material produced expressly for new-media channnels whose budgets either topped $15,000 per minute, $300,000 per program, or $500,000 per series.
Like directors, writers will receive a $1,200 flat fee for the first year that content (one-hour shows) is streamed online as well as a percentage of distributors' revenue, and residuals for downloads will effectively double.
But, as an added feather in the writers' caps, in the third year of their contract they will be entitled to residuals equal to 2 percent of distributors' revenue. The WGA had been pushing for a variable residual that would compensate for growth in Internet usage over the next few years.
They will also receive what's being referred to as a "separated-rights" provision, meaning additional compensation for Web shows that backpedal onto TV, like Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz's serial MySpace drama Quarterlife, which has been picked up by NBC.
A sticking point among WGA members, however, could be the "promotional window" that cuts into their residuals from ad-supported content streamed online. For the first 17 days that episodes are available, and 24 days for freshman series, no residuals will be paid.
Just in case, there's still a picketing event scheduled for Wednesday in front of Viacom Inc.'s New York headquarters. Should the strike end, the WGA East will promptly cancel.
(Originally published Feb. 9, 2008 at 11:32 a.m. PT)
________________________________________
Strike Struck?!
Joal Ryan and Natalie Finn, eonline
/
To the pencil sharpeners, pronto.
The award-show-killing, TV-season-altering writers' strike could be all over pending the response to a new contract hammered out this week between the scribes and major studios.
The ins and outs of the tentative deal were presented to the Writers Guild of America's East Coast members Saturday evening at New York's Crowne Plaza hotel, and a West Coast briefing is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with Hollywood's response considered to be the real litmus test in gauging how close the light at the end of the tunnel really is.
There was no vote during the 2 1/2-hour NYC session, which was described as largely informational, but the 500-plus writers filing out of the hotel seemed pleased overall about what they had just heard.
"This is a historic moment for writers in this country," filmmaker Michael Moore told Daily Variety after the meeting. "There is a certain irony about the achievement. I would have thought it'd be autoworkers or ironworkers getting this victory but instead it's the people who got beat up in school for writing in their journals."
"I think the meeting went very well," WGA East president Michael Winship told reporters at an impromptu press conference outside the hotel. "There was a frank discussion of ideas, and everyone who wanted to ask a question got to ask a question."
Pending approval from WGA leadership, which is expected to meet Sunday to formally endorse the contract, the strike that began Nov. 5 and took down the Golden Globes—and perhaps a little bit of Hollywood's soul—along with it, will be formally, officially and finally over.
While he couldn't guarantee that everyone would be back to work by Monday, Winship called the matter "pretty much done."
Leaders don't necessarily have to wait for a membership vote to lift the strike—which, per regulation, would have to occur 48 hours after the board votes if the writers meet in person, or 10 days if they vote by mail—but not everyone is agreed on whether to pull the plug before the majority of the guild has been heard from.
After meeting with 300 strike captains Friday to appraise them of the deal, Winship and WGA West president Patric Verrone sent an email to members at 3 a.m. informing them that a deal had been made with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that "protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery.
"It creates formulas for revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those formulas, and establishes the principle that, 'When they get paid, we get paid.'"
"We believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike," they wrote, noting that it's high time to put an end to the industry-debilitating work stoppage, whether or not they think the new three-year deal is one for the ages.
"Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success."
One immediate winner is the 80th annual Academy Awards, which seemingly can proceed Feb. 24 without the threat of star-deterring picket lines.
Other beneficiaries include fans of union-approved gags on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, Conan O'Brien's Late Night, Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report and Jimmy Kimmel Live. All of those shows had gone on without their regular staffs since shortly after the New Year.
As Stewart reminded his audience Thursday night as he searched for the proper retort to a Mitt Romney snafu, "It's just me up here."
It was unclear how much of this TV season will or can be salvaged, but there's hope that the networks can get a hefty portion of their prime-time lineups back on track for spring. Most scripted series normally don't wrap production until around March, so some time presumably would remain to get cranking and resume shooting.
The deal also comes in the wake of a string of mini-deals between writers and independent production companies, such as David Letterman's Worldwide Pants and Tom Cruise's United Artists.
As for the terms that finally set pens a-scribblin' and hands a-shakin' this week, much of the proposed contract mirrors what the Directors Guild of America and the alliance were able to come up with several weeks ago—an agreement that highlighted new media jurisdiction and increased compensation for downloads and content streamed online.
The WGA's deal would also give the writers jurisdiction over material produced expressly for new-media channnels whose budgets either topped $15,000 per minute, $300,000 per program, or $500,000 per series.
Like directors, writers will receive a $1,200 flat fee for the first year that content (one-hour shows) is streamed online as well as a percentage of distributors' revenue, and residuals for downloads will effectively double.
But, as an added feather in the writers' caps, in the third year of their contract they will be entitled to residuals equal to 2 percent of distributors' revenue. The WGA had been pushing for a variable residual that would compensate for growth in Internet usage over the next few years.
They will also receive what's being referred to as a "separated-rights" provision, meaning additional compensation for Web shows that backpedal onto TV, like Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz's serial MySpace drama Quarterlife, which has been picked up by NBC.
A sticking point among WGA members, however, could be the "promotional window" that cuts into their residuals from ad-supported content streamed online. For the first 17 days that episodes are available, and 24 days for freshman series, no residuals will be paid.
Just in case, there's still a picketing event scheduled for Wednesday in front of Viacom Inc.'s New York headquarters. Should the strike end, the WGA East will promptly cancel.
(Originally published Feb. 9, 2008 at 11:32 a.m. PT)
chameleonmary
Well-known member
Quote:
I miss UB
I now know what it is like when addicts go through withdrawal! Any news on what is happening with the show?
Originally Posted by coachkitten
I came across this list today that shows how many episodes are left of your favorite show. Luckily there are still a few Ugly Betty's and others left to go! |
I miss UB
