Writer’s Strike Day 5: Good News, Show Runners, and the WGA Explains Itself

It’s the fifth day, and the fifth update. Let’s start the end of the first week of strikes with some good news:

LOST will run as planned!

Broadcastingcable.com has the article that explains that eight episodes of the new season of LOST (that would be half of the 16-episode season that was supposed to start in February and run without breaks) which have already been completed will air as scheduled. Damon Lindelof said that the eigth episode ends with a major cliffhanger that will be resolved in the second half of the season — a second half we may have to wait a long time for, depending on how this strike goes. While that’s upsetting, it’s far, far less upsetting than the idea that ABC would do what FOX did with 24, and push it back to next season. So no waiting until 2009 for LOST — YAY!! I can deal with a mid-season break again. And, you know, maybe the strike will end by then? Is that too much to ask? Maybe. At least ABC won’t have millions of angry LOST fans on their doorstep. Ooh, maybe that’s part of the plan…

Ok, so that was the good news. Part two of the day’s reportage comes in the area of Show Runners — writer/producers who have been striking as writers and, in part, as producers and editors as well. Well, yesterday it leaked that CBS had informed its show runners that if they do not show up to work as editors, they will be sued for breach of contract:

Among the big news is that they’ve been sent “breach of contract” letters from CBS Paramount yesterday telling them that if they don’t report back to work then they’ll be sued. The news was announced at a closed door, extremely secret meeting of 115 showrunners who gathered at the Writers Guild Of America headquarters to discuss strike-related issues amongst themselves after first showing tup to picket colelctively at the Disney gate, then going en masse to lunch at The Smokehouse. (I broke the news of the confab yesterday afternoon.) “The CBS letters yesterday said that if the showrunners don’t report back into work for their producing duties, they’re in breach and they’ll be sued.” No other showrunners had received letters yet from their respective networks or studios, the gathering was told. The CBS letters news was received somberly by the group. “Since CBS is first, it became clear that Les [Moonves] is the most pissed,” a source at the meeting told me. “All the other showrunners now expect to get similar letters.” After a group discussion, the showrunners came to an agreement on how to deal with this threat to them. “The writers agreed that, if anybody gets sued, the showrunners will all stand together. Those who are still working will go out and join us on the picket lines, and, if we’re all back at work, then we’ll all go out,” a source told me. “That’s if we come back.”

Let me say this upfront: if the networks and studios plan on really suing the showrunners, then they’re going to smash the very underpinnings which support the entire Hollywood system. One of the main reasons that the guilds exist is to perform all the administrative functions that producers don’t want to do, like health, pension, credits, arbitration, etc. Crissakes, if the WGA didn’t decide who wrote what for both the writers and the studios, then we wouldn’t be able to count the number of lawsuits emanating from every TV show and movie or the amount of billable hours outside lawyers would chalk up.

[snip]

The Disney gate show of strength by the 150 showrunners Wednesday, organized by the WGA, was a seminal event. Their post-picket confab started over lunch at The Smokehouse, but then, fearing they’d be overheard by diners in the next room, they decided they could have a more open and candid conversation at the WGA headquarters a few hours later. A few dozen showrunners fell out so in all 115 met together there.

This was, by no means, a polite conversation between colleagues. It was heated and vociferous, but it ended in hard-fought, heavily argued agreement. The WGA would have everyone believe the showrunners are 90/10 in support of everything strikewise. The AMPTP would have everyone believe it’s the other way around claiming the showrunners are fearful of really speaking their “hearts and minds”. Bullshit by both sides. Last night’s very open forum showed very clearly that the showrunners there were overwhelmingly in support of the strike, but they were 60/40 split on the best way to conduct it. The meeting broke down like this: 60% voiced absolute support for a 100% work stoppage by showrunners as a way to shut down the shows and hurt the networks and studios, and 40% wanted to stop all writing but continue their producing duties.

The very vocal minority worried about the quality of their shows falling during this puzzling period made the point to the assembled crowd that film director/writers haven’t stopped directing, and the actor/writers haven’t stopped acting, but the TV producer/writers are being asked to stop editing. “Why isn’t J.J. Abrams being given a hard time for starting to direct Star Trek tomorrow? Why isn’t Tina Fey being given a hard time for acting on 30 Rock? Why is this strike being waged on the back of the showrunners?” one hyphenate asked.

This minority gave an impassioned plea to be allowed to edit without being treated like an outcast. They stood up and told a personal story about what situation they’re in with their individual show. Greg Garcia of My Name Is Earl spoke about how one of his actors called to say he’d helped lock the cut of an episode and how that made Garcia feel sick. “How is two episodes of my show sucking going to hurt GE?” he asked.

It was agreed that the showrunners probably only have power for another month or two. Though many series have been shut down, a lot of ABC Touchstone and Warner Bros are still shooting this week, along with NBC Universal hourlongs. “Next week will be a watershed week,” the group heard a leader say. That was why the majority of showrunners felt they had to use their power to “really hurt” the networks/studios. But the minority argued that into bargaining in good faith. But the minority response was that, if the showrunners were going to sacrifice their shows, then they wanted to get something positive out of it, like using their producing duties as leverage to bring the networks/studios back to the good-faith bargaining. “Why are we worried about hurting them? Let’s get them to negotiate,” a minority viewholder stated.

Source.

Clearly, the issue with the showrunners is complicated and delicate, but I think the general consensus that they will continue to strike on both fronts is a good one. It’s easy for Hollywood and the entertainment industry to see writers are replacable, but you have to realize that writers don’t just sit in locked offices and toil away on computers. They edit, they act, they produce, they direct, but above all the help organize the industry they work in. You have to pay them fairly, as you would pay an office administrator who does this kind of work. And you can’t get greedy — I know it’s hard in LA to avoid the greed, but you have to do it. You must be fair.

The source above also has a wonderful blog that recounts the daily developments of the strike, updating all the time. Bookmark it, read it, it’s a great way to keep up with what’s going on.

Next! Over at ONTD, a poster said she ran into a group of picketing writers in New York and was handed a flyer from the WGA explaining itself. Their message:

An Open Letter From The Writers On The Picket Line

We are the people who write your favorite TV shows — comedies, dramas, late night, soaps and more — and movies. We’re anxious to get back to work, but first we need to be heard.

The media business is healthy.
Execs are well-compensated, but we’re not sharing in the success. The companies all make money from online, DVR, mobile, video-games, and DVD. But, as an example, we only get a nickel for every DVD of our work that’s sold.

We’re only asking for a fair share
not only in the present, but also in the future. We’re proposing a flexible model of revenue sharing that will work with whatever technology that comes next.

Residuals are our life support system. Writing for TV and film is seasonal work. Most of us don’t earn regular paychecks. Many of us don’t even qualify for healthcare benefits. We need residuals to pay our bills until we get the next TV show or film. There’s really no other way for us to survive in this type of business.

So that’s why we’re out on the picket line. We’d rather be holed up in the writers’ rooms, keeping you informed and entertained. But, in the meantime, until this strike gets settled fairly and equitably, we thank you for your support.

Thanks for clearing that up, WGA.

Finally, at the end of my morning update, a couple of links:

1. There is a TON of information about the television and movie industries coming out in the process of this strike, as well as veritable landslides of updates about the strike itself. This post over at ONTD has a huge mess of updates; check it out.

2. If you support the WGA and would like to make your feelings know, go HERE to sign a petition supporting the union. They have 11,517 signatures as of 9:55 a.m. EST.

–Sara Tenenbaum