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Narcissus1916 posted:Its wild how little residuals and royalties are now. WGA member here. Broadcast and cable residuals are still pretty good, but streaming residuals are absolutely pathetic. They were first negotiated during the 07-08 strike, back when "streaming content" was like, trailers and promo clips on YouTube. Sometimes original short-form content, little mini webisodes. The problem is that paltry residual figure is now being applied to full-fledged, full-length, high-budget movies and TV series. For example, the first TV episode I ever wrote was for a network show back in 2019. My residuals to date (2019-2023) for that particular episode break down as follows: Broadcast/Foreign Broadcast/Cable: $40,607.79 Streaming (Hulu/Netflix): $824.76 And that's before taxes! I think the numbers speak for themselves. If you're on a straight-to-streaming show, you really can't count on residuals to be a meaningful part of your income. So you're only relying on your base weekly pay. And with the streamers having their writers rooms only going for, say, 12-16 weeks or less, you're basically relying on that small window of time to make your whole year's pay. So when you hear people say "But WGA minimums are like $4k a week!", bear in mind that could only add up to $48-$62k over the course of one show. And it's VERY hard to line up two shows in a row due to everyone being on different production schedules. What's more, writers' rooms used to employ 15-20 writers at a time. Now I'm hearing stories about rooms as low as 5 writers. Even 3! That's why we're pushing for minimum room sizes AND minimum weeks of employment, including employing writers through production (another popular move is to fire the entire writing staff as soon as the cameras start rolling, leaving just the showrunner to handle ALL writing duties during production). Anyway, my legs hurt from picketing all week and I could be out of work for months, but this is a fight worth fighting. We're very much fighting for the survival of screenwriting as a viable profession. Edit: Rental Sting posted:I'm super curious what this situation of having no scripts is going to mean for these streamers that have been pumping out a colossal amount of content for years, now. It's going to be a real debacle. Broadcast and cable networks will probably run out of scripted content pretty fast. Streamers will be prepared, they love to stockpile content and just sit on it. Netflix is especially notorious for this -- Netflix shot Love is Blind back in 2018, but didn't release it until 2020. I spoke to a writer last night who just wrapped on a Netflix show that she said wouldn't be released until 2026 
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May 5, 2023 23:58
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mutantIke posted:Be honest, you were just in it for some free Pete Davidson pizza No but Rob Lowe made eye contact with me in the picket line so that's something
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May 6, 2023 02:29
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Snowy posted:My job is about to shut down and I hope I can get by on unemployment. Good luck to the writers but this sucks. Hopefully they find quick success and my union is inspired enough to go for bigger pay raises so we aren’t falling behind actual cost of living increases every year. Just kidding, that won’t happen. If you need assistance, don't hesitate to apply for the Entertainment Community Fund. The application might say something about having to work in the industry for a minimum of 5 years but go ahead and apply even if you haven't been working that long, they will be loosening their criteria during the strike.
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May 7, 2023 07:07
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sorry, just panicking a little here right now
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Edward Mass posted:The WGA negotiators put out this graphic for how much their proposed deal costs the major players: It's so little money to them and they'll fight us tooth and nail to keep every penny. Even if you look at profits instead of revenues, our demands would only take up 1.5%, maybe 2% of their profits. And that's only if we got everything we want, without negotiating! I'm sure we could meet in the middle on some numbers but there were so many points they wouldn't even negotiate with us. Also, update from the picket lines today: - Tons of other unions are coming out to support which is great. Saw a lot of SAG members out marching today, along with IATSE and Animation Guild. - Directors Guild is currently negotiating. Their needs are different from ours, but we are united in pushing for wage increases to keep up with inflation (and to make up for overall pay decreases over the past decade). We're also united on the residuals front, as streaming residuals are garbage and a lot of us rely on residuals to make ends meet. I doubt they'll strike but who knows, the studios are being real pieces of poo poo this time around. - SAG is set to begin negotiations on June 7. I could potentially see a SAG strike which would really cripple the studios. SAG is aligned with us on AI stuff -- the studios would love to crank out a dozen AI-written Thor movies starring deepfake Chris Evans. Also, actors rely on residuals even more than writers do. - Overall, spirits are high on the picket lines. Everyone is still fired up and we are prepared for a long fight. I have enough saved up to weather the storm but I know I'm in the minority. Already hearing about some of my friends looking for jobs at Starbucks and Costco. I'm hoping the AMPTP comes back to the table soon but I bet we're out here until July at a minimum.
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May 16, 2023 23:28
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WGA member here. My first episode of TV aired in 2018. It was for a successful network show that is also one of the most-watched shows on Hulu (a rep from Hulu told us that directly). Over the past 5 years, my streaming residuals for that episode have added up to $824.00 That breaks down to $13.75 a month. Netflix (no ads) is now $15.49 a month. The residuals don't even cover the subscription cost for ONE streamer. Oh and that $824 is before taxes.
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Jul 21, 2023 22:39
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FlamingLiberal posted:The more I hear about how poo poo it is to be a writer, or a lower level actor, the more I am amazed that people stick it out in Hollywood that long. The wages a lot of these people make are below minimum wage in the most expensive state in the country. As a writer at least, you stick it out because the reward used to be substantial -- a solid upper-middle-class job. Nowadays you spend years grinding it out as an assistant, only to get your big break and find out you're still broke. WGA minimums for a staff writer are like $4k a week, which sounds awesome but some writer's rooms only go like 10-12 weeks these days. Then you're scrambling to find another gig with only 40k* in your pocket to survive in one of the most unaffordable cities in the world. *Don't forget 10% for the agent who got you the job, 5% for your lawyer who made sure you're not getting hosed in your contract (very necessary), and another 10% for your manager if you have one. So your 40k quickly becomes 30k, and that's before taxes Dawgstar posted:A friend's father sold a couple of scripts to Star Trek: The Next Generation and said syndication rate was 12.5K. Story alone was four grand. Rooting for you. Thanks, friend. Luckily my episode also aired on broadcast & cable TV, so I'm one of the lucky few still getting decent residuals overall. For the curious, the episode in question earned me about $49k over 5 years via broadcast/cable/foreign TV. That's about $10k a year, maybe $6.5k after taxes. Not enough to live on but definitely a huge help for paying the rent between gigs. If you're on a streaming-only show you are quite hosed unless you can somehow line up multiple jobs one right after the other, which is frankly impossible. Argyle fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Jul 21, 2023 |
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Jul 21, 2023 23:46
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Looten Plunder posted:How much do you think you would have made if what you're asking for on the new deal existed 5 years ago? In terms of residuals? That's hard to estimate, because we're asking for viewership-based residuals and the streamers just flat-out refuse to share viewership numbers with us. Also, the Guild hasn't shared exactly what payment structure they have in mind. For ad-supported content, it would be relatively straightforward to calculate a revenue-sharing model similar to YouTube. For ad-free platforms, I'm guessing there would be some kind of base residual rate paid per quarter, with tiered incentives based on number of views. But that's just speculation on my part. I doubt the pay would be in line with network and cable residuals, but it would certainly be better than $800 over 5 years.
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Jul 22, 2023 00:42
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Drunkboxer posted:I had the same thought. So the writers room for the Simpsons was never WGA? Crazy Simpsons writers were Animation Guild until 1998, so a lot of the “golden era” writers got poo poo residuals and (relatively) low pay. IIRC, the other Fox animated shows of that era (Family Guy, The PJ’s, King of the Hill) all banded together to get WGA membership on the heels of the Simpsons. Not a wildcat strike or anything but Fox was faced with the prospect of losing its animated shows right at the time they were trying to turn themselves into an adult animation powerhouse. It’s insane that the studios get to decide if their animated shows are WGA or not. I worked with a writer who was on F is for Family and apparently they were Animation Guild for their first season or two. Under animation guild, this writer was only getting paid like $1200 a week as a staff writer. WGA minimums are like $4k. Meanwhile, Big Mouth was WGA from the start. It’s absolutely crazy that people doing the same work for the same type of show on the same streamer can be sorted into different unions — with drastically different pay scales — and it’s 100% at the discretion of their employer.
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Jul 30, 2023 01:30
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WGA, AMPTP Meet But No New Negotiations Set Yet TL;DR — Yesterday, 8/4 was the first meeting between WGA and AMPTP reps since May 1. AMPTP offers to come back to the table but still refuses to discuss staffing minimums and success-based residuals for streaming, which are two of the WGA’s biggest issues. WGA reps say they won’t bend on those issues. Reps now going back to regroup with their respective negotiating committees.
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Aug 5, 2023 10:38
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LividLiquid posted:Far more do than ever have, and unlike the last two strikes, they're siding with the workers getting hosed. The general public is also very aware of the ever-changing and increasingly lovely streaming landscape, and how the streaming business model is affecting their viewing habits. Older network shows move from platform to platform, Netflix notoriously cancels their own shows no matter how passionate the fans are. I mean, 1899 was Netflix’s #2 most watched show for 3 consecutive weeks when it debuted, and then they cancelled it 2 months later. It’s insane. If people watching a show doesn’t make it successful, then what the gently caress defines success anymore? And why would a viewer invest any time into a show if even the most popular shows are at risk for cancellation at any time, just because they don’t hit some arbitrary metric set by an algorithm? Viewers are definitely frustrated at the business, and I’m seeing lots of public support for the writers from average people (aside from the chuds who think everyone who works in TV is automatically a zillionaire).
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Aug 5, 2023 23:46
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AMPTP and WGA are meeting again tomorrow. Last Friday, the studios said they weren’t willing to talk about staffing minimums, AI, or success-based streaming residuals, three of the primary reasons why the WGA went on strike in the first place. WGA sent out the following email today: quote:DEAR MEMBERS, The fact that this will be a full meeting with both negotiating committees present is a big step after last week’s more informal meeting.
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Aug 10, 2023 22:42
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ashpanash posted:I'm probably wrong but it would be nice to see a sincere deal being made. I’m expecting the studios to eventually bend on just about everything, including AI. But as far as streaming residuals go, the streamers are going to fight tooth and nail to keep their viewership numbers secret. Netflix would happily keep Hollywood shut down until 2025 if it means they don’t have to share their numbers. I have a hunch that the streaming residuals issue is what will cause the most tension between the legacy studios and Amazon/Apple/Netflix. The last strike ended when studios started breaking off one by one and giving the WGA what they asked for, and I won’t be surprised if this strike ends the same way with Amazon and Netflix being the final holdouts. And when Netflix finally signs the deal they’ve been resisting for half a year, I will laugh so hard that I’ll puke
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Aug 11, 2023 01:02
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Ironhead posted:I have to admit I only found this thread halfway through, but would it be gauche to ask how many people here are either involved in the unions or actively involved in any of this? Sometimes I feel like I get better information here than through official channels. I’m in WGA and SAG. I’m a TV writer primarily, but I got to do some bit parts on the shows that I work on and that led to me joining SAG. Fun story: for the role that got me full SAG membership, I was paid about $1,100. SAG initiation fees are $3,000 
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Aug 11, 2023 05:59
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Khanstant posted:Is the initiation ritual really elaborate and expensive or does joining a union usually involve giving big bucks first? The only “ritual” is filling out some paperwork and writing a check. WGA sent me a diploma-like certificate which I thought was a little silly but it’s a nice souvenir. The initiation fees are steep (3k for SAG, 2.5k for WGA). They’re supposed to cover the administrative costs of joining the union, and I’m sure they do, but it’s a lot to ask of a young artist who’s just getting started. SAG has a payment plan which helps a little, and for WGA you’ve probably either (A) collected a script fee or (B) you’ve gotten yourself staffed on a show, so whatever job got you into the union is probably going to make up for the initiation fee and then some. If you’re really strapped for cash I’m sure you could call the offices and work something out. The fees and dues are totally worth it, imo. WGA has an amazing health plan, pension, and powerful leadership that’s willing to fight for us.
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Aug 11, 2023 09:35
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Edward Mass posted:The fact that the WGA committee is actually discussing the counter-proposal is hopefully a good sign the AMPTP is coming to their senses. It’s a good sign. Leadership sent out an email telling us they’re going to keep the offers under wraps while they discuss. Publicizing every step of offers and counter-offers is obviously not productive and will only generate media noise.
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Aug 12, 2023 21:31
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MechanicalTomPetty posted:So what would it mean, realistically, for any new or pending productions if WGA gets a deal signed while SAG-AFTRA's still on strike? Even if the writers are back on board, I can't imagine much will actually happen while the actors refuse to work. WGA and SAG-AFTRA are aligned on the core issues of streaming residuals and AI, so a deal with one union will get the AMPTP close to a deal with the other. As far as production is concerned, it all begins with the writers anyway so the studios will be happy to have content ready to shoot.
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Aug 13, 2023 11:03
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Feels like the AMPTP leaked this so they can say "look how generous we're being, these writers are so greedy!" WGA made it clear to members that they wouldn't be sharing details until there was something worth sharing. The 20% residual bump would only be meaningful for network & cable, and no writers are complaining about those residuals. It still doesn't address the streaming problem -- for a show produced by Netflix that airs on Netflix, there would be no pay bump.
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Aug 15, 2023 04:22
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feedmyleg posted:lol that's been the main sticking point with the writers I know. They're hyper-aware of further opportunities and advancement being nil if mini-rooms become/remain the norm. Yeah literally every writer I know is in favor of the minimums. Maybe they’ll let auteur showrunners apply for waivers or something as long as it’s a miniseries. I’m fine with Craig Mazin writing all 5 episodes of Chernobyl, but Taylor Sheridan writing 47 episodes of Yellowstone is unnecessary and dumb. (oh yeah plus 18 episodes of the prequels). Also this is like the 4th or 5th time the AMPTP has agreed to media blackouts and then just leaked poo poo as soon as they think they have a talking point to cling to.
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Aug 17, 2023 11:13
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GaussianCopula posted:Why though? Timby posted:I mean, out of 110 episodes in Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski wrote 92 of them, and that show turned out pretty well. Vegetable posted:A minimum staff size doesn’t solve this problem. If a showrunner wants to take credit for unpaid people’s work, they can still do it. I admit I was a little grumpy and sleep-deprived when I posted. I was speaking from my own experience working in comedy, which is much more collaborative than drama. Having a big room full of diverse perspectives is great for comedy writing. Drama writing is a lot more individually-focused, but there’s still a lot of collaboration with breaking stories and coming up with season arcs. And yes, I realize that it was dumb to cite 2 drama shows when I’ve never worked in drama. Minimum staffing is necessary because rooms are getting smaller every year, and the studios would be thrilled to only hire one writer per show if they could get away with it. And according to our old contract, they can! There’s nothing in the contract that requires any form of writers room, period. That’s a loophole that the studios are exploiting more and more every year, and we can’t let them endlessly eliminate writing jobs. That said, a lot of my favorite shows have come from solo writers, and I don’t want those writers to feel handcuffed to a staff that they’re not even going to use. I think a possible solution would be in the form of waivers, where an auteur showrunner can ask the guild for an exception to the staffing minimum. I don’t know if that means they can truly work alone, or they’re only obligated to hire a couple part-time consulting producers, or what. Showrunners are in charge of hiring anyway, so there wouldn’t be anyone in the room that they don’t want to be there. This is a problem that exists right on the front lines of art vs. commerce — how do we allow these types of writers to make the best product they can, while still protecting jobs and preventing the studios from exploiting tiny rooms. These auteur TV writers are a small minority and I think their creative wishes can be respected, but the Guild has to be very careful about carving out exceptions to rules that would otherwise benefit the rest of the members. The bottom line is that 99% of shows on TV have a staff, and 99% of showrunners want a good-sized staff. The Guild wants to ensure that one-writer-per-show doesn’t become the norm instead of the exception. edit: At the end of the day I don’t personally care if Taylor Sheridan wants to write 100 episodes of Yellowstone all by himself. But I do take issue with him loudly complaining in the press that hiring a writing staff is bad, actually, while the Guild is fighting to protect the other 99% of working TV writers. Some of my friends haven’t worked in over a year because of the mini room epidemic. Argyle fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Aug 17, 2023 |
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Aug 17, 2023 22:53
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ashpanash posted:I can totally see situations where studios will take advantage of that, such as telling a writer that if he does the whole season by himself they'll give him triple the money plus extras or something, making it a huge conflict of interest. So the waiver thing might not fly or would need to be heavily monitored and potentially discouraging financially. It’s the kind of thing that used to be governed by “good faith”, but the studios have made it clear that they’re no longer interested in good faith. They’re going to find and exploit every loophole in the contract unless we make some very carefully worded rules.
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Aug 18, 2023 06:19
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AI-Created Art Isn’t Copyrightable, Judge Says in Ruling That Could Give Hollywood Studios Pause Purely AI-generated art does not qualify for copyright protection, but “…work created with the help of AI can support a copyright claim if a human ‘selected or arranged’ it in a ‘sufficiently creative way that the resulting work constitutes an original work of authorship’”. So this ruling keeps the doors open for studios to use AI as a tool. Have an AI spit out 10,000 ideas for a Spider-Man movie and make a human sort through it and cobble together a script.
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Aug 19, 2023 20:04
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How! posted:they wouldn’t let her hire an ACD or a key. lol jesus christ what is happening in this industry
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Aug 21, 2023 21:00
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feedmyleg posted:Tech companies have taken over And they brought their brilliant tech bro ideas like “we can save money by eliminating the jobs that make our product”
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Aug 21, 2023 22:00
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VorpalBunny posted:Any SAG goons in the thread with insight into the current election? We received a handful of emails and some mail with a bunch of names (the group including Dr Drew and Rob Schneider can go gently caress themselves) but it's not that clear on who/how to vote. You should have gotten a couple official election envelopes in the mail — one for the national board (white and green envelope) and one for your local (I don’t know if the locals have different colors, but the LA local was white and purple). It’s just a matter of filling it out and mailing it back. If you haven’t gotten a ballot yet I’d call the office. I don’t know exactly what the eligibility rules are for voting but maybe your kids are *too* new to vote? Definitely call the offices though, ballots have to be postmarked by 9/9 I think.
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Aug 23, 2023 01:07
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Ironhead posted:Not WGA or SAG but we are kicking off some IATSE negotiations today. Godspeed. The companies are being extraordinarily lovely this cycle. I mean, they’re lovely every cycle, but this time feels different. It feels punitive. They want to punish us for asking for anything at all. edit: looking at the AMPTP proposals conveniently leaked by the AMPTP, it looks like pretty much all issues have been addressed except for staffing minimums, success-based streaming residuals, and closing AI loopholes. Of course, I’m not on the negotiating committee with a lawyer right next to me, so I will stop short of saying all of the proposals are perfectly good and fair, but it looks promising. Staffing minimums need to be addressed because the companies are setting themselves up to pay the writers more (good!) but hire fewer writers per show (bad!), saving themselves money in the long run. I truly don’t know what the streaming residuals solution is. AVOD at least has ad sales that could correlate to success, just like broadcast & cable. But something needs to be done to reward success on streaming. The AI stuff needs to be handled VERY carefully, because once AI is in our contract it’s gonna be there forever. Argyle fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Aug 23, 2023 |
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Aug 23, 2023 20:13
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WGA sent a long email today about the state of the negotiations. Here's what the companies were proposing as "transparency" for streaming viewership: "...the companies say they have made a major concession by offering to allow six WGA staff to study limited streaming viewership data for the next three years, so we can return in 2026 to ask once again for a viewership-based residual. In the meantime, no writer can be told by the WGA about how well their project is doing, much less receive a residual based on that data." loving hard lol
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Aug 24, 2023 20:54
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Maxwell Lord posted:Like the AMPTP's entire purpose seems to be to prevent studios from striking separate deals. Does it do anything when the guilds aren't negotiating? The Hollywood union contracts are staggered, so there’s almost always a negotiation to prepare for or finalize. DGA/SAG/WGA negotiate this year, I believe IATSE and Teamsters are next year. There’s also Animation Guild, and LIUNA (laborers union) has a small Hollywood local that has to get in there too at some point. There’s enough work to keep some lawyers and negotiators busy throughout the contract cycles. But yeah it’s a peculiar enterprise because its members are competitors who only come together with the collective goal of loving over their employees. G-Spot Run posted:I'm going to guess it's just weird, like the Cocomelon/Blippi crew is about to be Bezos rich because of kids parked in front of streaming. Unfortunately most childrens’ animation is covered by The Animation Guild, not WGA, and the writers are paid way less and get pretty much zero residuals. But they will definitely be paying attention to how the WGA contract shapes up on the residuals side so they can hopefully get some leverage for their own negotiation. Bizarrely, it’s the studios who get to decide whether or not an animated show is covered by WGA or TAG. On the SAG-AFTRA side, the SAG contract that covers animation is separate from the TV/film theatrical contract, so I don’t know if the VO residuals schedule will be affected by the current negotiations. Having done a tiny bit of voice acting myself, I assure you the streaming residuals for animation are just as terrible as the live-action residuals.
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Aug 25, 2023 03:39
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Big “we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas” summit for the studios today: Studio CEOs Set To Meet Today Amid Internal Tensions; No End In Sight To Strikes quote:According to several sources, for instance, it was [Netflix] streaming kingpin Sarandos who lectured WGA leaders at that gathering last week about why they had to take the AMPTP’s latest offer. Others say that, while Sarandos certainly wasn’t pliant, it was Iger who was “the loudest voice in the room” with the other CEOs and the WGA brass on August 22. “That approach spectacularly flamed out, and then they made it worse by putting their offer out in public the same night,” one industry vet states of the outcome of the studio bosses’ browbeating meeting with guild leaders and the attempt to go around the WGA negotiating committee directly to members. The guys trying to pay us less, hire fewer of us, and replace us with AI are stunned to discover that they are unpopular. quote:Today’s get-together is in part to ensure that CEOs don’t stumble into a position where they’re negotiating against themselves. While there have been reports out there that Netflix is willing to bend toward the WGA on every point, others say that Hollywood’s top brass are on the same page when it comes to their approach with the guilds. I don’t know if I believe this source, as Netflix is widely regarded as the absolute worst studio to work for. Somehow they managed to become more hated than Disney.
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Aug 30, 2023 22:26
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Vegetable posted:I don’t get what an interim deal for a specific show would even look like. Surely they’re not gonna concede on streaming residuals or AI rights just for that show. Maybe it’s a lump-sum payment to the actors involved. But why would SAG-AFTRA be okay with it? Other striking actors must be pissed. It’s not a lump-sum payment, it’s AMC agreeing to all of the guild’s terms. “The Interim Agreement is a full 70-page contract that includes the terms and conditions in the union’s last offer to the studios and streamers during negotiations. This contract is available only to independent producers looking to employ our members on specific productions, and it helps the union achieve its goals by putting pressure on the AMPTP and the struck companies while demonstrating that our proposals are reasonable.” Basically, AMC is saying “we don’t particularly care about AI and we’re happy to work out some kind of success-based streaming residuals on our tiny streaming platform”, along with agreeing to all of the union’s other demands in their last proposal. SAG-AFTRA is OK with it because it shows that even small studios are able to meet union demands without significantly hurting their bottom lines. It also opens the door for more acting jobs. Obviously the principal cast gets to resume working, but now there are a bunch of new jobs available for guest stars, one-off roles, day players, and background actors — basically the kind of “working actor” jobs that 90% of the membership thrives on.
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Sep 1, 2023 01:01
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LividLiquid posted:"They're literally trying to replace workers with robots" hits loving everybody where they live, save, like, 1%ers. Even my Reagan-era republican uncle hates seeing self-checkouts in grocery stores. But he doesn’t want regulation of course, he believes that if he goes to the human-attended checkout lane enough times, the free market will magically provide a competing grocery store with no self-checkouts.
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Sep 2, 2023 23:03
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fart blood posted:Someone with knowledge: do you see this impacting the strike against the AMPTP at all? I presume they wouldn’t really care. I bet the AMPTP spin will be “now there are fewer jobs for them to take, surely the union will collapse now”
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Sep 4, 2023 10:17
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nine-gear crow posted:“Great writers, directors, actors, they want their content to be seen,” says man single handedly responsible for kicking off the age of media erasure and scarcity. *hastily deletes Westworld from HBO server*
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Sep 7, 2023 02:51
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cartoons123 posted:While Jennifer isn’t WGA, Talk is, and it’s also CBS. With this + Drew it really sounds like an ultimatum from up top (still shouldn’t do it though) Byron’s production company, Entertainment Studios, is pretty much entirely non-union. Comics Unleashed might be SAG-AFTRA but I don’t think any writers on any of his shows are WGA. I’m not even sure if the production crew are union. But that’s understandable. Byron’s just an independent producer! There’s no way his company could possibly afford to pay union wages— Media Mogul Byron Allen Reportedly Buys Malibu Estate for a Record $100M — oh.
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Sep 12, 2023 20:18
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fart blood posted:I guess there's no broadcast season then. I was on an animated show when the strike was called. There will be new episodes this fall since we finished them months ago, but we've already lost episodes for 2024.
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Sep 13, 2023 22:03
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FlamingLiberal posted:I mean they did leak those comments about this at least going through the end of the year....so it wouldn't be a massive surprise. I know some of that is just gamesmanship, but if the studios think they can outlast the writers and actors this will drag on for some time. There’s been tons of doomer predictions about losing the entire TV season, and yet there’s zero urgency coming from the studios. Here we are on day 137ish and the WGA has received exactly one offer from the studios, back on August 11. WGA submitted their counter-offer on August 15 and then… silence (well not silence, the negotiating committee got a lecture from the CEOs about being good little workers). It’s so bizarre to me. Modern CEOs are petty enough to deliberately let the strike go on because they feel slighted. Tanking the economies of LA and NY, keeping thousands and thousands of people out of work, all because the idea of giving their employees job security makes them total cucks in their own minds.
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Sep 14, 2023 19:40
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fart blood posted:Talks with WGA resuming next week Guild just sent a one-sentence email to members: “Dear members, The WGA and AMPTP are in the process of scheduling a time to get back in the room. In solidarity, WGA Negotiating Committee” Maybe the October 1 deadline was real after all.
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Sep 15, 2023 02:02
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A bit of managing expectations on next week's talks, via this thread from writer David Slack. Summary: the AMPTP could be using an old union-busting tactic, in which they: A. Announce to the press that they're willing to come back to the table, getting everyone's hopes up B. Tell the WGA that they're only willing to negotiate if we fully remove one or more demands from the table C. When the guild holds their ground, call off the meeting and publicly blame the guild for being unwilling to negotiate D. Hopefully sow discord among rank-and-file members and other industry players Of course, we have no idea if this what they're actually planning, but considering how the AMPTP strategy thus far has been "don't negotiate," it's certainly a possibility. I'm proceeding with extremely cautious optimism.
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Sep 16, 2023 00:25
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kliras posted:there's always dramaturgy in reality tv, so i guess that makes sense There’s also a lot of actual writing. My partner works in “unscripted” and she does as much writing as I do on my scripted show. Probably more, tbh.
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Sep 18, 2023 03:21
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Nystral posted:Does her work fall under the “Story Editor” title that IIRC was a topic in the 08(??) strike and the WGA eventually dropped? Her title is “producer”, but the show isn’t guild covered so the title doesn’t mean much of anything. She is a de facto writer and should definitely be paid as such, but unfortunately it’s a non-union prodco so they can kind of do whatever they want. She’s trying to find a better gig but reality production is surprisingly dead right now, even with the strikes on.
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Sep 18, 2023 22:10
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fart blood posted:They very likely are. Or the studios are just bluffing. They don’t have a whole lot else left they can really do or say. It is kind of amazing that the AMPTP dropped millions of dollars into a crisis PR firm, and the best they can come up with is "pretend it's going well!"
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Sep 21, 2023 22:03
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