The Final Picket Signs

From our friends at 23/6.

Leonard Dick: I'll Give You a Fair Deal

This is an email "House, M.D." strike captain and Canadian Leonard Dick sent to his team today.

Subject: Guild-wide picket Thursday

As the twentieth century rambled into its final decade, this freshly minted MBA landed his first job in Hollywood as a finance executive at Disney. Heeding the lessons garnered at a cost of $60,000 for two years of tuition, room, and board, I invested in myself and purchased a chunk of shares of Disney stock (I also shrewdly bought Philip Morris stock two weeks before the federal courts, for the first time in forty years of class action suits against Big Tobacco, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs to the tune of $300 million).

Though I mothballed my 40-regular suits to become a writer of medical stories of an impeccable verisimilitude, I held on to those shares. I am an owner of Disney. On Thursday, February 6, I come full circle:

I am going to picket myself.

It's kinda poetic. You want a fair deal? I'm going to get you that deal. Because I'm going to get me to give you that deal. Bob Iger works for me. Tomorrow I'm going to march into his office and order him -- that's right, order him -- to give you that deal you've sweated for these last few months

But I need you to fend off the highly trained security guards who will try to assassinate me. Your absence on the picket line tomorrow could have dire consequences. Plus my mother's in town and it would be weird for her to be visiting if I were dead.

It's a Guild-wide picket. Other entertainment unions will be joining us. Info is below.

DISNEY STUDIOS
Picketing Shifts: 8am-3pm (8-11, 10-1, 12-3)
500 S Buena Vista Street
Burbank, California 91521
Parking Option: Neighborhood streets east of Disney (Parkside Dr.)

I will be pulling the 10-1 shift.

Please come. Give my mother's visit purpose.

Skate blades up!

Leonard Dick, Shareholder of The Walt Disney Company

The Negotiating Table (WARNING: NSFW Puppets)

Not that any kind of puppet video is really appropriate for work. Video written by Seth MacFarlane. Featuring Josh Radnor, Kat Foster, Nick Kroll, John Viener, Seth MacFarlane, and Erik Weiner. Directed by Bryan Carmel and Brendan Colthurst.

Overheard: We Love Our Grips

WGA member "Chris" sends this anecdote. -JA

I have a nice story from the line that will warm the heart:

We're at the CBS TV City main gate today, and it's raining, with big, slappy drops. There's maybe a dozen of us braving it out for The Cause, but only a couple umbrellas, meaning most of us are getting soaked. (Someone asked, "What's more unappealing than an unemployed writer? An unemployed wet writer.") Then a car drives up with a bag full of brand new rain ponchos. The guy handing them to our grateful selves says, "I'm a grip. So when you go back to work, just remember -- not all grips are dicks."

Duly noted.

Daily Show and Colbert Writers - Mock Debate in DC

Zach Pentel from CampusProgress.org sent us these videos. Check out their coverage of the event here.

Here's video of the mock debate in its entirety:


Some of the congress members' responses:


WGA Member Allison Abner, who helped organize the event wrote the following report:

The WGA had a great day in Washington yesterday. The event was hosted by Reps Nadler D-NY, Weiner D-NY, Schakowsky D-Ill, Watson D-CA. Each host put in a word in support of the striking writers and vowed to aid us should we need help with negotiations this go-round.

The highlight for Congressmen/women and their staffers was the standing-room only mock debate between the Daily Show and the Colbert Show writers. "Daily Show" writers Rob Kutner, Tim Carvell and Jason Ross represented the WGA. On the other side, in suits, was the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, played by "The Colbert Report" writers Michael Brumm, Peter Grosz and Tom Purcell. The debate was 'interrupted' by protesters (writers Kevin Blyer and Peter Gwinn) who were dragged out by WGAe President Michael Winship. It was every bit as smart as you'd expect from such incredible talent as these writers. And honestly, people walked away more informed than when they came in.

The goal in bringing this mock debate to Washington was to provide a national platform for our issues, to take it out of LA and NYC, and explain (in a fun and instructive way) why we're on strike. We got a ton of press (AP, Reuters, LA Times, Washington Post, Roll Call, Politico among them).

We (which includes WGA ex director Mona, assistant director Ann Tobac, our fabulous Washington point person Margaret Cone, and Sherry Goldman, our pr person out of east) also met with members of Congress on judiciary, labor, and telecommunications. We spoke to them about the state of negotiations, our hope that we'd reach a settlement soon. We also discussed issues like the importance of residuals -- both as a form of what I call R&D, which are scripts created outside of the development system such as Desperate Housewives, that we finance on our own dime; and as part of our expected income. We also discussed how residuals from writers are different than they are for directors, and how that affected the DGA deal.

But here's the interesting part -- and what will come to be the future direction we will have to take as writers: the issue of COPYRIGHT. When the WGA formed, we wrote away our Constitutional right to own our own material in exchange for residuals. By the way, we are the only writers in the WORLD in this situation. Like a novelist, songwriter, playwright -- the concept, the idea begins with us. We fill the blank page. And like any other artist who does the same thing in different form, we deserve the right to own our material.

The example I used was the trend among artists in the record industry, who are now licensing their masters back to the majors to exploit for a set number of years (generally 7), then rights revert back to us. I explained that many artists have made their pensions and most of their income on the latter portion of this deal. And for tv/screenwriters this would also hold true: who knew the A-Team would one day be available on DVD and itunes? And who knows what other uses there will be in the future?

Going forward into new media (internet, phones, something we haven't yet invented), we should lobby to retain our copyright. This is the third-rail of studio/WGA negociations, and if we don't work towards this, we will very possibly be out on the line again in another 3 years fighting to get paid another sliver for our work.

That being said, members said they would look into these issues, as they require legislation.

All in all, it was an incredible day on the Hill, except for the part where Disney's lobbyist was following us around, including to an event across town (where there were only 15 other people in the room!). And he was furiously taking notes without saying a word; if I get blacklisted, you'll know why. Also in attendance at the mock debate was Time-Warner's guy.

The studios are used to owning those halls, and never expected us to come there and be so high profile, not to mention successful. Hopefully this will be the start of a beautiful relationship between the WGA and the Hill.

From DC
Allison Abner

Nice Honkers

A brief use of profanity may make this video not safe for work.
(We remember what it was like to be at work.)

The Creature from the Black Casket

Watch the latest entry in our 1st Annual Short Film Contest. View the rest of the submissions at www.FairDeal4Writers.com.

"I Know What You Did That Friday"

Proving that walking the picket line stimulates your comic chops, the members of the Strike Club, formerly of Sony's Madison Gate and now keeping watch over the Galaxy Gate at Fox, offer up a short film that pokes a finger in the eye of the faceless congloms.

Lost Moguls: Have You Seen Them? Reward Offered.

It's tragic when a dog runs away. It's even worse when a media mogul runs away. Back on December 7th, someone left the door open, and the moguls all dashed out of negotiations into the street and haven't been seen since.

Our friend "Rubber Poultry" designed a series of Missing Mogul posters to help us track them down. And a reward is offered! If anyone can lure these moguls back to the table, he or she will receive the respect and gratitude of the entire entertainment industry.

Our first poster features an old but loveable mutt, "Sumner."



Printable pdf file.

AMPTP: Committed to Making Sure No One Else Goes Back to Work

Why the AMPTP Didn't Show at the City Council Meeting

The WGA waits by the negotiating table while the AMPTP is MIA. And the moguls couldn't be bothered to attend Wednesday's LA City Council meeting because they were flying off for their vacations. (from Strike Life)



Or... was it because they had some other, more important meeting to attend?


(from Doug Boch)

Strike Dwarves

Nick Counter's Nickel Counter

This animated comparison of how many nickels the conglomerates have made off of "new" media vs. how many nickels writers have made was sent to us by a mysterious supporter known as "Four Cent." Thanks for the hard work, FC.

Strike Life Presents: "Notes"

Below is the latest Strike Life video, a series of improvised shorts performed by WGA members and produced by WGA members, Chris Nolan and Laurie Nolan. Since the internet is the center of the current WGA labor strike against the Alliance Of Motion Picture & Television Producers – what better place to tell our side of the story.



See all the Strike Life videos at StrikeLife.net.

The Strike, Your Marriage and You: "The Healing"

Writer Bob Kushell, Director Russell Arch and Actress Christina Applegate look back at the making of a truly influential strike video.



Let's see...

The companies walked away (again) and are refusing to bargain (again), and the toll on the lives of working people is mounting...all of which doesn't have a lot to do with this video.

But when things are this bad, it doesn't hurt to laugh. Plus it sure would be nice if the sight of Christina Applegate abusing a writer was enough to bring the CEO's to their senses and back to the table.

Let the real healing begin.

Happy Hanukkah from the AMPTP

Thanks to Gary Greenberg.

Leaked AMPTP Footage: Project Smokescreen

Our friends from MegaPictures BFD host this super-secret internal video laying out their nefarious plans.