"Not perfect, but no negotiation is."
Hmm, that's a pretty diplomatic way of phrasing this. I have followed the reports about the strike quite closely, and I have to say that this result is very disappointing. It's barely better than what the directors achieved (the differences are in ridiculous details), and they didn't shut down the industry for months. Regarding that this was a fight of David against Goliath, maybe this is really the best possible result, but I seriously wonder if there wasn't a faster and cheaper way (for the writers) to get there.
:-/
Doc, I would like to hear what you think about the long term consequences for the WGA. It's obvious that they are at a serious disadvantage against the media giant in any fight. Imho the best strategy to get into a better position for the next confrontation would be "divide and conquer". The WGA should actively support small startup enterprises who will use the internets for streaming entertainment. This will be the future, and the huge, bureaucratic, slow moving giants are not especially in best shape to compete against fast moving, effective skunkworks. This guy Elisberg (?), who reported at HuffPo about the strike, recently wrote a column indicating that the writers are interested in those smaller independent productions who will focus on internet content. What do you think about this?
Gray,
The WGA deal is substantially better than the deal the DGA settled for, in a number of areas.
To name just a few.
1. The writers get 2% of downloads starting on the third year. That's of everything, not an un-auditable number, or some number that doesn't mean anything. It's 2% of the whole pie.
Right now, downloads may not be everything. We shall see. But we have our nose under the tent. The DGA does not. If downloads take off, we'll be able to shift back to the second year, or even the first at the 2% number, which has been established as a reasonable number. And it's a number everyone agrees makes sense. If downloads don't take off, well, no problem.
The question always was, what period is appropriate for the studios to have as their own to get back their money for marketing of the product. That's the "promotional" period. Right now, that's 17 days, followed by 2 years of internet downloads at a vastly reduced rate. If television reruns shift to the internet quickly in the next two years, the writers got screwed. But we're protected in year three. If they don't, we're good. If downloads take off in a big way, we're going to do well in the third and all subsequent years no matter what, which is the point. Then the directors are screwed.
2. We doubled the hated DVD rate. That hasn't moved in over 20 years, including one strike called on purpose just to move it.
3. The studios tried to take away hundreds of items. We didn't lose ANYTHING. They tried to essentially break the union. We came out VERY strong. We forged ties with SAG which are now so strong, we know we have unity which wills stand for years and years. And when SAG goes on strike -- if the studios are that stupid -- in three months, the writers will be right there, having their backs.
4. We established WGA jurisdiction over net episodes, that is content written specifically for the internet, e.g.: Battlestar three-minute mini-episodes. Last season, they ran 10 of them leading up to kicking of Season 3. None of those were going to be paid for (don't know how it turned out), and none of them were credited (at least not originally. Not sure how it turned out.) This was a big deal. Now, if any WGA writer works on the project, it's a WGA project. Even if it doesn't otherwise meet the minimums. And a project which doesn't meet the minimums to start, but which does eventually, becomes a WGA project and has to go back and recalculate everything as if it had been WGA from day 1.
5. This strike was about control of new media. The studios wanted full control of new media, with the writers locked out. We won and they lost. End of discussion.
6. The directors had zero chance of getting the deal they got, without the leverage of the writers as background.
7. We then took their deal as the minimum, and negotiated past that. We also took additional stuff they didn't care about, such as separated rights.
8. SAG will stand on our shoulders and get even more. You think we're tough. SAG is much more militant than we are, and photogenic to boot. Plus we'll be quite happy to write great lines and videos for them to shoot. It's going to be great.
9. Silicon Valley and Venture money is pouring into Hollywood. The studios had a chance to change. They blew it. Top writers and studios are now seeing other people (and their money.)
10. This was a success across the board. Just because we didn't get every single negotiating point doesn't mean anything. We went in to win control of new media, and we left having won control of new media. The rest is gravy. I like gravy. But I sit down to eat turkey and stuffing.
Hope this helps,
Did the 'most favoured nation' clause get included in the final contract? There were rumours yesterday that they'd left it out, or that it only covered new media; what was the final shape of it?
If it got included, then hopefully SAG can come out and reiterate that the 17-day window is unacceptable and hopefully get it closed (or at least significantly reduced).
Actually - I've got quite a few questions about the final shape of the deal, but a couple of minor ones: Why does the 2% residual formula only cover network-primetime and leave the cable guys with capped residuals? And what's all this nonsense about an imputed value, was that just an illustration and the contract does allow 2% of actual gross, or is it 2% of the 'imputed gross'?
Solidarity forever.
Rob M -
I haven't seen the final contract language. I'm working off reports of people who have.
"The writers get 2% of downloads starting on the third year." Well, I read this, but imho it is utterly unimpressive. There's the free promotional period, and then the first and second year are capped at 1200 bucks. And only then comes the difference to the director's deal, the 2% for the third year. Hell, who knows if anybody will be interested at all in a show that's three years old. This certainly isn't the highlight of the deal.
"We doubled the hated DVD rate." Ok, this is something that will really help the writers. More money in their pockets. But isn't this in the director's deal, too?
"The directors had zero chance of getting the deal they got, without the leverage of the writers as background." Ok, that's a point. They were freeriders, profiting fromthe fight between the parties. The studios certainly had no interest in fighting on two fronts.
"They tried to essentially break the union. We came out VERY strong." Ok, that's the strategic victory. The studios obviously thought they could provide a deadly blow to the union. Imho the writers didn't come out very strong, but that they survived this battle is a reassuring show of strength and determination. The corporations lost billions in revenue and had to make a deal they could have had much earlier, if not for their stubborn, ideological hate of the WGA. This will teach them.
"Silicon Valley and Venture money is pouring into Hollywood. The studios had a chance to change. They blew it. Top writers and studios are now seeing other people (and their money.)" As I said, this is the future. I won't be easy to take market shares away from the giants, but the entrepeneurs are faster moving on this rapidly changing market. The writers are good adviced to support this. New companies who know that their success rests on the content they offer will be much more inclined to make fair deals with their authors.
Jesse:
I am like you in that I have no direct knowledge of the deal, but, I talked this morning with a guy who attended the L.A. meeting and he said it is a good deal. Even more telling though, for the first time in three months I got a call from a jingle producer. If those folks are putting money up, and gearing production, there must be some good feeling and certainty about this.
Viva La Huelga!
This is a bad deal. I've followed this strike closely from the beginning and ya'll are getting shafted o New Media in the same way you did with DVD/VHS...which by the way still sucks as it was taken off the table in the beginning.
Do you really believe you're gonna go back and re-negotiate if this deal is ratified? How'd that work with DVD/VHS?
The studios still own the internet. I'm not WGA yet but hell with deals like these there is no incentive to join. NONE.
This is bad and just like with VHS/DVD the union is gonna be crying foul in a few years but because they added an extra half year to the contract striking won't help because the awards season and fall tv season would have been salvaged.
SMH.
Congrats, Jesse.
And a special congrats to all the members of the WGA for showing us why unions are needed and what they can achieve.
Good Job!
aside to tsjohnson5:
dude, you have a very skewed vision of what the WGA was after in this strike. they were less concerned about gains than they were about preventing further rollbacks. that was accomplished. not only was no ground lost, there were small, and important gains. the biggest gain being that the internet is acknowledged as a profit making venue when the producers entered saying "nothing to talk about here." that's huge. also, the WGA entered, stayed out, and will continue from a position of good union strength. i was a part of the musician's union strike in vegas in the late 80's. we had our asses broken there. i was concerned for my union brothers in the WGA because the producers seemed more intent on breaking the union than preserving the profit ground. that didn't happen here. good for the WGA. they didn't get the sun, the moon, and the stars above with this contract, but they got more than they came in asking, and they get to leave with their asses.
in today's labor environment that's fucking HUGE.
@mistrel
I don't have a skewed vision of what they were asking. And my take on the deal is very similar to WGA members who are ADAMANTLY against the deal.
Now the deal is going to pass. But is bad, VERY BAD. And there is no changing that. It's a bad deal. And they're going to lose out on a lot of money in the long run.
Leaving with the Union intact has to be seen as a win today.
No rollbacks, and jurisdiction over new media.
Now it's time to get back to work.
Some of us live in the real world. With respect, there's always people on the side who say woulda coulda shoulda. But people's house payments are overdue and they are eating noodles. Work. It's time to work while the union is still intact and together.
If people has tried to stay out for another three months, the union would have splintered, this deal would have been lost, and there wouldn't have been ANY certainty of anything better when SAG goes out in June. All our leverage is right now. So we take it and we take the deal. That's called working with real world conditions.
It's a good deal and much better than anyone realistically hoped for three months ago.
And to the person who asked if the WGA will honor the SAG picket lines. No writer will cross a SAG picket line, but that doesn't mean writers don't have to show up to work. We aren't allowed not to go to work, just as the actors had to go to work if their shows were scheduled to shoot. We just can't be made to cross a picket line to get there.
You'll see most of the writers writing all day, then coming out to join SAG on the picket lines, just as SAG joined the WGA on our picket lines. Further, you'll see WGA writing videos for the actors to perform to keep the public on their side.
And maybe the studios will see sense and negotiate fairly and quickly. *cracks up*
The actor's guild is 90% unemployed, so they are the most militant of all. Look for a strike.
I don't think you are correct that the DVD rate was doubled. There was no movement on DVD payments, and in fact the demand was dropped the night of the contract deadline, back in November, b/c the WGA believed the AMPTP's promise that if they did so, they'd get a new media offer. That new media offer did not materialize until January.
What did get "doubled" was the rate for electronic sell-through, i.e. iTunes and other downloads. This was achieved in the DGA contract as well. It sounds better than it is, because of course DVDs cost much more than iTunes purchases, so the takeaway for WGA and DGA members is much less even though the rate is doubled.
That said, it does seem like the WGA achieved a lot, not only by boosting what the DGA would have gotten, but also by making a few inroads in important principles like separated rights and the 3d-year distributors' gross formula. On the day they went on strike, they didn't even have internet jurisdiction. Plus, reports seem consistent that WGA members feel very proud that they maintained unity over a long-term strike, something that is exceedingly difficult to do, especially with such a large and diverse membership.
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