Hollywood's Writers' Strike

[Morrigoon]

My understanding is that they're not holding Leno himself responsible for it, since he's been very supportive of them. But we'll probably see a whole lot of politicians and other non-actors, as they're discouraging members of SAG from appearing on the shows.

[Ghoulish Delight]

It'll be interesting to see what happens at the Oscars. It's not like the Academy is who the writers have the grievance against, and most of the dispute involved television and related media, not so much movies. But they it's the most visible platform SAG will have. Will the union encourage members not to show up for the show, even if nominated? It would certainly send a strong message, but that's gotta be a tough decision to make. People like Diablo Colby, writer of Juno who is likely to be nominated, would be in a really difficult position. Who knows if you'll ever have that kind of success again?

[innerSpaceman]

They are denying a waiver for, and will be picketing the Golden Globes in two weeks. Some schools think a better way to send a message is to have tons of acceptance speeches mention the strike and writers' plight, plus not put a damper on something which celebrates and rewards the writers' art.

But, in the end, I have to agree with the current decision. A strike is a strike, and if it is to have teeth, you boycott and picket the most high-profile events and shows. The Globes and Oscars are a BIG revenue stream for the TV networks that air them. It's kind of a drag, but making nominees and presenters cross a picket line is unfortunately part of the war with greedy film and television producers.

[mousepod]

Golden Globes Televised Awards Show Cancelled

wow.

[Snowflake]

Well, I echo mousepod here, wow.

I understand the reasoning, most certainly, but wow just the same. All those poor designers, make up people, the crew for the Kodiak (etc.), valet, limo drivers, security, etc., not going to be a good season for them, I guess.

Guess I had better check the netflix queue to load up on nominated films anyway.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I think the writers are starting to get the upper hand. Letterman (World Wide Pants) agreed to all of their terms. CBS now has a show in a pivotal time slot with writers and no picket lines. That's gotta put a lot of pressure on the other networks, and the guild now has a leg to stand on when saying their demands are reasonable ("Letterman signed the contract.").

And now this. It's gotta have people shaking in their boots to picture the Oscars going the same way...

[Disneyphile]

That's why I can't stand unions, and will usually cross picket lines.

I'm sorry, but to put others out of work for the strikers' gains is ridiculous and selfish, IMHO.

When the big grocery strike happened, my choices were to cross the lines or drive about 10 miles to a non-union store that didn't even carry everything I needed. Sorry, but I wasn't about to waste my gas money and inconvenience myself because some people had issues with their job. Their problem was not my problem, nor was I going to make it so.

I know I don't hold the popular opinion about it, but I firmly stand by it.

[Alex]

Except almost none of the issues in contention play any role for the late night talk shows. It is very easy to agree to the terms when you don't have to pay any of the money.

For PR purposes it may be too subtle a point (since most people I speak to are barely aware there is even a strike going on) but it is kind of like saying that taxes on orange trees are reasonable because Maine agreed to them. (I'm on the writer's side on these but the Worldwide Pants agreement isn't real evidence of reasonableness; even if the demands were horribly unreasonable they wouldn't effect Letterman much to agree to them).

I don't believe Worldwide Pants currently has any sitcoms on the schedule (Knights of Prosperity was canceled) but does anybody know if the side agreement would apply to their sitcom work or just narrowly applies to the two late night talk shows?

I certainly won't miss the Golden Globes (who are the HFPA and why do I care what movies they think are good?) so I'm all in favor of an annual early January strike.

[Gemini Cricket]

Part of me wonders if Letterman knows something. Like that the writers are going to get what they want...

[Alex]

I doubt he has any particular inside knowledge (more than us, but no more than other minor producers and big WGA members). It just didn't cost him anything much to agree to the terms and the side agreement has a clause saying that when a final agreement is reached Worldwide Pants will automatically switch to it. So it cost him little to agree to everything and ultimately he'll have agreed to even less than that.