So, over the weekend we learned that the Feds had been brought in to mediate chats between the AMPTP and the WGA as strike negotiations “continued”. Then, last night Nikki Finke over at Deadline Hollywood Daily obtained an email sent by WGA West President Patric Verrone, which he issued to WGA members. The first line pretty much sums it up as he says, “As of Monday, we are three days from expiration of our contract. On Friday, the AMPTP told us they didn’t want to meet at the WGAW any longer and that they would next meet with us at their headquarters on Tuesday. This leaves us barely 38 hours to bargain a contract before expiration.” However, the most telling is probably the paragraph that ends the letter:
On Friday it became clear to us that management’s plan is to stall the talks until the final hours and divide us with a low-ball eleventh hour offer. This sort of brinkmanship will likely be met by fear, confusion, and even acrimony. All that is natural and expected. Therefore, we must be strong and steadfast in our convictions so that we convey the proper message to our employers, to our allies in the entertainment community, to the industry at large, and to each other: That, as much as we don’t want a strike, we want a bad contract even less.
What does all of this mean? Well, Joe Carnahan says on his blog, “I know a lot of people, close friends of mine, that are going to be f*cked in irrevocable ways by this strike. I’ve got every digit crossed that it doesn’t happen.”
So how are people preparing? An article at the “L.A. Times” says that the studios have accelerated projects, scrambling to shoot episodes of existing series before any work stoppage. They have imposed a Wednesday deadline for writers to submit scripts.
A strike would be most disruptive to midseason programs that will begin airing in January and to next year’s TV pilot season. A prolonged walkout could force networks to cancel series in advance of the February sweeps period, when station advertising prices are set.
As for movies, studios are shooting some sooner than they would have, mainly to get them completed before a possible actors strike. The studios have enough films in their pipelines to supply theaters in 2008.
I have heard rumors that the 2008 slate isn’t as secure as it seems to be and depending on the length of this strike and its result who knows what will happen when the contracts expire for the actors and directors in July.
Some think the WGA should have waited until the Screen Actors Guild’s contract expired, but that only would have weakened their stance. As Terry George (Hotel Rwanda, Reservation Road) told me earlier this month, “My mood and the mood of some of the Guild is let’s not wait for June, because they all think we are going to wait for June 30th and wait for the actors to come out and by then they will have stock-piled 200 films and by then it will be de facto strike anyway. I’m all for going as soon as we can and let’s get it out there and see.”
The two sides still remain far apart on several issues, but I can only assume the one major sticking point remains residuals when guild members’ work appears on home video and is distributed via the Internet. New media seems to be the catalyst harkening all the way back to the days of VHS and the deal struck once DVDs hit the scene, a time in which the potential marketplace wasn’t realized and the WGA feels they were severely hosed.
So the countdown is on, perhaps pay attention to the grand ol’ pumpkin over at WhySoSerious.com, while it may be just another piece of viral marketing for The Dark Knight, for many it remains just as creepy as the thought of a work stoppage. Remember, it’s not only writers that are affected. If things aren’t filming because there is nothing to film that means actors, directors, gaffers, cinematographers, etc. aren’t working either. It also means that the projects that are being rushed into production have a major likelihood of sucking the big one.
