Writers' Strike, Cont: Studios Back Out of Negotiations - Page 11

Szlia · 12-15-2007, 01:32 PM

They could watch Miami Vice or they could do exactly what I assume the writers of Dexter did: research their subject.

EDIT: I have never watched Dexter nor set foot in Miami, but I would guess the writers work is not as much capturing the fleeting essence of the city as it is capturing what the viewers, most of whom never went to Miami, will perceive as the fleeting essence of Miami. Remember the theorem: "If watching a fiction about something I don't know feels very real because it confirms all of what I think I know about that something, there is a good chance that fiction is full of shit"

chaos · 12-15-2007, 01:42 PM

Yeah maybe, I just don't think that some Pakistani writer will be able to do it as well as an American writer would. I would have the same opinion of the reverse situation.

Arbitrary · 12-15-2007, 01:53 PM

If that is true then you just write different kinds of stories.

Faille · 12-15-2007, 03:23 PM

Hey GUYS! I just had the most brilliant idea ever.

What if the studios just fired all the writers and got all new ones?!

Lowk · 12-15-2007, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faille

Hey GUYS! I just had the most brilliant idea ever.

What if the studios just fired all the writers and got all new ones?!

Quote:

Originally Posted by NOTFaille

Maybe try reading the thread for why this would not happen.

Hmm who is NOTFaille

Indiana · 12-15-2007, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Szlia

Let's lower the stupidity level a notch here: there are great writers for every genre all around the globe. The US probably has an edge in team writing techniques and certainly has edges in budget and "global reach" (I am pretty sure that if I say cultural imperialism I will be responsible for another 5 pages derail... damn).

If non-american writers were so bad, then the american film and tv industry would not buy the rights to make that many remakes. Example for Sci-Fi: Solaris (remake of a russian film based on a polish book). Example for the dutch: The Kingdom (Stephen King's branded remake of Lars von Trier's Ridget).

Von Trier is not dutch, although quite a few of us wish he was.

Szlia · 12-15-2007, 10:08 PM

Brain fart sorry, I always mix up dutch and danish. It's mostly a problem when talking about movies and in bakeries.

Finding a duch example was not that much tougher: Theo Van Gogh's Interview remade by Steve Buscemi.

Aamina · 12-15-2007, 10:58 PM

Guys I just realized something:

With the strike, who's going to write the lines for Monday Night Raw? WWE's dialogue could suffer.

Lowk · 12-15-2007, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aamina

Guys I just realized something:

With the strike, who's going to write the lines for Monday Night Raw? WWE's dialogue could suffer.

Huh? Are you implying that professional wrestling is not real? I hate dealing with your type. The WWE is very real while we are on the subject of things that are definitely not fake add the moaning in pornography.

Akileese · 12-16-2007, 08:05 PM

All joking aside, WWE writers are not members of the guild therefore they do not strike. I don't know why this is, I just know it to be true.

Interesting news piece:
Letterman the Key to Ending WGA Strike? - Slice of SciFi

Lowk · 12-16-2007, 09:14 PM

The article Akileese posted is also in the new your times if you were questioning the validity of it. I know i did at first.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/bu...strike.html?hp

In what may be the first break in the entertainment writers’ strike, David Letterman is pursuing a deal with the Writers Guild of America that would allow his late-night show on CBS to return to the air in early January with the usual complement of material from his writers, even if the strike is still continuing.

Executives from Mr. Letterman’s production company said Saturday that they were hopeful they would have an interim agreement in place with the guild as early as this week. That could potentially put Mr. Letterman at an enormous advantage over most of his late-night colleagues.

Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central has also been urging an interim agreement and would begin working toward getting one in place on Monday morning, according to a representative. But Mr. Letterman is in a stronger position because, unlike Mr. Stewart, his show is not owned by the network but by Mr. Letterman’s independent production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. (So is the show that follows it on CBS, “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” which would return with writers under the proposed interim agreement.) The news of Mr. Letterman’s potential deal came at the same time the WGA took a new tack that could potentially throw the negotiations into procedural chaos. The writers’ representatives said they planned on Monday to exercise a legal right to insist that the major studios and network production companies bargain with the guild individually rather than as a group.

In a letter sent to members on Saturday, negotiators for the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West said: “Each signatory employer is required to bargain with us individually if we make a legal demand that it do so. We will make this demand on Monday.”

The writers’ move was aimed at breaking what has been, at least in public, a united front by a small number of media conglomerates — General Electric, News Corporation, Sony, Time Warner, The Walt Disney Company, Viacom and CBS — whose entertainment units dominate the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, an industry bargaining group.

In a statement, the producers alliance immediately dismissed the move as “grasping for straws.” J. Nicholas Counter III, president of the alliance, said in an interview that his group remained the bargaining agent for each of the represented companies, whether they proceeded individually or together.

The alliance “represents all the companies both individually and on a multiemployer basis,” Mr. Counter said. In all, about 350 production companies are represented by the alliance, whose stance is controlled by representatives of the big corporations.

Even if forced to bargain separately — and representatives from both sides said they expected the unions’ position to be challenged — the companies would remain free to deal through the alliance and would be permitted to let other companies monitor their separate talks, allowing them to remain on common ground.

Since the alliance was formed in 1982, no Hollywood union has tried to force individual bargaining across the board. But Anthony R. Segall, general counsel for the West Coast guild, pointed out that interim contracts with various companies have been reached during prior walkouts. Such contracts, said Mr. Segall, typically use “most favored nation” arrangements that promise signers final terms at least as favorable as those signed by any other company.

No agreement had been reached with Mr. Letterman’s proposal as of late Saturday afternoon, according to both Mr. Segall and representatives of Mr. Letterman’s company. Rob Burnett, the chief executive of Worldwide Pants, said in a statement: “Because we are an independent production company, we are able to pursue an interim agreement with the Guild without involving CBS in that pursuit.” He said the company had been seeking a separate deal with the Guild since the start of the strike, adding, “We’re happy that the Guild has now adopted an approach that might make this possible.”

All of television’s late-night shows have been off the air for six weeks since the strike was called. The hosts have been paying the salaries of their non-writing staffs over the past several weeks.

The hosts have been debating when they might be able to return and it has been expected that at least the two chief NBC late-night stars, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien — both of whom are the longtime ratings leaders in their time slots — would announce early Monday a plan to come back, probably on Jan. 2.

It is expected that any interim agreement with Worldwide Pants would bind the company to accepting whatever terms are finally agreed to when the writers and studios settle the strike. CBS executives have been aware of Mr. Letterman’s efforts, said Chris Ender, a spokesman for the network. He said in a statement that CBS respected Mr. Letterman’s effort to secure the interim agreement but emphasized that CBS remained unified with the producers in their negotiations with the Guild.

Kuriin · 12-16-2007, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lowk

Huh? Are you implying that professional wrestling is not real? I hate dealing with your type. The WWE is very real while we are on the subject of things that are definitely not fake add the moaning in pornography.

I can't tell if you're joking.

Lowk · 12-16-2007, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuriin

I can't tell if you're joking.

As a rule for future reference just assume i am always joking when the post borders on absurdity. To help me save face also apply this to any time i go off on a rant that i quickly lose my train of thought in and start spewing off conspiracy theory-sque bullshit that i probably believe.

tad10 · 12-17-2007, 04:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lowk

The writers’ representatives said they planned on Monday to exercise a legal right to insist that the major studios and network production companies bargain with the guild individually rather than as a group.

This is very interesting because the networks, in particular, have somewhat different interests with respect to the coming season. Fox -- with American Idol -- is in a much better position to weather a strike then some of the other networks with weaker reality programming.

Seems like a good strat for the WGA

Aamina · 12-17-2007, 04:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tad10

Seems like a good strat for the WGA

But the question remains, who's going to end up tanking this raid boss? I feel like its the random little guys, the random production assistants and what have you.

12-15-2007, 01:32 PM	#151 (permalink)
Szlia Conquest Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Switzerland Posts: 5,279 +27 Internets	They could watch Miami Vice or they could do exactly what I assume the writers of Dexter did: research their subject. EDIT: I have never watched Dexter nor set foot in Miami, but I would guess the writers work is not as much capturing the fleeting essence of the city as it is capturing what the viewers, most of whom never went to Miami, will perceive as the fleeting essence of Miami. Remember the theorem: "If watching a fiction about something I don't know feels very real because it confirms all of what I think I know about that something, there is a good chance that fiction is full of shit" __________________ -retrosabotage- Last edited by Szlia; 12-15-2007 at 01:43 PM..

12-15-2007, 03:23 PM	#154 (permalink)
Faille Fires of Heaven Officer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 3,077 +21 Internets	Hey GUYS! I just had the most brilliant idea ever. What if the studios just fired all the writers and got all new ones?! __________________ Faille Fires of Heaven http://www.fohguild.org/forums/uberw...lopment-forum/

12-15-2007, 10:08 PM	#157 (permalink)
Szlia Conquest Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Switzerland Posts: 5,279 +27 Internets	Brain fart sorry, I always mix up dutch and danish. It's mostly a problem when talking about movies and in bakeries. Finding a duch example was not that much tougher: Theo Van Gogh's Interview remade by Steve Buscemi. __________________ -retrosabotage-

12-16-2007, 09:14 PM	#161 (permalink)
Lowk This is not a pipe. Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,595	The article Akileese posted is also in the new your times if you were questioning the validity of it. I know i did at first. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/bu...strike.html?hp In what may be the first break in the entertainment writers’ strike, David Letterman is pursuing a deal with the Writers Guild of America that would allow his late-night show on CBS to return to the air in early January with the usual complement of material from his writers, even if the strike is still continuing. Executives from Mr. Letterman’s production company said Saturday that they were hopeful they would have an interim agreement in place with the guild as early as this week. That could potentially put Mr. Letterman at an enormous advantage over most of his late-night colleagues. Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central has also been urging an interim agreement and would begin working toward getting one in place on Monday morning, according to a representative. But Mr. Letterman is in a stronger position because, unlike Mr. Stewart, his show is not owned by the network but by Mr. Letterman’s independent production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. (So is the show that follows it on CBS, “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” which would return with writers under the proposed interim agreement.) The news of Mr. Letterman’s potential deal came at the same time the WGA took a new tack that could potentially throw the negotiations into procedural chaos. The writers’ representatives said they planned on Monday to exercise a legal right to insist that the major studios and network production companies bargain with the guild individually rather than as a group. In a letter sent to members on Saturday, negotiators for the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West said: “Each signatory employer is required to bargain with us individually if we make a legal demand that it do so. We will make this demand on Monday.” The writers’ move was aimed at breaking what has been, at least in public, a united front by a small number of media conglomerates — General Electric, News Corporation, Sony, Time Warner, The Walt Disney Company, Viacom and CBS — whose entertainment units dominate the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, an industry bargaining group. In a statement, the producers alliance immediately dismissed the move as “grasping for straws.” J. Nicholas Counter III, president of the alliance, said in an interview that his group remained the bargaining agent for each of the represented companies, whether they proceeded individually or together. The alliance “represents all the companies both individually and on a multiemployer basis,” Mr. Counter said. In all, about 350 production companies are represented by the alliance, whose stance is controlled by representatives of the big corporations. Even if forced to bargain separately — and representatives from both sides said they expected the unions’ position to be challenged — the companies would remain free to deal through the alliance and would be permitted to let other companies monitor their separate talks, allowing them to remain on common ground. Since the alliance was formed in 1982, no Hollywood union has tried to force individual bargaining across the board. But Anthony R. Segall, general counsel for the West Coast guild, pointed out that interim contracts with various companies have been reached during prior walkouts. Such contracts, said Mr. Segall, typically use “most favored nation” arrangements that promise signers final terms at least as favorable as those signed by any other company. No agreement had been reached with Mr. Letterman’s proposal as of late Saturday afternoon, according to both Mr. Segall and representatives of Mr. Letterman’s company. Rob Burnett, the chief executive of Worldwide Pants, said in a statement: “Because we are an independent production company, we are able to pursue an interim agreement with the Guild without involving CBS in that pursuit.” He said the company had been seeking a separate deal with the Guild since the start of the strike, adding, “We’re happy that the Guild has now adopted an approach that might make this possible.” All of television’s late-night shows have been off the air for six weeks since the strike was called. The hosts have been paying the salaries of their non-writing staffs over the past several weeks. The hosts have been debating when they might be able to return and it has been expected that at least the two chief NBC late-night stars, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien — both of whom are the longtime ratings leaders in their time slots — would announce early Monday a plan to come back, probably on Jan. 2. It is expected that any interim agreement with Worldwide Pants would bind the company to accepting whatever terms are finally agreed to when the writers and studios settle the strike. CBS executives have been aware of Mr. Letterman’s efforts, said Chris Ender, a spokesman for the network. He said in a statement that CBS respected Mr. Letterman’s effort to secure the interim agreement but emphasized that CBS remained unified with the producers in their negotiations with the Guild. Last edited by Lowk; 12-16-2007 at 09:17 PM..

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12-15-2007, 01:42 PM	#152 (permalink)
chaos Registered User Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: NoVa Posts: 6,357 +22 Internets	Yeah maybe, I just don't think that some Pakistani writer will be able to do it as well as an American writer would. I would have the same opinion of the reverse situation.