The main gate at Paramount was more packed than I’ve seen it all strike, and featured some familiar names and faces, both at the podium and in the crowd. Speakers included Howard Rodman, Robin Swicord, Bill Condon, and Harlan Ellison, who filled in for a muted Josh Olson. I wasn’t brave enough to introduce myself to Sarah Silverman, but did get to talk with Iris Yamashita (Letters from Iwo Jima) and Diana Ossana (Brokeback Mountain).
As with most gates, there were a number of blog readers and film students. Thanks for continuing to come out to the lines.
On Monday, I’ll be back at my usual post: 5:30 a.m. at Paramount’s Van Ness gate. That’s the last day of normal studio picketing before the holidays.
Yesterday, I braved Actual Sunlight to speak at the Indie Gate gathering at Paramount. It was a great turnout, with a collection of writers expressing a range of opinions, from moderate (me) to far less than moderate (Harlan Ellison).
I’ll have a full recap of the day up later, but I wanted to post what I (more or less) said while I could still reconstruct it.
A few weeks ago, I got involved in a pretty heated discussion online, talking about one issue that screenwriters think about a lot. Namely, where would you go if Los Angeles were suddenly overrun by zombies?
There are many good options. If you can get to Angeles National Forest, great. The desert is another possibility. But if you’re stuck in the city itself, I’d propose a good choice would be one of the movie studios. They have big walls and defensible gates.
They’re really the castles of Los Angeles.
And to an outsider, seeing us here today, it might look like we’re villagers trying to storm these castles. Like this is a siege. But that’s not really accurate. We’re not trying to get in — we’ve been inside, and really, it’s not that nice. Rather, we’re here because we want those guys to come out. We’re not here to bring war. We’re here to make peace. And we can’t do it alone.
The theme behind today’s gate is “Independent Film.” But I think we all know that’s a misnomer. We might write our scripts independently, but shooting them requires the cooperation and hard work of a crew, producers, and financiers.
And over the last few years, companies like Paramount Vantage have taken a big interest in our movies. Yes, some of them make money, but more importantly, they make the studios look classy. It’s no accident that most of the movies “For Your Consideration” were first considered in our heads. First written with our hands.
If anything, we should be calling it “co-dependent film.” We’re good at making movies. They’re good at releasing movies. Yes, we have a fucked-up relationship — but it’s a relationship. And we’re here every day because we want to make it work.
I have a blog, and every day I’ve been writing up what happens on the picket lines. One of the things I never anticipated is how many non-WGA writers would be joining us. I like when they sign-in as “Future WGA.” Because they’re recognizing that what gets decided through this strike will be the contract they’re working under for the next 20 years. So I want to give a shout-out to them now. [cheers]
What they see — what we all need to remember — is that however long this strike goes, it’s nothing compared to the 20 years ahead. These studios, these castles, they’ll probably be here. We want to make sure writers are too.
Digging through the files this afternoon, I came across this document I’d written for The Nines three years ago, which outlines a lot of my production philosophies at the time. To complete my process-geekery, I thought I’d annotate it to show what we did versus what we planned.
You can download it here (.pdf). Note: Attentive readers will notice some mild spoilers, particularly in the visual effects breakdown.
On Friday night, I went in to WGA headquarters to help load up vans for the coming week.
Part of my motivation was banking hours; loading vans is a four-hour shift, and actually counts as two normal shifts. But my larger goal was to learn more about the infrastructure behind the strike.
Ever since picketing began last month, I’ve been curious where everything comes from, and how all the systems operate.1 After all, the WGA doesn’t normally function as a field organization. It’s mostly people at desks, registering scripts, checking residuals, and dealing with the bureaucracy of running a guild. But suddenly, there are thousands of picket signs, and phone banks, and white vans full of supplies.
Clearly, someone had to set up these logistics. I assumed it was some outside contractor, but no. It’s basically just writers and re-deployed staff. Case in point: Jerome, a blog-reader I met during the first week. On day 13, he oversaw the sign-making session in which I got to demonstrate my facility in duct-taping. He was also in charge of Friday night’s van-loading.
Basically, there’s one van per studio being picketed. There’s a list of what each location needs: X number of signs, X number of insulated orange water coolers, X boxes of snacks, etc. It’s very straightforward. Most nights, you’re really just re-filling supplies, since the same basic stuff should have been returned to the van after picketing.
Last Friday was the big rally at Freemantle, after which stuff got thrown into vans pretty haphazardly. So everything had to be emptied out, then restocked from scratch. No biggie. Honestly, it was nice to have a job that had clearly defined objectives. Unlike picketing, you could see what you’d accomplished. You knew when you were done.
We were midway through the job when word came down that negotiations had broken off. Disappointing? Certainly. But it was strange to be getting this news while readying the vans. No one wants this strike to drag on for months. But I can tell you firsthand: on a systems/process level, it’s surprisingly well-run, with really good morale. No one was ducking out early.
This morning I went back to picket with my usual crew at Paramount. It was the fastest shift so far. I didn’t check the time until 8:20 a.m., at which point I was nearly done. A lot of the conversation centered on preschools, since half of us have kids in that zone.
Tomorrow, I’ll be taking the day off (the second of my two banked days from Friday). Thursday, I’ll be picketing (and speaking) at the Indie Gate at Paramount from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. After that, there are only two more days of picketing until the winter holidays.
I’m a process nerd at heart. At dinner parties, I’ve been known to interrogate strangers working in interesting fields, as if trying to construct the database for an expert system to replace them. ↩
For those directors out there who shoot these gargantuan, 100 day and more schedules, all I can say is…I’m in awe. Because after 48 days, I was ready to collapse.
The last moments were a bit of a blur, but I know a lot of our crew reads the blog, so I wanted to use this post to say THANK YOU.
Thank you Dave and Tom and Kim and Alan and Dave and Linda and Mychael and Doug and Rupert and Jessie and Mike and Michael and Scott and Jimmy and Leo and Charlie and Billy and Mikey and Carol and Ellen and Joyce and Steve and Michelle and Janeen and Lori and Mark and Keith and Lloyd and Chodo and Chris and Joe and Bob and Jim and Jill and Wilma and Jacq and Adam and Mary and Andrew and Audrey and Ozzie and Lilly and Randy and Tommy and Rob and Alan…
Those are just the names off the top of my head (one of the challenges of directing is that you have to learn a lot of names, and quickly). I thank everyone who worked on the film. Everyone.
Now, a little about the possessory credit.
Before I shot this movie, I hated the “film by” credit. I haaaaaated it. Some director friends told me that actually doing the job would make me change my mind.
They were right.
I now hate that credit even more.
I also want to acknowledge my wonderful cast, who all went above and beyond for me, and showed me great patience while they did it. Drake, Sara, Christopher, Leslie, Marion, Ryan, Kevin, Brent, Jeffrey, Kurt, Dan, John, Rod, Steve and everyone else, from background to star…you were all wonderful to me, and I’m in your debt.
Now the editing begins. Life returns somewhat to normal.
I say “somewhat,” because I spent my first post-shoot day picketing in front of Warner Brothers, but it’s more normal than shooting, at least.
Thanks for bearing with me during my distracted months. I simply didn’t have the ability to monitor the comment discussions the way I like, and things got progressively uglier in there, particularly after the strike. I don’t intend to let that continue. Let’s debate without being personal or cruel (and for my part in the tit-for-tat wars, I genuinely apologize).
I really really really hope that the Verrones and the Counters and the Youngs and the Chernins and the Bowmans and the Meyers had a pleasant Thanksgiving.
They’re all back in the room tomorrow.
And there are rumors.
Hollywood rumors occasionally come on like seizures, grabbing everyone’s attention and shaking them around. More frequently, they emerge like one of Kant’s synthetic a priori judgments—supposedly unquestionably true, and yet not by way of reason or analysis. People suddenly just know stuff, and they don’t know why, but they sure as hell believe it.
Gotta love this town.
There’s a rumor out there now that Monday’s meeting is almost pro forma. The rumor says that the basic deal structure has been agreed upon, the next few days are about hammering out the devillish details, but whatever that magic number is…it’s been found.
Tempting to believe.
So tempting…that I believe it.
But first, some baseball news.
I was reading about Johan Santana today (for those of you who don’t follow the sport, he’s pretty much the best pitcher in the game…and a lefty to boot). The Twins have him under a cheap contract for one more year.
If they keep him for that year, he becomes a free agent…and leaves them, because they can’t afford to pay him what he’s worth on the open market.
If they trade him now, they lose him for one year but stand to gain some tremendous players in return.
Easy choice. They have to trade him.
Here’s where the game theory kicks in. They can’t trade him for scrubs. They need great players. So it would seem they have all the leverage. On the other hand, the teams they’re dealing with know all too well that the Twins have to trade him, or they end up with nothing…and those teams would then still have a shot at Santana on the open market.
So the Twins need to be strong but reasonable, and the opposing teams need to be strong but reasonable.
Nice balance.
Right now, our situation makes the Santana trade look like child’s play, but still…we have some balance, and that’s what matters. Neither side can crush the other (despite infantile proclamations to the contrary from both the union and the companies). The companies know that their current offer is a non-starter in a general sense. By now, they’ve heard as much, I presume, from the DGA.
Either they dared us to strike to see if we had the balls (dumb, because their deal was so ridiculous, who would possibly agree to take it?), or they forced us to strike in order to….
…well, hell, Nick Counter, buy me a drink one day and explain that to me if it’s the case. It certainly seemed like the AMPTP forced a strike, but to what end?
Regardless, the balance in the equation may be forcing a compromise. We’re costing them money. We’re costing ourselves money. They have the DGA they can bargain with…but they still have to bargain with them.
If the rumors are correct, there’s enough impetus to get the AMPTP back to finding the magic number.
So let’s start defining “victory.”
To me, victory doesn’t have to include any DVD increase (and given that we already gave that one up before ungiving it up, don’t expect it folks…and yes, I’ve spoken with a number of writers who honestly believe that we’ll get one). It doesn’t have to include any jurisdictional gains, nor does it have to include anything at all regarding product integration.
Victory requires the following.
Maintenance, at very least, of status quo for separated rights
A better-than-DVD rate for electronic sell-through on the internet
A reasonable formula for streaming reuse
Pretty muddy, I grant you. For instance, what if the companies promise a good residual rate, but insist on that rollback for separated stage dramatization rights? I’ll let other people chew on those. Similarly, what’s reasonable for #3? And how much better than is truly better than? .31% ain’t enough. 2.5% won’t happen either.
Perhaps, if the rumors are correct, those are the things left to discuss. They’re big things.
But if we’ve gotten past some of the major stumbling blocks and boiled it down to the serious stuff at hand…and more importantly, if the AMPTP is ready to acknowledge certain basic realities…then we might be back to work soon.
Before I go, there are two other matters to discuss.
First, attorney Jonathan Handel has written a fantastic primer on our residuals rates and the true numbers involved. Surprise, surprise…the whole “four more cents!” thing is reductive sloganeering with little bearing on the actual economic issues here…and yet…as Handel argues convincingly, we deserve more nonetheless.
I strongly recommend you read his essay. You can’t fit it on a picket sign, but it’s a whole lot more convincing than anything beginning with “Hey hey, ho ho!”
Secondly, I’ve received a number of emails all posing variants of the following question.
“I’m not a member of the WGA yet, and I’m wondering how the strike affects me. Can I sell material to or work for signatory companies? Is there any rule preventing me from doing that?”
Here’s my answer to all of you who’ve asked.
I’m not telling you.
I’m not telling you because I’m basically here to try and help writers and empower writers, and while I love truth and accuracy, I’m not obligated to write down how-to manuals for scabbing.
So here’s the answer I’ll give instead.
Regardless of the rules, regulations, laws, court decisions and anything else prevailing either for or against you, if you sell material to or make writing deals with signatory companies while the WGA is on strike, then you’re an asshole.
You’re an asshole because you’re undercutting, you’re an asshole because you’re exploiting opportunities made possible by people who are trying to better everyone’s circumstances, and you’re an asshole because…well…
…I’ll go back to a synthetic a priori judgment. You just are.
Good enough for Kant, good enough for me.
Aggh, one more thing (“Our three weapons are…!”).
The blog.
Totally redoing it. I’ve decided that MovableType 4, while better than 3, is still inferior to WordPress. So I’m switching over to WordPress, and I’m redesiging the look of the whole thing while I’m at it.
Hopefully it will be done before the end of the year.
Some good news…commenting will be much more user-friendly. Specifically, you’ll be able to live preview your comments as you type them, and you’ll also be able to EDIT them (cue the angelic chorus) for 15 minutes following the initial submission.
I’m going to try and make the whole site feel cleaner and simpler, with a few Web 2.0 perks thrown in (like super-easy icons to refer articles to social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit).
Alas, I think the quill is going bye-bye. I liked it, it served us well, but progress demands that we pave that sucker over and build something new. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it.
I’ve been deluged lately, and with the last few days of production still left to go, I just haven’t had a chance to respond to everyone the way I normally do.
I’ve gotten a ton of email in the past week or so, all of it very kind and supportive, and I thank each of you for taking the time. I feel like a jerk for not responding individually, and once I get my life back, I promise to get better about that.
If you sent me a link to a blog article, MSM article or YouTube video, I also thank you. I’m trying to read and watch everything when I get a chance.
More to come in a few days. I’m trying to get the Guild to clarify their position on location striking, which is a hot topic among my writer friends (and the source of some confusion and disparate understandings). No answer yet. Hope to hear back soon.
I’ll leave you with this. Got sent the link by Ask A Ninja, which is one of the few actual, honest-to-goodness funny websites out there.
As you can see, we’re still working on getting our formatting back, but in the meantime, I thought I’d catch up with all of you.
It used to be that folks would come here to catch up, I suppose, but you’re all ahead of me now. I go off and work a few 15 hour days in a row, and before I know it, everyone’s on top of everything.
You’ve read all the letters from Verrone, you know the WGA and AMPTP are back at the table on Monday, you followed the tit-for-tat wars between Tommy Short and Verrone (and between Ellen, AFTRA and couldn’t-get-anything-right-if-her-life-depended-on-it Mona Mangan), you know that Carlton Cuse is returning to work on the very same day…
So, what’s it all mean?
There’s an enormous amount of noise out there, literally and figuratively. Picking through it to get the signal is the tricky part.
For instance, the AMPTP runs an ad proclaiming that they are, in fact, paying us for internet downloads.
Noise.
Signal? They’re paying us at a rate we don’t accept and have explicitly rejected as insufficient, and there’s an entire category of internet exhibition (advertising-supporting streaming) they don’t want to pay us for at all.
Meanwhile, Patric Verrone tells a crowd that we’re “kicking corporate ass” while David Young muses openly to the press about “all the havoc” he’s wreaked.
Noise.
Signal? The Big Five congloms’ asses are still quite unkicked, and David Young needs to start talking publicly like the responsible, pragmatic guy into whom a lot of insiders are telling me he’s blossomed.
Tommy Short, the autocratic head of IATSE, complains that Patric is strike-happy and needs to grow the hell up before more IA members lose their jobs.
Noise.
Signal? Yes, when writers strike, bad things happen. Duh. Production slowing down is obviously one of them. I’m pretty sure that if IATSE ever struck (which will happen in, oh, about a month after never), then writers would suffer too, as development would slow, production payments would cease, and showrunners would go dark. Putting aside whether or not Patrick is strike-happy, it’s absurdly unfair of Tommy to insist that the WGA shouldn’t strike for fear of hurting IA members. This is the guy who hung a rollback around the necks of the Teamsters. It’s his favorite move. He’s a blame shifter.
Speaking of the Teamsters, their decision to encourage their members to individually decide not to cross the picket lines has given our strike a major boost.
Sadly, noise.
Signal? I’ve been talking to some captains, a lot of picketers, a bunch of guys in Local 399 and some people on the inside at the WGA. The Teamsters have been crossing, and I haven’t heard about any shows, lots or production companies negatively impacted in any serious way by Teamster support. I can’t blame the Teamsters here. They’re working men and women under contract, and while the announcement of support from 399’s leadership was a great PR coup (I sure fell for it), PR doesn’t put food on the table. The drivers keep on driving.
Then there’s the issue of the showrunners. They banded together and most of them walked off their writing jobs and their producing jobs (which generally pay them the bulk of their income). Their resistance would lead to a short strike.
Noise.
Signal? They have to go back to work. They have to. The fact that they did what they did was individually brave and commendable, but collectively, it was a high risk/low gain strategy. Shutting down post earlier than normal maybe stole back a few more weeks of episodes than a simple cessation of writing would have, but ultimately, they can’t all end up in breach. Furthermore, whenever we can mitigate collateral damage to other working people (particularly unionized ones like crew), we ought to. I’m happy that Cuse is going back to work, and I’ve spoken with a showrunner who believes quite a few more will return now that negotiations seem to be percolating again.
Speaking of which…
Let’s see. Depending on which strain of rabies you have, this next round of negotiations is either:
a) evidence that our strike has dealt a terrible blow to the companies
or
b) a trap in which the all-powerful AMPTP crushes the rebellion and blows the bejeezus out of Yavin IV.
But you know me…
…I’ll go with neither.
There’s a decent probability that some vague structure of a deal already exists. It may be emerging from back-channels between WGA moderates and AMPTP moderates, or it may be forming out of discussions between the DGA and the AMPTP.
But is it a good structure?
Can either side afford a compromise at this point?
Sure. Both sides have to be aware of the truth of their leverage. Ignore the chanting and the ranting from the rabid extremes on both sides, focus on the inevitable compromises both sides must make, and we could have a deal in hand before Christmas.
Yesterday, I braved Actual Sunlight to speak at the Indie Gate gathering at Paramount. It was a great turnout, with a collection of writers expressing a range of opinions, from moderate (me) to far less than moderate (Harlan Ellison).
