More on the Writer's Strike

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

This was just posted in Variety today in regard to the WGA's more-than-likely strike:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117973660.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

[JDS]

That's pretty fucked up.

Forget about the networks, what about hurting US? What if Bionic Woman were my favorite show EVER, and they killed by going on strike? Thanks a lot, assholes.

Good thing Razor is finished up, but how is this going to affect Season 4?

[Steelviper]

Maybe they could hire non-guild writers, like me, to finish the job. What you say? Talent required? Drat! Foiled, again. (Move all zig!)

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

Frankly, I support the writer's strike, since writers deserve to receive payment for shows bought through other mediums, (iTunes, Amazon Unbox, et al.). As of right now, all that money is being horded by the studios.

The studios need to get their head out of their arse and recognize that, without writers, they really don't have anything.

[Steelviper]

Historic efforts efforts of the studios to stiff the writers (and the producers of the reality shows that were then spawned) have not always stood the test of time. And yet, they try, try again.

I definitely would take Brad Thompson's part over some stuffed suits. You have to (or at least, ought to) pay the talent.

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

WGA's drafting up some ground rules for the strike:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117973833.html?categoryid=18&cs=1

[JDS]

Are Matt Stone and Trey Parker WGA members, or any they just sort of...independent?

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

They're WGA members. They kinda have to be in order to work in the industry.

In any event, JMS wrote a little something about the strike authorization and the votes:

http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?ID=1-17686

The summary of the issues and the WGA's response to them are here:

http://wga.org/subpage_member.aspx?id=2478

[Steelviper]

http://forums.scifi.com/index.php?showtopic=2290955
Quoth Mrs. Ron:
"Well the vote was announced.
90.3% of the union voted in a record turn out to authorize a strike."

[Spencerian]

Hm.

There's going to be some creatively ratty TV in store for us. Unaired pilots, more reality shows (somebody explain to me the reason why "Flava Flav" is popular or allowed on film?) and more pseudo-documentaries on "Christ's Last Apartment" or "How Global Warming is Fattening Your Girls and Turning Guys Gay."

[Steelviper]

"How Global Warming is Fattening Your Girls and Turning Guys Gay."
I suspect Queen!

How many other rock bands:
1. Have an appreciation for fat bottomed girls (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Bottomed_Girls)?
2. Have an appreciation for gay guys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Mercury#Sexual_orientation)?
3. Have a guitarist with a PhD in physics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May#Dr._Brian_May)?

I rest my case. Dr. May probably arranged for the death and capture of the world's pirates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:FSM_Pirates.jpg).

You heard it here first, folks...

[JDS]

Damn you, Queen. Damn you to hell.

However, fear not, Pastafarians! Piracy is experiencing a resurgence! YARRRRRR!

[Shane]

I hate to say this, but the writers do deserve more credit.

[JDS]

Yeah, but I don't think they're going to gain much goodwill by cutting off what little good TV we have left and forcing us to watch nothing but reality TV and nonsense like that.

[Steelviper]

Piracy is experiencing a resurgence! YARRRRRR!

Indeed:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/10/17/pirate.attacks.ap/index.html

[Mercifull]

Indeed:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/10/17/pirate.attacks.ap/index.html

http://www.seanbonner.com/blog/archives/piratesarecool.jpg

Looks like Al Gore has been successful in his campaign to prevent global warming. Unfortunately it means that the number of pirates has increased :(

[JDS]

Unfortunately it means that the number of pirates has increased :(Why the sad face? Are you a ninja?

[Mercifull]

Why the sad face? Are you a ninja?

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/599/ninjamattyn0.jpg
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/6388/ninjabooksr5.jpg

[JDS]

I was not aware that Real Ultimate Power was now a book :eek:

It must have been printed in response to the publishing of The Alphabet of Manliness

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/5/5e/180px-Maddoxbook.PNG

[Mercifull]

Real Ultimate Power has always been a book. The website is a viral promotion for it. Its actually a really good book its not just an equivalent of the website in printed form.

[Steelviper]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/business/media/29writers.html?ref=business

The union wants members to submit copies of any half-finished scripts to headquarters.

“The filing of these copies will allow the guild to determine the exact status of the material at the beginning of the strike and may protect you in the event allegations of strike-breaking or scab writing are made against you or another writer,” the rule reads in part.


That would be a treasure trove of spoiler material... dangerous.

[JDS]

Hold on now...so once these "half-finished scripts" have been submitted, would the writers then be eligible to complete the scripts during the strike? Otherwise I don't quite see why any writers would submit anything.

[Steelviper]

Hold on now...so once these "half-finished scripts" have been submitted, would the writers then be eligible to complete the scripts during the strike? Otherwise I don't quite see why any writers would submit anything.

Actually, I think they wouldn't. However, the guild is arguing that by turning them in that nobody could later claim that they made that partial progress during the strike.

[JDS]

Do the rules of the strike state that you can't deliver any writing to a buyer/studio, or that you can't write anything at all?

[Steelviper]

Do the rules of the strike state that you can't deliver any writing to a buyer/studio, or that you can't write anything at all?

Uh... yes.
http://www.wga.org/contract_07/StrikeRules.pdf

"Stop writing for all struck companies immediately"

"Do not deliver or submit any literary material or any documents to a struck company"

[JDS]

"Stop writing for all struck companies immediately"So how could they realistically give you any trouble anyway? If somebody claimed that your partial script was written during the strike, then as long as you hadn't delivered it to anybody during the strike, couldn't you just say you were writing it for yourself anyway? I mean this all seems rather silly to me.

Regardless of that, couldn't they just deliver all the partial scripts to a neutral third party (say, a safe deposit box at Chase Manhattan or something)?

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

Ron had this to say about the reasons for the strike, as relating to the "Resistance" webisodes:

Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica): "At Battlestar,we had a very specific situation last year, dealing with webisodes, which opened my eyes to the problems. When we were approached to do Galactica webisodes, the studio's position was they didn't want to pay anyone to do it—they considered it promotional material. They weren't going to pay any of the writers or the actors or the directors to do it, which we thought was crazy. We refused to do it, and eventually came to an accommodation where they said they would pay us, but then when we were almost done, they decided they weren't going to credit anybody. They weren't going to acknowledge anybody who wrote it. And then I refused to deliver the webisodes, and they came and took them anyway, which is their right since they own the show...but it really made me aware of these issues. I mean, my staff writer, who is the lowest man on the totem pole, they want him to do all this work for another media, not pay him for it, and then make money off of his work. Ultimately, that's why we're here, because that's just wrong."

http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=117e4468-9709-4b35-8f4d-dcefa652fc3e

I fully frakking agree.

[Jeff O'Connor]

I read that snippet on SyFyPortal a few days back, and I completely frakking agree, as well. It's downright ridiculous what networks think they can get away with if, say, nineteen years passes with little organized incident.

So long as BSG's writing quality doesn't suffer as an end result of the debacle, I, personally, am more than willing to sit around after ten new episodes and wait for however long it takes to get things sorted out amicably. Of course, here's hoping it's sooner rather than later, but this is a very serious matter that deserves as much time as it damned well needs.

[Steelviper]

I posted a call to arms (http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Battlestar_Wiki:Chiefs%27_noticeboard#A_Call_to_Ar ms) on the wiki. Basically, Mrs. Ron is looking for numbers, so if you're interested, you can be one. Like 42. Or 69. Or whatever...

[JDS]

Regarding the discussion you linked to...if you accepted paid pro-WGA-strike banner ads, WOULD YOU also accept anti-WGA-strike ads, if somebody wanted to but adspace?

[Joe Beaudoin Jr.]

As I mentioned previously, I don't feel comfortable in having people pay for ad space to support the strike, or vice versa. If you want to support the writers, then send money to the WGA fund or to the pencils to moguls campaign. If you want to support the studios, then send money to them, or whatever.

Of course, any pro- or -anti-strike ads would have to be analyzed for content. For instance, if the language of the ads slandered either side or was downright nasty, then we wouldn't accept them. If it was an ad that simply said "Click here to find out what you can do to support the strike" or "Click here to find out how to support the studios", then that would be (in that case) acceptable, regardless of their stance regarding this strike.

It's all about how things are said, not what they say, in that case.

[OrionFour]

I can't believe they suspended the actors without pay. Ron Moore's blog post a couple days ago sounded really demoralized.

http://www.rondmoore.com/Site/Blog/Entries/2007/11/17_Galactica_wraps.html

Of all the networks out there to be owned by, by does BSG have to be owned by NBC? It's just frakking ridiculous.

[Aset]

I can't believe they suspended the actors without pay. Ron Moore's blog post a couple days ago sounded really demoralized.

http://www.rondmoore.com/Site/Blog/Entries/2007/11/17_Galactica_wraps.html

Of all the networks out there to be owned by, by does BSG have to be owned by NBC? It's just frakking ridiculous.

I can believe it, divide and conquer. personally, I think it's a miscalculation on the studio's part.

As for the studio? It could be worse, it could be Fox or CBS, they've been the extremists in it all. Both CBS & Fox Newscorp sent out their threats to the showrunners the first week of the strike. NBC so far has been one of the more moderate ones in the negotiations.