Strike One

Courtesy of Creative Screenwriting Magazine:

Two Months In: The Past 30 Days in Review

By Peter Clines

Submitted for your approval is the ongoing list of major events from the picket lines and the negotiating rooms. As before, there's also a few announcements and incidents that weren't linked to the strike when they happened, but probably should've been.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007-The Sundance Film Festival announces the 83 short films that have been selected to air both at the festival itself and also as video downloads through iTunes. Sundance's online producer, Joe Beyer, notes that all filmmakers will be paid for such downloads, and that some of last year's contributors have made "tens of thousands of dollars."

Dec. 6-The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announces it has hired political spin doctors Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane to handle publicity during the strike. Fabiani and Lehane, who worked for President Clinton and Vice President Gore, among others, are known by the nickname "Masters of Disaster," a nod to their aggressive attacks on opponents.

Dec. 7-Strike talks break down again. The AMPTP refuses to alter their previous proposal and also issues a list of demands, insisting there will be no negotiations unless the Writers Guild of America takes a number of proposals off the table. Guild negotiators reject this ultimatum and begin to prepare yet another counter-offer. When Nick Counter is told their demands will not be met, the producers again walk away from negotiations. Within minutes, the AMPTP issues a press release saying the WGA has derailed negotiations with its "unreasonable demands."

Also on this day, more than 400 fans of the Joss Whedon series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly rally at the 20th Century Fox lot with Whedon and regular writers Marti Noxon, David Fury, and Tim Minear, among several others. Also present are many of Whedon's regular cast members, including Eliza Dushku, Nicholas Brendan, and Nathan Fillion.

Dec. 8-In the online virtual reality game Second Life, the NBC "island" is picketed for over an hour by a collection of avatars wielding red-and-black WGA strike signs.

Dec. 9-Approximately 500 "below-the-line" crew people, mostly International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees members, hold a rally urging the AMPTP and WGA to keep negotiating. Many of the marchers interviewed blame the writers for striking rather than the producers for leaving the negotiating table. This march receives far more network media coverage than either of the WGA rallies, which had 10 times the attendance.

Monday, Dec. 10-The AMPTP posts a rolling monetary counter on their website to show how much writers have lost in combined salaries since the strike began, attempting to prove the strike is financially unsound. When it is posted, the counter already reads over $100 million.

Also on this day, reports reveal that NBC has been reimbursing advertisers because of the extreme slump in ratings, returning as much as $500,000 per client. One media buyer is quoted as saying "They got greedy, and now they are paying the price."

Dec. 11-The first boxes of pencils are delivered as part of the "Pencils2Media Moguls" project. Two laundry carts containing more than 150,000 pencils are delivered to NBC by Ron Moore, Joss Whedon, and other writers (and refused at the gate). The WGA then offers to donate all the pencils to children's charities.

Also on this day, DailyKos.com reports that the Fabiani & Lehane publicity firm has been fired by a number of union clients, including a group representing the Teamsters.

Dec. 12-Nominations are announced for the WGA Awards. Leading the pack are Dexter, Friday Night Lights, Lost, The Simpsons, Pushing Daisies, The Office, and 30 Rock, all of which have shut down due to the writer's strike.

Also on this day, the details of CBS Inc. chief executive Les Moonves' new contract become public. The CEO will receive a $3.5 million annual salary, a $10.5 million "target bonus," an annual grant of free shares worth up to $7.6 million, and an option covering 5 million shares that could be worth as much as another $57 million annually. Under the terms of the financial plan put forward by the WGA (and rejected by the AMPTP negotiators), CBS Inc. would only pay writers an additional $4.7 million per year.

Dec. 13-The WGA files a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming the AMPTP is breaking federal law by issuing ultimatums and breaking off negotiations when the demands are not met.

Also on this day, Paramount Pictures, in partnership with MTV, announces it will release Jackass 2.5 not in theatres, but as a broadband internet release. Thomas Lesinski, the president of Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment, explains in the press release that the movie will make money from online embedded ads, video downloads, and DVD sales.

Dec. 14-Despite the wishes of showrunner (and WGA negotiator) Carlton Cuse, ABC announces it will begin to air new episodes of Lost in January. Cuse had voiced hopes the network would wait and not air an incomplete season. Lost is one of only two non-reality shows being added to ABC's spring schedule, the other being Cashmere Mafia.

Also on this day, the Write Aid Concert is held to raise funds for health and financial services to all entertainment industry professionals affected by the strike. Headliners include Eddie Izzard, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman, and the band Tenacious D (featuring Jack Black and Kyle Gass).

Dec. 16-Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg releases a solidarity letter, once again pledging the actors' support of the WGA strike and the writers.

Monday Dec. 17-Tired of stonewalling from the AMPTP's negotiators, the WGA announces it will gladly broker deals independently with studios. The guild also rejects a waiver request from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for its NBC broadcast of the Golden Globes awards show, explaining that a televised event only serves as advertising and ad revenue for studio products.

Also on this day, NBC announces that both Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien will begin airing new shows starting January 2.

Dec. 18-ABC announces that Jimmy Kimmel with return to the air on January 2.

Dec. 19-A USA Today/Gallup poll shows that 60 percent of Americans support the writers. Over a third of those polled say they are watching less television because of the strike.

Dec. 20-The Los Angeles City Council holds a meeting to assess the financial damage the strike is having on the film industry and the L.A. economy as a whole. Several hundred members of the WGA show up to listen and speak before the committee. The AMPTP is invited, but does not attend the meeting. The Motion Picture Association of America enters a statement into the meeting records on the producers' behalf, but also does not attend.

Dec. 21-The WGA announces it has entered negotiations with World Wide Pants, David Letterman's production company, for an independent contract.

Dec. 22-Amazon.com sends out a general email blast reminding customers that Amazon Unbox (a digital download service for movies) can be delivered instantly and makes a great last-minute holiday gift.

Dec. 26-Apple announces a deal with 20th Century Fox to rent online movies via timed-expiration digital downloads to view on PCs or video iPods.

Dec. 27-The American Film Institute names its "2007 Moments of Significance." The number one item on the list is the WGA strike. The next is the release of the iPhone, which allows people to download or stream movies and television shows.

Dec. 28-The AMPTP announces on its website that its financial counter has passed the critical mark, and that writers have now lost more money than they were asking for in negotiations. The producers' organization also adds a second counter showing what the strike is theoretically costing below-the-line IATSE crew members. How this second number is reached is only vaguely clarified.

Also on this day, the WGA announces an agreement with World Wide Pants. The production company agrees to the full deal proposed by the guild and rejected by the AMPTP negotiators.

Monday, Dec. 31-NBC insists it will still air the Golden Globes, despite the threat of WGA pickets and a possible boycott by actors who support the strike

January 1, 2008-Battlestar Galactica fans pay for a series of skywriting messages over the Rose Bowl parade. Five planes draw out four different pro-WGA messages in the air while teams in the crowd hand out flyers.

Jan. 2-Universal Pictures announces that 2007 was the most profitable year in the studio's century-long history, grossing $2.7 billion in U.S. home video sales alone. Worldwide theatrical releases total over $2.1 billion. Under the terms of the financial plan put forward by the WGA (and rejected by the AMPTP negotiators), Universal would only pay writers an additional $7.4 million per year.


Also on this day, the majority of the late night talk show hosts return, Letterman and Craig Ferguson being the only ones with a WGA contract. Letterman and O'Brien both sport beards, having refused to shave until the strike ends. Leno does a short monologue, a Q&A with his audience, and his featured guest is presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who claims to be a union supporter. Letterman returns amidst showgirls sporting picket signs and has his top 10 list of "writer's demands" delivered by striking writers. O'Brien finds a number of ways to eat up time on the air without actually doing anything, most notably attempting to beat his personal best time for spinning his wedding ring (41 seconds). At the end of the night, the Letterman writers decide to donate a percentage of their salaries to the WGA strike fund.

Jan. 3-Debate breaks out between the WGA, NBC, and Jay Leno as to whether or not Leno violated strike rules by writing his own monologue. Letterman discusses the strike again that evening and mocks Huckabee for crossing picket lines.

Jan. 4-SAG announces that actors will not cross the WGA picket lines to participate in the Golden Globes awards ceremony. NBC insists the event will still go ahead as planned.

As the strike drags on into its third month, a faint light is visible in the form of independent deals that bypass the AMPTP's negotiating team. While this article was being prepared, deals were announced with United Artists (the studio also agreed to the WGA's full proposal) and the Weinstein Co., and rumors are circulating about a similar deal with Lionsgate. Alas, such a deal was not reached with the Golden Globes, as NBC remained firm that, under contract, the ceremony could only proceed if it was broadcast. The awards show was cancelled, costing the network millions in ad revenue and causing an as-yet unknown ripple through the L.A. community of party planners, limousine drivers, and other related industries.

All of us at Creative Screenwriting continue to hope a 90-day update will not be necessary.