”This is an existential issue”: WGA strike begins as picket lines stretch around Hollywood blocks
Well, I think the gap seems bigger than in 2007-08, here’s how.
“In many cases WGA said AMPTP rejected its proposals and refused to make counter-offers. The WGA claims its proposals would bring writers approximately $429m more per year, while it said AMPTP’s offer would bring approximately $86m more per year. AMPTP declined to comment.”
That is a massive gap to fill, but other Guilds and Unions are supporting the WGA strike, so maybe this will put pressure to bear on the AMPTP? There is also support for this action ion the UK, where WGGB members are coming out in sympathy with their brothers and sisters in the WGA.
https://www.screendaily.com/news/this-is-an-existential-issue-wga-strike-begins-as-picket-lines-stretch-around-hollywood-blocks/5181564.article?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=UK%20%20Europe%20Daily%20May%203%20PM&utm_content=UK%20%20Europe%20Daily%20May%203%20PM+CID_c5c6bd7c8ca303934fafe2eee38f4530&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_term=WGA%20strike%20begins%20as%20picket%20lines%20stretch%20around%20Hollywood%20blocks
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I read an article today that WGA writers in the UK, Australia, and Canada are standing with the WGA, Geoff Hall.
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The unity here has been absolutely tremendous! The energy around this feels very different than it did back in '07/08
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I'm on the bargaining committee for the new union at the museum where I work and I can tell you if the folks on the other side of the table refused to even make a counter-offer on any of our proposals, I'd flip my lid. The fact the AMPTP has rejected the most important proposals without any counter shows they are not bargaining in good faith. I hope all the support the WGA strike is receiving will force the studios to come back to the table in good faith and get this contract done. They don't seem to have realized that if the WGA strikes, other unions will not cross the picket lines.
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Maurice Vaughan yup, that’s right Maurice. And I’m one of them, now that my application to the WGGB has gone through.
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Cheryl Jones yes, Cheryl, they are refusing to cross picket lines, which is very encouraging. I am astounded and annoyed at the AMPTP’s attitude. It just seems very arrogant. Writers are always at the bottom of the food-chain - it’s always annoyed me(!) - and this just shows the disdain we are held in. For the life of me I can’t think why, because without us, they’d have no projects to work on! A little humility would have gone a lone way to healing the wounds of this current situation.
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Congratulations on your application going through, Geoff Hall! :D
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Writers in India are helping, Geoff Hall. They're stopping work on U.S. films and series. https://deadline.com/2023/05/writers-strike-india-screenwriters-associat...
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Here's Stage 32's statement on the strike, Dominic Murphy: www.stage32.com/strike
You're welcome, Dominic Murphy.
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I read somewhere that an executive at one of these companies makes 250 million. No wonder there is no fair pay.
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Tom Cruise raise this issue last year that the studio was making a killing from Top Gun II.
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Maurice Vaughan your India comment, Maurice, is epic!
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Dominic Murphy there you go, Maurice is on the ball. Any thoughts about it that you’d like to share, Dominic?
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@VikkiHarris it must be ever so hard for them. Being so superior yet needing to depend on lower life forms like writers, to make all that money!!!
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@TomBragg but the Studios still can’t afford to raise the financial rewards for writers! Ha!
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I'm really hoping the other unions will fight as hard as the WGA this time around. If we can all stand our ground and not give so easily it will be so much more powerful than in the past.
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Agree with Niki. This is a unique situation. Hopeful the DGA - negotiations began today - will stand their ground and not bend.
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Geoff, let's not look at entertainment, it's every retail business out there. What would happen if one day all the retail workers did not show up to work, our economy would stop. There is no justification for Amazon to be worth 2 trillion dollars or Walmart 600 billion and their workers living paycheck to paycheck, and there is no reason people working in entertainment should be struggling. The retail worker makes the business rich, and the writers, and everyone working on a production make the studios rich, and the ones making the money are sitting back doing nothing.
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@TimBragg hardly nothing, Tim. They are counting their money after all.
And yes to your point. It’s the greed of the Capitalist economy. Some bask in untold riches, whilst the many live hand to mouth.
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@Richard “RB” Botto yes, here’s to a solid front and not bending to the will of the AMPTP!
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There should be a pay cap for these executives, so that everyone could financially benefit.
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Exactly Vicki, what is William Buffet ever going to do with $115 billion dollars at his age?
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I think a pay cap would be great, Vikki. Even stockholders have an issue with executive compensation at Warner Bros. https://deadline.com/2023/05/warner-bros-discovery-shareholder-david-zas...
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I support the writers' strike and trying to negotiate better deals, but how do you justify paying one actor $175,000 dollars per episode on a T.V. show that has 22 episodes each season? Give me $175,000 dollars each week, and I can be pretty happy.
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I read a really good article by George R. R. Martin a couple days ago where he mentions that the real problem is that the studios want to remove the junior writing positions. They think those jobs are unnecessary and perhaps AI could replace those "jobs." The problem however lies in the career paths. Writing and producing goes hand in hand, and it should be but, if you remove those positions, where are the show runners of ten years going to come from?
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Tim Bragg. They don’t mind paying big bucks for stars because that is what attracts their audience and brings in the money. I know it doesn’t seem fair but that is the business we are in or in most cases want to be in.
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@NathanWoodward short-termism rules the day. Those junior posts are a way of learning a trade. They obviously have no sense of developing talent and sadly believe that AI is able to deliver what they think. It’s all to do with inflating their already massive profits. Greed leads to stupidity.