February 14, 2008
Harlan Ellison Talks the Writer's Strike Settlement
I was told to share this. I am a loyal flunky. Oh yes, I am.
HARLAN ELLISON ON THE WRITERS STRIKE SETTLEMENT YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO RE-POST THIS ANYWHERE:Creds: got here in 1962, written for just about everybody, won the Writers Guild Award four times for solo work, sat on the WGAw Board twice, worked on negotiating committees, and was out on the picket lines with my NICK COUNTER SLEEPS WITH THE FISHE$$$ sign. You may have heard my name. I am a Union guy, I am a Guild guy, I am loyal. I fuckin’ LOVE the Guild.
And I voted NO on accepting this deal.
My reasons are good, and they are plentiful; Patric Verrone will be saddened by what I am about to say; long-time friends will shake their heads; but this I say without equivocation…
THEY BEAT US LIKE A YELLOW DOG. IT IS A SHIT DEAL. We finally got a timorous generation that has never had to strike, to get their asses out there, and we had to put up with the usual cowardly spineless babbling horse’s asses who kept mumbling “lessgo bac’ta work” over and over, as if it would make them one iota a better writer. But after months on the line, and them finally bouncing that pus-sucking dipthong Nick Counter, we rushed headlong into a shabby, scabrous, underfed shovelfulla shit clutched to the affections of toss-in-the-towel summer soldiers trembling before the Awe of the Alliance.
My Guild did what it did in 1988. It trembled and sold us out. It gave away the EXACT co-terminus expiration date with SAG for some bullshit short-line substitute; it got us no more control of our words; it sneak-abandoned the animator and reality beanfield hands before anyone even forced it on them; it made nice so no one would think we were meanies; it let the Alliance play us like the village idiot. The WGAw folded like a Texaco Road Map from back in the day.
And I am ashamed of this Guild, as I was when Shavelson was the prexy, and we wasted our efforts and lost out on technology that we had to strike for THIS time. 17 days of streaming tv!!!????? Geezus, you bleating wimps, why not just turn over your old granny for gang-rape?
You deserve all the opprobrium you get. While this nutty festschrift of demented pleasure at being allowed to go back to work in the rice paddy is filling your cowardly hearts with joy and relief that the grips and the staff at the Ivy and street sweepers won’t be saying nasty shit behind your back, remember this:
You are their bitches. They outslugged you, outthought you, outmaneuvered you; and in the end you ripped off your pants, painted yer asses blue, and said yes sir, may I have another.
Please excuse my temerity. I’m just a sad old man who has fallen among Quislings, Turncoats, Hacks and Cowards.
I must go now to whoops. My gorge has become buoyant.
Respectfully, Yr. Pal, Harlan Ellison
###
I'm happy to have Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert back to scripted goodness but I read the deal. It is a shit deal. WTF guys?
(via warren ellis)
Posted by Groonk at 02:33 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Writer's strike
January 29, 2008
The Negotiating Table should be Serious
Seth McFarlane. I like what he did here.
Joked on both sides.
Check.
Made fun of BIONIC WOMAN.
Check.
Seth McFarlane, stop trying to make me like your comedy again.
(via ontd, squirrel monkey you tube)
Posted by Groonk at 01:01 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Video, Writer's strike
November 20, 2007
A Love Story 60 Years in the Making
(via writer's strike twitter, kiss me first youtube)
Posted by Groonk at 07:29 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Tee Vee, Video, Writer's strike
November 19, 2007
The Studios are Worried they Look Greedy
Do tell?
As Brooks Barnes wrote in Sunday’s New York Times: “Executives at studios like CBS, Fox and NBC Universal have said privately that their side was losing the public relations battle because they were not responding to union claims. Some were concerned that the union, using blogs and YouTube to publish its message, was succeeding in painting them as greedy.”The writer blogs include Late Show Writers on Strike, United Hollywood and Get Back In That Room. The studios have no comparable presence online. Despite the purchase of some full-page advertisements by the studios, the Writers’ Guild of America is winning the public relations war.
Because you didn't want to share the wealth, you honked people off. You honked off god knows how many creative type folk who now have untold amounts of time to vent their carefully constructed rage and criticisms through that wonderful 21st equalizer known as The Internet.
A full page ad ain't gonna cut it. I think what you really need are...wait for it...WRITERS.
You didn't think this through, did you?
(via writer's strike twitter, new york times)
Posted by Groonk at 01:01 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Writer's strike
November 17, 2007
The Daily Show's John Oliver Knows "Spectacular Balls" when He Sees Them
Do I really have to write such sensational titles in order for people to read these things?
The writers from The Office were talking about how they wrote some web-only “promotionals” for the show and there was ad revenue generated from those and the writers weren’t paid any residuals. That’s right. Or, like, all our Daily Show clips were pulled off YouTube by Viacom, who is suing them for a billion dollars. That was not at our instigation – we were happy for people to watch the clips. But instead they wanted to set up a website where they can sell advertising while the clip is buffering, although I thought we were at the point where clips don’t need to buffer anymore. So you have to watch a commercial for thirty seconds or whatever. So they’re clearly making money on that; they’re also clearly making money because they’re suing YouTube for a billion. So that seems quite strange when they’re saying, "Well, there’s no money to be made off the internet but we’re suing YouTube for a billion dollars.” That takes spectacular balls! There are so many areas of it that seem so desperately unfair.
I know I do.
Posted by Groonk at 03:52 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Interviews, Writer's strike
November 16, 2007
BSG Producer Ron Moore Shares His Horror Story
"I had a situation last year on Battlestar Galactica where we were asked by Universal to do webisodes [Note: Moore is referring to The Resistance webisodes which ran before Season 3 premiered], which at that point were very new and 'Oooh, webisodes! What does that mean?' It was all very new stuff. And it was very eye opening, because the studio's position was 'Oh, we're not going to pay anybody to do this. You have to do this, because you work on the show. And we're not going to pay you to write it. We're not going to pay the director, and we're not going to pay the actors.' At which point we said 'No thanks, we won't do it.'"
"We got in this long, protracted thing and eventually they agreed to pay everybody involved. But then, as we got deeper into it, they said 'But we're not going to put any credits on it. You're not going to be credited for this work. And we can use it later, in any fashion that we want.' At which point I said 'Well, then we're done and I'm not going to deliver the webisodes to you.' And they came and they took them out of the editing room anyway -- which they have every right to do. They own the material -- But it was that experience that really showed me that that's what this is all about. If there's not an agreement with the studios about the internet, that specifically says 'This is covered material, you have to pay us a formula - whatever that formula turns out to be - for use of the material and how it's all done,' the studios will simply rape and pillage."
Posted by Groonk at 06:26 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Writer's strike
November 12, 2007
John Rogers Explains it All
John Rogers weighs in on the folks who think free market solves all problems.
Listen, I get it. You love free markets. So do I. I just know that they weren't designed by Jesus. They're not perfect, and sometimes you need a union not out of any high moral stance, but just to maintain fair business practices.To paraphrase a previous post -- I live with the tiger, I love it, but I respect its teeth and instincts. Stop asking why I don't just pet the kitty.
(via kung fu monkey)
Posted by Groonk at 04:00 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Quotables, Writer's strike
November 10, 2007
The Office Writers Talk about "Promotions"
Ms Fischer breaks down the situation with hard numbers. This is something I've been wondering about for a while.
Let's say you write a movie script and you sell it for $100,000...that's GREAT money! Your movie gets made and yada yada. You start churning away writing more scripts. But it takes you 4 years before you sell your next script. That $100,000 windfall is now stretched to $25,000 a year for 4 years. (And, I'm not even counting the 30% that goes to taxes and 25% to your agent/manager.) If during that 4 years they sell your movie on DVD or run it on Pay-per-view you get little residual checks for $1,000 here or $2,500 there. That money is essential for getting by. This scenerio is what the majority of writers, actors and directors in Hollywood face. You have a few flush years and then a big drought.The future of media is the internet. In a few years it is more likely that you will download a movie or television show than buy it on DVD. But as it currently stands, those downloads produce no residuals for the creative types that made them. All the profit goes to the studio.
(via pam/jenna's myspace, the writely youtube)
Posted by Groonk at 08:03 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Artist, USA, Video, Writer's strike
