[Peace-discuss] Re: writers' strike

Fri Dec 14 17:30:05 CST 2007

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-amptp,0,1806028.story?coll=la-home-center

It's a press release from The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television
Producers that they have issued across the board.

Marti

On Dec 14, 2007 5:13 PM, John W. <jbw292002 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Attribution, Carl?  Who wrote this?
>
>
>
> At 01:48 PM 12/14/2007, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>
> >[The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers respond to the
> >writer's strike...]
> >
> >December 10, 2007
> >
> >We are heartbroken to report that despite our best efforts, including
> >sending them a muffin basket, making them a mix CD, and standing outside
> >their window with a boombox blasting Peter Gabriel songs, our talks with
> >the WGA have broken down. Quite frankly, we're puzzled as to why this
> >happened. We talked about it all the way home  after we walked into
> their
> >hotel room, slapped our list of demands on the table and abruptly left
> the
> >negotiating session  and none of us could figure out what went wrong.
> >
> >While we're not going to point fingers or assign blame, we do feel
> >justified in saying that they are entirely at fault. The AMPTP has
> >successfully concluded 306 major agreeements with unions since its
> >founding in 1982, and there has never been an incident like this. Except
> >for that writers' strike in 1985. And the directors' strike in 1987. And
> >that other writers' strike in 1988. Aside from three isolated incidents,
> >however, this strike is completely without precedent.
> >
> >We believe our New Economic Partnership™ proposal  under which the
> >average salary for writers making between $220,000 and $240,000 would be
> >$230,000  is the single greatest document since the Magna Carta. And we
> >have proved, over the last five months, that we want writers to
> >participate in producers' revenues. Mostly by repeatedly saying, "we want
> >writers to participate in producers' revenues." Still, we must be clear:
> >Under no circumstances will we knowingly participate in the destruction
> of
> >this business. If we destroy this business, it will only be through
> >accident and incompetence  that's the AMPTP Pledge(R)!
> >
> >While the WGA's members can clearly stage rallies, concerts and mock
> >exorcisms, maintain unity in a large and diverse workforce, gain the
> >support of a majority of the general public, prompt a sharp dip in our
> >stock prices, derail half a dozen major movies and force us to refund
> >advertisers' money after they learn that they'll be getting "American
> >Gladiators" instead of "Chuck," we question their ability to get things
> >done. It is now absolutely clear that the WGA's organazis are determined
> >to advance their own personal ideologies, political agendas, sexual
> >preferences, barbaric tribal customs, canine wardrobe choices, religious
> >beliefs and blood rituals upon working writers and other working persons
> >who depend on our work industry for their work.
> >
> >Instead of negotiating, the WGA organizateurs have made demands, then
> >expected us to counter with our demands, and for them to adjust their
> >demands, and for us to do likewise, until we reach a mutually acceptable
> >resolution in some sort of "give-and-take" process. Needless to say, we
> >consider this to be a roadblock to progress (of both boldface and italic
> >proportions). Thus, we have asked that they withdraw these demands:
> ># They demand full control over reality and animation programming,
> despite
> >the fact that neither genre requires any writing at all. It is, after
> all,
> >a well-documented fact that "Flavor of Love" is a Frederick Wiseman
> >documentary about a man who happens to be choosing a bride from among 20
> >whores, and that "Family Guy" is entirely improvised by a cast of
> >extremely precocious illustrations.
> >
> ># The WGA is demanding the right to join in strikes of other labor
> >organizations. This is simply unacceptable, as we plan on gutting the
> >contracts of many other unions in the upcoming year.
> >
> ># Their proposal for Internet compensation could doom the Internet media
> >business before it ever gets started. (Projected start date: October 4,
> >2012.) We have already offered the writers a very generous $250 per
> >episode for using their work on the Internet. Sure, $250 may not sound
> >like much, but it adds up  a whole season of "Heroes" would cost NBC.com
> >nearly $6,000! Who's going to pay that money? Go look at at the "Heroes"
> >web site  unless you count Nissan, Cisco, Sprint, and American Express,
> >nobody's willing to step up and advertise on such a risky and unproven
> >medium. And who knows how much longer those fly-by-night operations will
> >be around? (I mean, have you seen the Nissan Rogue? It looks like a
> >Pontiac Aztek fucked a PT Cruiser, am I right?)
> >
> ># The writers are demanding that, when we sell content within our own
> >companies, we have a neutral third party ensure that we aren't deflating
> >the price in order to cheat them out of their share. This lack of trust
> >hurts, quite frankly, especially after all we've done for writers over
> the
> >years. I mean, we've stuck with them through thick and thin  even going
> >so far as to bankroll their unprofitable vanity projects, like Forrest
> >Gump, Lord of the Rings, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
> >
> >In summary, the writers are demanding respect they haven't earned,
> >privileges they don't deserve, and money for work they haven't done. And
> >those are perquisites we reserve solely for the severance packages of
> >departing CEOs. Simply creating a hit show isn't enough  if they want
> >tens of millions of dollars, they will have to earn them by driving a
> >company so far into the ground that it's worth $85 million to
> shareholders
> >to be rid of them.
> >
> >We urge the WGA's pedophorganizers to abandon their Quixotic pursuit of
> >radical demands. We will not let you tilt at windmills. (We have placed
> >all studio windmills under heavy security). The fact of the matter is,
> >we're going to win this thing. We've got enough material to wait out the
> >strike. On the feature side, we've got great scripts ready to shoot. How
> >do we know they're great? Because they were already hits! Get ready for
> >"Talladega Nights" starring Dane Cook! Wait until you see "Titanic" with
> >Keira Knightley and Zac Efron! And on the TV side, we've got enough
> >reality shows to choke a horse. Literally  one of the shows is "Can You
> >Choke This Horse?" And for the fall, we're already working on "Can You
> >Choke This Horse With the Stars?" (Pepsi, you want a logo on the horse?
> >Consider it done.)
> >
> >We look forward to hearing from the WGA. Once they've unilaterally
> dropped
> >the majority of their demands and acceded to our wishes, we look forward
> >to having a full and frank exchange of ideas with them.
>
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