Yes, but those parts of the strike rules are probably unenforceable because material a person writes for himself is not material covered by the WGA minimum basic agreement. It's unlikely the Guild will push it knowing they'll lose if it gets to any sort of official sanction. I'm more upset that the Letterman writers get to go back to work earning money (and helping CBS make money to further weather the rest of the strike) while other companies that are independent and also seeking strike waivers are being turned away.
True, but that is more reason why NBC and other producers of shows should settle with the writers. Leno would be better off sticking it to NBC and not coming back at all, so that they will feel the absence even more.
But the Letterman money for CBS isn't going to be that much toward their overall financial income. I'd rather someone negotiate something acceptable to the writers. It is unfortunate that more independent production houses can't do this, but I don't blame World Wide Pants for that problem. I think the problem still lies with the producers and companies that won't meet the writers' demands.
I know I could look this up on my own, but are the demands of the union reasonable/unreasonable? I know that is highly subjective, but...what do the writers want that the networks aren't budging on?
I watched the Robin Williams appearance on Letterman. It's basically just like handing Robin Williams the floor for the entire time he's out there cause he doesn't really let you say much of anything without cutting you off. Seriously, all Letterman had to do was introduce him and go take a nap for the next ten or fifteen minutes. It's somewhat absurd to have Robin on there and not just put him at the microphone to do stand-up. Half the time...Robin says crap and I don't even know wth is going on in his brain. You just kind of sit there and laugh because he's such a goof. Nobody can race through words like Robin can. I almost feel sorry for the host. If Robin has so much to say, then maybe he should create his own show. He will never be at a loss for words.
You'd be surprised. Late night television is something of a cash cow. Far more than you'd expect (plus, it gives Viacom-owned Paramount a venue for their stars to promote their upcoming movies, which can be a plus for Sumner Redstone's bottom line). Plus, we've been running around trying to disrupt location shooting of movies on the thought that it will cost the studios money if we shut them down for a day or whatever. If we think that those tiny amounts are worth going for to put pressure on the studios, then certainly we should also be trying to prevent CBS from earning their full late night money (or at least not be helping them earn it). I don't blame Worldwide Pants, either. I blame the Guild for picking and choosing who gets to go back to work and who doesn't. Depends on who you ask. But what we're asking won't be anywhere near what we get, so what we're asking is really irrelevant. The DGA starts negotiations on Monday. They'll get a deal relatively soon (before the 31st, I would bet) and we'll either take the same deal then or take it in a few months depending on how much damage we want to do to ourselves.
They are very reasonable. They want fair compensation for DVD sales, which networks and producers get now. And most important they want money for emerging technology like pay per view and on demand showings of their work. There is also the internet streaming and downloading of media which the writers have worked on, but don't get real compensation for, because it is all going into the producer's and production company's profits.
We dropped the request DVD residual bump back in November (we currently get either 1.5% or 1.8% of 20% of the distributor's gross, which usually works out to 0.36% of the distributor's gross). We also already get pay-per-view and on-demand residuals that are actually pretty nice. This whole thing is about the Internet. We want to set a rate for Internet streaming and downloads of movies and television shows. At present, there is no rate, so we technically get nothing (though the studios have been paying the DVD rate for movie downloads over our objections. There's an arbitration ongoing over all of that). The rate we're asking for is too high (it would set the rate at nearly 25% of the distributor's gross once all the other Guilds get the same rate), but I believe we purposely set the rate high on the thinking that we'd negotiate a middle ground somewhere closer to where we wanted (Instead, it made the studios think we were crazy, so they let us punch wind for two months while they waited to negotiate with the "sane" Guild). We also want coverage of programs created for the Internet, which is important. And we're also asking for coverage of reality and animated programs and movies (other than the few we already cover, of course).
That sucks. The DVD rates agreed to in the last bargaining agreement were too small. I can't believe they were dropped. I didn't realize that. The internet rate should be similar to the pay-per-view and on demand one.
But won't the negotiation of Worldwide Pants ultimately help the negotiations overall? I mean, the other networks are sending Leno and Conan back sans writers, which means that ultimately the quality of those shows will fall, which means more viewers going over to Letterman's network. In the end, the other networks and companies will feel the pressure, right? I thought that was the reason for picking and choosing companies. It isn't about deciding who goes back to work, but more about trying to work with influential people that can help to lean on the remaining assholes.
IIRC, we get 1.2% of 100% of the gross for that sort of thing. That's also the rate we get for Internet rentals (like the deal that FOX just announced with iTunes). I thought we'd probably do about that well on downloads and streaming, but I'm not so sure anymore. There's also the complication of television shows. Their residual structure is often very different and is based on flat fees rather than percentages. For example, a network rerun of an hour-long show is something like $20,000. With the networks putting up streaming episodes on their websites, that kind of model might someday replace the network rerun, so the Guild would like to get a residual for television show streaming that allows the writer the opportunity to earn $20,000 for that stream. Otherwise, it's essentially a rollback. But given the current state of Internet revenues, I don't think that $20,000 per episode can ever fly (we offered a deal by which the residual would be roughly $600 per 100,000 streams, and that may be something like what we end up with), so it's difficult to strike a balance. I'm interested to see what the DGA does in these next couple of weeks.
There aren't any negotiations going on, so there's no way to help something that isn't happening. Plus, Dave didn't agree to anything. He signed a contract that essentially says that whatever the eventual deal is, they'll abide by it.... which is what they would do anyway once the new Minimum Basic Agreement is signed. I also don't think it's automatic that Leno and the others will see a ratings drop. Plus, Letterman's network is still one of the hardliners that is preventing a deal getting made. So why does helping CBS at NBC's expense really matter? CBS is still blocking a deal, all we've done is give them some extra cash (and given that CBS is closer to a pure play media company than General Electric is, we would've been better off trying to apply pressure to CBS rather than bailing them out). I don't think Nick Counter or the negotiating members of the AMPTP really consider David Letterman to be all that influential anyway (especially since he didn't really agree to anything. What is he supposed to say to convince them? The argument can't be that our demands are reasonable since even Worldwide Pants didn't really agree to them). And it is actually deciding who goes back to work. If we're not going to offer the "interim deal" to anyone who would sign it, then our leaders are picking and choosing who gets to go back to work.
Boy, I can't wait for "24" to begin. The clock is going to end up stopping at 6 am and never pick up again. When does next season's shows become in jeopardy, mrpaige?
It depends on the show, but most existing shows could wait until summer before they absolutely have to come back to start next season without a delay. The process of getting new shows picked and ready needs to start much earlier, though.
By the way, the WGA has already backed off the claim that Leno is breaking the strike rules by writing his own monologues. Also, Leno won the first night ratings vs. Dave, so....
Letterman was absolutely hysterical back in the 80's. However, his comediac prowess has gone from bad to worse on an exponential level. I honestly think the guy doesn't care anymore.
No, he didn't but he did a Britney Spears at the end and I believe he tore the bottom of his trousers.
I'm watching Conan right now. I missed it last night, so his was a shock for me a bit. I've been used to his jokes, so now that he has no writers I thought the show would be stale. But so far so good...
