Is the WGA Strike Almost Over?

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:07:25 -0700

On the eve of talks resuming between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the New York Times sanctioned blogger Nikki Finke.

She reported the following in a post headlined “Dare We Hope a Deal Has Been Struck…?”:

[A] very reliable source tells me that there appears to be a deal seemingly in place between both sides. …

That’s because of the weeks worth of groundwork by the Hollywood agents working the … guild leadership on one side and the studio and network moguls on the other.

Nikki Finke.
Photo credit: MediaBistro.com
Finke went on to vaguely detail how a deal might have already been agreed upon.

When it was first announced that the WGA and AMPTP were to resume, pundits commented on the odd, 10-day lead-in time for talks. The blogosphere rumor mill continued speculating that agents had brought both sides to agreement as they have in past strikes.

This round of talks, which is unusually scheduled for three days (past talks were scheduled as one-day sessions), was supposedly to flesh out a deal already in place.

Nothing has been confirmed yet by the official sources such as Variety or the Hollywood Reporter. They along with the New York Times have all been criticized for their supposedly AMPTP-friendly coverage.

Rumors spread with both outlooks: some hopeful and some cautious. Finke posted that the studios arrived with “a very comprehensive proposal [that] laid out to all the entire [road map of] the deal”.

The most clear speculation on a settlement came from Craig Mazin.

Of the two major issues (DVD and Internet residuals), Mazin personally felt the concessions would be made over the former for gains in the latter. He added: “The companies know their current offer is a non-starter in a general sense.”

If we’ve gotten past some of the major stumbling blocks and boiled it down to the serious stuff at hand … and … if the AMPTP is ready to acknowledge certain basic realities, … then we might be back to work soon.

Craig Mazin.
Photo credit: IMDb
Variety recently reported on two polls. A Pepperdine poll showed 69 percent of the public favoring the WGA while a SurveyUSA poll had 63 percent backing the position of the writers.

Talks between the WGA and the AMPTP are set to resume on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. and will go through Wednesday if a settlement is not reached. Tuesday was the first official negotiation since the strike began on Nov. 5.

By Shane Hazen
Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com

News You Need: WGA Says Pencils Down, ‘Nailed’ Being Fashioned, Stallone’s Comeback

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 01:25:20 -0700

Pencils Down: The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike went official at 12:01 a.m. EST on Monday.

Eleventh-hour talks ended when the WGA, which has been fighting the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers) primarily for more residuals in DVD and extra media sales, refused to delay the strike past the start date set last Friday.

Variety has the rundown. Ultimately, movies will not have an immediate effect and most scripted television shows have a backlog of five episodes.

However, daily talk shows like “The Tonight Show” and “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” will go into re-runs. “The Daily Show” and host and executive producer Jon Stewart is reportedly showing a sign of solidarity by paying his picketing writing staff two weeks’ salary from his own pocket.

The WGA is expecting high-profile picketing. Some high-status writers including John August (“Big Fish,” “Go”) and Jane Espenson (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Battlestar Galactica”) have posted on their blogs where they’re picketing on Monday.

Members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) are expected to join the picket lines since their contract along with the Directors Guild of America (DGA) expires in June. Both SAG and the DGA’s prominent bargaining points are identical to the WGA’s.

In Chicago, ReelChicago.com says one casualty of the strike will be Lifetime’s planned series “Family Practice”.

Meanwhile, Greencine Daily has posted an interesting link to mark the occasion: a 1945 Atlantic Monthly essay on screenwriting by classic noir novelist Raymond Chandler (“The Big Sleep”). Chandler wrote:

To me, the interesting point about Hollywood’s writers … is not how few or how many they are but how little of worth their talent is allowed to achieve.

For among the best reporting on the strike, check out Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily. An immediate settlement is not expected.

8:19 a.m. update on 11/6/07: Illinois Sen. Barack Obama had this to say in reaction to the WGA strike:

I stand with the writers.

The guild’s demand is a test of whether media corporations are going to give writers a fair share of the wealth their work creates or continue concentrating profits in the hands of their executives.

I urge the producers to work with the writers so everyone can get back to work.

I Heart Political Satire: The great Class of ’99 member David O. Russell is in negotiations to co-write and direct “Nailed”. He’s making a noble effort to have more projects in the works than Steven Spielberg.

David O. Russell (on right).
Photo credit: Lester Cohen, WireImage.com
“Nailed,” which will star Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel, is about a bizarrely injured woman who crusades to Washington. It’s being co-written by Kristen Gore (the daughter of Al Gore and a former “Futurama” writer).

There’s currently no word on Russell’s proposed adaptation of Kristen Gore’s autobiographical novel “Sammy’s Hill,” the “The H-Man Commeth” (which is set to star Vince Vaughan as a radio host) or his proposed White Queen “X-Men” spin-off.

Let’s not waste an opportunity to link to Russell’s most recent bout with fame. That link, by the way, contains adult language.

Sylvester Stallone’s 468th Comeback: Stallone is in negotiations to direct and star in a remake of “Death Wish” probably because he ran out of old franchises to give a one-off revitalization.

Sylvester Stallone (on left).
Photo credit: Eric Charbonneau, WireImage.com
This “Death Wish” is not to be confused with the other recent unintentional “Death Wish” remake known as “The Brave One”.

By Shane Hazen
Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com