The WGA membership voted overwhelmingly (92 percent from what I’ve heard) to end the strike. This is a separate matter from voting on the new contract, which will take place over the next two weeks. I suspect that will be ratified as well.
Writers should be back to work as of today.
PAD
• 
Apparently the Oscars writers went back to work as soon as the meeting was over. So when Jon Stewart’s prerecorded “I’m working on it!” statement went out at around 11:15, he was serious.
Just curious… do writers really stop writing during a strike? Seems to me like they’d have a whole lot of nothing to do if so. Is it a matter of continuing to write but just not submitting the scripts?
Hail Eris! I am SO tired of Survivor: Dundalk, MD and Congresssional Wife Swap that I was following the lead of one Julius Marx. He said “I find television quite educational. Every time someone turns it on, I go into another room and read a book.” Only the FSM knows what I would do without my library….
Some writers didn’t stop, of course–they had other work, outside of Hollywood.
Apparently a number of them dipped their toes into internet-based work, outside the studio system (and confirmed what they already knew…it’s tough to bring it all together)
Just a note:
Apparently there was a “spec boom” a few months after the ’88 strike, some likely written during.
I’ve been seeing a lot of speculation about how long it’ll take scripted shows to come up with new episodes and how many we might get in what’s left of the season.
I can’t help thinking that the smartest thing the major broadcast networks could do would be to say “Okay, we ordered 18 (or 20, or 22) episodes for the season and that’s what we’re going to deliver. So instead of having the season end in May as it usually does, we’ll have new episodes airing into July.”
I understand that there could be some shows for which that would be problematic (what are the odds that Steve Carell doesn’t have a movie to film over the summer?), but it sure would be better than having returning shows only air five or six more episodes before going away for the summer as usual–or waiting a year for more 24, for those who watch it.
Besides, you have to figure that the lure of new episodes of familiar series during the summer could only help the nets.
At least we’ll see Scrubs one way or another.
ABC, the studio that makes it, has decided to make the last 6 episodes. Yay! There will be an ending!
However, it airs on NBC. NBC hasn’t decided if they actually want to show the episodes or not.
So the episodes are going to be made, but it’s not clear where we’ll see them. NBC? ABC? Direct to DVD? Don’t know, but the series creator has been promising that if nothing else, he’ll make the cast call up every fan and read the scripts over the phone.
The best comment i’ve seen yet: (the very first comment on Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood post):
Oh – another of the comments on the Deadline Hollywood post i referred to points out that it was 92.5% of 3775 ballots actually cast, which works out to about 35% of the WGA’s total membership.
OTOH, as a response to tht comment pointed out, that’s still a greater percentage of the WGA membership voting in favour of it than that of the USAian populace who voted for King Shrub.
I presume they can’t keep going and get things back up and running for this season as it’ll bleed into prep time for the next one.
Actually my theory is they’re settling now as we just passed the point of no return around mid January. Had they settled back then, given 3 months prep time they could have aired new episodes April through June like many shows did before, we’d just have weirder gaps this year. Once it was past that point this season was basically destroyed and hence the damage was done, from this point onwards things wouldn’t really get any worse for the studios again until August/September time.
Posted by: Dean
Once it was past that point this season was basically destroyed and hence the damage was done, from this point onwards things wouldn’t really get any worse for the studios again until August/September time
You’re forgetting that TV exhibits the more *visible* symptoms from the strike; movies have also been affected, and the effects of *that* are likely to be more profound and long-lasting.
After all, the TV programs affected are *mostly* done primarily for the domestic market, even if they are syndicated worldwide.
The big, high-ticket movies that have been cancelled or pushed back/put on hold are *designed* for worldwide distribution.
Can someone explain why anyone would vote to end the strike BEFORE voting on the contract? What happens if the contract is rejected? The public is not likely to show any sympathy for a group of “re-strikers”.
I can understand it as a measure of “good faith” but that wouldn’t really be an “end” to the strike. But don’t most other unions continue their strikes until after a contract has been accepted? (I am a member of a union–the APWU–but we’re not allowed to strike en masse. Individuals are allowed to walk a picket line on their own time but since I’ve been a union member, the only picketing has been in connection with non-contractual grievances to the best of my recollection.)
“The public is not likely to show any sympathy for a group of “re-strikers”.”
The public opinion may suffer or it may not if the other side actually does cause it by pulling a fast one at the last second. Either way, going back on the picket lines would still put economic pressure on the studios by forcing shows to shut down again. Economic pressure is the primary purpose of the strike so that’s a real threat.
Meanwhile, certain things are getting down to the wire for returning. At this point some shows have enough time to crank out a few more episodes for this season, others don’t. If the union feels confident of being able to get the deal they want without further striking, then going back to work gets paychecks flowing again for lots of people.
As it is, I think that the 92.5% vote to end the strike was effectively a vote to accept the contracts. I really can’t imagine such overwhelming support for ending the strike being followed up by people voting not to accept the contracts.
They have a fairly comprehensive list of what shows will be doing new episodes and what won’t at tvguide.com on the Post-Strike Watch banner.
One writer, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, started working on a YA novel, posting his progress at exisle.net . More than likely, there will be a lot of spec scripts shopped around as well.
My understanding (which may be faulty) was that the vote to end the strike was a requirement of the studios. “We won’t give you these concessions unless you vote to end the strike.”
There are some various subtleties going on here that we outsiders are missing…
Anyone see Harlan ellison’s response to the strike ending? If not, here ya go:
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 fûçkìņ’ 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 SHÍT DEAL. We finally got a timorous generation that has never had to strike, to get their áššëš out there, and we had to put up with the usual cowardly spineless babbling horse’s áššëš 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 šhìŧ 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 bûllšhìŧ 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 šhìŧ behind your back, remember this:
You are their bìŧçhëš. They outslugged you, outthought you, outmaneuvered you; and in the end you ripped off your pants, painted yer áššëš 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
###
But, Harlan, what did you think of the contract?
I note that Harlan flings around accusations, personal slurs and assorted animadversions, tells us what a crappu deal it was and what weaklings and/or suckers the membership were to vote for it…
But he never actually points to any particular Bad Thing.
Yeah, I feel the same way as mike weber. I want to respect Harlan’s opinion because I know he’s a smart guy, but this doesn’t help. It tells me he hates the deal, but it gives me no idea what he thought a reasonable deal would have been. I have no idea how far he thinks the guild should have gone to get a better deal.
Given the context, it’s fairly clear what parts he doesn’t like (i.e., people knowledgeable about the contract, which means other writers).
No changes in DVD residuals.
No expansion into reality and animated shops.
A cap on residuals in new media.
Cable still gets less than network shows.
On the other hand, I’m not sure the WGA could have gotten much more. I tend to recall that progress in Hollywood is more incremental than sudden, and that any substantative improvements tend to be token at first and needs to be fought for in order to be improved to be an acceptable level.
(On the third hand, Ellison is at an age where he probably doesn’t want to invest into a long term strategy…)
Back in the days when “Little New York” Campagna, the father of one of my Dad’s boyhood friends, was out in Hollywood helping run the unions, the unions got what they wanted…
Yeah, well, here’s the thing: If the WGA could have worked with the DGA and SAG to create a united front–agree collectively on what they wanted and stick to it come hëll or high water–I think they could have gotten a much better deal for all concerned.
From the scuttlebutt I hear, the DGA wasn’t thrilled with the WGA for walking out when they did, and the AMPTP managed to fan that resentment into getting the DGA to agree to less-than-great terms which then became the model for the WGA deal. Which is, frankly, what I figured was going to happen when we first walked out.
What I don’t understand is, if I could see it coming, why the negotiators couldn’t.
PAD
PAD, do you think the WGA could have gotten the DGA to work with them more if they’d done things differently before the strike started?
I would like to think that would have been the case, yes. Now of course, for all I know, the WGA put out feelers to the DGA for exactly that and was rebuffed. That is, I suppose, possible, and the WGA decided this was the only option.
PAD
I agree that the 17 day part is horrible. For the most part, people will download in the first week.
An important thing I did see in the notes about the contract is that the contract will end in late spring next time.
The number of people voting being more than voters in a political election? It shows the voters had a private-sector REAL ($$) stake in voting. (Voting for politicians? Government doesn’t put food on your table. Your labor does.)
If the mob or foreign communist cells controlled the unions, they’d probably get better deals. Thugs know how to get results.
The DVDs for this season had better be REALLY cheap. Like, eight-ten bucks.
This will make me unpopular, but I’m not sure if that’s as bad as people think it is.
Because they download in the first week (actually, research suggests it’s within a day and a half), these are people who missed the broadcast and catching up. That might be better addressed by asking for a higher up front fee or other mechanism treating that window as part of the initial viewing.