I went to the WGA meeting last night on the contract. There were maybe a dozen or so people in the audience. Most people had obviously already mailed in their ballots, but I came in because I was interested to see who would show up and if anyone had anything interesting to say.
A microphone was set up so that people could get up and address the board and have their say about the contract.
Nobody did.
The meeting ran about ninety seconds, and most of that consisted of a Ferris Bueller-like “Anyone? Anyone,” and when no one had anything to say, we voted. I suspect it will carry overwhelmingly.
I wonder if the WGA West meeting had more fireworks.
PAD
UPDATE: The WGA has just confirmed that the new contract was overwhelmingly approved by over 93 percent of the membership.
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I’m not surprised. The vote to end the strike was effectively a vote on the contract. I’m sure that in a lot of people’s minds this was already over when the strike ended.
I wonder if the WGA West meeting had more fireworks
If Harlan Ellison really wrote the below, and he was a speaker at thw WGA West meeting, I have no doubt that it was.
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/35629
Yeah I’d have paid admission to hear the meeting Harlan was at.
While I’m selfishly happy that some of my favorite shows will be “back in business” before long, I’m disappointed that the writers weren’t able to get a better contract than what they received. I am in no position to judge the leadership of the WGA or its negotiating team, so I won’t. I just wish the writers had received more of what is due them.
Jon Stewart hit the nail on the head on “Larry King” last week: it is alomst astonishing that it had to come to a strike. How could there be any question that there is money being made off of distributing content over the Internet, and how could there be any question that writers are due a cut of that? I say “almost” astonishing because I’ve lived too long to be shocked by greed.
I’ve had idle thoughts that the studios deliberately made draconian cutbacks and provoked a strike in order to be able to give back only modest gains in new media.
Posted by Bill Myers
How could there be any question that there is money being made off of distributing content over the Internet…
But there *isn’t*.
Just ask any studio accountant.
“Anticlimatic” beats “They broke our legs on the way out”…