The Brotherhood of Evil Studio Executives

Jane Espenson

While public opinion is still very much in favor of the WGA, there are always dissenting voices. Some reasonable. Some concerned. And some unconcerned and making anti-labor statements that suggest the little rich kids (writers) should get back to work for the big rich kids (AMPTP) and shut up. Everyone is, of course, entitled to their opinion. They should, however, base those opinions on fact and not hearsay and conjecture.

As for the idea that the writers hit the lines with ease or without care for others collaterally affected by their actions, it is even more callous than the actions it claims to criticize in the first place. A look at any of the blogs listed to the right show the WGA to be filled with conscientious professionals who not only value the work they do but also the toll this strike is exacting in all communities.

Jane Espenson writes the following in her excellent Jane in Progress blog:

But know that we're not dancing as lightly as we seem to be. We're cold. We're tired. Our feet hurt. We're concerned about the future -- the future of our shows, the future of our careers, the future of the business, the future of the whole darn American middle-class, and the future of any personal sense of security we might have built up. We're concerned about our relationship with executives whom we like, who aren't really part of the mogularchy. And we're greatly concerned about those people who find themselves affected by the strike although they never even got a vote in this action. We may look like we're laughing, but we're serious.

If you support the WGA then you probably already know these words to be true. If you don't or are sitting on the fence, then read these words and understand the sincerity with which they were written.

Thanks, Jane.

Link

Why is the WGA Negotiating with the AMPTP?

In The Huffington Post, Robert J. Elisberg wrote a great article:Writers Guild Strike Primer: Part 8, The Big Question.

In it he asks, "Why is it the AMPTP who is negotiating with the Writers Guild of America???" This isn't an idle question. It gets right to the heart of the matter and one of the biggest problems in the entertainment industry today: media consolidation. It is not good for what we read, hear, and watch. And, in this case, it is downright illegal.

Illegal? How so? One word: collusions. The AMPTP represents around 350 member film companies that are normally competitors with each other. They compete for stars. They compete for scripts. They compete for box office. They compete for everything. And yet, every three years they come together as business partners and give the AMPTP the authority to negotiate contracts with the WGA, SAG, the DGA, the Teamsters, IATSE, and every other union that represents entertainment workers.

Here is an excellent scenario from the article:

Imagine the auto industry for a moment.

The AMPTP is like if General Motors, Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, Toyota, Honda and Nissan all got together, decided the terms they would offer employees, and then negotiated as a single body against one isolated division of U.S. auto workers at a time. Divide and conquer. Take it or leave it.

It's not that it would be massively illegal. It's that it would be unconscionable. No one in the aghast free world would stand for it.

No one would stand for it is right. But yet we stand for it in the entertainment industry. Entertainment workers might not produce hard goods like cars and steel, but they deserve the simple protections that anti-trust laws give to those working in such industries.

Disney, Sony, General Electric, Time-Warner, and News Corp. are not only negotiating in bad faith. They are negotiating illegally, and it must stop. Perhaps a call to your local Congress Critter will help.

Speechless

These have been running for a couple of weeks and I look forward to each new episode.

Check out the entire series from Speechless Hollywood on YouTube.