Los Angeles Or Bust » Strike

Colbert Report and Note to Oregonians

Aadip — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:17:02 +0000

I was happy to see Stephen Colbert welcome back his writers one by one on
camera, awarding them with a pencil and well, their jobs. There was only one
suspect writer, namely the ubiquitous Kevin Bacon.Colbert did continually make
fun of the strike throughout, but it’s a comedy show.

Hey Oregonians – The Oregon Writers Colony asked us to let you know that Christopher
Vogler, who wrote The Writers Journey, will be teaching a seminar in Newport, Oregon on April 12.

Washingtonians and others – We’ll be hosting Catherine Ann Jones that same
weekend.

WGA Strike is Over

Aadip — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:18:10 +0000

Link to Variety article

Well, let the buying frenzy begin. I’m glad to see that many of our past guest speakers can get back to work and pay their mortgages.

Some 92.5% of the 3,775 ballots cast were in favor of ending the 100-day strike,
with 3,492 members voting yes and 283 die-hards ready to tilt at the windmill
of continuing the work stoppage that began Nov. 5.

FYI, the SAG-AFTRA contract on feature films and primetime TV expires June 30. No talks have yet been set.

Long Time, No Blog

Aadip — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:05:45 +0000

Hi All,
Sorry for the hiatus from the blogging and updates. Between starting a new job,
my basement flooding, a sick puppy, and a third rewrite, I’ve been a little
tied up. Rest assured, we are working on our 2008 programming and the upcoming
renewal of our AMPAS grant.

January 30th, we’ll be hosting the Washington Lawyers
for the Arts Film Panel, April will bring Catherine Ann Jones, author of "The
Way Of Story." and in late May, Bill True will be putting us through a mini-pitchfest. More
speakers in the works, just have to convince them that they won’t drown in
Seattle.

As for the Writer’s Strike or Writers’ Strike or Writers’s Strike, well we are
starting to see the results on TV. This season’s returning shows have been
very lackluster, including boring episodes of Heroes, House, The Office, Earl,
and The Simpsons. Now the new slate of reality garbage (aka unscripted TV)
is hitting the airs. Clash of the Choirs? What’s next? Battle of the Barbers?
Tyranny of the Toddlers. Put a fork in me, I’m done.

As many of you know the WGA/AMPTP talks have broken down again, and there is
no end in sight. We continue to support our fellow scribes in their quest for
the holy grail, I mean more fair royalty rates. This
just in from the Hollywood Reporter.

If you are interested in showing your support for fellow writers and in keeping up with what is going on, go to these sites:

Strike II (con’td)

Aadip — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:05:04 +0000

Many of you have asked, so I wil answer on behalf of the NWSG. Of course
we are in full support of our fellow writers who are merely asking to be paid
for the work they do. Some believe that because we’re
in the creative field, we’re supposed to bow down to those who let us create
and maybe pay us. Without the writer’s idea, there would be no films or TV
shows.

All that web content has to be written by someone, and they should be
compensated for that and all future delivery/viewing formats. We
also support the writers’ desire for a an equalization of download and DVD
royalty rates. According to Variety, "The AMPTP still insists on no jurisdiction
for most of new media writing; no economic proposal for the part of new media
writing that would be covered; Internet downloads at the DVD rate; no residual
for streaming video of theatrical product; and a "promotional" proposal
that allows re-use of movies and TV shows on any platform with no residual;
and a "window” of
free reuse on the Internet."

Chris Soth has been mobilizing and educating non-WGA writers by putting them in touch with Strike Captains on weekly strike calls.

See attached Strike Rules.

Thanks for being on the call tonight. And for your support
of the WGA in this troubled time. LOTS of you have emailed
me with your intentions to join picket lines and otherwise
support the cause. My inbox is flooded and I’ll try to send
along a few snippets of thanks and insight from those of you
that were kind enough to write, and a few highlights of what
our guest had to say about the strike.

The list of struck companies
at wga.org.

The online petition supporting the WGA

Sponsor of next week’s call is the Great American Pitchfest

Thanks for being on the call and supporting the cause.

In fact —

Thanks "A Million",

Chris Soth
MillionDollarScreenwriting.com
HollywoodByPhone.com

11730 Washington Blvd. #25
Los Angeles CA 90066

E-mail from past NWSG guest, Steve Barr (with permission).

As many of you know, my union (the Writers Guild of America) has gone out
on strike, for the first time in 20 years. This link is
to a short YouTube video that explains why we’re taking this drastic step.

After studying and working hard for the last 10 years, I finally got my "big
break" in April of this year … and almost immediately I’m volunteering
NOT to work. I could be destroying my career just as it gets started, but I
have to join this fight. This is because I think this negotiation is the most
important contract negotiation of my generation. If we allow the studios to
cut us out of the internet, we have no future.

If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Please pass this on
to anyone who wants to know why those darn greedy writers are so eager to put
the whole entertainment industry out of work.

If you’re frustrated with the endless reruns or bad scab-written TV shows
and movies you’ll be seeing soon, please don’t blame the writers. All we want
is a fair deal.

Take care,

Steve Barr

barr@socalfilm.com

Strike

Aadip — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:00:22 +0000

Hey guys, this just in from Variety.
As we know, the TV season is what will suffer most because of a strike. Too bad
many of the new fall shows and several returning shows have not really held up.
There is almost nothing to watch, although Big Bang Theory, Pushing Daisies,
and Bionic Woman seem like strong additions to the prime-time lineup.

Have a safe and happy Halloween. Looking for a scary movie, I suggest the remake of The Hills of Eyes 1 and its sequel.
The graphic novel prequel is also very cool.

I’ve heard from a few Expo-goers. It sounds like we have names of some prospective
speakers, and NWSGs cripts have gone out to companies as a result of pitch
meetings. Good luck!

WGA Strike Vote Approved (90%)

Aadip — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 22:53:23 +0000

Hi Everyone. I know there’s one question that’s keeping many of us up at night, "Is there going to be a WGA strike?"

We can only guess what is going to happen, but the WGA writers came out in droves and voted 90% for the strike authorization vote (SAV). According to several of our Hollywood sources, the strike is supposed to start on November 1st, and could last as long as eight months.

Usually during a strike, all production ceases, no properties (scripts) get optioned, the TV season can be significantly delayed, and all the writers who were already working with WGA signatories will crank out their “if only I had more time” pieces. Those of us who are trying to break in will be up against these guys and gals when the strike ends.

How do we get around this? Well, we really can’t. I just encourage everybody to enter the screenplay competitions, write as much as we can, refine our structure, hone our pitches, and hibernate. The good news is that maybe writers will get treated better if many of the WGA demands are ratified.

Check out the following sites for daily updates on the strike:
The Artful Writer
WGA West
Variety