Any True Fan Of Television & Motion Pictures Please Read!

Good Evening Everyone,

As some of you may have heard, on October 18, 2007 the members of The Screenwriters Guild of America East & West took a vote on whether or not we should strke when our union contract with the major television & motion picture studios comes to an end on tomorrow, October 31, 2007.

Well with an resounding 90% support of all members (including myself) we have decided to take action & go on strike until these multi-million dollar media congomlerates are ready to start reasonable negotiations on our new union contract.

These companies would have you believe with there endless flood of money, jewelry, yachts, & all which is associated with wealth & fame that everyone who works in the entertainment industry is rich beyond their wildest dreams, which just isn't the case & this is especially true for the majority of members of the WGA.

When you here the term 'Screenwriter' used, you first think of people like Tim Burton, Paul Haggis, Kevin Smith who have made millions of the selling & productions of their scripts. Most people in the public seem to have the idea that we all are in some office space in our 10 million dollar mansions typing up scripts while sitting on a stack of hundred dollar bills, which again just isn't the case.

Most writers are hired & put on staff after a screenplay or pilot script has been sold by the creator. Once this is done plenty of times they have nothing more to do with the movie until after filming has ended & they go on the promotional tour to draw the audience in. While those on staff are there to make script changes, make sure there is nothing in the story that would contradict any scene or end result, or to make sure everything is theoretically or scientifically plausable & we do this while receiving no real recognition, only a fraction of a moment where our name scrolls up the screen at the end credits & if it is a movie aired on television or a television series then the screen is usually split, while next show is promoted.

Now, some may say, well you're getting paid aren't you? Sure, we are getting paid, but the average staff writer only makes 25,000 dollars a season which is 5000 dollars more then the employees hired to serve at the craft truck make in a year. So that forces us to work on multiple shows sometime as many as 4 or 5 a year & in different locations around North America. If a staff writer has a wife & kids, he could be away from his family for 9 months out of the year. Gaffers & Foley artists are paid more then we are & if you don't believe me then I will freely scan all W-forms from April that will verify before taxes that I make 45,000 dollars working on two television shows which brought in approximately 6 million viewers each.

So, now that it is time to start negotiations on a new union contract, what has these multi-million dollar corperations offered? They have offered to only guarantee 50 percent of base compensation & they are looking to cut our benefits such as healthcare a whopping 60 percent.

I can't tell you that you should send emails & letters to these major media conglomerates like Viacom & 20th Century Fox, to show your support for those who set the stage for you to find some form of escapism through Television & Motion Pictures.

Nore Can I tell you that every TV & Movie studio is rushing production on the films & summer shows to complete them by tomorrow, even in the quality of these products are being severly compromised.

And I also can't tell you that two hours ago I got the ultimatum from the production company that employees me, to be on a plane to Burbank, California tonight to complete production by tomorrow or search for another employer.

As of November 1, 2007 I will have to take this post down since it violate certain federal laws because it breaks privacy laws meant to protect those multi million dollar companies during labor disagreements so I can only hope that as many people see it as possible before then.

So think long & hard on this issue & do what you think is best.

T.S.

To Mods, if I am not around at 12am pacific time tomorrow, please delete this message. Thanks.

Nope, I've seen stuff like The Player...at least you're not face down in a puddle in the car park

Well, you're getting paid aren't you? That's more than I make.

In all seriousness, I daresay there is a massive imbalance of earnings in the film industry, like in many other industries. And I daresay that there is more to it than that. But I've thought long and hard and short of setting up a hardship fund for impoverished screenwriters (on 45 grand....) there really isn't a lot mofos can do for you. Except put up with the strike without moaning too much (unlike the flipping postal strike the other week )

Well these messages aren't being posted only on this forum, they are being posted everywhere & once again I can't tell you send an email to any of these major companies.

But, what I can tell you is that 45,000 sounds like alot.. until you go look at the cost of living in Southern California, Manhattan, certain Parts of New Jersey, Miami. So do what you want, I am just addressing the issue while I can.

If I had to live in California full time, I probably would have to find a nice two bedroom in.......

Compton

I do sympathize with you on the disparity in paychecks... we all probably do, we all probably see it... I know I do with knowing what the top execs are making in the company I work for.
I think there are way too many that are making far more than they should. I wish you nothing but good luck on trying to make a better living.
On the other hand, what I quoted above does kinda bother me. Is what you said not legal to say in the first place, or only once the strike starts? In either case, couldn't you have worded your post so that the legality issues couldn't come into play at all? Knowingly posting something that might have a negative legal effect on your cause just doesn't seem like a good idea to me...

...just my 2 pennies worth...

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The Divide by Zero Foundation - Where the real world ends... and mine begins

...and here's to hoping you are able to work out the issues so the real screen writing can continue!!

As a professional writer myself, I wish you luck, brother.
But as a professional writer who has been in the business some 40 years without ever being a member of a guild and never missing a paycheck in all of that time, I got to wonder why you stick with a profession where you earn only $45,000 while writing for 2 TV networks??? Shoot, I made more money and had better benefits working for southern daily newspapers a decade ago.
I know you'll be freelancing some other market when you go on strike. It might be a good time to explore some of the other many opportunities out there. Having your name on the credit scroll of a TV program isn't worth that kind of sacrifice.

To answer Mem, well as of Nov. 1 the contract is over but the information doesn't become 'illegal' until we actually walk out & go on strike, which may or may not start on the first. When unions & the AFL-CIO was first established, both sides would leak information to the public, to sway public opinion to put pressure on one side or the other. So I can remember the exact date of the first governmental union and labor reform, but leaking inside information on negotiations during strike is now illegal & in the larger strikes a government official is present.

So more then likely what will happen is the guild will wait a week to give them time to get as much information out there as possible to sway public opinion, but it will still be hard because like I said, the studios and media corp. own the airwaves. So when people hear me say I am a staff writer for a tv show, they think I am saying i am a millionaire as well, lol. Even my friends to it sometimes & I have to say,"Dude, I have been wearing the same clothes for 5 years & you think I am rich?" So yeah, I just hope it isn't 5 months like the last strike cause I invested alot of my savings into a business opportunity, so i cant last more then a couple of months without some form of income.

To answer the other comment (Sorry I forgot your name.) The reason is, the same reason actors work as a waitress at night and audition during the day. I want want to sell a script for a motion picture or create a tv show.

Edit: Sorry, I only scanned through your post, Rufnek so I didn't read it as a two part questions.

Yes, I have a couple of side project. I live in Burbank during production, but my home is in North Carolina. I co-own a small local theater where we put on original plays & show indy films & other films from overseas. That brings in a little extra cash, but most of the time of the profit from revenues goes right back into the theater since we bought it in terrible shape & haven't completed full renovations.

I am working on the screen adaptation to a novel by Osha Gray Davidson titled,'The Best of Enemies' but if I completed the script by tomorrow, it would atleast a year before we would go in production. So, no money will come from that for a very long time.. If it ever gets off the ground.

Other then that I do have a small amount of money that comes from a show, now in syndication.. but the episodes I wrote were in the last season & the show had lost it's steam. So it is only broadcast on 2 stations in syndication, so I only receive 4 checks a year. (Occasionally a 5th one from overseas syndication.)

I considering doing some some pulp fiction or create a comic with a friend of mine, so that might become an option & I actually have a novel that was published, but it only sold 3 copies & two were bought by my mother & father, lol. I have given away more copies then I have sold.

I have a maybe in the works, but nothing will be discussed until after the strike if infact we do go on strike.

So yeah, If I haven't done something substantial by the time I am married & have children, I will start searching for other opportunities. I appreciate the advice & if you don't mind would you send me an email at [email protected] I would be very interested in discussing other options.

Ah, so you're in for the fame and glory, not the weekly pay check. That's just the dues you pay to get access to the Hollywood movers and shakers who may make your dreams come true. You could make better money in another media, but you're busy rolling the dice for the big time.

That's okay. You made your choice and I wish you luck. But it wouldn't do any good for me to write the studios in support of your guild even if I were inclined to. I'm well past the age groups to which they cater.

Well my job at the moment is for a paycheck & I'm not going to lie by saying I don't desire fame, because everyone in my profession does.. but I can say in all honesty, I would rather do meaningful work that could stand the test of time.. if I couldn't have both.

I just wanted to inform everyone that a agreement has been made in regards to my production companies ultimatum.

The guild has agreed to let those who are still in production when or if the strike begins, to complete production if the series is a 12 episode series & if it is a 24 episode season then, staff writers can continue to work until the last episode before winter break. So thankfully I don't have to leave for Burbank for 12 days.

Of course, staff writers can ignore the strike & continue to work during but WGA members never forget, so it is a dangerous thing to do since a large part of writers are hired through refferals from others already on staff.

Glad to hear things are a little better off!

You brought up one of those things about unions that I just don't get. Why can't they accept that there are people who just want to go do their job, and not harass them, not make them feel threatened in the way you mentioned?
Where I work, there was a pretty bitter strike for 6 weeks or so last year. My job, and that of my co-workers has very little to do with the company in question (we are there as the computer tech support people), yet every day, we, along with everyone else going there to do their job, had to go through the line. The names we were called and the things that were done by supposed adults were beyond childish. It even included putting the names of those in the union that crossed the line, on their website on a special page reserved for what they called the rats, so everyone else knew who to ostracize when they did eventually come back to work.
Loyalty is one thing, but like was said by a number of people here (including myself); if it comes down to loyalty to the union, or providing for my family, its a no-brainer, family comes first. The others should be able to accept that and not hold it against those that continue to work.

**stepping down off my soapbox now**

It is such a complex issue which has been debated ever since the first person in history hired someone to work for them & only paid them a small percentage of the profit.

Some people dont want anything to do with Unions, because there are so many times where they make unreasonable demands & the tactics they employ to muster support is criminal.

In the case of the WGA strike, it is very justifiable because these writers are a key contributor to what makes tv shows & movies (though much more so on TV shows.) so successful. Anywhere else in the world besides major metropolitan cities, 45,000 dollars in a year not only sounds like alot... It is alot. If I didn't have to live in California 6 months out of the year, I would have a nice two story home in the suburbs, but in Southern California it is nothing. There are men with families working 10 years as staff writers who are just above the poverty line.

Never the less, I fear that those who have been elected to represent us in our labor negotiations are going to use the stories of those writers I just mentioned as a way to make themselves millions while giving the rest of us, just enough so we dont gripe. These multi million dollar corperations are trying their best to keep as much money as they can out of our hands, but so are those who are elected to deligate for us.

I can't go deep into the subject matter without breaking a few unionized policies, but at the start of this conflict & last week I was approached by several members of the guild to take an active roll in speaking on behalf of the union to news media outlets to take our case to the public before the strike begins, because my grandfather C.P. Ellis is one of the more famous trade union organizers who doesn't have criminal links like Hoffa or Fitzsimmons, but I couldn't say yes because first off I am not my grandfather, who was able to touch people because he understood human suffering & put his hand on someone's shoulder & could comfort them, look them in the eyes & give them confidence that the future holds better things for them. I haven't suffered through poverty like he has. Dont get me wrong... I haven't live the kind of lifestyle that would earn the narration of Robin Leech, but there isn't one time in my life that I didn't know when or where the next meal was going to come from.

Secondly, there are some issues that are hid by the big picture, that are in my own opinion.. abit corrupt & are only serving a few people in the guild. So, if this strike happens I am going to be watching very closely to see what arguments are being made to benefit the few, or every person & if it turns out that the only people spoken for are the few close to the head of the table, I will be the first to walk away from the picket lines.

With the strike in progress, all I can say is fu* you SGA. TV programs are being forced to end, movies are rushed to fast into production in order to be released and even by that reason....some films anxiously awaiting might not even come out. Actors will, and this is no joke, just have to stop (for now at least) and simply go home to their families and forget about acting.

Take Heroes for example....this is the 2nd season and with the strike, they are making a huge storyline to buildup to the not season finale.....but SERIES finale!!! Good bye Heroes

Strikes suck!

While I agree that strikes are a pain in the butt, I personally think you might be overreacting a little bit, especially about the Heroes thing.
Personally I think it would take a heck of a long strike before a show, especially one as popular as Heroes, to just be scrapped because of the strike. Besides, I'm guessing most of the actors have some sort of contract for "x" number of episodes, and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to up and tell the producers/network/etc... "here's what I think about your contract, and your show" and walk away.

I could be totally wrong with all that, but I don't think I'm probably too far off...

Yes it just started, but the strike is causing Heroes to end. Lost, which I havent mentioned due to the strike is moving to begin again in Jan-Feb. 2008. Who knows how long this is gonna last. I hate to repeat myself ....Just expect, if this goes on too further, more reality shows than normal TV and movies delayed or in production hell.

I don't want to contradict too much, since I really don't know anything about it myself, but do you have a reputable reference for saying Heroes is ending?

I wrote a message to the head of the Heroes MySpace Page and they have stated this is the end of the show.

I'm not buying it...

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You guys write for a living. If money was going to be one of your main concerns then maybe you should have pursued business rather than art.

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Sad, but true