Category / WGA Strike

by Edward Champion

You Only TiVo Once

Kassia Kroszer has a solid overview of the basic issues behind the WGA strike, pointing out how “promotional” material is being used to screw writers out of revenue and makes a concerted effort to see the scenario from the producers’ perspective. The upshot is that with production costs dramatically curtailed as the home video standard switched from VHS to DVD, it becomes less reasonable for writers and artists to be screwed out of monies that, quite frankly, could not have been generated were it not for their labor.

If, like me, you are something of a giddy nihilist about the great entertainment empire come crumbling down in a mere week, you might likewise be interested in this reporting. Apparently, the refusal of movie stars to cross picket lines has had intriguing results for the junket interviews. They will not chat about their latest movie on Good Morning America because this means a television writer researching and scribing the questions — putting the words in a telegenic beauty’s mouth.

What remains interesting is just how the television-watching public will respond to all these reruns. Will they see more movies? Will they read more books? Is television so fixated upon endless new content that the public will resist anything that resembles seeing the same thing twice?

by Edward Champion

Ellen DeGeneres, Scab

The Hollywood Reporter: “DeGeneres skipped filming on Monday in support of her writers but returned to work Tuesday despite the strike, though she said she missed and supported her scribes.”

Apparently, Ms. DeGeneres does not know the meaning of a strike, which involves not working until you come to a resolution. Showing “support” for writers one day, only to work the next, is not striking. I don’t care how many tears Ellen DeGeneres wishes to shed over this or dogs. These are the actions of a self-serving bimbo without integrity. Her pathetic statement can be found here.

DeGeneres, incidentally, is a WGA member. Whether the WGA will initiate proceedings to remove her from the guild or consider her a special case remains to be seen. But if the WGA lets this fly and opts for the latter, then I’ll have little faith in the WGA’s powers of representation.

[UPDATE: Nikki Finke has obtained two letters from AFTRA thanking DeGeneres for her support. She’s also cited WGA’s Minimum Basic Agreement, which excludes material written by a presenter for a comedy-variety program broadcast. Maybe so, but it’s a pretty shitty thing to carry forth with “support” for writers one minute and the filming of a television program the next. You don’t see Leno, Letterman, or Stewart carrying on these days.]