At least in New York City, there will not be any Writers Guild of America official picketing today (some of us will go over to Broadway and support the striking stagehands). But, there is some stuff to report.
Yesterday, Michael Winship, president of the the Writers Guild of America (east) sent out an e-mail to members which gave some good info to remember:
Thus far, the other side refuses to come back to the table, even though we know there’s a fair deal waiting to be made, a deal that can be accomplished quickly and simply if they will merely recognize that they must share a small part of future revenues from the Internet and new media. If they get paid, we must get paid.
In areas like streaming video, despite the fact that it earns studios and networks significant advertising revenue, we get exactly nothing, because they claim its use is simply promotional. According to writer Greg Daniels, executive producer of "The Office," their show "has received seven million downloads. It generates the most traffic at NBC.com. We received a daytime Emmy for webisodes that no one was paid for."
By way of comparison, for the first three quarters of 2007, NBC Universal earned $2.2 BILLION, 5% more than the profit it recorded in the same period a year ago. Over the same period, the overall profit of its parent company, General Electric, expanded 9%. GE’s revenues in the third quarter alone were $42.5 BILLON.
The package we’re asking for – from ALL the studios, from ALL the networks, from ALL the massive, global media conglomerates that own them – is less than $200 MILLION. That’s MILLION. With an "M." Over a period of three years.
Get it? As I pointed out before the strike began, this is a classic example of greed. The media continues to refuse to contrast, on the one hand, the large profits of these huge companies and the large paychecks of the CEOs versus, on the other hand, the relatively small share the writers are trying to get.
The strikers, meanwhile, are staying strong. There was no picketing over the weekend in New York City. But, on Friday, a strong and large group marched in front of News Corp’s headquarters on 6th Avenue and 48th Street. It was a raw day, with rain falling pretty steadily. But, the picket lines were jammed enough so, as has been the case on previous days, it was not a speedy lap around the oval–people were there in solid numbers. A WGA member and friend of mine, David Black, had come down from his home about 2 hours north of Manhattan to picket for two days with his wife. Like others, David was pissed and ready for the fight.
In L.A., there was a huge rally of 3,500 people, as reported by the Los Angeles Times:
Century City’s famed Avenue of the Stars was transformed into a boulevard of determined demonstrators Friday as more than 3,500 writers, actors and supporters swarmed nearby 20th Century Fox studios to bolster their resolve for a potentially drawn-out strike by the Writers Guild of America.
The 45-minute rally produced a revivalist-like atmosphere outside the studio’s executive offices at Fox Plaza tower as television’s top writing talent and blue-collar industry workers mingled with Hollywood stars including Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Oscar winners James L. Brooks and Paul Haggis of "Crash" during Day Five of the strike.
Spilling into the streets and landscaping around the building, the crowd cheered various speakers that included the Rev. Jesse Jackson, producer Norman Lear and "Family Guy" creator Seth McFarland as they stood on the back of a flatbed truck exhorting the workers to stay strong.
One of the obvious things to many veteran WGA members is the strong solidarity in the strike–compared to twenty years ago when many people felt the Guild was not ready for a strike and had not done a good job of preparing WGA members for the walk-out, which ended up in a deal in which the WGA gave up ground it is trying to make up now on residuals for new media. An insight into the better internal organization may be gleaned from today’s LATimes profile of David Young, the Guild’s west coast executive director, who comes from a union background (as opposed to a lawyer-let’s-make-a-deal background):
Young and his team have spent months preparing for this moment, borrowing heavily from his experience organizing and staging walkouts on behalf of garment workers, carpenters and construction laborers.
Before joining the guild in 2004, Young held various union jobs, including that of assistant national director of organizing for Unite, the strongest union in the garment industry, where he led a high-profile campaign against jeans maker Guess Inc. in Los Angeles.
The Pasadena native, a onetime plumber and graduate of San Diego State, also served as a statewide labor organizer for carpenters.
And…
Young has been more successful at what he calls internal organizing — mobilizing rank-and-file union members who previously felt marginalized. He and Verrone held dozens of meetings and house parties with small groups of writers over the last year to discuss their concerns.
Young then set up a network composed of 400 bargaining captains, each of whom was responsible for communicating with 15 to 20 members. The group leaders, who now serve as strike captains, have played key roles in securing the large turnouts at last week’s rallies and in the recent strike authorization election by members.
"That’s how you move 8,000 people into action," Young said.
Additionally, Young and Verrone courted the guild’s’ most powerful members, the writer-producers who are also known as show runners because they oversee prime-time TV programs.
It seems to me that’s what is providing some real backbone to the strike–people feel connected and there is organization behind the strike.
If you are in the Los Angeles area, here is where you can learn about where to go to walk the picket line.
In New York, a large rally is planned for tomorrow in Wall Street:
Tuesday, November 13th
10:00am – 2:00pm
Location: Northeast corner of Battery Park, corner of State St. and Bowling Green
The media conglomerates are busy bragging about new media profits to their shareholders while crying poverty to writers. On Tuesday we’re going to Wall Street directly to set the record straight. We’ll hear from Guild leaders and then spread our message throughout the Financial District with leafleting around the NYSE.
