Patric Verrone and Michael Winship just sent this message to the membership. The WGA is determined to stay at the table until we have a deal. If the AMPTP wants to negotiate in good faith, and end the strike, we are at the table.

Dear Fellow Members,

Before we head into negotiations this morning, we want to give you an update on where we stand.

For the last few days, many of us have been feeling that the AMPTP was getting ready to "sucker punch" us. The hiring of an attack dog PR firm (known as the "Masters of Disaster") made it pretty obvious that the congloms didn't intend to settle, and they planned on making things ugly.

Well, the other shoe sure dropped on that one.

United Hollywood has secretly obtained a transcript of one of the earlier negotiating sessions which illustrates just what the writers are facing at the bargaining table...

WGA: We'd like a whopping four pennies more on each DVD sold.
AMPTP: We're going to punch you in the face and take your dog.
WGA: We'd like to be compensated for our work that's distributed over the Internet.
AMPTP: We're going to punch you in the face and take your dog.
WGA: We don't think it's fair you're trying to have short-form content written non-guild.
AMPTP: Fine. We won't take your dog. That's off the table. After you shout from the rooftops and thank us, which proposal are you going to take off the table?

The WGA Negotiating Committee, on behalf of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), today issued the following statement regarding Contract 2007 negotiations:

“The Writers Guilds met today with the AMPTP and discussed issues of jurisdiction for original content for the Internet, Reality TV, Animation, and Basic Cable. The talks also were focused on contract enforcement. For the last two days, we have had substantive discussions of the issues important to writers, the first time this has occurred in this negotiation. However, we are still waiting for the AMPTP to respond to all of our proposals, including Internet streaming of theatrical and television product and digital downloads. Bargaining resumes tomorrow at 10 a.m.”

As the strike continues and things heat up around the DGA negotiations, apparently the multi-national media mega-corps and their $100K a month crisis management flaks are ramping up their online psy-ops and misinformation campaigns.

Deadline Hollywood Daily, in a post detailing a range of less than savory actions taken by AMPTP members against WGA supporters, reported that "AMPTP staffers,

Today, we received some solid information regarding the timetable the DGA is setting for its talks. Michael Apted, president of the DGA, and Gil Cates, their NegCom chair, issued a statement:"Because we want to give the WGA and the AMPTP more time to return to the negotiating table to conclude an agreement, the DGA will not schedule our negotiations to begin until after the New Year, and then, only if an appropriate basis for negotiations can be established."The rest of their statement is strongly worded and reflects the same frustration the WGA and the rest of Hollywood is feeling right now. The WGA wants a fair and reasonable deal. The DGA wants a fair and reasonable deal.

As this is written, the WGA and AMPTP are still under a news blackout regarding the ongoing informal negotiations.

However, the NY Times just reported that "major roadblocks" have been gotten past in the negotiations, and progress will be swifter in the negotiations going forward -- with an eye toward an agreement in principle coming out of negotiations fairly soon.

UH has confirmed from

The AMPTP walked away on Friday. The WGA never left the table.

The Guild has made itself crystal clear: Specific proposals have been detailed, compromises have been made, the leadership continues to be engaged in a constructive dialogue to quickly resolve the strike. The AMPTP is as clear about its position: You can't talk to writers because they're emotional and don't understand business.

With the AMPTP away from the table, the negotiation is playing out in the press. If you read Dave McNary in Variety today, there's only one answer to the impasse: the WGA has to accept the companies' demands and get back to work. The companies are too powerful, with their deep pockets and experienced PR resources. The writers' are too emotional, which is great when they're writing screenplays, but not good when you're engaged in a difficult labor negotiation.

Gosh, I don't know. Do you?

I've been asked many times if the strike is going to end this week. Nikki Finke posted a very optimistic report from an insider yesterday morning, and that has set off a wave of enthusiasm. "Fire up the margarita machine!" you say.

Well, not so fast. First of all, it's November, and who drinks margaritas in November?

Two articles in the New York Times today (11/16/07) put a personal perspective on the strike. Bill Carter's "Late Shows Move to Help The Workers Not on Strike" and Jennifer Steinhauer's "Writers' Strike Opens New Window on Hollywood".

Carter reports about efforts by Talk Show Hosts to keep their staffs paid, even if they can't be on the air. Steinhauer profiles the personal stories of writers, costumers, assistants, electricians, and thousands of others who are now or who will soon be out of work.

What these stories have in common is one underlying fact: the AMPTP won't sit down with the WGA.

Notwithstanding the AMPTP's full page ads, they'd rather spend their energy and money on avoiding talking to the writers and negotiating a fair deal. And why?

Today, Tuesday, 11/20/07, Los Angeles will experience a labor rally in support of the WGA strike. Marching west on Hollywood Boulevard from Ivar and gathering in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, thousands upon thousands will join together to celebrate the importance of labor unions in American life.

And how will you know about this momentous occasion? You'll have to be there.

At the last rally in front of Fox Studios, 4,000 writers and their supporters marched and rallied, but when you watched the evening news, you'd never know it . There was plenty of time that night to talk about lost kittens but nothing about the peaceful march that closed down Pico Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars.

Today's rally marks a crucial juncture: a mass demonstration of our strength before the negotiations restart.

The last day of official picketing ended with a high point at Fox.

Writers were joined on the picket line by many supporters. The honking at the Pico gate reached new decibel levels as crowds of picketers filled the sidewalk and waved their signs at the passing traffic.

The signs told the story: "WGA-DGA-SAG", "The House is Not Divided," "DGA-WGA Member," "Union Solidarity".

The appearance of so many SAG and DGA members made the point that even though the AMPTP spin machine works hard to create the impression that there is dissension between the unions and in the ranks of the WGA, the opposite is true.

Of course the strike has created tensions. How could it not?

There should be tensions when so much is at stake and so much has been sacrificed in the fight with the congloms. But our common interests outweigh that tension, and our solidarity is real.

As Patric Verrone explained today, last Thursday, the AMPTP promised to offer up the second part of their "breakthrough" proposal. A week later, they still haven't added to the initial and unacceptable offer. The back channel conversations have only increased the widely-held impression that the AMPTP wants to prolong the strike. During the week, we've heard that two PR firms specializing in crisis-management have been hired by the studios at great expense, in an apparent effort to put an avuncular mask on the scowling face of the AMPTP negotiators.

Every indication from the AMPTP is that their negotiators are getting ready to storm out of the room, exiting with their usual hand-wringing lament that writers are an unreasonable bunch of emotional artists.

If you've never been in a Hollywood development meeting, one of the most frustrating things for writers about such gatherings is often the lack of consensus amongst those giving the studio notes. With so many people involved - from the creative exec, to the director of development, to the VP to the Senior VP, to INSERT RANDOM PERSON HERE - each giving their opinion and input, they're rarely all on the same page.

But have the studios brought "development hell" to the current strike negotiations?

According to a showrunner who was briefed on the situation, there is real dissension in their ranks. Each of the corporations comprising the AMPTP has a labor lawyer in the room negotiating for them (not to be outdone, Time Warner has three!). Furthermore, some of the companies are willing to make a deal today and are getting more than a little pissed at those who are holding out.

Hey, there. So, I understand that there's been a lot of turnover in your job lately. In the very likely event that you get fired before you finish reading this, I hope you'll be so kind as to mark your place so that your successors can pick up reading where you leave off. Thanks.

I'm writing to let you know that I understand how hard it is to be you. It seems like the AMPTP goes through PR firms faster than Nick Counter goes through hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&resnum=0&q=barnabas
+collins&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi" target="_blank">wolf-headed walking sticks. It must be very dispiriting to know that you are facing a task that not even

The trades would have us believe that the AMPTP will start negotiations with the DGA as soon as next week, if the AMPTP satisfies "the DGA's condition that it can establish 'an apropriate basis for negotiations'."

Why sit down with the DGA and not the WGA? Only the AMPTP knows the answer to that question, but for months, Nicholas Counter has said very publicly that he preferred to negotiate

This was submitted by WGA member Christopher Trumbo, member for 40 years, and son of WGA member Dalton Trumbo. His insights into the history of the guild are especially valuable now, as the strike continues and the AMPTP tries to divide us.

This is the letter that was just sent to the membership:

AMPTP BREAKS OFF NEGOTIATIONS

Today, after three days of discussions, the AMPTP came back to us with a proposal that included a total rejection of our proposal on Internet streaming of December 3.

They are holding to their offer of a $250 fixed residual for unlimited one year streaming after a six-week window of free use. They still insist on the DVD rate for Internet downloads.

They refuse to cover original material made for new media.

The following was submitted by WGA member and long-time "Simpsons" writer Mike Scully. -JA

To My Fellow WGA Members,

Opinions regarding how writers should react to the DGA/AMPTP agreement seem to fall into two camps: “It’s a good deal! Take it!” or “It’s a terrible deal! Reject it!” I believe there are also many writers who fall into the “Undecided” category, so at the risk of showing off

Statement from Chief Negotiator David Young and the WGA Negotiating Committee.

We have attempted to negotiate with the AMPTP companies since July. First they ignored our opening proposals. Then they told us we had to choose between their two horrible proposals. Then we removed DVDs from the table. Their response was to walk out of negotiations and tell the press that we were the ones who walked. Last week they presented us with another set of ultimatums. They didn’t even wait for a reply but broke off negotiations and walked out again.

There is a strategy at work here.

In any negotiation there are bottom line goals and “fringe” goals. The AMPTP wants to make the WGA reduce our demands to the bottom line so we’ll negotiate down from an acceptable deal to a bad deal If we do this, as we did with DVDs, you can be sure they would not hand us the deal we want. They would simply try to further wear us down.

(The piece below comes from a WGA member who would like to be known as "Red Sox Fan.")

The Ol' AMPTP Mindf*ck™

Has anyone noticed a pattern in the last couple weeks' worth of negotiations?

Monday is energetic and everyone's buoyed by the residual anger from the way last week ended. Tuesday there's a sense that they're "really talking." But by Wednesday, there's a creeping sense that nothing good is actually happening.

And on Thursday, the companies do the AMPTP Mindf*ck™.

First, it was the New Economic Partnership. This week it's "we're going to take our marbles and go home. Which means you can't play because we own all the marbles."

(WGAw President Patric M. Verrone released the following statement a short time ago)

December 13, 2007

To My Fellow Members:

The AMPTP and each of its member companies have a legal obligation to bargain in good faith with the WGA. Their unilateral walkout from negotiations last Friday and their on-going refusal to bargain is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act. Therefore the WGA today filed Unfair Labor Practice charges against the AMPTP with the National Labor Relations Board.

The DGA’s announcement today that it may begin negotiations with the AMPTP in January in no way relieves the AMPTP of their legal obligation to negotiate with us. The only legal way for the AMPTP to remedy the Unfair Labor Practice charge we have filed is to return to the bargaining table.

• Paul Haggis: The Reality of Reality and Animation

• The First Delivery of Pencils2MediaMoguls. UPDATED with report from Jeffrey Berman.

• Laeta Kalogridis Weighs in on Reality and Animation

• David Milch: "The Idea of the Writer" Business Model Discussion

• A Reality Writer Responds to the AMPTP

(Breaking news from the WGA - the AMPTP has agreed to come back to the table on November 26th. Now, let's hope they are prepared to make a fair deal. This is progress. Everyone wants to go back to work. Everyone wants fair compensation for their work.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 16, 2007

For those of you who missed this news, here is the announcement from Friday about bargaining with individual companies. Since the AMPTP has so many competing agendas and can't reach consensus, perhaps its individual members will consider their own self-interest and negotiate their own deals.

A Message to the WGA Membership from its Negotiating Committee

To My Fellow Members,

This afternoon, the Directors Guild announced that it would commence formal negotiations with the AMPTP tomorrow. In a joint press release with the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guilds, West and East, wished the DGA well and offered our hope that they achieve a fair deal that incorporates principles that will benefits all creative artists. We further stated that, while

(The post below was written by WGA Board member Nick Kazan)

If the consequences weren’t so tragic, it would be pretty comical to see the Companies mocking our Executive Director David Young for never having made a deal in Hollywood. Of course he has made deals for us, four of them (including the Comedy Central deal and the “Family Guy” game deal), but yeah, he’s never before negotiated a contract with the AMPTP.

Call me crazy, but I think that’s a good thing, because it means he’s never made a lousy deal, never made a sweetheart deal; he’s never been chummy with Nick Counter, and he refuses to bend over and give them what they want and expect. He’s not part of their club. Thank God.

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