WGA Strike
Some things on the strike:
- If SAG and DGA want to avoid having to go through all of this next summer they should sit down at work. IATSE should join in out of principal. The Teamsters should stop driving studio vehicles. This strike would be over in a week if that happened. It won't; but really, that would make the studios get to the table damn quick. Plus DGA and SAG would have better leverage come next June (bet their contracts would be worked out before the end of the year).
- John Stewart's video which sums things up pretty well:
- John Roger with a pretty detailed analysis of the whole thing.
- Moriarty from AintItCoolNews details his day on the picket line.
- Deadline Hollywood Daily has the best coverage during the day as things are happening from rumours to actual news.
- Rumours are already flying even here in our backwater of film production. Mike Scott of the Times-Picayune has a piece about how it oculd affect us in Louisiana:
Freeze frame: Local film industry braces for Writers Guild strike
Posted by Mike Scott, movie writer November 05, 2007 10:36AM
With Hollywood screenwriters preparing to put down their pencils, power down their laptops and walk off the job following the collapse of talks between producers and the Writers Guild of America, workers in the still-blossoming New Orleans film industry are left wondering exactly how the story will end for them.
The short answer: It depends.
Among other things, it depends on how long the strike drags on, how many scripts have been stockpiled by producers, and how many small, nonunion independent productions keep things rolling in the interim. It also depends on whether other unions honor the Guild strike.
"You really don't like to hear the word 'strike,' " said Chris Stelly, who heads up the Governor's Office of Film and Television Development. "But at this point, to be honest, it's hard to determine what, if any, impact we're going to have here."
Because the production cycle for feature films is longer than that for TV shows, and because the local production industry is more dependent on film than TV, it is possible the strike won't have a major local economic impact unless it drags on for several months.
Feature film productions already in town -- such as "Welcome to Academia," "American Inquisition" and "Spring Break '83" -- as well as those that have committed to coming in the next few months, such as reshoots set for this month on the Brad Pitt film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," are expected to proceed as planned, Stelly said.
Because the script development process for a TV series is ongoing, the state's handful of scripted TV productions, such as the Fox series "K-Ville," could be forced to shut down production if the strike drags on for weeks or months.
"We're watching and we're concerned, like everyone else," Stelly said, "but as for what effect we'll see, we'll just have to watch at this point."
One group that will affect how deeply the Guild strike cuts into the local film industry is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. One of the nation's largest labor unions, the Teamsters covers drivers and others in the film industry and has expressed its solidarity with Hollywood's writers.
"While our members are contractually bound to continue to work active productions if the WGA does go out on strike, each and every (Hollywood) Teamster has the right to honor any picket line if it is raised at their place of employment without fear of reprisal from the studios," Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said in a statement Thursday.
Teamster officials said the New Orleans branch, Local 270, abides by the same rules.
"They're the ones who move the vehicles," Louisiana film producer Milena Merill said. "Which means if they honor the strike, things will not move. Nothing will happen. Things will stop."
If there's any good news for those hoping to keep the local film industry running during the strike, it's that IATSE Local 478 -- the local branch of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the union that covers the bulk of film and TV crew members in New Orleans -- is reminding its members that they're contractually obliged to keep working.
"We have contracts with various production companies, and we have no-strike clauses in our contracts, so our members are reminded of that and also reminded that they can be replaced" if they honor the Guild strike, said Phil LoCicero, president of IATSE Local 478, which covers workers in Louisiana and southern Mississippi. "It's within your rights to honor somebody else's picket line if you want to, but, in doing so, you'd be replaced. You'd basically be walking off the job."
If the strike goes unresolved for very long -- as it did in 1988, when writers stayed off the job for five months -- and local productions temporarily cease, the impact could be severe for the 550 set builders, set painters, special effects techs, electricians, grips, wardrobe workers, props workers and other members of the IATSE Local 478.
"A lot of these technicians were making $12 to $15 to $20 an hour and working very sporadically before the (state's film) incentives came," Merill said. "Now, those incentives have made them not wealthy, but really capitalized people for the first time, and many have done things like buying homes. If this is yanked from them and they have to go back to jobs that are paying $10, $12, $15 an hour, it would really be horrible for these people.
"What's here in town filming is probably going to finish by December. Come spring, if this thing isn't settled, it could be pretty sad."
. . . . . . .
Movie writer Mike Scott can be reached at mscott@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3444. To comment on this story or read other film-related features and reviews, go to blog.nola.com/mikescott.
- Chud Message Board Thread where I and some others have been discussing the strike.
- If SAG and DGA want to avoid having to go through all of this next summer they should sit down at work. IATSE should join in out of principal. The Teamsters should stop driving studio vehicles. This strike would be over in a week if that happened. It won't; but really, that would make the studios get to the table damn quick. Plus DGA and SAG would have better leverage come next June (bet their contracts would be worked out before the end of the year).
- John Stewart's video which sums things up pretty well:
- John Roger with a pretty detailed analysis of the whole thing.
- Moriarty from AintItCoolNews details his day on the picket line.
- Deadline Hollywood Daily has the best coverage during the day as things are happening from rumours to actual news.
- Rumours are already flying even here in our backwater of film production. Mike Scott of the Times-Picayune has a piece about how it oculd affect us in Louisiana:
Freeze frame: Local film industry braces for Writers Guild strike
Posted by Mike Scott, movie writer November 05, 2007 10:36AM
With Hollywood screenwriters preparing to put down their pencils, power down their laptops and walk off the job following the collapse of talks between producers and the Writers Guild of America, workers in the still-blossoming New Orleans film industry are left wondering exactly how the story will end for them.
The short answer: It depends.
Among other things, it depends on how long the strike drags on, how many scripts have been stockpiled by producers, and how many small, nonunion independent productions keep things rolling in the interim. It also depends on whether other unions honor the Guild strike.
"You really don't like to hear the word 'strike,' " said Chris Stelly, who heads up the Governor's Office of Film and Television Development. "But at this point, to be honest, it's hard to determine what, if any, impact we're going to have here."
Because the production cycle for feature films is longer than that for TV shows, and because the local production industry is more dependent on film than TV, it is possible the strike won't have a major local economic impact unless it drags on for several months.
Feature film productions already in town -- such as "Welcome to Academia," "American Inquisition" and "Spring Break '83" -- as well as those that have committed to coming in the next few months, such as reshoots set for this month on the Brad Pitt film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," are expected to proceed as planned, Stelly said.
Because the script development process for a TV series is ongoing, the state's handful of scripted TV productions, such as the Fox series "K-Ville," could be forced to shut down production if the strike drags on for weeks or months.
"We're watching and we're concerned, like everyone else," Stelly said, "but as for what effect we'll see, we'll just have to watch at this point."
One group that will affect how deeply the Guild strike cuts into the local film industry is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. One of the nation's largest labor unions, the Teamsters covers drivers and others in the film industry and has expressed its solidarity with Hollywood's writers.
"While our members are contractually bound to continue to work active productions if the WGA does go out on strike, each and every (Hollywood) Teamster has the right to honor any picket line if it is raised at their place of employment without fear of reprisal from the studios," Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said in a statement Thursday.
Teamster officials said the New Orleans branch, Local 270, abides by the same rules.
"They're the ones who move the vehicles," Louisiana film producer Milena Merill said. "Which means if they honor the strike, things will not move. Nothing will happen. Things will stop."
If there's any good news for those hoping to keep the local film industry running during the strike, it's that IATSE Local 478 -- the local branch of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the union that covers the bulk of film and TV crew members in New Orleans -- is reminding its members that they're contractually obliged to keep working.
"We have contracts with various production companies, and we have no-strike clauses in our contracts, so our members are reminded of that and also reminded that they can be replaced" if they honor the Guild strike, said Phil LoCicero, president of IATSE Local 478, which covers workers in Louisiana and southern Mississippi. "It's within your rights to honor somebody else's picket line if you want to, but, in doing so, you'd be replaced. You'd basically be walking off the job."
If the strike goes unresolved for very long -- as it did in 1988, when writers stayed off the job for five months -- and local productions temporarily cease, the impact could be severe for the 550 set builders, set painters, special effects techs, electricians, grips, wardrobe workers, props workers and other members of the IATSE Local 478.
"A lot of these technicians were making $12 to $15 to $20 an hour and working very sporadically before the (state's film) incentives came," Merill said. "Now, those incentives have made them not wealthy, but really capitalized people for the first time, and many have done things like buying homes. If this is yanked from them and they have to go back to jobs that are paying $10, $12, $15 an hour, it would really be horrible for these people.
"What's here in town filming is probably going to finish by December. Come spring, if this thing isn't settled, it could be pretty sad."
. . . . . . .
Movie writer Mike Scott can be reached at mscott@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3444. To comment on this story or read other film-related features and reviews, go to blog.nola.com/mikescott.
- Chud Message Board Thread where I and some others have been discussing the strike.
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