Posts
When I first got onto the internets, pretty much everybody who posted anywhere did so anonymously. What this meant was, you got to know people through their thoughts and ideas rather than through their looks or resumes. Naturally, there's a huge internet presence during this strike, and the back-and-forth that is happening has another level to it -- do you really want to disagree with Mr. Big-Time Writer? And do you want to do so with your real name?
Part of me -- a growing part, actually -- hates that my resume is automatically attached to everything I post on the internets. I kinda miss my anonymity.
Just a little musing to me going.
The AMPTP started negotiations with the DGA today and people are starting to take sides -- we have to take the deal the DGA gets, or, we shouldn't take the deal the DGA takes. Nice to see that this, too, is such an easy a black and white issue. The real solution, of course, is to wait and see what the DGA deal is -- if they even make one -- and then make up our own damn minds about whether or not it's good enough. There's a fallacious belief that the folks who are involved in the strike -- whether it be picketing, working at the guild, or just not bashing the leadership in public forums -- will strike until we get the most beautiful deal imaginable.
This is bullshit. Just as ludicrous is the idea that everybody who opposes the strike will take any deal, no matter how crappy. Sure, there are folks of each stripe but that's not the majority. We spend way too much time on the minority squeaky wheels, if you ask me. And they call themselves "moderates." What's up with that? But I think this attention to the minority is part of a writer's mentality. Fifty people could love your script but if one out of the fifty doesn't like it, where do you put your focus? On that asshole.
I think that's why people like Mazin get attention. Here's a writer whose views are directly opposed to those of the majority of the membership. He MUST have something worthwhile to say. But when that something involves accusing the rest of us of not giving a shit about the WGA MBA or constitution, well... that's fucking ridiculous. But he gets the press because he's a misanthropic contrarian. There's no story in solidarity or unity.
There's nothing wrong with being pissed off because the money truck doesn't come as often as it did before the strike. There is something wrong with airing your complaints in public. Clearly, Craig has not learned his lesson. Sure, shutting down comments was an excellent idea, whether you believe he did it on his own or was pressured into doing it. But he still hasn't figured out that blasting the guild in public is a bad thing. He's so fucking gone on his own ego that such things don't occur to him.
There are supporters and people in our guild who are using their power for good. The recent Tom Hanks statement was fantastic. The actors boycotting the Golden Globes? Wonderful. The interim deals? Grand.
But there's the flip side. There's John Ridley, the angriest fi-core dog in the world. You know how there's always some actor who dies, and everyone goes, "I thought he was already dead?" Ridley's like that for me. "He went fi-core? I thought he'd already done that."
Then there's Bill Maher. He's always been a bit on the nutty side but he's funny, too, and the way he excoriates everything from the Bush administration to plastic shoes is fucking hilarious. But to compare the strike to Iraq? Really? I thought he was smarter than that. The strike has clearly been an annoyance for him. He hates being required to belong to or employ people from labor organizations.
Not only do I not condone what he said on the air, It doesn't need to be said that Bill Maher has the right to say whatever he wants. I have the right to tell him he's a fucking idiot. Bill Maher, you're a fucking idiot. Why don't you pick up a fucking picket sign and then we'll talk.
Look, I get the egocentricity of it all. Hell, I've got MY own best interests at heart here too. We all do. It's certainly easier if your best interests line up with that of a larger group. I don't want my residuals to go away. I don't want to get screwed on internet residuals. I don't want the AMPTP to rape our health and pension fund. Thanks to idiots like Reagan, these corporations have us at their mercy. We're not going to beat them. Ever. But we CAN get a fair deal. It won't be a deal we're in love with, but it will be better than what they've offered, and we will stave off the end of unions for a little while longer. You think the free rewrites are egregious now? Imagine how much MORE advantage the studios would take of us without a union.
My best interest, honestly, is for this strike to end so I can look for work. Financially, I can't afford this shit any longer. But goddammit if my conscience won't let me switch sides. I'm thinking of myself, but I'm also thinking of the future. The writers who got us health, pension and residuals did that FOR US. And they gave up copyright.
Lemme say that again -- those writers gave up OWNERSHIP OF MATERIAL for gains they deemed more important to the larger group. Let's protect that, shall we?
The strike's been pretty laid-back so far. It hasn't truly gotten ugly yet. It might end before that day arrives, or it might not. America's become a country that doesn't sacrifice for anything. We haven't had to save rubber or ration sugar. But we might have to sacrifice for this. We might have to really, really hurt. And I guarantee you, I will hurt before a lot of other people do. So if I'm willing to do it, everybody else should be, too.
Resolve and unity ARE important to this effort. I wouldn't care what people like Mazin and Maher said if it wasn't affecting MY LIVELIHOOD. Yes, your egocentricity is fucking with my ability to make a living. Next one of you I see, I'm gonna punch you in the heart. Not that either one of you craven pissheads will ever be out on the line, of course.
I keep saying how I don't want to always talk about the strike, but then Mazin posts something or people lose their fucking minds and a new rant is born. I am going to try and talk about actual writing next time, and get to some comments. And if anyone has any questions, that would rock, too. They can be about the strike. I don't mind.
np -- Georgie James, "Places." Still on the fence about this one. The Radiohead album, however, is totally growing on me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
I've said this over and over again, and I've had people slam me for it, but I don't care if or what deal the DGA gets. Unless it's a good deal (and it'll probably be different from what I personally want) for the WGA as a whole, then fuck it they shouldn't sign.
As for Maher, Mazin, Leno, Carson Daly, and all the rest of those secret scab writers to cowardly to pull a Ridley, I hope they all rot in Hell.
And for all the members to lazy to come out to the line and not standing along side your brethren, fuck you too.
5am @ WB. That's waaaaaaay too early. But I'll be there just the same.
Kay, thanks for this site & for putting yourself out there for something you believe in. I'm sorry you're tired of talking about the strike, but it's nice to have a blog that discusses this issue from a writer's perspective other than craig mazin's site.
On the subject of Maher, I'm pretty progressive in my politics and he's always rubbed me the wrong way-- he's obnoxious, and his over the top comments get people away from the real issues, he's kind of like the ann coulter of the left, and I think many people regardless of what side of the aisle they're on, wrote him off as irrelevent and an egomaniac a long time ago, although I guess the AMPTP will take who they can get when it comes to gathering their ammo.
I didn't want to register so this is posted as anonymous, but I'm Cameron and the wife of a writer and can't wait for this thing to be over. However, your point about sacrifice is too true.
"Mazin's a writer whose views are directly opposed to those of the majority of the membership. He MUST have something worthwhile to say."
I disagree. Lots of writers agree with Mazin -- they just don't have a self-promoting blog. Still, most folks I picket with are closer to agreeing with him than the folks on writer action who still think we're going to get 2.5 percent on new media and the DGA deal doesn't matter.
"Next one of you I see, I'm gonna punch you in the heart."
Come on, calm down. This is business, not a war. I've read way too much disturbing stuff like this lately.
Open reply to Craig Mazin (because his own post reveals he reads Kay's blog or at least somebody tells him what is written here):
Just a couple of questions Craig:
1. Why is this the wrong time for the WGA to strike? To some of us this strike is not unlike the '63 strike (for residuals), the issue of "new media" is certainly comparable, if not exactly the same. So, if not now, when and for what issue do you consider it appropriate to strike?
2. Disagreeing with the union leadership is your right (mine, too). The issue is at what point that disagreement undermines the goals that the WGA sees as important to achieve...that old chestnut about too many chiefs and not enough indians seems appropriate here--You're pretty good at pointing out that you have a different view, but you're less than forthcoming about what you'd do differently given the same circumstances. And so I wonder, what is it that you would've done differently and why?
Oh, if you're going to take shots at people (as you clearly have done it your blog), the least you can do is allow them to reply. To do otherwise is gutless.
I obviously don't have a problem with leaving my real name, but that could be because no one knows who the hell I am anyway. Obscurity is a form of anonymity. Plus, I'm in another country, so that works in my favour, too.
It's hard not to notice the level of hate that has permeated this strike, as it does just about any strike. And it's not just directed at the opposition, but at fellow strikers. While I understand the passion that is displayed, it's incredibly off putting and unnecessary. My father was a university professor and went on strike a number of times. I remember him telling me how some normally reasonable and pleasant people suddenly became unreasonable and belligerent. Strikes seem to bring out the very worst in people. And I'm seeing that. It's not flattering. Is Jay Leno such an evil person that he must be vilified for trying to make the best of a difficult situation? This is the man who paid his staff when he didn't have to. He even supports the strike and the writers. And while while I've thought Bill Mahar has said some things that has caused me to think he's a bit of a dick, saying he can rot in hell is a tad strong. It's not as if he's saying anything that offensive towards the writers. I've already defended Mazin enough and I don't think ANYONE should defend Carson Daly because I find his show so offensively bad, it boggles my mind that he continues to be on the air.
As for the copyright issue, I think that the writers maybe gave up too much when they gave up copyright, but that could be that I'm Canadian and get free health care anyway. A pension plan is something you can do on your own and residuals are an ugly cousin of owning the copyright, so it's not as if the WGA gave up copyright to get residuals. They got residuals because they gave up copyright. Personally, I'd rather have kept copyright and saved a lot of trouble in the future.
The history didn't play out quite as TimW imagines it did.
Writers never really owned the copyright to their film work. The studios never wanted to the writers to own it.
When movies went to sound, and New York playwrights and novelists came in to do the newly required dialog, they brought with them their expectation of owning copyright. The studios fought them tooth and nail. The current system is the result of a series of battles and compromises.
I'm just going by what I've read from Kay, and others. I read somewhere else that the writers gave up copyright sometime in the early 60's, I think (I can't remember exactly). Everything I have read, however, has stated that the writers gave up copyright, not that it was taken away.
Kay says it's a good thing that Mazin shutting down comments is a good thing. Jake Hollywood says it's gutless to not allow people to reply.
Unity everywhere it seems.
Post a Comment