Chris Albers and Tom Fontana to Recive Richard B. Jablow Award
Chris Albers and Tom Fontana will receive
the Writers Guild of America East's Richard B. Jablow Award. The award was named after the co-founder of the WGA East.
Albers and Fontana will receive their awards at the 61st annual awards ceremony Feb. 7 at the Hudson Theatre.
Albers served as president and Fontana as VP of the WGA East from 2005 to 2007. During that time, the two worked to broker the agreement that ended the long-running hostilities between WGA East and WGA West. "Albers and Fontana personify what the Jablow Award is about: service and dedication to the Writers Guild East and its membership," said WGA East president Michael Winship.
During Albers' term as president, the WGA organized Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. He's also been a monologue writer since 1995 at Late Night With Conan O'Brien, winning an Emmy and six WGA awards.
Fontana is president of the WGA East Foundation. He's also written and produced St. Elsewhere, Homicide: Life on the Street and Oz, for which he received three Emmys.
We love the Writers Guild. We also love George Clooney (and who doesn't, really?). So this story
has caused us enormous cognitive dissonance: who do you side with when Clooney and the WGA go to war??
It turns out that before the writers' strike Clooney went Fi-Core to protest the Guild's denying him a writing credit on the new film, Leatherheads! Clooney went Fi-Core! It's Armageddon, we tell you.
Clooney went financial core last fall, after the WGA decided 2-1 in a credit arbitration vote that only Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly deserved screen credit on the picture that Universal opens today.
Going fi-core means a member is still technically a member of the WGA, but has limited rights within the guild. Fi-core members have to pay dues and are covered by the health and pension plans. Once you elect to go fi-core, the decision is irreversible.
"When your own union doesn't back what you've done, the only honorable thing to do is not participate," said Clooney, who stressed he made no attempt to exclude Brantley and Reilly.
Clooney says he would have quit the WGA altogether if he could, but that would have prevented him from working on all WGA-covered productions. He says he wanted nothing more to do with the WGA but didn't want to be hampered in his ability in writing scripts.
As for "Leatherheads," Clooney took a languishing 17-year old project and got a greenlight after personally giving the script a major overhaul that transformed it into a screwball comedy. He says he felt he'd written all but two of the film's scenes.
While he agreed that Brantley and Reilly deserved first position credit for hatching the idea and characters, he was incensed enough by the WGA arbitration process to go financial core, which rendered him a dues-paying non-voting member.
The WGA had no comment about Clooney's decision.
Clooney didn't appeal the WGA ruling, and kept his action quiet because the WGA was gearing up for a strike at the time. He didn't want the filing seen as him having split ranks with the union over the labor dispute.
Clooney wrote 80% of the new script and didn't try to remove the other two screenwriters' credits. He just wanted to be added as a co-writer. What's wrong with that?? And he was so diplomatic -- he didn't mention any of this until after the strike was over, so the WGA wouldn't look bad. Ok, who were the two arbitrators who voted against him? They should be ashamed. And now Clooney is Fi-Core and it's irrevocable.
It's quite disturbing, but we have to side with Clooney on this one. We feel quite crushed over the whole thing.
WGA members from both Writers Guild of America East and Writers Guild of America West voted overwhelmingly to ratify the new contract that came as a result of the 100-day long writer's strike. An overwhelming majority of the WGA membership voted in favor of ratifying the three-year contract by 93.6 percent of 4,060 votes cast. The term of the new agreement is from February 13, 2008 through May 1, 2011.
"This contract is a new beginning for writers in the Digital Age," said Patric M. Verrone, president of the WGAW. "It ensures that Guild members will be fairly compensated for the content they create for the Internet, and it also covers the reuse on new media platforms of the work they have done in film since 1971 and in TV since 1977. That's a huge body of work that will continue to generate revenue for our members for many years to come as it is distributed electronically."
"The 2008 Minimum Basic Agreement is groundbreaking on many levels," said Michael Winship, president of the WGAE. "Not only does it establish Writers Guild jurisdiction in new media, it gives writers the same separated rights provisions in new media enjoyed by the creators of original TV and motion picture scripts, as well as residuals for the reuse of movies and television programs on the Internet and in new media. Those residuals will be based on 'distributor's gross' - real money for our members – that we'll be able to audit and monitor more effectively than ever before."
The contract breaks new ground for writers by:
establishing WGA jurisdiction over writing for new media
giving writers "separated rights" in new media content (separated rights are the contractual rights traditionally enjoyed by writers of original television and motion picture scripts)
establishing residual payments for new media reuse of covered material, including Internet downloads and ad-supported streaming of feature films and television programs
establishing "distributor's gross" as the basis for calculating new media residual payments
creating meaningful access to information and auditing tools that will allow the WGA to monitor the development of new media markets
You can read the full press release from the WGA on its website here.
Hollywood writers returned to work today after a hard fought strike that was fought both on the streets of Hollywood and New York in picket lines and on the Internet with blogs like United Hollywood and videos like Writer Boi. The Screen Actors Guild also provided much need solidarity. WGAW President Patric M. Verrone and WGAE President
Michael Winship wrote a letter to members about the long strike and returning to work.
Writing can resume immediately. If you were employed when the strike began, you should plan to report to work on Wednesday. If you're not employed at an office or other work site, call or e-mail your employer that you are resuming work. If you have been told not to report to work or resume your services, we recommend that you still notify your employer in writing of your availability to do so. Questions concerning return-to-work issues should be directed to the WGAW legal department at 323.782.4521 or the WGAE's assistant executive director Ann Toback at 212-767-7823.
The decision to begin this strike was not taken lightly and was only made after no other reasonable alternative was possible. We are profoundly aware of the economic loss these fourteen weeks have created not only for our members but so many other colleagues who work in the television and motion picture industries. Nonetheless, with the establishment of the WGA jurisdiction over new media and residual formulas based on distributor's gross revenue (among other gains) we are confident that the results are a significant achievement not only for ourselves but the entire creative community, now and in the future.
We hope to build upon the extraordinary energy, ingenuity, and solidarity that were generated by your hard work during the strike.
The writers are glad to returning to work. TV viewers will also be very happy that many of their shows will soon be returning. The latenight talk shows that did not have interim deals will also get their writers back. The Associated Press interviewed some of the writers returning to work. They also interview Bradford Winters - who was written for Oz and Six Degrees - in this video.
The WGA has granted the Grammys an interim agreement that will allow Guild writers to write content for the February 10th show. The Associated Press notes that the interim agreement follows last weeks news that the WGA would not picket the Grammys in support of union musicians.
The Writers Guild of America gave its blessing last week to a picket-free Grammys. Now that the guild's board of directors has decided to sign an interim agreement for the Feb. 10 ceremony, the Grammys will escape the fate that befell this month's Golden Globes.
The Globes were stripped of stars and pomp when the guild wouldn't agree to an interim deal and the Screen Actors Guild encouraged its members to boycott the ceremony, which was reduced to a news conference.
The agreement allowing guild-covered writing for the Grammys is in support of union musicians and also will help advance writers' own quest for "a fair contract," the guild said in a statement.
"Professional musicians face many of the same issues that we do concerning fair compensation for the use of their work in new media," Patric M. Verrone, president of the guild's West Coast branch, said in the statement.
According to a statement on the WGA, West's website the WGAW Board felt that this decision should be made on "behalf of our brothers and sisters in the American Federation of Musicians and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists."
The WGA has resumed informal negotiations with the AMPTP. However, there
is a press blackout during these talks, so no one knows how they're going. Certainly, everyone hopes they are going better than they did last time when the AMPTP stalked out in a huff.
The Weinstein Co. is expecting to sign an interim deal soon with the WGA according to an article on the Huffington Post.
Terms of the Weinstein deal were not released. But a person familiar with the agreement, speaking on condition of anonymity because it had yet to be completed, said it was similar to the interim deal reached by Worldwide Pants.
A central demand has been compensation for projects distributed on the Internet. Contract talks broke off on Dec. 7.
The studio alliance has downplayed the significance of the United Artists agreement and said "one-off deals" would not lead to a permanent solution of the labor dispute.
Brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein founded Miramax, which became part of the independent film movement in the 1990s and has produced a number of high-grossing movies. The Walt Disney Co. bought Miramax in the early 1990s, but the Weinstein brothers continued to run the studio until 2005, when they left to form the Weinstein Co.
The Weinstein name has been attached to award-winning films including "The English Patient," "Good Will Hunting" and "Chicago."
The Weinstein Co. is an independent film company. Their recent films include The Great Debaters, Awake and The Mist. The WGA also recently signed a side deal with United Artists. These two deals are great news for the WGA. This will put more pressure on the stubborn AMPTP to return to the negotiating table.
The WGA has reached
a tentative contract deal with 500 CBS news employees. The unionized workers have been working without a contract for three years.
The 500 affected employees -- who work in New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago, in both TV and radio -- must vote on the contract. Positions covered by the contract range from desk assistant to producer, with average base salary between $20,000 and $70,000. The union urged its members to ratify the deal.
The preliminary deal struck between CBS and WGA will give the union staff raises of 3.5 percent annually plus a $3,700 contract bonus. The contract would run through April 1, 2010.
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"We are gratified that a tentative agreement has been reached so that CBS and its valued WGA news employees can put this chapter behind us," CBS said in a statement.
"This is good news for newswriters," Patric Verrone, president of the WGA West, said, adding: "We ask CBS to come back to the table with the will to make a deal with striking film and television writers."
The employees voted in November to authorize union leaders to call a strike which would have had a crippling effect on CBS news. We're glad they reached a deal. Alas, the AMPTP leaders have their heads stuck firmly in the sand, just hoping that the writers strike will go away. It won't until the AMPTP comes back to the bargaining table.
Dave Letterman's Worldwide Pants reps meet with the WGA today but failed to reach final deal which would allow Dave's writers to return to work.
Friday negotiations between Worldwide Pants and the WGA wrapped without an agreement -- and without much details.
Both sides said Friday that the talks would resume sometime next week, though it isn't clear whether that would happen Christmas Eve or the day after Christmas. It isn't likely to happen during the weekend and the negotiations might not have had the entire WGA negotiating committee in place.
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"We had a substantive discussion today with the WGA and look forward to continuing these talks next week," Worldwide Pants president and CEO Rob Burnett said Friday. Burnett had flown to Los Angeles to personally meet with the WGA negotiating committee. It wasn't clear whether the sides would meet again before Christmas.
"A lively exchange of information took place," the WGA said in a terse statement. "The WGAW and WGAE will not comment further."
We think that the WGA and Letterman need to cut a deal -- quickly. Hopefully, they can wrap things up next week.
The WGA has announced that they will not be offering waivers to allow the Golden Globes or Oscar awards shows to use WGA writers to write jokes and commentary for the shows.
The Writers Guild has notified the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and dick clark productions that their requests for an agreement to allow writers to prepare material for the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards show have been denied.
The Guild has also denied a request from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a waiver in connection with the use of clips from motion pictures and past Academy Awards shows for use during the annual Academy Awards presentation.
In letters to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, WGAW President Patric M. Verrone described the Guild's respect and admiration for both organizations, explaining that:
"Writers are engaged in a crucial struggle to achieve a collective bargaining agreement that will protect their compensation and intellectual property rights now and in the future. We must do everything we can to bring our negotiations to a swift and fair conclusion for the benefit of writers and all those who are being harmed by the companies’ failure to engage in serious negotiations."
These awards shows will be very boring without any jokes written by writers. There is also the possibility that striking writers will picket outside the award shows. Hollywood Todayreports that many of the big stars may also stay home and support the striking writers.
The AMPTP's website, AMPTP.org isn't very exciting. So someone decided to help the media conglomerates out by created a new, improved AMPTP website: AMPTP.com. It looks much like the original, but is so much more entertaining. For example, did you know that lead AMPTP negotiator Nick Counter was a member of the Backstreet Boys, one of the biggest-selling teen pop bands in history? You can see his dreamy photos (with dolphins!)
here.
Here's an excerpt from the FAQ:
What is the AMPTP? The AMPTP, or Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, is a collection of kindly gentlemen who create and distribute all of your favorite screen-based entertainment. Did you like Snow White when you were a kid? The AMPTP made that. How do you feel about "American Idol," The Bourne Ultimatum and everything Will Smith has ever done? That's the AMPTP, too.
You're welcome.
What is this disagreement you have with the Writers Guild of America? It boils down to a difference of opinion. They want us to pay them for their work, which would literally[1] bankrupt Hollywood and prevent us from creating these movies and television shows. We, on the other hand, want to keep making movies and television shows, so that people can be happy, and violent crime will fall.
I am convinced that you are correct when you say the writers' demands are unreasonable. I don't even have to look at the actual math behind this claim, because I trust you. But what did you offer them instead? We offered them a chance to be a part of what we call "The New Economic Partnership." Basically—
Stop right there. Your use of capital letters proves you mean business. You guys must be in the right. Thank you.
Why does the WGA hate freedom and democracy so much? It's unclear. Big corporations have given the world electricity, affordable cornmeal, and "Two and a Half Men." What have unions ever given us? Answer: Communism and a disgustingly high minimum wage.
Hang on. I just looked at their demands and they seem kind of reasonable. Why don't you just pay them? Reasonable? They are asking for an amount of money that would literally[2] bankrupt all six major studios and weaken our national defense! What kind of question is that? Who are you?
A terrorist who hates your country. Oh. Well, there you go.
No doubt the AMPTP would strike back with an equally hilarious website spoofing the WGA, but all the writers are on strike.
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has issued the following statement in support of the WGA strike. The statement was posted on Dark Whispers, the HWA's official weblog.
The Horror Writers Association, on behalf of its writer members, stands in
support of the Writers Guild of America strike in seeking appropriate
compensation for writers when their work is distributed digitally, either
via DVD or Internet downloads. Although HWA is not a union, it is an
organization of writers that advocates for authors' rights. Writers Guild of
America and its demands fall solidly into this category. All writers will be
affected by the outcome of this strike, and we stand in solidarity,
resisting those who seek to distribute our work on the Internet, DVD, or any
format without fair compensation.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America also recently issued a statement in support of the ongoing writers' strike.
Members from the Screen Actors Guild including Ben Stiller, David Krumholtz, Lily Tomlin, William Petersen, Nicolette Sheridan, Marg Helgenberger, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Marge Hildebrand, and Zach Braff joined writers on the picket line outside Universal Studios yesterday in support of the writers' strike. Actress and executive producer of The Sarah Silverman Program said, "It's so crazy ridiculous...all the writers want is a small percentage of the money that the producers are making on the things that they're writing." Ben Stiller said, "I hope this strike is over soon, but it shouldn't be over until we get what we need."
Some of TV's top stars will be walking the picket line at the WGA West's "Picketing with the Stars" today to support striking writers. The event is a demonstration of solidarity between the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America. Here is a list of the celebrities that will be walking the picket line with writers today.
Army Wives - Kim Delaney, Brian McNamara, Sally Pressman, Drew Fuller, Wendy Davis, Sterling K. Brown, Brigid Brannagh
The Big Bang Theory - Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Jim Parsons
Big Love - Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn
Brotherhood - Ethan Embry, Fionnula Flanagan, Kevin Chapman
Corey in the House - Rondell Sheridan, Madison Pettis, Lisa Arch, Maira Walsh
Cold Case - Thom Barry, John Finn, Tracie Thoms, Meredith Stiehm, Danny Pino
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - William Petersen, Marg Helgenberger, Archie Kao, Marc Vann, Wallace Langham, Liz Vassey, David Berman, John Wellner
One of the studios' arguments as to why they shouldn't have to pay residuals to writers on Internet content is that it's just "promotional." You can watch full-length episodes of Ugly Betty online -- with paid commercials embedded -- yet somehow the studios say that is just a "promotion" not an airing of a show.
In this short video clip from the writers of the hit TV show The Office give their thoughts about the studios' negotiating position.
So many of you have written in to ask us what it is that the writers want. Why exactly is the WGA so upset that it is willing to go on strike? Here's a great video from the WGA called "Why We Fight" which explains the issues involved in a simple and entertaining way. Watch the video, then you too can answer anyone who asks you: "Why are those writers marching outside Rockefeller Plaza?"
We love the Writers Guild. We also love George Clooney (and who doesn't, really?). So this 
The 