WGA Strike Is Over

WGA officials release that they at least reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP.

Here’s the letter:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It creates formulas for revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those formulas, and establishes the principle that, “When they get paid, we get paid.”

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate “distributor’s gross” valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor’s gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we’ve developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

It’s about time.

The Forbidden Kingdom Trailer

Oh wow, this is the first I’ve heard about this movie. This comes from Yahoo:

“While hunting down bootleg kung-fu DVDs in a Chinatown pawnshop, Jason makes an extraordinary discovery that sends him hurtling back in time to ancient China. There, Jason is charged with a monumental task: he must free the fabled warrior the Monkey King, who has been imprisoned by the evil Jade Warlord. Jason is joined in his quest by wise kung fu master Lu Yan and a band of misfit warriors including Silent Monk. But only by learning the true precepts of kung fu can Jason hope to succeed - and find a way to get back home.”

The story sounds absolutely ridiculous, but this film marks the first onscreen meeting of martial arts movie legends, Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Even if the storyline is complete crap, with these to guys, it is hard to imagine this film not being, at the very least, visually entertaining.

Chaos Theory Trailer

A new Ryan Reynolds movie… Cool… I guess. This comes from /Film:

“Pretty Persuasion director Marcos Siega returns to the big screen with a dark romantic comedy about an obsessively organized efficiency expert (played by Ryan Reynolds) whose life unravels in unexpected ways when fate forces him to explore the serendipitous and chaotic nature of love and forgiveness. The film also stars Emily Mortimer, Stuart Townsend, Sarah Chalke, and Mike Erwin.”

The trailer makes this movie look just alright, but the story seems like it has the potential to pan out well. Ryan Reynolds has made some pretty ghastly movies in the past, which is too bad because he’s actually a pretty funny and guy and not so bad of an actor. His decisions on films to join is what seems to be the biggest of his problems. I saw the world premier of Definitely, Maybe and it was “just alright” still by no fault of Reynolds. I also hope that I am not let down by Sarah Chalke of SCRUBS fame, whom I have been in love with for several years.

Apparently the film has been out in Japan for a few months and is getting great reviews on IMDB. There hasn’t been a USA release date set yet.

Possible Return of Writers by Monday!?

The producers are saying that an agreement may be reached over the weekend between themselves and the WGA, who have been on strike for three months. Even further, several late night talk shows have told their entire staffs to be ready to come in on monday. This comes from the NY Times by way of the almighty Google:

“On Saturday leaders of the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East will hold informational meetings with their members in Los Angeles and New York. If reaction to the settlement proposals are sufficiently positive, the guilds’ boards could end the three-month walkout and allow television and movie writers to return to their laptops even before formal ratification.”

This is awesome news. I’m really glad that both sides are finally willing to meet. Hopefully both sides will make reasonable concessions, as that is the only way anything will ever get moving again. Throughout the whole ordeal of the WGA strike, I’ve definitely sympathized more towards the writers, but to be unwilling to even meet with the opposite side for months is pretty ridiculous. I’m sure we’ll have more news on this as it progresses. Keep your fingers crossed, friends.

Wall E Trailer!

I’m not sure how this was posted or found, but I’m sure it won’t be up for long. I can’t wait for this movie to come out. Brad Bird is an awesome director and a funny, smart guy and the story looks excellent.