A tough choice for both actors/producers and writers ?
By fred | November 5, 2007
Many people are commenting today on some difficult choice many people will have to make, being both writers and as such members of the WGA, but also either a producer, show-runner or actor.
Echoing to an article in Variety, many wonder what someone like B.J. Novak will do. Of course, you might know him as the douchebag from The Office, Ryan, but he is also a writer. So what will he do ? Obviously the writer part of the guy will be on strike, but what about his actor side, and more importantly what will he actually do, where will he go : outside, protesting, or inside, working.
Of course The Office is an effective example of such a dilemma, as B.J. Novak but also Mindy Kaling (Kelly) or Paul Lieberstein (Toby) are in such position. But in reality, many other shows are facing the same issue. Because of pretty much every show, you have writers who are also show-runners and producers, so what will they do ?
Obviously for the network, that’s a no-brainer : they have to show up for work. As said one senior network executive, “The official line on all of our shows is we expect you to show up. We’ve told them that it’s required under their contracts, and they’ll be in breach if they don’t show up.”
On the other hand, and while it might be heartbreaking, I think most of them stand the other way around. Some executive producers/show-runners are already predicting that most of them will not show up on Monday, or any other day.
30 Rock’s Tina Fey, writer, producer and actor on the show was out in the street today, proud to be on strike. “My staff and I are wholeheartedly supporting the strike. We’re happy to be out here today and hope it gets resolved fairly and quickly. I hope they realize we’re quite serious. I think they need to know we’re very united.”
That said, she felt torn over her conflicting duties. Her show has finished production on nine out of 22 episodes and still has several days of shooting for the 10th episode scheduled for this week. “It’s been made clear to me by NBC Universal that I’m contractually obliged as an actor to finish. I feel the strike will be most effective when everything shuts down. I understand the guild’s point that the longer the shooting trickles on, the less effective the strike is. It’s very complicated. We have a crew that expects one more check, and we’re trying to get it to them. I think whatever happens in Los Angeles today will be influential.”
Obviously, they deal is a little different for writers who aren’t actors. But either way, all do not want to hurt the show they work on every day but are ready to strike as long as needed, in order to be heard. Howard Gordon, writer and show-runner on 24 explained it : “I think most people are not happy about striking but recognize the stakes and the importance of improving our share. Because shows like 24 and Lost are directly affected, that’s the idea of calling an early strike. But that’s why it’s my hope now to cut a deal, because, if not, it’s a risky play. Obviously, it could go on for a long time. It’s a heartbreaking thing for a lot of us because you feel so much loyalty to the show that you’ve spent so much time making. There are a lot of competing emotions right now, and it’s hard. It has a feeling of an earthquake or a fire, a feeling of a natural disaster or a war. You don’t know when it’s going to happen or how long it’s going to last.”
Like Gordon, most of them do not want the strike, but are willing to go there because it’s required. Carlton Cuse, executive producer of Lost, sits on the guild’s negotiating committee, he lived through the 1988 strike and says he sadly understands why he might have to sacrifice the fourth season of his show.
Both Lost and 24 are supposed to air continuously without reruns or any kind of break because producers and network executives have realized it’s better for the fans - and for ratings - not to break up the plot momentum (and I wish ABC execs would keep their brains working and read that sentence again, that means do NOT air the first half of the season alone, it’s all or nothing). Anyways, because of this absence of reruns, writers on these shows are at an even further disadvantage, as they do not earn any residuals for on-air re-runs the way writers on most other shows do.
But as Carlton Cuse explains, they are left with no choice :
“The preservation of this writing community is incredibly essential. Everybody thinks it’s a given that Los Angeles is the center of the entertainment community and we’re going to always be disseminating our projects worldwide. But without a healthy and vital creative community, a community that is only sustained through the sour periods by residuals, that’s what’s necessary for this kind of community to thrive and for Hollywood to be our second-leading export behind agriculture.
But those things aren’t given. They aren’t for certain. We need to create the conditions that allow this to thrive and exist.
We’re talking about a community of essentially middle-class writers who aren’t getting rich as a result of their choice of occupation. They do it for passion and they just want to be respected….
The losses that we sustain in a strike will not be made up by this contract. This is a strike for the future. This is strike for future generations of writers. It’s just a critical point in the evolution of the business.”
Now I will say it again : writers ARE the ones who makes the show, and as such they deserve to get paid for their work. They’re not asking for the moon, and I really hope those greedy morons will eventually realize that and settle a deal quick.
Posted in Comedy, Drama, News, Sci-Fi
Shows: 24, 30 Rock, Lost
