Quick update on the Writers' Strike, for those who don't know, we have indeed returned to the negotiating table for a very preliminary round of talks with the AMPTP. This initial conversation happened on Friday (8/4), after they reached out via their lead negotiator, Carol Lombardini. It was an admittedly rocky first conversation but that was expected.
There are already rumors swirling around - "it'll all be over in 2 weeks!" - to - "this is just a tactic, it's going to go until 2024!" I believe this is good movement and the first step toward a legitimate compromise, but it's probably not worth extrapolating beyond that just yet.
Still, it's the first clear and public contact we've had with the studios since we began the strike 3 months ago. The dialogue is beginning again (and we all know how much writers love dialogue)... So, this update offers a modicum of hope. No, more than a modicum, let's say it's a slug of much-needed optimism added to our morning coffee.
We'll be picketing in the meantime, every day, at every studio lot. Because we are going to remain strong until our membership gets a fair contract - as well as a contract that can provide a successful template for SAG-AFTRA too. We all just want to get back to work at the end of the day.
Keep your eyes out for (hopefully) big updates in the weeks to come!
Poem!
We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to share - GASP - a poem! Hope you enjoy. I wrote this one when I was at the Chulitna Lodge Residency in Alaska (photos of that below).
FEATHERED BUT FLIGHTLESS
Feathered but flightless,
Weathered bright mess,
I hobble from town to town and place,
Hither slither,
Like a string-torn zither.
I’d pull teeth for a living,
But they won’t let me.
I’d sing a song to make you hack,
They won’t let me.
I would flash the world,
Unfurled,
My true self,
Dusty plumage and all.
BUT see me approach.
THEY shut their doors, numbed and profitable.
WON’T you please listen, as if to a creaking tree.
LET the rhyme laden sap slop on.
ME, a foundling chirper, regurgitation,
Hounding, a blur, lurid hatred.
Your best guess?
Feathered but flightless.
Updates: Alaska, Week 11, SAG
As we head toward end of another lap of strike action, Week 11, I figured it was worth taking stock here on the personal and the macro alike.
The strike certainly feels like it’s going to be a long one, especially as we head into the dog days of summer. I, and every writer I know, only hope for one thing today: that SAG-AFTRA decides to go on strike. They can harness the momentum we created and shut the entire industry down until both unions get a fair deal. It’s the most opportune moment they’ve ever had to negotiate, so we hope they take advantage. There have been a lot of scare tactics and cruel articles planted in the trades these past several days, all desperate ploys to scare SAG away from taking collective action. Been tough to read, day in and day out, but the benefit of going to the picket line every day is that sense of grounding and community among fellow writers. So, big news tonight before midnight - one way or another.
Otherwise, I had the great, great fortune to be accepted to the Chulitna Artists Residency in Lake Clark National Park & Preserve, in Alaska. I spent two weeks with fellow artists, across disciplines, including a nature sound recordist, a painter, and a sculptor. No cell reception, no internet, just wilderness and space to write. Truly a dream. I broke major story ground on a new feature as well as new flash fiction that I hope to share here soon.
Here are some of my favorite photos from the journey - hope you enjoy (and consider applying yourself for future cycles!):
A view from the lodge of the garden, boat, and Lake Clark. It was daylight from 5AM - 12AM.
An early morning boat ride across the lake, looking at one of the many mountain ranges in the area.
An adolescent bald eagle in mid-descent.
The midday sun viewed from Tommy Island. A natural arch that made me think of Andy Goldsworthy.
From the summit of little Mt. George. Lake Clark unfurls for miles in the background.
Sunrise, or as close as you can get to sunrise, in June.
Still processing the experience, but will share more thoughts and photos soon.
Science and Entertainment Exchange Article
We’re over 2 months into the strike and a fair guess is that it’ll be at least 3 months long if not more… So I’m taking a little break from discussing that ordeal to share a new article I wrote for the (amazing) Science and Entertainment Exchange. For those unfamiliar, the Exchange puts professional scientists in touch with writers, directors, and producers. It’s an incredible resource for creators who are looking to learn and lend realism and credence to their stories. And did I mention that it’s a totally free service?
Here’s the article - about how writer and producer David Slack used the Exchange, and met with Dr. Chris Ferguson, to help write an episode of Magnum PI. Enjoy!
Strike Week 2
Well, we're done with week 2 of the WGA strike. Here are a few observations from what I've seen as a strike captain and picketer so far.
The local community and fellow Hollywood labor unions (and many executives too!) have been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. From all our neighbors donating coffee and food and honking for the picket lines, to LIUNA and IATSE and SAG picketing with us, to the unwavering Teamsters who have helped us shut down production after production -- it's been amazing, and heartening. It feels like union power is coalescing in a huge way. And we will return the favor when the time comes for our allies.
President Biden weighed in last night to say, "I sincerely hope... the writers are given a fair deal they deserve as soon as possible." So many labor struggles go unnoticed by the media and politicians. I'll admit, we're extremely lucky that people love to talk about Hollywood.
On the flip side, I have heard some folks - many in the media - discuss the writers' plight as a "smallest violin in the world" situation. While it's easy to assume Hollywood writers live in privilege, the majority of our guild - literally thousands of writers - are facing legitimately dire economic straits. We lose our healthcare, are forced to take second and third jobs, or leave Los Angeles as a result of the painfully gig-ified landscape caused by the abuses of the studios. This is truly no light matter for most of us on the picket lines day in and day out.
Who knows when the AMPTP will be willing to return to the table. Historically, the shortest strike was 100 days and the longest was over 5 months. Perhaps the relatively new players like Amazon, Apple, and Netflix believe they can outlast us. To them, I would say this: we were here first and we've done this many times before. We're the ones who write the stories, and we know how this story ends.
Thanks for your support!
In Solidarity,
EE
P.S. All are welcome to join in on the picket lines (LA + NY)! You can find the schedule here. Who knows, you might meet the writer of your favorite show or movie!
1 Week to Go - Contract Negotiations Update
Here's the latest from your friendly neighborhood WGA Captain. First, I'm not going to bury the lede: no one will know if the writers are striking until May 1st, the last day of the negotiations. Whether it ends with an agreement or a strike action, these things always go to the eleventh hour and that will be especially true for this year's talks. But here's what's been happening in the meantime...
Other major Hollywood unions have voiced strong support for the WGA, including SAG-AFTRA, the DGA, and the Teamsters. The former two have their own contract negotiations with the AMPTP coming in May and June.
Networks like Netflix and MAX (fka HBOMAX) have publicly touted their deep reservoirs of projects, making the claim that they can weather a strike better than anyone else. As a writer, I can't help but wonder: when these projects start shooting, who will handle studio notes and production rewrites?
Producers, managers, and agents - on the whole - fully assume a strike will happen. Yet many continue to ask me and fellow writers, "Are you REALLY going to do it?"
It all depends on whether the AMPTP can meet our proposals halfway. On the one hand, Carol Lombardini (AMPTP President and fellow UChicago alum!) has never allowed a strike to occur on her watch. She became President in 2009, on the heels of the painful '07 - '08 writers' strike, and has prided herself on preventing catastrophe thus far. And our negotiating committee is far from zealous and unreasonable either.
On the other hand, the issues and industry landscape have never been more complicated. Big problems that should've been resolved in 2020 were booted due to the pandemic and have festered until now. The relatively new yet gargantuan players in the producers' alliance, like Apple, Amazon, and Netflix, also alter the dynamic. It's truly terra incognita.
On top of all this, the negotiations are happening amid big corporate restructures, as evidenced most recently by the latest round of layoffs at Disney. To the writers, the studios claim they are vulnerable and hurting and could never meet our demands. To their shareholders, the studios proclaim cost-cutting efficiency and record profits. Sorry, I guess my bias is showing through...
Regardless, the WGA is preparing for the worst. We'll be releasing our strike rules soon. The captains are being trained to organize. The picket signs are drawn and ready.
I truly and sincerely don't want the strike to occur. I hope this week's talks yield real progress. We'll know more soon and I'll continue to share what I can!
Closer to Van Eyck
More updates to come on the WGA negotiations, but let’s take a break from that arduous endeavor to look at something fun. I wanted to share a recent discovery, a wonderful site called Closer to Van Eyck. As in, famous medieval / early renaissance painter Jan Van Eyck.
To give credit where credit is due (and to shoehorn in another recommendation), I learned about the site on The Rest is History podcast which is truly fantastic. They did an episode on Van Eyck and spoke about how he took some of the newly evolving painterly skills and styles of his time and brought them to the next level, achieving true apotheosis. He mastered total realism and combined it with religious imagery and fantastical scenes to make some of the most indelible paintings in history.
But on top of all that, THE DETAILS. And that’s where Closer to Van Eyck comes in. As his paintings have been recently restored, this website has uploaded them for public consumption. But what’s really fun is that you can zoom in to the microscopic level, to the level of the remaining cracks on the canvas. And what you’ll find there are astonishing details that evoke Eyck’s crafty, mischievous, and brilliant nature. A realistically detailed swan on a river that feels miles away, a mere speck at first glance. Or a self-portrait of Van Eyck, squirreled away amidst the crowds before God - a veritable Where’s Waldo of the Second Coming. Or the individual wrinkles by the eye of a wealthy merchant. You can spend all day scouring the backdrops. And I suggest you do! It’s more fun than scouring Twitter, I promise.
MBA Negotiations Begin
Quick follow-up to the previous post: the MBA negotiations between the WGA (writers) and the AMPTP (producers) officially begin today.
For those wondering what happens next, you’re not going to hear anything - anything legitimate or real - for the next two weeks. Both sides of the table will keep things confidential as they dive into it.
The WGA may be giving an update to its members around April 1st to review how the initial conversations have gone and how the rest of the negotiations through April are looking… So, anything you hear before then is likely a product of the industry rumor mill. Better to just keep calm and carry on WRITING :)
The 2023 MBA Contract Negotiations
For those outside of the entertainment industry hearing about this “impending writers’ strike,” and for those in Hollywood who are decrying the inevitable apocalypse, this is a brief post to clarify a few points. For the record, I’m a captain in the Writers Guild of America (West), I’m not an official spokesperson, I’m just a writer sharing his somewhat informed opinion on the matter.
To clarify, the negotiations between the WGA and the AMPTP (the studios) have not started yet. They begin on March 20th. Anyone who claims “the writers are planning a strike” is simply wrong because we haven’t even started talking to the other side yet. How can we plan on using the nuclear option when we don’t even know the other side’s stance? Writers may be neurotic, we may be insecure, but we’re not irrational! The guild is still in the stage of reviewing and actively voting on our pattern of demands. And once negotiations start, no one will know anything for a while yet...
The contract expires on May 1st. Maybe we’ll have reached a deal by then, maybe not. Maybe the negotiations will extend another month or two, maybe not. Maybe we’ll take a strike authorization vote and, assuming our guild solidarity remains rock solid (it will), maybe we’ll have to threaten a strike. Beyond that, no one can truly know what’s going to happen. To say anything else at this point is to try to set up a self-benefitting narrative to one end or another. That, or folks are just expressing their sky-is-falling anxiety which, honestly, tends to go hand-in-hand with surviving in this crazy industry of ours.
But please remember that the sky is not falling; the industry goes through this every three years, and everything is ultimately cyclical, regardless of corporate, technological, and economic changes.
For more information, check out the guild’s contract information page: https://www.wgacontract2023.org/
Best,
EE
The Prisoner
Short post today, simply to rave about The Prisoner - the 1967 TV show created by Patrick McGoohan, who wrote, starred, and directed. Luckily for all of us, the show is available for free and in HD on Youtube.
I’m of an age that I saw The Simpsons episode that parodied The Prisoner, titled “The Computer Wore Menace Shoes,” long before I ever learned of the show. At the time, I faintly and intuitively understood that the Simpsons was riffing off of some cultural milestone but I had no idea what. Sadly I never looked into it and only discovered the Prisoner recently while researching the history of TV sci-fi.
How to describe this thing? It’s on the metaphoric and surreal level of The Twilight Zone, yet serialized, and also cheeky, sly, extraordinarily British, with a psychedelic 60s aesthetic shot in glorious 35mm. The pilot is… a perfect episode of television and packed with suspense, wit, and sheer momentum. To be honest, I never knew much about McGoohan beyond his terrifying performance as Edward the Longshanks in Braveheart. He’s like some sort of TV-ied Charles Laughton, a brilliant actor with a perfect one-off writer/director turn as the creator of this show. I look forward to completing the full run of the show and reporting back.
I’ll end with a simple, provocative quote from the first episode - something posted on the wall of the paradoxical Village’s bureaucratic headquarters: “Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison to oneself.”
