The WGA election debate has kicked off with a fiery exchange between two prominent writers
by more than 300 prominent film and TV writers, including a slew of A-list showrunners.
To avoid ambiguity, speculation and wrong conclusions, Ryan urged Nagy and her slatemates to immediately and clearly address three main questions: “I have no intention to be nicer to the agencies,” Mazin wrote. “I have no intention to remove the threat of lawsuits or stand down on the legal actions we have taken, and I would not support doing so in any way, shape or form. Those must stay in place until such time as we do bring an acceptable resolution to the membership. If we cannot achieve that, then those legal actions should remain until their inevitable conclusion in a court of law.” .
In that context, Mazin was critical of WGA’s current strategy to empower managers to take over dealmaking from agents, drawing parallels between management companies’ producing activities and agency-affiliated production. “I have nowhere said that I would seek to drop lawsuits or be ‘nice’ to agencies,” she wrote. “You mistake civility for weakness, and a desire to find a solution to the stalemate we’re in for a lack of fire in the belly or a desire to fight. You use words like ‘respectful,’ ‘polite,’ and ‘nice’ as if they’re the Ebola virus. And that scares the hell out of me.”
This is one of the many reasons I’m thrilled that multiple people with differing viewpoints have chosen to run for officer and board positions in the WGA this year. It has always disturbed me when we have had elections with officer candidates running unopposed. I welcome respectful dissent and clear choices for membership to vote on.
As best I can sum up it goes something like this: She thinks the previous regime has identified serious problems with agencies but have gone about it the wrong way to make a deal. She’s going to be nicer to the agencies , immediately negotiate with them and arrive at a result that addresses those issues and will be beneficial to all writers.
If that is their intention, that they just don’t want this fight and they just want a do-over and desire to return to their agents whatever it takes, then they should say so plainly and let the membership vote on that. But to appeal to membership with a plan that is doomed to fail seems disingenuous to me .
3) A large part of your rationale for running was that current leadership wasn’t negotiating and that the most vulnerable members of the Guild were suffering as a result of the ATA action.
First, thank you for all of your service… and I completely agree that the mere fact of volunteering for my guild shouldn’t shield me from criticism. We’re supposed to challenge our leaders and stress-test their ideas through debate and discussion. I won’t lie… it hurts to be called a “scab” or a “traitor” for the crime of answering the Guild’s enthusiastic call for candidates for office. Then again, I know it comes with the territory, and I know you’ve been there too.
But that isn’t where the deals are made. At some point, David Young and our NegCom chairs and our President and maybe one or two key members go into a side room with some similarly small group from their side. That room is an informal one, where the real shit goes down.
I know that’s what Chris and Billy told me when I asked! And I understood that was prudent. But they told me what they were aiming for.To me, the fundamental sin of packaging fees is, and has always been, the manner in which it disconnects agency income from writer income. Packaging fees in and of themselves are just money. The crime is the way that money disincentivizes agents from negotiating as aggressively as they can for their clients. For us.
If that’s true, it means we could hold our breath forever, and they won’t go back to 10% across the board. Of course, we have the legal action. We could win that. It would be expensive, but it would be worth it. The problem there, as you know, is that being right isn’t the same as winning. We’ve lost major legal actions before. We filed suits and challenged the companies on free rewrites, and we lost.
I don’t intend to be nice or respectful or polite. I intend to be aggressive as hell, because I’m as pissed off as you or anyone. Again… listen to the podcast I did with Chris and John. Or read the transcript! It’s here if you want:If Karen Stuart or Bryan Lourd or Jay Sures or Ari Greenburg or whoever wants to say “we hold to our positions,” and I can’t break through that, then guess what?
I have listened to a number of diverse writers who have told me how they have been hurt by this. Their stories are real, and we need to account for this as we proceed. I don’t want to be so casually dismissive of claims that it is hurting our most vulnerable… and certainly not if that confidence is based on incomplete data and a report that literally states that the numbers will change when all of the data is in.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Shawn Mendes Dodged a Question About 'Señorita' and Fans Aren't Happy'What inspired me to write 'Señorita?' I love you guys, have a great time.' 👋
Read more »
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello Cuddle Up in Tampa Amid Dating RumorsThe rumored couple looked cute and adorable as they got cozy together ahead of Mendes' concert in Tampa on Saturday.
Read more »
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello Were Seen Kissing and Being Cuddly in TampaShawn Mendes and Camila Cabello were spotted out in Tampa this weekend, showing a wide assortment of honeymoon-phase PDA.
Read more »
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello Were Just Seen Kissing and Yes There's Video (!!!!)Omgomgomgomgomgomgomg.
Read more »
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello Saw Blink-182 in Envy-Inducing Date Night'Honest, let's make/This night last forever/Forever and ever.'
Read more »
Camila Cabello and Her Family Fangirl Over Shawn Mendes at ConcertSee footage of the singer at her rumored beau's show over the weekend
Read more »