Mike Hagan, a reader of this site, writes to ask…
I've been reading your blogs about the seemingly pending strike by the writers. I find it interesting to follow what happens as my parents were both teachers and members of the teachers union. While prohibited from striking (state law in Missouri because they were teachers), they did get the "blue flu" and try other tactics during negotiations with administration. So, the topic is interesting to me.
But, I've discussed the idea of the strike with friends and they keep asking me, "What is the point of having a writer's union in today's world?" I don't have a good answer. So, as part of your series, I think it would be great if you could address the issue of why the union is still relevant and why it is still necessary. Because, it seems as well, that there would be enough other writers out there willing to cross picket lines and replace current writers.
I think the point of having a writer's union in today's world is sharper than ever. With all the new technologies and the rapidly-changing business models out there, it's harder than ever to figure out the math. Could you dope out what would be fair compensation for the use of your work in "webisodes?" Or direct-delivery DVD rentals? Or the means of marketing that they're going to invent in five years to exploit the material you're writing this year? The folks who control the finances of this business — the Producers — have row upon row of highly-paid experts to research these strategies and the companies consult with one another and enter into cooperative ventures and partnerships. You can't negotiate with them on a one-to-one basis. They're too big and you, all on your own, are too small.
Actually, the point of a writer's union is crystal-clear to those of us who've worked in both animation (which is often not covered by the Writers Guild) and live-action (which is). I've worked for some studios like Disney under both arrangements and the difference is staggering. On the animation deals, my agent had to spend days negotiating terms that are standard in a WGA deal…even things like a clause governing screen credits. In the absence of one, they can just about put any damn name they want on the material so on a non-WGA project, we have to work all that out and it isn't easy. Because the WGA has a whole credits manual and a well-established arbitration process and a committee and precedents…and on a non-WGA project, we have to figure out a system that's fair without being able to access all that.
Even when I've had a lot of clout, the resultant deals — the ones we were able to negotiate without WGA coverage — lacked certain basic protections, like enforcement. Several times on animation projects I've written, the studio I was working for violated my contract in a way they would never have attempted on a WGA show. On a WGA-covered show, they knew, the guild would step in for me with its lawyers and handle matters. To do it on a non-WGA show meant that I'd have to go out and pay my own lawyer which, in two cases, I did. In one, I spent tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees before they paid me off — the full amount plus my attorney expenses. An exec there who left the firm later admitted to me that they often tried to get out of paying writers that way and that it usually worked. They presumed — correctly — that most writers wouldn't or couldn't spend that kind of money to go to court and would instead settle for lesser amounts. Around the office, they called it the "post-negotiation." After you'd done the work, they'd negotiate with you how much of the agreed-upon fee you were actually going to receive.
Most TV and movie writers — and by "most," I'm guessing upwards of 97% — are quite solidly behind the whole concept of the Writers Guild. Even if they haven't written animation, they've written something for a crooked publisher, a weasely editor, a slimy non-union producer. It can be shattering because the kind of work we do causes us to often lead with our hearts and therefore become quite vulnerable to exploitation. Often, we have to expend more energy on getting paid and protecting our legal rights than we expend to create the work…so we're delighted to have an entity like the WGA that's there to do all or most of that for us. If and when we strike this time, the Producers will spread the claim, as they always do, that the membership of the Guild isn't really behind its leadership. They always claim that and it's never true.
As for non-guild writers: Sure, there are plenty of them out there. But they're not interchangeable with the folks who walk off the job when there's a strike…just as if there's an actor's strike, the studio that's producing the next Tom Hanks movie is not going to replace him with an unknown who'll cross a picket line. They're going to wait for Tom because Tom is who they want, who they believe they need. They wouldn't pay Tom Hanks umpteen million per movie if he could be replaced with that unknown guy. And they wouldn't be paying mega-salaries to the folks who write The Office or the CSI shows or Desperate Housewives or any top show if they thought they could get by with the kind of writer who'd come in and do scab work. They would already have hired that guy if they felt he could do it because he'd be a lot cheaper.
There's a little more to it than this but I need to get back to an assignment. So I expect there'll be more here in the days to come on this topic.