This is about the Writers Strike, of course. What I'm hearing is that a lot of the obstacles are out of the way and our leaders feel they have made substantial progress. But there is no deal yet and there are still some thorny negotiations ahead to get the terms committed to paper and to get the bugs out.
I hope this doesn't sound arrogrant or nagging but I really think we have to keep the cork in the champagne until there's a firm deal. We've come so far, it would be brain-dead stupid to blow it now. This strike has been about many things but what it's mainly been about is that the AMPTP felt they could force a bad deal on the WGA and then, by extension and precedent, on the Directors Guild, the Screen Actors Guild and other unions, as well. It's been about us saying no to that, resisting that kind of tactic and taking a stand that they did not believe we would take. This is no time to make them think the strike is weakening and that we're so eager to sprint back to work that they can force some bad terms into the endgame.
I may not be able to make it to the picket lines tomorrow but I'll try, and I'll definitely be out on Tuesday. We need to do that and we need to do what we can to not allow the "industry buzz" to be that we're ready to settle for anything our reps have achieved so far. I can't tell you the number of times I've either gotten screwed or almost gotten screwed with something that snuck into a deal at the last minute. One time, I had to write a script over a three-day weekend and we made the deal (verbally) on Friday night and I started writing. Saturday morning, the producer messengered a deal memo over to my agent firming up the terms…and my agent called me and said, "Stop writing."
They'd thrown in some terms that hadn't been discussed. They'd also made some subtle, unpleasant adjustments to the wording of deal points which had been discussed. It was suddenly a much worse deal.
What they were counting on, of course, is that I was too far into it to say no. I'd already spent 12 or 15 hours writing, they knew. I'd already cancelled other plans for the next few days, maybe even turned down other work, they figured. I'd already spent the money I'd be getting, they hoped. And most of all, I was already emotionally committed to the project. This is where we're sometimes quite vulnerable. We love what we do (or most of what we do) and it's tough to put on those brakes, difficult to say no at that stage.
But my agent insisted. In fact, he was livid. "Bait and switch," he called it and just on principle alone, he felt we had to make a stand.
I had to stop writing. He had to make it clear to them that we (he and I) were quite prepared to not do this project if the deal wasn't right. The thing was still due Tuesday morning but instead of writing it the rest of the day that Saturday, I did other things. Had dinner with some friends. Went to see the Groundlings, a local comedy troupe. It was kind of unsettling, I'll admit. Someone asked me what I was working on and I had to say, "Well, I might be writing a pilot script this weekend…"
When I got home, there was a message on my answering machine from my agent: "Okay, they just messengered me a revised deal memo and it's the deal we discussed with no loopholes. Go ahead and write." I had to work twice as fast but at least I got the contract I was supposed to get.
This happens all the time. All the time. It can happen in the new WGA contract if they think we're too eager to get back to work and are already burning the picket signs and planning how to spend those imminent paychecks.
You got a warm, happy feeling when you heard a deal was looming and the strike was almost over. You don't want to rekindle that awful "How long is this damn strike going to last?" feeling again but you may have to. Because we need to make it clear that this has all been about saying no to a bad offer. And if they think we won't, we'll get one. Still.