Maybe it’s because the Broadway strike ended last night, but I was unaccountably optimistic for a while that we’d be hearing good news soon. Alas, things still seem to be in the “all talk, no action” phase today. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the WGA and AMPTP still talking, but the sooner things are resolved, the better. Leaving my own impatience out of the equation for a moment, the thought of all the staff and/or crew members who are dealing with unemployment in this holiday season is pretty darned awful.
The latest non-update, from Deadline Hollywood Daily:
EXCLUSIVE: Talks Day #3 ‘Stalemated’
There’s little more to say about Wednesday’s talks other than that, unfortunately. “This is not heading in the right direction,” a mogul quoted his labor exec as saying to him yesterday. Another source told me, “It’s stalemated. Nothing’s getting achieved.”
I’m not sure people are aware that CAA partner Bryan Lourd all week has been at the hotel where the talks are being held. He’s working both sides in a form of “footstep diplomacy” (as opposed to Henry Kissinger’s old “shuttle diplomacy”). An insider told me, “He keeps asking what everybody needs. This is what Lew Wasserman used to do during these things. Wasserman would say, ‘I want to know what you each need. I don’t want to know what you want. Go in the other room and tell me what you need.’ ”
As I’ve reported previously, Lourd was designated as the Hollywood agencies’ point person to assist these resumed negotiations, which I should stress do not have a stop date on them at the moment and will probably continue well past Thursday. Said an insider: “There’s no arbitrary end to this. Everyone only leaves if Bryan gives up and goes home.”
Like I called it. No TCR till January. *sigh*
*prays harder*
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
I’m not expecting this to be resolved in a few days’ time. Somewhere (I don’t remember where) I read that nothing significant was expected to happen before Christmas.
I like the labor executive’s quote in this article that things were not heading in the right direction for the producers. They’re not going to give an inch unless and until they have to, and I’d interpret this early report as a small victory for the writers. The message is that they’re not returning to the talks ready to back down.
Don’t forget that they ended up settling for practically nothing the last time they were on strike over these new media issues.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Now is okay to crawl into a corner and weep?
This is unbelievably depressing…I think we all need a support group.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Obviously, the WGA needs friend of the show Henry Kissinger to contribute his diplomatic expertise to break the stalemate: ‘Vee vant compensation for new media. And pancakes. Vee vere promised pancakes. And by the vay. Vee haf nukes.’
On the bright side: it’s the end of the month. Time to contribute a bit more to Stephen’s charities. (The Yellow Ribbon Fund, or the SC schools). Sharing is caring. It will cheer us up.
Shout Out (Hey!):
0