According to Variety, the WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike has now cost writers over $160 million in lost fees and benefits (based on 2006 WGA statistics)… when according to the WGA they were hoping to get a plan worth $151 million over 3 years. In other words, they’ve now lost more than they were hoping to gain. So in theory, even if the AMPTP suddenly caved in tomorrow and gave the WGA what they wanted in terms of residuals and Digital Media… they’d still end up worse off than they were before striking. Go team!
Meanwhile, the Producers association has put up a running meter on their website showing how much money the writers have lost (up to the second) and how much money the strike has caused non-writing crew staff in the Los Angeles area… as of this writing the number is at about $275 million.
These numbers are staggering. However, let me address the two numbers being given above. First of all, it is a TRAGEDY that non-writers are ending up as the big losers in this pissing match between the WGA and AMPTP. It’s good that the AMPTP is putting that number up on their website… except for one thing… the AMPTP is portraying this as if the money the non-writers are losing is because of the WGA strike. Thus, those poor non-writers are losing all that money because of the WGA!!! However, the reality is that those people are losing their jobs and their money because the WGA AND the AMPTP have failed to act like intelligent human beings and reach an agreement. Those non-writers being out all that money is every bit the fault of the AMPTP as it is the WGA.
With regards to how much money the Writers themselves have lost… it’s a shame, and just goes to show that the current leadership in the WGA doesn’t know what the hell they’re doing. HOWEVER… what exactly does the AMPTP hope to accomplish by flashing that number around? Win public approval??? I said it before when the WGA was trying to win public approval, so I’ll say it again here: PUBLIC APPROVAL DOESN’T MEAN SQUAT! Maybe if both of these sides put as much energy and time into trying to reach a deal as they do making cute little videos and press releases, this strike would be over by now.
All I know is that if I was a member of the WGA, seeing how much money I’ve lost because of the strike isn’t going to make me cave in at this point… it’s just going to make me mad at everyone. Mad at the AMPTP… and mad at my own incompetent Union leadership.
So what does this mean for the WGA members now? As their Union leaders continue to apparently not care how much money their members are losing and just seem focused on expanding their own industry political power and influence (by trying to get control of reality tv, news, animation… and the ability to “sympathy strike”) it becomes more and more murky. What is the answer?
The Union leaders are more concerned with Power than their members. The producers seem more interested now in trying to punish the WGA instead of reaching a fair deal. No one is budging and everyone just seems to be getting more and more pissed off. Happy New year everyone.
