5-15-19 email
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Hey everyone -<br />
I just wanted to check in and give you an update as I see it, to pass on some resources, and to share some<br />
success stories from the trenches.<br />
I am hearing some feedback and concerns from some of you along these lines: “The Board isn’t being<br />
transparent enough.” “What’s the plan? It doesn’t feel like the Board has a plan.” “Why haven’t we gotten<br />
back to the negotiating table?” “It feels like there hasn’t been any forward momentum.” And I have heard a<br />
lot of concern that women, writers of color, and other marginalized groups are going to bear the brunt of<br />
this action.<br />
What I am about to say is not coming from the Guild. I am not on the Board and I do not speak for the<br />
Board. I am only a Lead Captain who has gone to a lot of meetings, has read all the <strong>email</strong>s, and has asked a<br />
lot of questions. So let me address some of these issue as I see them:<br />
No forward progress/get back to negotiating!<br />
The way I look at where we are now is kind of like negotiating to buy a car. You do your research. You<br />
find out about dealer holdbacks and incentives. You know what the true dealer invoice is. Armed with this<br />
info, you go to the dealership and you make an offer that’s $500-1000 over dealer invoice (yes, $500 is<br />
actually a good profit for them). They give you some bullshit song and dance and they lie to you about<br />
what their true costs are. They counter with MSRP plus $10,000. Because that is a fucking joke, you<br />
WALK OUT OF THE DEALERSHIP.<br />
That is where we are now. We justifiably walked away from the table. Because their last offer was to give<br />
us 1% of their 10% of backend profits. (.8% would go to writers; .2% would go to “diversity initiatives”).<br />
This is a bullshit offer. Now, to go back to the car analogy, when you walk out of the dealership, you get in<br />
your car and you drive home, and you wait for them to call you. Sometimes they call you that day<br />
(happened to me once). And sometimes they call you at the end of the month, when they haven’t hit their<br />
sales target (also happened to me once). And you pay close to true invoice. You know what you don’t do?<br />
You don’t walk to your car and then turn around and go back inside the dealership. Because if you did, you<br />
would MASSIVELY OVERPAY FOR YOUR CAR.<br />
So we cannot pick up the phone right now and ask the ATA to come back to the bargaining table. What we<br />
have to do is wait. We wait for them to feel the pressure. Remember, they are all sitting at their desks doing<br />
NOTHING right now. If you think our morale is bad, how do you think theirs is? And what do you think<br />
happens when staffing season ends and they don’t get their 10%? And then summer network sales happen<br />
and they don’t get their backend? And more overall deals close (like JJ Abrams' ) and they don’t get a cut?<br />
They are going to start to fracture. The big agencies may have the finances to hold out. But Paradigm,<br />
Gersh, Verve, Kaplan Stahler, and Rothman Brecher? How long do you think they can hold out? Some<br />
them will peel off and sign. Some agents from the big 4 will get tired of this bullshit and leave and form<br />
new agencies, taking their clients with them. And some of this might start to happen quicker when they see<br />
that we got jobs without them. (See below)<br />
We can’t wait until summer!<br />
Yes we can. Do we want to? No! Is tis “the plan?” No! But if we have to, we can. We really, truly have all<br />
the leverage here. The jobs are still out there. They will get filled. And they are getting filled. We just need<br />
to manage our anxiety. We just need to be more gangster than them. Period.<br />
The Board isn’t being transparent enough! What’s the strategy? What’s the plan?<br />
Look, the Board is in an awkward position. And the membership is in a frustrating one. The Board simply<br />
cannot tell us what the strategy is. They cannot do this because it will be public and that is not how you<br />
negotiate. You do not show the other side your cards. Could they communicate a little more? Probably.
And I think there is some more communication coming. For now, if you haven’t seen this video from, Chris<br />
Keyser, please watch it!<br />
https://www.wga.org/members/membership-information/agency-agreement/video-updates/april-30-20<strong>19</strong>-<br />
agency-campaign-update<br />
I know this is incredibly hard. We are all really really smart people and we want to know what’s going on.<br />
We want to be in the driver’s seat. We want to give feedback. But what we are being asked to do is trust the<br />
Board. Believe me, this was INCREDIBLY well thought out. It has been gamed out ad nauseam. By people<br />
who sit in writers' rooms all day and come up with incredibly complex plots. WE NEED TO TRUST<br />
THEM. We voted for them. And 95.3% of us voted yes to implement the code of conduct. Have their been<br />
mistakes along the way? Yes. These people are not perfect. But FWIW, I have been very impressed with<br />
them.<br />
But some of us are at greater risk then others!<br />
Yes. A thousand times yes. But the Guild is addressing this with the staffing submission system. And the<br />
writer profile pages. With outreach to showrunners. With lunches with young writers and showrunners.<br />
With mixers for writers of color. And beautifully, wonderfully, the membership has stepped in also. There<br />
are twitter hashtags, writers boosts, referrals and recommendations. There are facebook pages and lists.<br />
And as I detail below, anecdotal evidence indicates it is WORKING!<br />
Well what the fuck do I do?<br />
Well, here’s a list of resources:<br />
1) Start here:<br />
●<br />
All writers: Make sure your Find a Writer profile is up-to-date so potential employers<br />
can find you. https://directories.wga.org/<br />
● TV Writers: Use the Staffing Submission System to send your samples, credits/bio, and a<br />
cover letter directly to showrunners who are looking for writers.<br />
https://secure.wga.org/employers/employment/pilots-list-staffing-submission-system<br />
Remember, staffing is year round now!!<br />
● Screenwriters: Get your pitches in front of execs and producers with the WGA Weekly<br />
Feature Memo.<br />
https://my.wga.org/home/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fhome%2ffeatureMemo.aspx<br />
The Guild is also working on a development tool for TV and feature pitching. Stay<br />
tuned for that. And see the twitter hashtag on that below.<br />
2) Then go to these lists and get yourself on them:<br />
Staffing Lists<br />
List Of All The Lists - for black writers, women writers, LGBTQ, veterans, Native American writers, etc<br />
etc etc<br />
https://bernardbadion.wixsite.com/tvwriterlists
Comprehensive Staffing List<br />
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x0n8uYrCZM2OpX6e9S-YCsm-<br />
GZIqfPXBYd8B95n939M/edit#gid=<strong>15</strong>4<strong>15</strong>39758<br />
Here’s how you get on it the Comprehensive Staffing List:<br />
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScEp8dafUPO5u-<br />
ZwYTNXZp9WT6kSDxXBuxsl7_eEaRfbUYh8A/viewform<br />
3) Check out these hashtags for an idea of what’s been going on. Boost yourself.<br />
Volunteer for #WGAsolidaritychallenge and start boosting others.<br />
#WGAstaffingBoost<br />
#WGAFeatureBoost<br />
#WGADevelopmentBoost<br />
#WGAsolidaritychallenge<br />
#writershelpingwriters<br />
4) Go to the mixers. Board Members will be at the WGA ones!!!<br />
#WGAmix<br />
#WGAmegamix - Mon. 5/27. Downtown L.A. Two city blocks. Organized by Meggy<br />
Garol: #meggyGarol<br />
WGA Wednesday Get-Togethers in May<br />
These gatherings are a great opportunity to connect with your fellow writers. Please<br />
attend! Board and Negotiating Committee members will also be available to<br />
informally answer questions. Hors d’oeuvres will be served. At the Guild in our brand<br />
new MPR. Next one is Wednesday May <strong>15</strong>th at 7:00 pm. Please RSVP here.<br />
5) If you get an offer, here’s something to help with negotiation:<br />
https://secure.wga.org/members/membership-information/communications-tomembers/information-to-support-the-best-possible-staffing-season-deals<br />
And here’s the thing: IT’S WORKING!!<br />
Recent coverage of the self-help efforts include these articles in the LA<br />
Times: https://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-writers-staffing-without-agents-going-fine-<br />
20<strong>19</strong>0508-story.html and the Hollywood Reporter https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/agentlesswriters-find-early-success-crowdsourcing-tv-staffing-season-1208646<br />
and<br />
this: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gavin-polone-is-beginning-end-tv-agents-1209517<br />
Some of my favorite quotes from THR:<br />
Showrunners say that in the absence of agent-submitted lists, they’ve been exposed to more new talent.<br />
“We have over 700 submissions this year, 200 through the WGA portal,” says Tara Butters, who has NBC<br />
drama pilot Emergence this season with writing partner Michele Fazekas. Fazekas adds, “The fact that we
have hundreds more submissions this year than any previous year makes me wonder how many people<br />
we’ve missed out on in the past.“<br />
And:<br />
And contrary to concerns that underrepresented writers would fall through the cracks, Vernoff says that<br />
“with the largely white, cis, male gatekeepers on the sidelines this year and writers able to directly access<br />
showrunners,” she’s read the work of a more diverse group of writers this season.<br />
AND HERE ARE SOME SUCCESS STORIES<br />
1) https://twitter.com/julieplec/status/1124021184222388228<br />
Julie Plec Verified account @julieplec May 2<br />
ALERT!! ALERT!! Some #WGAStaffingBoost news. I’m thrilled to announce<br />
that @cynteeeahh (Cynthia Adarkwa) will be joining the #Legacies writing team. How did we find her,<br />
you ask? My office SCOURED THE STAFFING GRID. We read her, she met w/us and we hired her.<br />
Boom.<br />
2) https://twitter.com/cynteeeahh/status/112403684917188<strong>19</strong>84<br />
Cynthia Adarkwa @cynteeeahh May 2<br />
So excited to join the @cwlegacies team with @julieplec and @brettwmatthews. And thank you twitter<br />
and @OKBJGM and @GennHutchison and @LizAlps for helping this happen!! Lezzgo!!<br />
Thank you to @TerriKopp2it and @DavidHSteinberg for reading, reviewing and boosting!! Truly<br />
feeling supported and overwhelmed at all the twitter love. So so glad this all worked out and to all the<br />
writers hustling on twitter and beyond... Don't fucking give up!! You're next.<br />
3) https://twitter.com/theblacktinafey/status/1128<strong>15</strong>2746069094401<br />
Yvette Foy @theblacktinafey 21h21 hours ago<br />
Yooooo! @WGAPerspective I received another <strong>email</strong> tonight from a showrunner who found me on ONE<br />
OF THE LISTS. This thing is working guys... IT'S WORKING. KEEP WORKING IT. Have faith. Dream<br />
big. Work hard. Never quit. #WGAStaffingBoost #WritingCommunity<br />
4) https://twitter.com/OhNoItsHeddo/status/1128087345347981312<br />
jeremy kaufman @OhNoItsHeddo May 13<br />
In the hour since @davidschulner boosted me and @OKBJGM retweeted I've had more WGA page<br />
views and requests for material than in the previous month. So<br />
yes, #WGAStaffingBoost works. @MorganicInk @LizAlps thank you too! And everyone else who has<br />
read me and other writers<br />
5) https://twitter.com/JacksonSinder/status/1127398781605912588<br />
Jackson Sinder @JacksonSinder May 11
WGA pals, it's working... Thrilled to be joining a new Netflix show on Monday. It takes a village, always,<br />
but a special shout out to my dear friend and *killer* drama writer @HawthorneNicky for first nudging<br />
this job-snowball down the mountain. #WGAStaffingBoost<br />
Okay, that’s all for now. As always, get in touch with questions.<br />
Best,<br />
Terri
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