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WGA Strike - Creative Failure of Imagination

It’s not enough to simply kill the Golden Goose, some folks feel that they must beat the poor dead beast ’til it’s no longer recognizable.

by Daniel Mallock, BookFolks

The first warning signal comes from an unexpected quarter. Carson Daly, host of a late night talk show announced today that he will be crossing the picket lines and his show will be on the air - without WGA involvement. If his show is successful without their support, and the WGA must be praying hard that it fails, other entertainers and hosts will follow in Daly’s path the “Writer’s strike” will be in serious trouble.

When a union’s membership lands on the picket lines the leadership has failed in planning, strategy, imagination, and negotiation. Redress of grievances and negotiating with management for better wages and benefits is the core purpose of the union. Fundamentally, negotiating with the threat of strike is the position of strength, striking is a signal of defeat. Abandoning negotiations for the picket line is an existential defeat for the union.

Creative people sometimes get too involved in their own stories, too involved in their own creative process so that they are blinded to more sanguinary and generally uninteresting issues like, oh, business. Certainly, hollyweird products are generally a conglomeration of creative minds. All of those creative minds should have a fair share in the profits resulting from the products that they create together. But when one group in this conglomerate brings the entire process to a grinding halt and puts the entire operation at risk-that group has lost sight of some very important facts. The most important fact is that there are many writers who would be delighted to have the opportunity to write for tv and film. These folks, not currently in the WGA will certainly have the chance if this strike continues for much longer.

Daly will come under intense criticism from the WGA and its supporters as his actions threaten their action. His argument is a good one, and difficult to refute. “As a non-WGA member I feel I have supported my four Guild writers and their strike by suspending production for a month,” he said, “While I continue to support their cause, I can’t, in all good conscience, stand by and let that (loss of income and livelihood) happen to the vast majority of my loyal staff and crew.”

The writers in the Guild have forgotten their roots, or perhaps remember them too well.

They are now bullies, damaging the economy of LA and California and affecting the careers and livelihoods of thousands of others. This union bullying is one of the strongest reasons why the union movement in the US is on a steep decline - folks don’t want to be bullied by other folks who won’t sit at a conference table and patiently work out differences with the “other side”. This strike is as demonstrative of leadership on the part of WGA negotiators as the decision by a court in Sudan to jail a middle-aged Brit for her unfortunate choice of name for a teddy bear is illustrative of civilized or rational behavior.

There are far more writers who are ready to work for Hollyweird than there are angry writers who, rightly or wrongly, want a larger slice of the profit pie and are striking to get it. The demands of the WGA appear reasonable and legitimate in the long-term, their decision to strike now and stay on the strike line does not.

What will be the result if Carson Daly’s admirable desire to save the jobs of his staff due to the short-sightedness of the writer’s union’s leadership? The result will be that more shows will go back on the air, non-union writers will be hired, etc. Writer’s in the Guild do not have a lock on creativity - there are many excellent non-union writers waiting for a big break. This could well be the break they are waiting for.

If the strike fails, and if Hollyweird studios and management recovers with non-union writers, the Guild will be left a powerless shell. Throwing down the gauntlet and refusing to work (striking) thus breaking contracts, endangering projects/productions, negatively impacting local and regional economies, and putting the livelihoods of others at risk cannot have anything but negative results for the Guild and its members.

The notion that writers are irreplaceable is not a widely accepted one. Couldn’t a more productive approach to studio management and their bean-counters have been, “We aren’t pleased, but we would like to negotiate for a larger piece of the profits as we continue working side by side with you (management/studios) our partners.”

The strike decision appears desperate, unprofessional, and lacking in both prudence and patience. As a writer, I understand the value of my own partners and the business-side folks who make it possible through their deal-making to get projects that allow me to work professionally as a writer. Hurting them hurts me. I know this. It is completely stunning that the WGA leadership does not understand this core truth of the writer’s life. Diminishing the importance and the reputation of writers by forcing union members to break agreements and walk the picket line is nothing at all about empowering writers, but rather the opposite.

Let cooler heads prevail. Honor your agreements, create art, go back to work, negotiate with your partners!