"L.A. Confidential" producer on boycotting the Globes/Oscars: "The wrong people get punished."

Scribe Vibe received this letter from producer David L. Wolper.

As a member of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic committee, I remember, in 1980, after the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter threatened the Soviet Union with a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics if they did not pull their troops out of Afghanistan. The troops stayed and the boycott went into effect.

Does anyone really believe the Soviet Union would change their foreign policy because the U.S. team wouldn’t show up at their Olympics? Who did the boycott hurt? Not the Soviet Union, but the more than 460 American athletes who looked forward to the Olympic experience who trained four years for their moment in the sun. In the next Olympics four years later, they may not qualify and miss their chance. It was taken away by their own government.

Well, there is a similar situation today with the Writers Guild. To help their cause against the studios, they decided to punish the Golden Globes and the Oscars. Who is hurt? Do you really think the studios will change one single negotiating point because of the Golden Globes or the Oscars? Who it really hurts are all the people, including writers, who were looking forward to their Oscar or Golden Globe experience and who may lose their only moment to shine because of the cloud put over the events by the Writers Guild.

Like the Olympic athletes, they may never get another chance and it’s a shame. The joy is taken away by one of their own Unions. The Olympics and the Oscars, the same story: The wrong people get punished. I hope the Writers Guild will rethink its position.

-- David L. Wolper 

Comments

[Andy]

Wrong. This boycott keeps an issue in the public eye that would otherwise fade in importance.

[filmfledgling]

"To help their cause against the studios, they decided to punish the Golden Globes and the Oscars. Who is hurt?"

Ummmm, the studios/networks by way of the lost advertisers. And a pro athelete and an actor/writer/film professional are hardly comparable lines of work.

[Klaatu]

Perhaps the WGA would grant a waiver if the AMPAS agreed not to televise the awards. If the honor is what matters and not the dollars, that shouldn't be a problem.

[jay]

Do what every one else in America does. If you do not like your job, working conditions, or pay, FIND A NEW JOB!!!
What makes you think you are so special?

[Rob]

The Oscars and the Globes cannot function without writers getting a fair pay.

The comparison with the Olympics is foolish. The Olympics are sport, Afghanistan is Politics. But the Oscars and the Globes are the film business, the same film business that has to understand, that things will be missing, if fairness in pay is missing.

[Bill]

Hi Jay! How are you?

I was just wondering about your posting process. How do you decide how many exclamation points to use? You picked three. How angry and ill-informed would you have to be to use four? If you use just one, is that a more playful Jay we'd be seeing? Have you ever used six? That would be something!!! Wow, I just used three at the end of that sentence, and I'm bushed! I wanted to use two at the end of that sentence, but I didn't have the strength for it. I have to admit, you're quite the stud, Jay!

[ed]

If the Oscars and Globes don't show up, will anyone outside the industry really notice? They're self-indulgent parties we throw for ourselves and invite people to watch. The networks will certainly lose revenue, but enough that they'll care? They can throw out a 2-hour Survivor special or something. The viewing public is way too fickle to really care that much. The points brought up in the posting are reasonable even if they aren't a perfect analogy. They were among my first thoughts when waivers weren't granted. Why would we shoot ourselves in the foot? This is about us and how great an industry we are and the products we produce and recognizing the efforts of so many people. The industry benefits far more than whichever network shows it. Plus, what better platform to vent the frustrations! (I wanted to put a double exclamation there, but Bill might take offense.) Every acceptance could take a shot at the networks in front of millions of people.

[Lisa]

The wrong people being punished? You numbskulls are just NOW figuring that out? The people being punished throughout this whole stupid strike have been the support staff at these shows. But the damn union doesn't care. Hurt as many people as they can as long as they get what they want.

I have no sympathy for a group of immature blowhards who believe hurting innocent families is a viable option.

[Splainittome]

Not really on point but I don't know any other place to ask the question. Do any other writers wonder about the sainthood of the woman who writes the WGA slanted blog? She doesn't have anything at stake; in fact, the strike is nothing but good news for her. She is being paid, she is gaining notoriety, she gets a shout out from the union negotiators (not sure that's something to bedesired by a serious journalist), her blog gains enormous traffic and she is still running movie advertising that benefits the studios. Somebody splain it to me.

[Enabler]

http://untiedhollywood.com