WGA: Oscars will be picketed; Image Awards gets waiver

As if there were any doubt, you can forget about a picket-free Oscars on Feb. 24 -- unless the WGA strike is over by then.

That was the unmistakable message from WGA West president Patric Verrone at an early afternoon news conference Tuesday at WGA West headquarters. Event was being held to announce that the WGA's granted a waiver to the NAACP Image Awards on Feb. 14.

During the Q&A, Verrone was explicit in responding to questions about whether the Oscars might also be granted a waiver.

"The WGA West board of directors has already voted to deny a waiver to the Academy if they ask for one," he said. "The most important thing to us us to get the conglomerates back to the table."

Pressed as to what would change the board's decision, he responded by saying, "If we get a contract, that changes things."

Verrone first announced the board's stance about the Oscarcast at a Dec. 17 membership meeting. In addition to the NAACP show, the WGA's also granted waivers to the Jan. 27 SAG Awards and the Feb. 23 Independent Spirit Awards while turning down the Golden Globes. It's also said it will turn down the Feb. 10 Grammys if asked. 

"The Guild examines each request like this individually and no decision is easy. Our ultimate goal is to resolve this strike by achieving a good contract. Because of the historic role the NAACP has played in struggles like ours, we think this decision is appropriate to jointly achieve our goals,” Verrone said.
Verrone said members have been showing "over-riding" support for the leadership's strategies. And he also said he expects several more interim deals to be announced later Tuesday.

Here's the entire press release --

LOS ANGELES -- The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) announced today at a press conference that it will sign an interim agreement with the NAACP for The 39th NAACP Image Awards, which will take place on February 14, 2008, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

The agreement will allow the hiring of WGA writers to script the show and means that there will be no picketing of the event by striking writers. In addition, the Guild has granted a waiver permitting the use of clips from motion pictures and television programs.

"The NAACP would like to thank the leadership of the WGA and its members for demonstrating their support of the NAACP and its historic mission by granting The NAACP Image Awards an interim agreement," said Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP. "The NAACP stands in solidarity with the Writers Guild in its fight for meaningful collective bargaining and the rights of all workers to make an honest and fair living."

Speaking at the press conference were Patric M. Verrone, president of the WGA West, NAACP Image Awards Committee Chair Clayola Brown, Vicangelo Bulluck, executive producer of the show, and WGA members Robert Eisele (screenwriter, The Great Debaters, executive producer, Resurrection Blvd.) and Mara Brock Akil (creator and executive producer, Girlfriends, The Game).

“The Guild examines each request like this individually and no decision is easy. Our ultimate goal is to resolve this strike by achieving a good contract. Because of the historic role the NAACP has played in struggles like ours, we think this decision is appropriate to jointly achieve our goals,” said Verrone.

Presented annually, the NAACP Image Awards is the nation's premier event celebrating the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice.

Comments

[Writer707]

Bill? I'm not sure who you're talking about Jim. I do think a lot of people here are shills -- it's a confirmed fact that AMPTP is flooding these boards. But I don't think everyone is -- Frank above finally spoke like a real person and convinced me otherwise and I wished him well.

Anyway, what's your take on things?

[Jim]

Definitely my apologies then, Writer707. Bill was a truly appalling person.

My take? I think the writers are correct for striking. I am a writer myself (non-Hollywood), so I understand the ideas behind the strike and for what is being fought.

I don't necessarily agree with the timing or what it is doing to the below-the-line employees, but strikes are never pretty, no matter when they are done and someone ALWAYS gets hurt.

I think Young laughing about the intense pain the strike has caused was probably the wrong message to send to the public.

Ultimately, I am on the writers' side(s), but I think this strike is much, much different than '88. These are multinational corporations now that really could give a crap about Hollywood. They just need to raise the price of on-the-shelf items are Zellers and Wallmart by 4.3% to make up for the losses from this strike.

This strike is not going to end the way the writers want it, unfortunately. The conglomerates, rightly or wrongly, want to break the union and ultimately, they will.

It's unfortunate, but inevitable. I don't have an answer, except to say that the WGA needs to do a MUCH better job at placing the blame at the AMPTP's feet. Having Joss Whedon spout off is NOT the answer - while he has a higher Q level than most writers, he makes more in a year than most of the public will see in their lifetime's.

I guess that's my small and unsatisfying suggestion - better PR. Take of it what you will.

[Writer707]

I definitely agree that the WGA has made mistakes. I hope you're wrong about AMPTP breaking the union. We have to stay strong, we really are fighting for our survival against a deep-pocketed, feeling-less sort of entity. I just hope that ability and talent mean something in the face of that. We'll see.

Thanks for your thoughts...

[Jim]

I think the WGA's biggest hope for success lies in the pilot season come fall. If that is disrupted, John and Jane Q. Public will really raise a stink.

[ed]

Glad I wasn't the only thinking it was Bill. Sounds just like him, of course there have been a couple others here that I suspect. Nobody could spot a shill like Bill. I'm curious though about the confirmed fact of the AMPTP flooding these boards. Who? How do you know? I hadn't read any comments about confirmed shills.

[Kitty]

Re the NAACP awards, it's my understanding that this is not just "another awards show"; this is the group's biggest fundraiser for the entire year. Obviously the WGA does not want to cause a non-profit foundation to take a huge hit in its fundraising; this is why the waiver was granted. We're not on strike against the NAACP, and we're not interested in causing them to take a financial hit because of our strike.

[Kitty]

Oh, and regarding shill-spotting: if they repeatedly take David Young's comments out of context, repeatedly hit the WGA's supposed rabid stance about reality and animation, and talk about how it's solely the WGA's fault that the below the line people are out of work... well, these are all AMPTP talking points. There's little truth in any of them: think of them as the AMPTP's "weapons of mass destruction." Their high-powered team of flacks have told them to keep hitting the same talking points, and this is what they've sent their shills out to do.

[Writer707]

Yeah, I think Kitty said it best.

[ed]

I understand your point, but the posts mostly seem to run the gamut of support. Many people have posted that are not in full support of the WGA and immediately, and unfairly, labeled a shill for expressing an opinion. Of course, mabye the only people posting here are representatives from the two sides (which I personally know is not the case). I just wondered where it was confirmed about the AMPTP flooding these boards because the number of posts actually is pretty low compared to some of the other sites out there.

[Stuart Creque]

Kitty:

1) David Young was a fool for making comments that COULD be taken out of context.

2) The real test of the WGA's stance on reality and animation jurisdiction will come if and when the DGA gets a decent deal on new media. If Young and Verrone counsel holding out for reality and animation, the rank and file will have a decision to make.

3) The WGA called the strike. The purpose of a strike is to pressure a company by shutting down its production. That other workers become furloughed or unemployed as a result is an entirely foreseeable, though regrettable, consequence. The WGA needs to own up to this aspect of trade unionism -- if it doesn't have the guts and honesty to do that, it isn't likely to have the mettle it needs to win the strike. (Or perhaps it should have worked harder to find a way to win without striking.)