November 12, 2007
Dear Editors,
The public has been led to believe that we independent producers are sitting opposite the writers at the bargaining table (or across the picket lines). It is not true.
We respectfully ask that your publications and reporters cease referring to the ongoing negotiations between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers as between “writers and producers.”
The Alliance represents the studios, the networks, and the international conglomerates that own them, not working producers. Creative producers are not directly involved in this dispute: we do not receive any residuals, nor are we stakeholders in the studio profits (excepting where some powerful producers do have back-end holdings in particular studio shows and films, just as do powerful actors, writers, and directors). We do not dispute the need for residuals, including those from DVDs and new media. Residuals are important and significant revenues. It is only fair that the creators of films and television share in the proceeds from all of the ways the product they create may be exploited. We support our wonderful writers, directors, and actors. We are also happy to pay benefits to the fantastic tradespeople on our films.
It is entirely inaccurate to equate us with the entity (or entities) in negotiations opposite the writers. Stories and opinion pieces in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, on television, and on NPR have almost all referenced “the producers” when they should, in all accuracy, refer to the studios, networks, and conglomerates. Independent producers have been inaccurately referred to as represented by AMPTP (by almost all publications, television, and radio outlets). We have been further characterized as “greedy” (a letter in the Los Angeles Times), and even “Scrooge-like” (a reputable columnist in The New York Times. These last characterizations are particularly galling. The work of independent producers is typically a creative endeavor that is widely understood to be an enormous financial gamble.
It serves the studios’ interests to pretend to represent individual producers instead of corporate entities. We would ask that you, as responsible members of the media, stop abetting this charade and call upon your reporters to cease equating independent producers (who are not negotiators or direct stakeholders in this process, and the vast majority of whom side with the writers) with international conglomerates.
Sincerely,
Josh Astrachan
Linda Atkinson
Rene Bastian
Will Battersby
Tracey Becker
Adam Brightman
Effie T. Brown
Susan Cartsonis
Genevieve Castelino
Anne Chaisson
Karin Chien
Caldecott Chubb
Tani Cohen
Ophir Dagan
Ira Deutchman
Lucy Donnelly
Jonathan Dorfman
Sebastian Dungan
Rona Edwards
Barri Evins
Edi Ezroni
Annie Flocco
Alexa Fogel
Howard Gertler
Richard Gladstein
Linda Goldstein Knowlton
Jamie Gordon
Lance Greene
Adrienne Gruben
Dolly Hall
Noah Harlan
Gill Holland
Lynette Howell
Joseph Infantolino
Jenette Kahn
Stephen Kenny
Eva Kolodner
Rosanne Korenberg
Gina Kwon
Kevin Lake
Jack Lechner
Meg LeFauve
Dan Lupovitz
Julie Lynn
Yael Melamede
Scott Macaulay
Anthony Moody
Linda Moran
Barbara Multer-Wellin
Gail Mutrux
Joshua Newman
Jamin O’Brien
Randy Ostrow
Tim Perell
Marshall Persinger
Clark Peterson
Joseph Pierson
Courtney Potts
Linda Reisman
Adam Richman
Anne Rodman
Nadja Rutkowski
Keri Selig
Jay Shapiro
Mary Jane Skalski
Jonathan Stern
Susan A. Stover
Annie Sundberg
Michelle Sy
Mandy Tagger
Kelly Thomas
Tony Tunnell
Yalda T. Uhls
Eric Watson
Diana Williams
Glenn Williamson
Eden Wurmfeld
Janet Yang
Samara Yeshaiek
Joshua Zeman
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