As for myself, I didn’t respond to Dan’s comments for two reasons. One: I think I answered most of his concerns, in depth, with my last reply to him. And two: I know I answered most of his concerns, in depth, with my last reply. So, rather than reply all over again, I did nothing. But your impassioned comments have really stoked my fire, brother. So, here, at last, is my re-reply to Dan…

As someone who has been on the picket lines every day since this strike began six weeks ago, I can assure you, Dan, the union is no danger of breaking. In fact, I have never felt a stronger sense of community in this town…EVER. We are united in our cause and it is not only a just cause, it is a really basic one.

If we give away the internet, we will never ever get it back. It’s that simple. And as much as our leaders would love to “cancel the strike” and return to the table, I must remind you that we have never once left the table. The AMPTP would have you, and the world, believe otherwise, but trust me when I tell you, Dan, that we have never once been the first party to abandon that negotiating table.

In fact, just before Nick Counter led the AMPTP exodus from the room on Friday, the WGA negotiating committee floated the idea of working night and day through the holidays to get this thing settled quickly. And, well, you can see where that got us…

The AMPTP are the ones who left the table, the AMPTP are the ones wreaking havoc on this town by refusing to even negotiate with us until we remove pretty much all of our core issues from the table, and once the advertisers start pulling their money from the sea of mind-numbing filler shows on the air (as they are rumored to be readying to do), the AMPTP are the ones who will return to the negotiating table in earnest.

Yes, we are angry, Dan. But we are also right. If the AMPTP had engaged in actual negotiations from the get-go, rather than the union busting theatrics they’ve been force feeding America through their so-called “news” divisions, we would not be in the position we are in right now. It really is that simple.

And finally, though I haven’t read your post on Mall Marshals, I gotta say, I don’t place much blame for what happened in Omaha on mall security.

It’s called gun control. And until we make some radical changes in this country, we will continue to live our lives at the mercy of every screwed up kid with a grudge and a gun.

That’s why I do most of my Christmas shopping at Amazon. Well, that and the free shipping of course…:)

Thanks again for your comments everyone, and que viva Ben Franklin!

Click on Dan’s name in the post above and be taken to his blog, where he suggests we now need “mall marshalls” like air marshalls, so that we can safely go to KB toys, and maybe pick up a Mrs. Fields or two without the danger of a random shooting.

Dan, just how many mall shootings do we have a year? Maybe you could just have your mommy take you to the mall and save us the trouble.

Grow up,
Damon

“The man who would trade essential liberty for some temporary safety deserves neither.”
Benjamin Franklin (my hero)

Thanks so much for your comments. Just kidding. While I understand and appreciate your point of view, Dan, I have to respectfully disagree with you. I can assure you that everyone I’ve met on the picket lines, TV, Film and even game show and reality writers (whose work is rarely if ever covered by Guild contracts) would like nothing more than to get back to work. And once we are offered a fair, equitable deal, we will. But not a moment before that.

You’re right about negotiating being essential to getting this thing solved, but up till now, the AMPTP has not played fair once and many of us have frankly grown weary of sitting idly by while they dick us around. Our leaders have been extremely flexible with the companies (even removing the coveted DVD proposal from the table on the eve of the strike) and the AMPTP have continued to disrespect us at every turn and have left us, in effect, negotiating with ourselves.

For example, let me share with you one of the more galling “economic partnership” proposals they floated our way last night.

For streaming television episodes, the AMPTP proposed a residual structure of a single fixed payment of less than $250 for a year’s reuse of an hour-long program (compared to over $20,000 payable for a network rerun). $250 for the right to play a WGA written show ad nauseum online for an entire year. In what universe does that sound fair to you?

For theatrical product (which is of the upmost importance to a feature writer like myself) they are offering no residuals whatsoever for streaming online. So, essentially, “economic partnership” means, we get nothing? Wow…thanks, partner.

And perhaps the most most shocking proposal of all concerns the companies assertion that they can deem any reuse of a WGA written show or movie online “promotional,” and pay no residual (even if they replay the entire film or TV episode and even if they make money off it). Huh??

These are not sound proposals here, these are rollbacks, plain and simple. And in the mind of many of us, they are downright insulting.

Which brings us back to Carson Daly. His actions of late could be interpreted as “brave” by some (I mean, he is securing the jobs of his 75-plus member crew) but setting up a joke hotline is a painful slap in the face to the four WGA writers that have been with him from the beginning.

I encourage Daly (and Ellen for that matter) to take a cue from more established talk show hosts like Leno, Letterman, Conan O’Brien and even Daly’s longtime friend and mentor Jimmy Kimmel. These guys are staying “dark” for the duration of the strike because that is the quickest way to immediately impact the companies bottom lines. Which seems to be the only thing they care about right now.

This is undoubtedly painful for these talk show hosts as well, and yet they remain devoted to the cause and know that there is strength in numbers. We are all in this together and the sooner the AMPTP realizes that and gets serious with us at the bargaining table, the sooner this strike will end.

Thanks again for your comments.