I am becoming very confused.

The WGA is still on strike, but they made a side deal with Worldwide Pants, David Letterman’s company, giving his shows a waiver. But they’re not extending the same deal to Leno or Kimmel, because unlike Letterman they do not own their shows. This disregards the fact that CBS has a more of less identical profit model as it’s NBC rival– including those “New Media” profits the union is so bunched up about. Okay, there are a few differences, like the fact Letterman gets a big piece of his pie, but the nets still call the shots.

Now I read that the motion picture studio United Artists made a similar deal with the WGA, allowing writers to work on existing projects in development. Did you know that Tom Cruise and his longtime agent-partner Paula Wagner own 35% of UA? And not to be left out, The Weinstein Company wants a “me too” deal as well.

From someone outside this sure looks like caving in, or at least a death of a thousand cuts for the WGA. IS their solidarity crumbling? Do they have fellow-travelers in their ranks, undermining policy for a handful of silver?  No, apparently– it’s all part of a crafty strategy to pressure the AMPTP to start up talks again. Quoting Variety:

The WGA’s interim deals are designed to portray the guild’s proposals as being reasonable enough for indies to sign — particularly in the prickly area of Internet residuals.

To buy this, we’d have to believe Tom Cruise movies are cozy little indies. True, Lions for Lambs was a small-budget  affair, and it performed in typical indy-like fashion (it tanked). IF this strategy is applied to TV, we’d have to believe that Letterman/CBS somehow treats writers better than Leno/NBC. I doubt it. I can barely tell the difference between the two shows these days. The beard helps, I admit.

Like I said, I’m confused. I’d take my mind off the Lewis Carrol-like goings on and watch some fine scripted TV, but…
–Skot C.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at 10:32 am and is filed under General, Internet, Motion Pictures, Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.