ATTN JMS: Possible strike by writers and actors
s p mcelroy
your projects?
Sara
Jms at B5
>your projects?
>
Depends on the production schedule and other factors. There will doubtless be
some impact, however; the question is one of the extent of that impact.
jms
(jms...@aol.com)
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JBONETATI
>your projects?
>
Can anybody give more info on this? When might it come down? What are the
issues?
Thanks,
Jan
Jms at B5
>issues?
Early summer, I think the current contract expires around June. The issues are
complex and lengthy, but some of the highlights include....
To help get new cable and broadcast networks going, the WGA gave them big
breaks on scripts and residuals. I.e., a script for a syndicated, or basic
cable show pays about *half* what you'd get on a network series, and the
residuals are also about half. This needs to be fixed now that they're making
billions of bucks.
Foreign buyouts are typically about five grand for an episode *in perpetuity*,
when we now see episodes running forever in overseas markets, as many as 500
times per episode in many cases. This needs to be fixed.
The biggest scam the studios have, now that most of them own their own cable
networks (as Universal owns USA Network for instance)...the current contract
states that a writer's residual on an episode is a small percentage of the per
episode fee paid by a network for the rights to run the show. This worked fine
when there was competition. But when Universal, for instance, is selling a
show to *itself*, it has a vested interest in selling it for the lowest
possible price so that the residuals are next to nothing.
Example: on a Murder She Wrote episode of mine, on its fourth run, it should
pull in about $5,000 in residuals. The fourth run figure that I got off USA
(owned by Universal, the producing entity of MSW)? About $50.
These inequities and a dozen others need to be addressed, including the vanity
director's credit.
JBONETATI
here.
<<These inequities and a dozen others need to be addressed, including the
vanity
director's credit.>>
Vanity director? Probably somebodys brother in law or something, right? Can
you explain the problem aside from artistic vexation?
And what does the WGA contract have to do with the actors? Would they stage a
sympathy strike? I can see where the issue of residuals would certainly affect
them.
Thanks again,
Jan
Pål Are Nordal
>
> Vanity director? Probably somebodys brother in law or something, right? Can
> you explain the problem aside from artistic vexation?
I think it's the "a <<DIRECTOR>> film" credit being used when the
director didn't write the screenplay.
> And what does the WGA contract have to do with the actors? Would they stage a
> sympathy strike? I can see where the issue of residuals would certainly affect
> them.
I think the WGA and the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) contracts run out
about the same time.
--
Donate free food with a simple click: http://www.thehungersite.com/
Pål Are Nordal
a_b...@bigfoot.com
Jms at B5
>you explain the problem aside from artistic vexation?
Vanity = "A Film By," in cases where the director just directed, he didn't
write the script.
>And what does the WGA contract have to do with the actors? Would they stage
>a
>sympathy strike?
The contracts expire close in time to one another.
Rob Perkins
> And what does the WGA contract have to do with the actors? Would they
stage a
> sympathy strike? I can see where the issue of residuals would certainly
affect
> them.
Wasn't low residuals one of the reasons Claudia Christian passed on season
5?
Rob
Rob Perkins
> These inequities and a dozen others need to be addressed, including the
vanity
> director's credit.
What's a vanity director's credit?
Rob
Pål Are Nordal
>
> Wasn't low residuals one of the reasons Claudia Christian passed on season
> 5?
IIRC, the residuals weren't substantially lower, there would just be a
longer wait until they were be paid out. And this was per standard Guild
rules for cable residuals, not something jms could do something about.
Jeremy Billones
Jms at B5 <jms...@aol.com> wrote:
>>Will the rumored strikes by the Writers Guild and the actors affect any of
>>your projects?
>
>Depends on the production schedule and other factors. There will doubtless be
>some impact, however; the question is one of the extent of that impact.
Here's *my* question -- one to which "No f'n comment" is most assuredly
a valid answer:
If strikes occur, is Joe S. the show-runner under any obligations that conflict
with Joe S. the writer? FREX, if the producers of $SHOW execute some sort
of end-around, is Joe S. the show-runner obligated to participate while
Joe S. the writer is obligated to walk?
--
Jeremy Billones
Donny: "We were on the original _Hollywood Squares_, you know."
Marie: "We *are* the original Hollywood Squares."
Jay Denebeim
Phoebe O'Hare <rutho...@prodigy.net> wrote:
>> Rob Perkins wrote:
>> > Claudia Christian
>And hardly a good reason to throw away a whole season of TV money,
>especially when you have nothing else lined up.
Oh that's not fair, Claudia has had lots of work since then, she had
that playboy spread and that guest spot on highlander, and... and...
well, I'm sure she's done lots of stuff nobody has heard of.
'ya know, I was building an n-scale train set about the time this
stuff happened. I ended up putting Ivanova's star fury in it... at
the bottom of a lake.
Jay
--
* Jay Denebeim Moderator rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated *
* newsgroup submission address: b5...@deepthot.org *
* moderator contact address: b5mod-...@deepthot.org *
* personal contact address: dene...@deepthot.org *
Pål Are Nordal
>
> And hardly a good reason to throw away a whole season of TV money, especially
> when you have nothing else lined up.
She had offers from one or two films/TVMs, and would have gotten time
off from the show to do them. The point of contention was that she still
wanted to be paid for the full season, even though she wouldn't be in
all of the episodes.
Shaz
"Jms at B5" <jms...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000912214347...@ng-fq1.aol.com...
> >Can anybody give more info on this? When might it come down? What are
the
> >issues?
>
> Early summer, I think the current contract expires around June. The
issues are
> complex and lengthy, but some of the highlights include....
>
> To help get new cable and broadcast networks going, the WGA gave them big
> breaks on scripts and residuals. I.e., a script for a syndicated, or
basic
> cable show pays about *half* what you'd get on a network series, and the
> residuals are also about half. This needs to be fixed now that they're
making
> billions of bucks.
>
> Foreign buyouts are typically about five grand for an episode *in
perpetuity*,
> when we now see episodes running forever in overseas markets, as many as
500
> times per episode in many cases. This needs to be fixed.
Clearly NOT how Channel 4 did it, since they're claiming they don't have the
rights to show anything after the end of season 3 and have left a lot of new
fans dangling at Z'ha'dum (and those new fans are seriously pissed off!).
Trust C4 to screw it up.
> The biggest scam the studios have, now that most of them own their own
cable
> networks (as Universal owns USA Network for instance)...the current
contract
> states that a writer's residual on an episode is a small percentage of the
per
> episode fee paid by a network for the rights to run the show. This worked
fine
> when there was competition. But when Universal, for instance, is selling
a
> show to *itself*, it has a vested interest in selling it for the lowest
> possible price so that the residuals are next to nothing.
>
> Example: on a Murder She Wrote episode of mine, on its fourth run, it
should
> pull in about $5,000 in residuals. The fourth run figure that I got off
USA
> (owned by Universal, the producing entity of MSW)? About $50.
Sounds like the pay an artist gets for bookcovers, although that's even more
pityful. The book may sell like hotcakes, getting into the top ten best
seller lists, but if my brother gets more than a few thousand in the end he
considers himself extremely lucky. That's considerably less than a penny a
book for all his hard work. <sigh>
>
> These inequities and a dozen others need to be addressed, including the
vanity
> director's credit.
Good luck!
Shaz
Phoebe O'Hare
> Rob Perkins wrote:
> >
> > Wasn't low residuals one of the reasons Claudia Christian passed on season
> > 5?
>
> IIRC, the residuals weren't substantially lower, there would just be a
> longer wait until they were be paid out. And this was per standard Guild
> rules for cable residuals, not something jms could do something about.
And hardly a good reason to throw away a whole season of TV money, especially
Jon Niehof
> off from the show to do them. The point of contention was that she
> still wanted to be paid for the full season, even though she wouldn't
> be in all of the episodes.
to be *on contract* for the whole season--JMS gave her a gentleman's
promise that she'd be written out as necessary, but she'd still have to
sign for all 22 eps--TNT rules and the like, I believe. That wasn't good
enough--she wanted contractural assurance, which JMS couldn't give.
I believe this is mentioned in the Lurker's guide.
--Jon, N9RUJ jnie...@calvin.edu www.calvin.edu/~jnieho38
"Lightfingered Garrett knew that greed was a sin
but twasn't his own that at last did him in."
RIP looking Glass Studios
Up yours, John Romero.
Jms at B5
>to be *on contract* for the whole season--JMS gave her a gentleman's
>promise that she'd be written out as necessary, but she'd still have to
>sign for all 22 eps--TNT rules and the like, I believe. That wasn't good
>enough--she wanted contractural assurance, which JMS couldn't give.
The reason for this is very simple: if you contractually pay someone 22
episodes worth for 18 episodes, that is a de facto per episode salary increase,
which would violate our agreements with all the other actors who had favored
nation status. Some of the cast came to me privately and said that if she were
to be allowed to do that and come back, *they* would leave the show.
Andrew Swallow
Denebeim) writes:
>
>Oh that's not fair, Claudia has had lots of work since then, she had
>that playboy spread and that guest spot on highlander, and... and...
>well, I'm sure she's done lots of stuff nobody has heard of.
>
I enjoyed her in 'Lives of the Cat'. Claudia and Pat have been making
a film together.
Andrew Swallow
Shaz
> >Uh, my understanding of it was that (at least partially), she didn't want
> >to be *on contract* for the whole season--JMS gave her a gentleman's
> >promise that she'd be written out as necessary, but she'd still have to
> >sign for all 22 eps--TNT rules and the like, I believe. That wasn't good
> >enough--she wanted contractural assurance, which JMS couldn't give.
>
> The reason for this is very simple: if you contractually pay someone 22
> episodes worth for 18 episodes, that is a de facto per episode salary
increase,
> which would violate our agreements with all the other actors who had
favored
> nation status. Some of the cast came to me privately and said that if she
were
> to be allowed to do that and come back, *they* would leave the show.
>
> jms
Hmm. So when you wrote out Stephen Furst so he could do that film, but he
was still contracted to do the whole of the season, did people threaten to
walk then? Or is this situation different?
Shaz
Jms at B5
>was still contracted to do the whole of the season, did people threaten to
>walk then? Or is this situation different?
No, it's totally different. Stephen said he'd really like to do this sitcom,
and could we let him out of his contract enough to do it? We said yes, and he
told us he'd be available for x-number of episodes. We said great, and he was
paid for the number of episodes in which he appeared. So we were always
willing to work that out.
Gharlane of Eddore
In <8prvqe$gi$1...@lure.pipex.net> "Shaz" <hyp...@Dial.pipex.com> writes:
>
> Hmm. So when you wrote out Stephen Furst so he could do that film,
> but he was still contracted to do the whole of the season, did
> people threaten to walk then? Or is this situation different?
>
Since Furst was NOT demanding to be paid for work he didn't do,
was giving *PRIORITY* to his B-5 work, and not putting on airs
over the whole thing, and willing to *talk* and take Joe at his
word, it was possible for Furst to not only take a couple of
weeks off, but to work in another TV series at the same time
"BABYLON 5" was in production!
Everett Ogden
everyone named in the closing credits should be paid extra if the
credits are chopped, or squeezed into a box too small to read, or spun
by too fast to read. And the composer should be paid extra if the
closing music is turned down or off to be talked over. Unfortunately
most networks and even some premium movie channels do some or all of
these things to squeeze in more ads, proving that they have no class.
It's getting so that the only way to see a show intact is to hunt down
the satellite prefeeds (which is how I watched much of B5 before it
went to TNT).
Everett Ogden <ogd...@global2000.net>