The AMPTP website is worth a few posts. No one has written about the subtext of everything on there.
Here’s a first stab.
The questions they put on their Frequently Asked Questions were surprising to me. I went to their site to find their side of the story right away. My questions, as a non-WGA writer were more along the lines of:
When will the AMPTP take their heads out their asses?
How long can the AMPTP afford to refuse to negotiate during a strike before it starts to really ouch them good?
Under the jump is what they list as Frequently Asked Questions and what I think of them.
1. How do I apply for “Financial Core” membership if I am not currently a member of the WGA?
2. As a showrunner, can I be fined for crossing a picket line to work on my show
3. As a hyphenate, I assume my employer expects me to perform my non-writing duties?
4. Can I (as a WGA member) continue to work during a strike?
5. Can the WGA fine me or impose other discipline if I work during the strike?
6. What happens if I resign from the WGA?
7. Can the WGA prohibit me from resigning during a strike
8. After a strike, can the WGA prevent me from working if I resigned?
9. How does someone resign from the WGA?
10. If I am not a WGA member and write during a strike, am I banned from working in the WGA jurisdiction forever?
Questions 1 & 10
are aimed at people like me. People who write right now and might even have screenplays and television projects ready to sell. All those playwrights, film school graduates, and people who’ve been optioning projects or doing rewrite work that hasn’t fallen under the Writers Guild of America jurisdiction — yet.
For features, this could be pretty bad, but only in small ways. There could be spec sales from emerging writers. Dialog rewrites could be done by penniless playwrights who can really deliver.
For television, the damage of scab writing would probably be less. Networks generally prefer to buy pilots from breakout television writers who have no series writing experience if there’s an experience showrunner/writer who can “guarantee” a show. That is, be a built-in quality assurance expert to finish and polish and write scripts.
This is highly unlikely – unless there are enough showrunning writers who also go Financial Core (Fi-Core).
Emerging, non-union writers who scab during a strike will probably find it tough to work. The AMPTP doesn’t discuss a few basic realities. Getting that first job is tough – and that first job or two credentializes you for the next. Having credits from the strike would be a bit of a problem. Everyone will know you’re a scab.
Pay for non-union work, of course, sucks. And the working conditions are pretty awful. And as for credits? One of the most important things the Writers Guild of America does is secure the byline for writers. Non-union work could stigmatize an emerging writer and yet also not give them any credit. And pay worse.
Questions 2 & 3
are for the writer-producers, writer-directors, and writer-actors in the WGA. This part of the FAQ was designed to deter these people from working.
Obviously, the FAQ was not effective in dissuading the hyphenates from walking out.
Questions 4 through 8
focus on how to go Fi-Core and what the repercussions are.
However, they are incomplete.
One of the biggest repercussions of going Fi-Core, from my perspective, is that it makes you completely voiceless. You benefit from the negotiations, but cannot weigh in on them.
Let’s say the strike is resolved right after you go Fi-Core. Three years down the line, let’s say you’re still able to get a job – as one member of a writing duo for features, or a job on a hit TV show, or you’ve sold a script and someone else is doing the last rewrite after receiving the green light.
The WGA approaches the deadline for renegotiating the Minimum Basic Agreement with the AMPTP. And the vote comes up again – should there be a strike? The WGA calls for a vote.
Guess what? You can’t vote. You can’t participate in meetings and speak out and dissuade fellow WGA members from striking again.
So even though, technically, you would be able to work, your writing partner could not. Your rewriter for your feature could not. Your showrunner boss could not. When they don’t work, your projects and your career will STILL stall out. But this time, you won’t have a voice or a vote.
The Bottom Line
The AMPTP tries to make going Financial Core (scabbing) sound good but leaves a lot out.
Image by Steve Nelson via Flickr.
