Not Again...

                              (Photo courtesy of Deadline Hollywood)

The ongoing Writers vs. Producers standoff appears to be going right down to the wire. On one side of that line is some give-and-take by both sides, then everybody goes back to work -- but on the other side awaits catastrophe. With the WGA/Producers talks suspended until April 25th, there will be just one week left to reach an agreement necessary to avoid the disaster of a strike. 

One school of thought considers this delay to be a good sign, indicating that serious proposals to bridge the gap are being hammered out by both sides in preparation for the resumption of negotiations. I sure hope so, but such brinksmanship can backfire if one side or the other balks for whatever reason -- and in that unhappy event, there will be very little time to regroup before they drive off the cliff together, taking the entire industry with them on a plunge into the dark abyss of a strike.

The last WGA strike lasted a hundred hard days, putting a big hurt on all of Hollywood and the industry beyond. There was considerable collateral damage -- we all paid a heavy price -- but those who were living paycheck-to-paycheck, unable to sock away a financial cushion, suffered the most. That was ten years ago, but the memory is still fresh, and nobody wants to feel that pain again. There's been some bitter grousing from below-the-line about what selfish, greedy assholes those writers are in bringing the entire industry to the brink of the unthinkable -- but there are two sides to every story, and from what I've read, the WGA has good reason to stick to their guns. Broadcast, cable, and the streaming networks networks have been raking in huge profits the past few years, while the writers -- thanks (among other things) to structural changes brought about by the ongoing digital revolution -- steadily lost ground. On its current glide path, the WGA health plan will go belly-up in four years unless the ground rules are changed. 

All those below-the-liners who are bitching about the writers need to stop for a minute to ponder how they would feel if their health plan was just four short years from bankruptcy. My guess is they'd be grabbing torches and pitchforks and voting to strike -- and they'd be right.

The upshot is this: if the producers aren't willing to share some of the wealth, there's going to be trouble for everyone.

Still, the merit of the WGA's argument won't make the juicers, grips, camera crews, script girls, set-dec and prop people, sound department, post-production workers, or any of the actors feel better should push come to shove with a strike in May. This won't be good for the non-union people in Hollywood either, because a lot of those suddenly out-of-work union crews will do whatever it takes to keep paychecks coming in, and if that means taking non-union jobs, so be it. I did my share of long hour, low pay, no benefits non-union work during the last strike, and although that sucked, I had no choice.* Shit rolls downhill, which means the entire Industry food chain will feel the immense pain of a strike.

As the old proverb goes: "When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled."

I hope it doesn't come to that. Yes, I'm out the game now, no longer dependent on work for my income, but a lot of my friends are still in the thick of it, and a strike will hit those people very hard -- and I really don't want to see that happen. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that come Tuesday, the WGA plays hardball, but within reason. Shore up the health plan and extract better compensation for writers who are now working seasons half the length they used to be -- and are paid accordingly -- but don't insist on winning every single battle with the Producers.  

Take some and give some, then get back to work with the rest of Hollywood. Please.

In other news...

It's come to my attention that the "Follow by E-mail" feature of this blog hasn't been functioning for several weeks now. It used to work, but now it doesn't, so those who signed up to have each new post delivered to their in-box probably think I've bailed on the blog. 

Nope -- I've been posting, but as usual, technology (especially free technology) can't be relied upon to deliver the goods, which (although this is entirely beside the point) is one more argument against computer-controlled autonomous cars, "smart" refrigerators, and the useless, absurdly over-hyped techno-bling bullshit that is the "internet of things."

Ahem...

I have no idea what's wrong or how to fix it. In my experience, sending an e-mail report of a problem to Blogger.com is every bit as effective as shouting "stop!" at the incoming tide on the beach. So if you want to read those and any new posts in the future, you'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way and click on over here to BS&T. 

Trouble is, those who have been depending on that "Follow by E-mail" feature won't receive this post, and thus never know that it's no longer working. So that's that, I guess -- those readers are probably gone for good. All of which just goes to show (as if we needed reminding), that if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself. 

You just can't rely on some stupid robot to get the job done...


* Jobs like this...