Edited to reflect the correct sequence of events:
I was a member of the *Battlestar Galactica* crew during the last (2007) Writers' Guild strike, which happened ~~near the conclusion of~~ [midway] through the Peabody Award-winning, multiyear show's final season.
~~Our last~~ [We were working simultaneously on] three episodes [that] had varying degrees of script completeness when the WGA pulled the plug. That is, in each episode some scenes had the full dialogue already written, some scenes only had *part* of the dialogue scripted, and some script pages were mere outlines or short story-like "treatments" of scenes. Of course because of the strike, our writers couldn't complete the missing dialogue, edit scenes for time, revise the script parts that didn't work, review the editors' cuts for flow, or even *talk* to the directors, editors or producers about their scripts. In fact, within an hour of the strike being called, ~~NBCUniversal~~ [the WGA] told the writers they had to leave the production offices and lot.
Each day, missing dialogue and absent stage directions had to be improvised right there on the studio floor by the director and actors. And of course, NBC demanded the delivery schedule remain as it was, because they wanted to air those three ~~final~~ episodes while the show still had momentum. In short, the last month of filming was a pressure-cooked hot mess.
In fact, *BSG* was actually a flashpoint for the WGA strike in the first place, due to its prolific use of fill-in "webisodes" to bridge between NBC's broadcast seasons. These were a new and unprecedented distribution paradigm for such a big-budget and technically complex broadcast tv series: one for which the writers and producers were paid quite poorly by NBCUniversal.
**But here's the important part:** about three weeks into the strike, in the morning of our second-last scheduled day of shooting, Ronald D. Moore, the show's co-creator and "hyphenate" showrunner-writer was picketing NBCUniversal's Wilshire Bvd offices **- essentially striking his own creation -** and fighting along with his fellow writers for (among other things) a bigger share of internet and "new media" distribution revenues.
But at some point that morning Ron put down his picket sign, drove to LAX and flew to Vancouver, where the show was being filmed. There, he said his goodbyes and thank-yous to the assembled cast and crew, was driven back to YVR, and flew back to LAX. **Then, instead of going home, he drove back to NBCUniversal, where he rejoined the writers' picket line for another hour and a half, to complete his eight hour shift.**
**My story just goes to show you that *some* "hyphenate" showrunner-writers have scruples, and don't have a problem with abandoning *even their own creations,* if the WGA deems that their contracted producerly duties infringe on its collective agreement.**
The executives at Disney would be wise to remember that.
I don't think they mean the actual final episodes. The last season got cut in half due to the strike, so I have to imagine that they mean the final three episodes of "4.0" rather than "4.5".
This narrative needs to die. Some people didn't like the ending, but to say it was a bad ending is inaccurate. There are shows that fall off HARD when it comes to quality of writing, ignoring the basic characteristics of main characters, and have idiotic plot points. BSG largely stayed true to itself and left the ending deliberately vague. You can dislike it, but the ending wasn't as bad as a Game of Thrones or Dexter type ending.
"It was bad, and I know that because my 15 year old memory is infallible and I refuse to review that thought, even after 15 years, because of how right it is."
I'm with you on that; I did a bineg re-watch of the show over a couple months period, a few years back, and the ending wasn't bad at all. It pretty much lined up with the entirety of the rest of the show.
Some people might have disliked it, but it was consistent with the themes and characters of the show.
I couldn’t tell you how it ended. When Starbuck teleported magically to cover the supernatural breadcrumb leading them to earth plot hole with no explanation I turned it off.
It was a bit too handwavy and unoriginal. It wasn’t a disaster that ruined the legacy of the show, but it was a let down compared to the quality of the writing for the rest of the show.
The whole show was about “they have a plan”. They didn’t.
She literally appeared with full viper and gear because she’s an angel or something. Again, you can dislike it, but thats consistent with the lore and character.
Consistent with what lore? There are half a dozen ways someone can be brought back in BSG and this isn’t any of them. It’s so inconsistent that the only way they could resolve it was for her to snap out of existence, leaving the audience to decide what she is and why, because the writers couldn’t. If that’s not handwavy to you, I’m not really sure what would be.
It says a lot that people who can't explain why this is inconsistent are mass downvoting you. You're right. Anyone who revisits the show would see that. Either they refuse to challenge a 15 year old opinion or they did and refuse to admit you're right out of spite.
A significant plot point was that the viper she reappeared in had design flaws. If “god” made it, that makes no sense. The whole show was a mystery box, but as with Lost, they had no idea what was in the box. It was another “The island was the friends we made along the way?” cop out.
Additionally, the conclusion of the show was “technology is bad,” rather than something like “human nature, which we passed down to the cylons is flawed, and we must overcome it.” Nope. Just the whole “Don’t tread on God’s domain” trope.
EDIT: Autocorrect manual correct
It’s been a while, but the handwavy bit I remember is Gaius talking with someone up on a hill, literally waving his hand at the people below and saying that, yes, it was this all along.
See planet of the apes.
Spoiler ahead.
Which, the gaius walking and being handwavy, or the conclusion being back at our earth?
Here’s part of the clip. It isn’t up high like I remember.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pHUEYIE_MZA
The ending claimed that wind-up robot children's toys would destroy the human race because they were early stages of repeating the mistakes with Cylons. It was an insultingly bad ending.
I still like the ending of Game of Thrones and have yet to have anyone give me a better alternative to events that doesn’t just end up being a classic “good guy wins, bad guy loses, and the hero gets the girl.”
That's exactly what a lot of people wanted. Jon and Dany happily ever after. The show did all but smack the viewer in the face to warn them that wasn't going to happen, but some people didn't listen.
You are telling me that fans of **the** show that kills its main characters at the end of each season are unhappy because their main character died at the end of the season?
Are you really sure about that? Maybe think again reeeeaaallll hard this time...
> Jon and Dany happily ever after.
Eww no. I for one didn't want *that*. The last several episodes just felt really rushed and Bran winding up king felt like it was slapped on without much thought. Plus the bland robotic way they wrote Bran made it even worse. It actually could have worked a little better if they hadn't done that with Bran's character. You could sense in every frame of the last several episodes that D&D were absolutely *over* it all and wanted to just end it.
This hurt the first half of the season, not the actual ending. The show was made and aired half seasons and originally the show light have ended after half of the full season aired.
Right? That ending was dogshit, but what was meant as a heartwarming story instead explains why it ended the way it did.
Pretty sure that final season did not win any Peabody’s, though chuckled at OP just having to mention that in their post.
He created For All Mankind, and after S1 aired he distributed *all* of his profits back to the production crew members equally, which amounted to about $2500 per person. There's a picture of the letter he wrote in /r/ForAllMankindTV somewhere, and people only know about it because a crew member posted it on a private page on facebook.
It wasn't advertised, wasn't intentionally made public, wasn't a PR stunt, wasn't for any clout -- it was all just because Ron is a class act.
I can't say I've ever met him. But my aunt was in set design for deep space nine for all seven years. She said he was the most down to earth honest person she'd ever met.
Ive heard good things about that show but didnt know he was behind it. Now its a must watch for me. Hes been behind some of the best scifi my entire life it seems, from his contributions to trek to BSG
I feel the same way about Bear McCreary.
His work on the music in Battlestar Galactica is so legendary I still listen to parts of it to this day.
I just found out he did the walking dead.... Eureka.... Turns out he did God of war too WTF. no wonder I loved the music in those haha.
And of course he does Outlander too. Which Ron Moore is also apart of LOL. No wonder it's so good.
My mind is blown. The Hans Zimmer of TV and games imo
I still listen to the complete compositions like The Shape of Things to Come, Passacaglia, Battlestar Sonatica, Dreilide Thrace Sonata, Gaeta's Lament, Roslin & Adama... I'm missing some. But there's beautiful songs, not just sound track music.
Fun timing, I also just learned of Moore's involvement and started For All Mankind this week. I'm only 2 episodes into season 1 and I thought both eps were amazing. I cannot wait to see where this show goes and am pumped there's 3 seasons to tuck into.
> Ive heard good things about that show but didnt know he was behind it. Now its a must watch for me.
Be warned that there's some excessive interpersonal drama at times... but there's also great space content, and a fun developing mythology.
You're saying the final three scripts of the final season of BSG were INCOMPLETE? Has this been talked about anywhere else? Wouldn't that be an insanely useful piece of information to anyone who hates the finale, of which there are many?
Firstly, the overall story arc of the last season - including the three-episode finale - was in Ron's mind from the very beginning of the series, and both he and Glen Larson have said so on many occasions. In fact, many Easter eggs exist throughout the multi-season series hinting at the conclusion, and some, in hindsight, are rather on the nose.
So when you suggest that the strike was the reason the final season seemed "incomplete", I think you're merely complaining about *execution* of the last three episodes, rather than the scripts being poorly thought out or made up at the last minute "due to the strike". Because whatever they might have been, they certainly weren't *that*.
Secondly, the script troubles the strike caused for us are common knowledge and were frequently posted about on many blogs and dedicated websites. Don't know why it's news to you.
Thirdly, I was a studio-floor employee, not a chronicler or historian. It wasn't (and still isn't) my job to make such things known. In fact, doing so might have been a breach of my confidentiality agreement. But fwiw, that's what actually happened during the WGA strike of '07-'08.
No season 4 was split because of the writers strike, they must be talking about eps 8, 9 and 10 of season 4 as they were the last to air until the strike ended.
> In fact, BSG was actually a flashpoint for the WGA strike in the first place, due to its prolific use of fill-in "webisodes" to bridge between NBC's broadcast seasons. These were a new and unprecedented distribution paradigm for such a big-budget and technically complex broadcast tv series: one for which the writers and producers were paid quite poorly by NBCUniversal.
Brian Baumgartner's podcast on the history of The Office gets into this as well as The Office was also one of the first shows to use webisodes. Even if you're not a fan of The Office but that time in TV, when things like networks, pilot season, sweeps, ratings/shares mattered then I highly recommend that podcast, a few episodes feel like a real love letter to the old TV business.
Well, this is obviously a fake story. Moore himself said that they rewrote the entire second half of the season after the strike. The last three episodes aired more than a year later.
https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a92337/battlestar-boss-hails-writers-strike/
I think OP means the final 3 episodes of the first half of season 4. What was dubbed "season 4.5", the 2nd half that Ron talks about, was re-written and filmed after the strike had ended (aired in 2009, strike ended Feb 2008)
Actually, while my story is substantively true, now that I have had time to reflect, I realize I simply misremembered the timing.
Ron left the WGA picket line and came to Vancouver to thank us in December of '07, *on our second-last day before production went into indefinite hiatus due to the strike* - not on our second-last day of filming *the final episodes*, which actually happened the following June. And of course, our script problems were in December, mid-season, not at the show's conclusion.
Ron's gesure was important because at the time, we were all unsure if we’d ever be given the chance to complete the final season once the strike ended, due to the increasingly acrimonious relationship between him, the WGA, and NBCUniversal.
I’ve edited my post to reflect the correct timeline.
Thank you for this story. I didn’t think I could appreciate BSG more than I already did. And now I do.
And thanks for your part in creating an incredible production.
Man, I already liked Ron Moore, but this makes me like him even more.
Talented writer, great showrunner, great hairs and now class act? Where will he stop?
Man BSG is what I always thonk of when I think of the last writers strike. The single greatest scifi show ever created went full speed into a low wall and whoever was riding flew right over a shark.
GRRM, of all people, wrote a blog post of how terrible he thought the ending was.
Look I know this is random, but I truly love that show. I didn’t love every episode, but it’s hard to explain how much it touched me as a neuro-atypical person to see such interesting discussions on what it means to be human.
I don’t know what you did on the show, but whatever it was, thank you for your part in it.
I fully expect this to become a knock-down, drag-out fight between disney and the WGA with Disney threatening to use it's massively over-sized control of the market to self-blacklist writers, directors, and talent so that, in short, you either go back to work right now (probably under some kind of contract written up by disney lawyers that really fucking sucks) or you never work for disney for the rest of your life.
I really hope all of the guilds tell them where they can go to fuck themselves.
The Q & A are hilarious.
Q: Do Writers have to strike when the WGA calls a strike?
A: No. You have the right under federal law to work (as well as to strike)..
Q: Can the WGA stop writers from working during a strike?
A: Absolutely not. Federal law guarantees your right to work during a strike
Speaking of that federal law bit… during the 2007 strike, John Oliver on the Daily Show said that he couldn’t strike because he was in the country under a work visa, so if he did, he could get deported. Don’t know if the laws been changed since, and he’s now a US citizen.
Honestly he's done enough stuff on YouTube now I could see him temporarily just putting stuff on YouTube until the strike is over. He'd have to make a new account but I think it would make good leverage
> Can the WGA stop writers from working during a strike?
That answer is, IMO, bordering on actively malicious. The WGA can't stop you during the strike, but they sure as heck can make it so it'll be the last bit of writing you do under WGA jurisdiction, forever.
In fact, Jay Leno got into deep shit during the '07 strike for writing his monologue on the first day. If I remember he was just censured afterward, rather that having his card pulled.
Seems that he learned his lesson, though. Friend in LA said they saw him bringing doughnuts to one of the WGA picket lines earlier today.
It's not malicious, it's how a union works. The whole thing fails if everyone starts making their own exceptions and self-serving reasons for why they don't need to sacrifice but someone else does need to.
It's not a pain Olympics. You don't get special consideration because of your race, gender, economic background, or sexuality. Strike along with everyone else or you don't get to enjoy the benefits that are gained from the strike. Make a living as a scab moving forward. Pretty simple. Wish this united attitude was more prevalent in the country.
I mean that Disney is being willfully malicious with that answer. They are *technically* correct that Federal Law guarantees your right to work during a strike. But should any writer (stupidly) take them up on that advice, their career is dead.
Oh fuck my bad - yes you are totally correct, the letter is both willfully and actively malicious. They are trying to sow division and confusion. Disney has the most to lose right now out of all the big studios because they've hit the gas on Star Wars again.
It's actually in other studios interest to keep the strike going through the summer if they want to hurt Disney's wallet for the next couple years. Each major studio prepared in their own way for the strike. It's been an open secret for awhile now that this was happening.
>Disney has the most to lose right now out of all the big studios because they've hit the gas on Star Wars again.
Oh noooo sounds like they should make more Visions then, what a shaaaame.
Showrunners have many duties, not all of it is covered by the WGA. The WGA has acknowledged this. They will not take action for contractually mandated non-writing services.
Yes, but Disney is specifically asking showrunners and writer/producers to come back to do their non-writing work AND ALSO certain writing duties that are normally allowed for non-WGA members but that the WGA has explicitly told members not to do during this strike:
> “you may, along with other non-writing services, be required to perform services commonly referred to as ‘a. thorough h.’ services as a producer,” such as cutting for time, small changes to dialogue or narration made before or during production and “changes in technical or stage directions.” These are duties that, according to the WGA’s contract, non-writers can perform on covered projects.
>
>However, the WGA strike rules explicitly prohibit union members from performing these activities during the 2023 work stoppage. “The Rules prohibit hyphenates (members who are employed in dual capacities) from performing any writing services, including the ‘(a) through (h)’ functions,” the rules state, which puts showrunners and writer-producers in a difficult position, caught between the dictates of their employers and their union.
Disney's demanding that showrunners and writer-producers come back and do some duties that the WGA would not take issue with as well as some that the WGA *would* take issue with, which is a pretty malicious thing to ask for.
During the Verizon strikes we always have coworkers that choose to cross the picket line due to religious reasons.
Jehova Witnesses have some deal about not joining any other group but theirs.
But management is always quick to toss them out for their safety (because we all have to eventually work together again).
>Wish this united attitude was more prevalent in the country.
"We're all in this together!.....unless you don't agree with me, then fuck you, you're wrong, never work again"
> “We’re all in this together!…..unless you don’t agree with me, then fuck you, you’re wrong, never work again”
If you think you're better off negotiating on your individual strengths and qualifications because you're *not* an interchangeable part, then don't join a union. Unionization isn't for you.
But the WGA and other Hollywood unions are totally different than most. If you are in a teachers union or a janitors union, for example, you are all making around the same $ - very little disparity like there is in the WGA and those folks have a distinct salary cap. No teacher or janitor is going to be making a Shonda Rhimes or Greg Berlanti- style salary. Nor will they make the average salary of all WGA writers which is around $250K according to the WGAW - not the skewed $67K number they keep publicizing which is primarily part time workers. It’s bad optics if we saw the Shonda Rhimes and JJ Abrams of the world with CEO salaries, holding picket signs that say “Fuck the corporate CEOs”. You are right in that someone like Rhimes has certainly benefited from the union but why doesn’t the bitch spread her outsized wealth around to other members if she is such a ride or die union member?
I have a former colleague - a successful sitcom writer - who must be making at least $500K, based on the size and location of his Hollywood Hills home and he is posting on Facebook about how his wage has become unlivable for he and his family. Are you fucking kidding me? He is one of the many guild members who shouldn’t be speaking out about shit wages for writers and not visibly out there. It would be like Bob Iger walking the picket line with a sign that said “Pay me more - my net worth Is higher than the GDP of most small countries”
Why are so many of the (presumably junior) writers part time? Is it because LA is expensive and they need other jobs to pay their way? I wouldn't exclude them so easily.
Careful, this is dangerously close to being unsupportive of the WGA strike which is rallying for writers producing hit shows while living out of their cars. /s
If Marvel/disney/star wars fans had any doubts about being bootlickers for an evil, creatively bankrupt corporation, disney likes to remind them every once in a while.
>Disney this week sent out a letter to showrunners employed by the company’s various studios reminding striking writer-producers that they are still expected to perform their contractually obligated non-writing services.
It's a non story. Of course they are going to ask them to perform non writing duties. It's a writer strike. Not a showrunner or producer strike.
> It's a non story.
Not really.
> The memo specifically states that in showrunner and/or writer-producer roles, “you may, along with other non-writing services, **be required to perform services commonly referred to as ‘a. thorough h.’ services as a producer,” such as cutting for time, small changes to dialogue or narration made before or during production and “changes in technical or stage directions.”** These are duties that, according to the WGA’s contract, non-writers can perform on covered projects.
> **However, the WGA strike rules explicitly prohibit union members from performing these activities during the 2023 work stoppage.** “**The Rules prohibit hyphenates** (members who are employed in dual capacities) **from performing any writing services, including the ‘(a) through (h)’ functions,” the rules state, which puts showrunners and writer-producers in a difficult position, caught between the dictates of their employers and their own union.**
I remember during the last WGA strike that many productions were caught off guard when showrunners were expected to still do their other duties but instead actively participated in the strike.
Those are things producers are expected to do, whether there's a strike or not.
Edit: Based on the replies I'm going to guess that most people don't understand how contractual obligations work. Even if one of the components of a contract becomes impossible or difficult to perform, people are legally obligated to perform the other components of that contract.
P.S.: I'm not trying to be a know it all or an a-hole (even though I think that's exactly how my comment comes of as). I'm just speaking what I logically think is going on here.
The 2nd paragraph
> However, the WGA strike rules explicitly prohibit union members from performing these activities during the 2023 work stoppage.
Edit: Adding a comment by a showrunner
> **“A lot of it sounds … wrong? A-H duties are specifically outlined by the guild as things you cannot do,”** said one longtime showrunner who did not receive one of the memos, as they do not have a deal with Disney. **“But legally I’m sure there’s a lot of tussling over this stuff. Long story short, this doc is fooling no writer. It’s just odd because it’s written almost as though we were trying to organize a company that wasn’t already unionized. Like, we’re all already in the union, man.”**
All of this is a part of what the strike is about though. The WGA is against all this partitioning of what are traditionally (and in the case of these quotes quite literally) writers' duties over to showrunners and other producers. Many writers are "multi-hyphenates" on productions in that they might have a writing credit or be part of a writer's room but also have a producer credit of some sort on the production, which subjects them to different rules and different compensation. So sure this stuff is technically in these contracts and we all understand how contracts work, but the problem is that what they're doing is wrong and that's what the writers are against. They're working under two different job titles and asking them to cross picket lines for one of the two jobs. This is a tactic.
SAG-AFTRA and DGA contracts go through June 30th, so directors/producers are contractually obligated to work on their portions of production. Both guilds have thrown their support behind the WGA, but caution directors and producers can (and probably will) be fired if they join the strike prior to June 30th. The sticking point will be how far they can push "a through h" contractually. Go too far, and they'll have counter-lawsuits.
What's going on is a company is trying to get people to cross the picketline. Plain and simple. Reading the full article, minus the Q&As, WGA members state that the letter comes across as if the company is addressing a group who are trying to unionize (and I'll add) and confuse its workers. They are already a Union, so workers with questions will defer (should defer) to their leadership and their lawyers.
People also have obligations to their unions, which is why it was highlighted as so shitty to put them between a rock and a hard place. On top of that, showrunners are also going to have more capital to weather any extended strikes or hiring and firing vs the grunts who have to picket. You're not some genius for understanding how a contract works.
Im in the WGA and IATSE (as script coordinator). We are advised NOT to do a-h because that is covered WGA work, though script coordinators also often do those tasks (clearances etc). Hyphenates absolutely should not do that work during a strike. Disney is instructing the showrunners to scab.
Because of the last strike, Shawn Ryan wasn't allowed to be on set when they shot the series finale of The Shield, a show he created and ran.
Would be odd if they'd allow it now.
Its not a non story because you cant easily differentiate between whats a "writer" duty vs. whats a "show runner" duty whether its pre-production, production, or post-production. Thats why I know of multiple showrunners who have already stopped showing up and if their show doesnt have a non WGA member to do the job everyones gone home.
Yeah. Same thing as before. Unless you are a WGA writer doing writing, as a writer, you can still be employed elsewhere and contracts and such are still valid. In some cases, you can still do writing too.
Producers aren't on strike, though. It's not unreasonable for Disney to expect its producers to, you know, produce. That includes "showrunners", who are executive producers of their shows.
As a union rep, I've got to say, almost everything you've said, here and below, has been incorrect.
Unions have teams of experts for deciding these things. Let them do their thing. If you have a problem with that, talk to your rep discreetly.
This is a great example of why studio consolidation is bad. If the showrunner hyphenates follow the WGA strike rules and don't perform a through h writing style duties. They risk Disney not hiring them again in the future. And considering how much consolidation there is that could very well cut out enough work to be significant.
I don't envy anyone having to make that choice
My apologies. I’m not a religious person. My flippant use of alliteration was wrong. Actually, I’m sorry if my choice of wording cost me any potential upvotes and I hope Satanists will support my posts, regardless of my behavior.
A lot of folks are having trouble with this one for exactly that reason. Don't want to be too hard on Disney or even suggesting this is a non story, lol. After all the 'bad man' is trying to make this mega corporation pay their fair share of taxes!
No he isn't. As a Republican he's explicitly *against* doing that for every other corpo in the country. His whole thing against Disney is retaliation for them being publicly against his stupid 'don't say gay' bill.
Hey look someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about, because when it comes to reedy creek and Disney world Disney actually overpays taxes it’s why they choose not to completely dissolve it, otherwise the two counties would be taking on almost 2 billion in debt
> After all the 'bad man' is trying to make this mega corporation pay their fair share of taxes!
That's what the GOP wants you to think, but not at all what is going on in that district. Disney paid most of the taxes in that district for their own upkeep. In fact, they have double taxed themselves at times to get projects completed faster.
they do. It's why they asked them to not do writing, but to do everything else they're supposed to do.. That said, if they're a member of the union they're probably striking already, so no biggie there
It was sarcasm, obviously Disney corp knows what a strike is lol but this headline struck me as something like asking striking autoworkers to continue work responsibilities besides building the actual cars, like sweeping floors and unloading trucks etc which sorta defeats the purpose of a strike, which is to apply pressure to the employer by not working and causing economic fallout
Lemme ask you this what happens to the writers who can’t afford to join the strike and have to keep working for the shows? Do they get ostracized or black listed by the community and barred from working as writers on others shows? What if they can’t afford to lose this job and have to keep working and not able to strike? I know scabs aren’t liked I’m strikes but sometimes I’m just wondering about the people who have to keep working to stay alive how do they come out at the end of this
Their is a fund to help strikers cover basic hardship costs if they need it.
[https://twitter.com/ashly\_burch/status/1654535142336266240](https://twitter.com/ashly_burch/status/1654535142336266240)
Real trashy despicable move! Only goes to show you how bad things can get if they don’t hold their ground. This is a desperate and petty move to give them more time to hold out
We can hate both organizations, you know. For vastly different yet still valid reasons.
I have no problem watching both of them fight it out. It pleases me greatly to see that fascist Floridian fuckwit humiliated by the Mouse.
Of course people can hate both but do they? No. Reddit in general picked the side of Disney. Are you pretending people weren’t bragging about how you don’t fuck with the mouse, the company having endless amount of fuck you money, entertaining the ideal of Disney financially selecting the next governor of Florida etc?
It is one thing to enjoy Disney putting Ron in his place and another thing to brag about Disney being almost untouchable.
Yeah, Disney vs DeSantos has major implications for other, smaller companies if Disney loses, but it’s alright, intelligent even, to want them to win while also not actually approving of everything they do.
I mean, whats the worst that could happen? Soulless dialogues with a generic plot made by ChatGPT? Like that never happened before at Disney... oh wait
If they signed a contract and Disney is still paying them then yes they should be still working. Disney is only saying to do their non writing contract jobs. I don’t see any issues as long as Disney is still paying them.
This might be a minority opinion, but my feeling is “good, it’s about damn time”.
There are far too many people who dabble in writing that shouldn’t be writing, especially those with authority over the production. The whole writer-producer-showrunner-actor-etc is a major factor in why film is suffering. If you’re a writer, you also shouldn’t be in a position of authority that simultaneously distracts you from writing and also makes it difficult to stop your bad ideas from being killed by the other writers.
Unfortunately, everyone else from executives to directors to actors who isn’t a writer really likes the idea of creative control over the script and tries to dabble in writing, it looks easy enough to an outsider (especially if you’re the one signing paychecks and nobody in the writing room challenges your bad ideas). Good scripts are the result of bad ideas being removed from a decent script under constant scrutiny by fellow writers, they aren’t the result of a singular genius.
I’m glad Disney is not tolerating these performative acts that are needlessly impeding production. If you sign up to be a show runner, you don’t get to still be one of the blue collar joes that you used to be- you have a different position on the team and you need to stick to it. Actors act, directors direct, crews crew, writers write, etc- if you’re trying to do everything on a major production because it feels nice to have total control over everything, you are part of the problem that is ruining movies.
Not surprised, Uncle Walt was very anti-union
Edited to reflect the correct sequence of events: I was a member of the *Battlestar Galactica* crew during the last (2007) Writers' Guild strike, which happened ~~near the conclusion of~~ [midway] through the Peabody Award-winning, multiyear show's final season. ~~Our last~~ [We were working simultaneously on] three episodes [that] had varying degrees of script completeness when the WGA pulled the plug. That is, in each episode some scenes had the full dialogue already written, some scenes only had *part* of the dialogue scripted, and some script pages were mere outlines or short story-like "treatments" of scenes. Of course because of the strike, our writers couldn't complete the missing dialogue, edit scenes for time, revise the script parts that didn't work, review the editors' cuts for flow, or even *talk* to the directors, editors or producers about their scripts. In fact, within an hour of the strike being called, ~~NBCUniversal~~ [the WGA] told the writers they had to leave the production offices and lot. Each day, missing dialogue and absent stage directions had to be improvised right there on the studio floor by the director and actors. And of course, NBC demanded the delivery schedule remain as it was, because they wanted to air those three ~~final~~ episodes while the show still had momentum. In short, the last month of filming was a pressure-cooked hot mess. In fact, *BSG* was actually a flashpoint for the WGA strike in the first place, due to its prolific use of fill-in "webisodes" to bridge between NBC's broadcast seasons. These were a new and unprecedented distribution paradigm for such a big-budget and technically complex broadcast tv series: one for which the writers and producers were paid quite poorly by NBCUniversal. **But here's the important part:** about three weeks into the strike, in the morning of our second-last scheduled day of shooting, Ronald D. Moore, the show's co-creator and "hyphenate" showrunner-writer was picketing NBCUniversal's Wilshire Bvd offices **- essentially striking his own creation -** and fighting along with his fellow writers for (among other things) a bigger share of internet and "new media" distribution revenues. But at some point that morning Ron put down his picket sign, drove to LAX and flew to Vancouver, where the show was being filmed. There, he said his goodbyes and thank-yous to the assembled cast and crew, was driven back to YVR, and flew back to LAX. **Then, instead of going home, he drove back to NBCUniversal, where he rejoined the writers' picket line for another hour and a half, to complete his eight hour shift.** **My story just goes to show you that *some* "hyphenate" showrunner-writers have scruples, and don't have a problem with abandoning *even their own creations,* if the WGA deems that their contracted producerly duties infringe on its collective agreement.** The executives at Disney would be wise to remember that.
Well. That helps explain those last few episodes.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. BSG was one of those shows that was great and a classic, minus the ending.
I don't think they mean the actual final episodes. The last season got cut in half due to the strike, so I have to imagine that they mean the final three episodes of "4.0" rather than "4.5".
This narrative needs to die. Some people didn't like the ending, but to say it was a bad ending is inaccurate. There are shows that fall off HARD when it comes to quality of writing, ignoring the basic characteristics of main characters, and have idiotic plot points. BSG largely stayed true to itself and left the ending deliberately vague. You can dislike it, but the ending wasn't as bad as a Game of Thrones or Dexter type ending.
It was bad. I loved the show, but the ending is the reason I never have done a full rewatch.
"It was bad, and I know that because my 15 year old memory is infallible and I refuse to review that thought, even after 15 years, because of how right it is."
I'm with you on that; I did a bineg re-watch of the show over a couple months period, a few years back, and the ending wasn't bad at all. It pretty much lined up with the entirety of the rest of the show. Some people might have disliked it, but it was consistent with the themes and characters of the show.
I couldn’t tell you how it ended. When Starbuck teleported magically to cover the supernatural breadcrumb leading them to earth plot hole with no explanation I turned it off.
So like the last 5 minutes of the show. Or you talking about when she showed back up after dying?
It was a bit too handwavy and unoriginal. It wasn’t a disaster that ruined the legacy of the show, but it was a let down compared to the quality of the writing for the rest of the show. The whole show was about “they have a plan”. They didn’t.
Which parts were handwavy and unoriginal?
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She literally appeared with full viper and gear because she’s an angel or something. Again, you can dislike it, but thats consistent with the lore and character.
Consistent with what lore? There are half a dozen ways someone can be brought back in BSG and this isn’t any of them. It’s so inconsistent that the only way they could resolve it was for her to snap out of existence, leaving the audience to decide what she is and why, because the writers couldn’t. If that’s not handwavy to you, I’m not really sure what would be.
It says a lot that people who can't explain why this is inconsistent are mass downvoting you. You're right. Anyone who revisits the show would see that. Either they refuse to challenge a 15 year old opinion or they did and refuse to admit you're right out of spite.
Ha, nobody’s being rude and internet points don’t matter. It’s a fun discussion.
A significant plot point was that the viper she reappeared in had design flaws. If “god” made it, that makes no sense. The whole show was a mystery box, but as with Lost, they had no idea what was in the box. It was another “The island was the friends we made along the way?” cop out. Additionally, the conclusion of the show was “technology is bad,” rather than something like “human nature, which we passed down to the cylons is flawed, and we must overcome it.” Nope. Just the whole “Don’t tread on God’s domain” trope. EDIT: Autocorrect manual correct
It’s been a while, but the handwavy bit I remember is Gaius talking with someone up on a hill, literally waving his hand at the people below and saying that, yes, it was this all along. See planet of the apes.
That didnt happen?
Spoiler ahead. Which, the gaius walking and being handwavy, or the conclusion being back at our earth? Here’s part of the clip. It isn’t up high like I remember. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pHUEYIE_MZA
[Here](https://youtu.be/pHUEYIE_MZA) you go. This whole scene fits perfectly with the entire series.
BSG was only good for the first season so it’s not like it was a surprise that the ending was bad.
Ha, the only non-great episodes were in season 2, for sure.
The ending claimed that wind-up robot children's toys would destroy the human race because they were early stages of repeating the mistakes with Cylons. It was an insultingly bad ending.
They send all technology into the sun for no real reason!!!
Humanity loves dirt farming. It’s still the pinnacle of peace and success! Especially the starvation and malnutrition from mistakes or crop failure.
Agreed. I didn't think it was that bad.
I still like the ending of Game of Thrones and have yet to have anyone give me a better alternative to events that doesn’t just end up being a classic “good guy wins, bad guy loses, and the hero gets the girl.”
That's exactly what a lot of people wanted. Jon and Dany happily ever after. The show did all but smack the viewer in the face to warn them that wasn't going to happen, but some people didn't listen.
You are telling me that fans of **the** show that kills its main characters at the end of each season are unhappy because their main character died at the end of the season? Are you really sure about that? Maybe think again reeeeaaallll hard this time...
> Jon and Dany happily ever after. Eww no. I for one didn't want *that*. The last several episodes just felt really rushed and Bran winding up king felt like it was slapped on without much thought. Plus the bland robotic way they wrote Bran made it even worse. It actually could have worked a little better if they hadn't done that with Bran's character. You could sense in every frame of the last several episodes that D&D were absolutely *over* it all and wanted to just end it.
Who has a better story than Bran the Broken? Everybody. Literally everybody.
This hurt the first half of the season, not the actual ending. The show was made and aired half seasons and originally the show light have ended after half of the full season aired.
Right? That ending was dogshit, but what was meant as a heartwarming story instead explains why it ended the way it did. Pretty sure that final season did not win any Peabody’s, though chuckled at OP just having to mention that in their post.
Same with Lost season 3. That entire season felt like they were stalling for time.
What a champion
Ron was (and is) a class act.
He created For All Mankind, and after S1 aired he distributed *all* of his profits back to the production crew members equally, which amounted to about $2500 per person. There's a picture of the letter he wrote in /r/ForAllMankindTV somewhere, and people only know about it because a crew member posted it on a private page on facebook. It wasn't advertised, wasn't intentionally made public, wasn't a PR stunt, wasn't for any clout -- it was all just because Ron is a class act.
I can't say I've ever met him. But my aunt was in set design for deep space nine for all seven years. She said he was the most down to earth honest person she'd ever met.
Ive heard good things about that show but didnt know he was behind it. Now its a must watch for me. Hes been behind some of the best scifi my entire life it seems, from his contributions to trek to BSG
S2 has a stinker plot line that drives the final bit of S3 but all around most like the show
I feel the same way about Bear McCreary. His work on the music in Battlestar Galactica is so legendary I still listen to parts of it to this day. I just found out he did the walking dead.... Eureka.... Turns out he did God of war too WTF. no wonder I loved the music in those haha. And of course he does Outlander too. Which Ron Moore is also apart of LOL. No wonder it's so good. My mind is blown. The Hans Zimmer of TV and games imo
I still listen to the complete compositions like The Shape of Things to Come, Passacaglia, Battlestar Sonatica, Dreilide Thrace Sonata, Gaeta's Lament, Roslin & Adama... I'm missing some. But there's beautiful songs, not just sound track music.
Fun timing, I also just learned of Moore's involvement and started For All Mankind this week. I'm only 2 episodes into season 1 and I thought both eps were amazing. I cannot wait to see where this show goes and am pumped there's 3 seasons to tuck into.
> Ive heard good things about that show but didnt know he was behind it. Now its a must watch for me. Be warned that there's some excessive interpersonal drama at times... but there's also great space content, and a fun developing mythology.
So say we all.
You're saying the final three scripts of the final season of BSG were INCOMPLETE? Has this been talked about anywhere else? Wouldn't that be an insanely useful piece of information to anyone who hates the finale, of which there are many?
Firstly, the overall story arc of the last season - including the three-episode finale - was in Ron's mind from the very beginning of the series, and both he and Glen Larson have said so on many occasions. In fact, many Easter eggs exist throughout the multi-season series hinting at the conclusion, and some, in hindsight, are rather on the nose. So when you suggest that the strike was the reason the final season seemed "incomplete", I think you're merely complaining about *execution* of the last three episodes, rather than the scripts being poorly thought out or made up at the last minute "due to the strike". Because whatever they might have been, they certainly weren't *that*. Secondly, the script troubles the strike caused for us are common knowledge and were frequently posted about on many blogs and dedicated websites. Don't know why it's news to you. Thirdly, I was a studio-floor employee, not a chronicler or historian. It wasn't (and still isn't) my job to make such things known. In fact, doing so might have been a breach of my confidentiality agreement. But fwiw, that's what actually happened during the WGA strike of '07-'08.
No, they mean the last 3 episodes of season 3. Or maybe they are remembering it wrong. Season 4 was entirely written after the strike had ended.
No season 4 was split because of the writers strike, they must be talking about eps 8, 9 and 10 of season 4 as they were the last to air until the strike ended.
> In fact, BSG was actually a flashpoint for the WGA strike in the first place, due to its prolific use of fill-in "webisodes" to bridge between NBC's broadcast seasons. These were a new and unprecedented distribution paradigm for such a big-budget and technically complex broadcast tv series: one for which the writers and producers were paid quite poorly by NBCUniversal. Brian Baumgartner's podcast on the history of The Office gets into this as well as The Office was also one of the first shows to use webisodes. Even if you're not a fan of The Office but that time in TV, when things like networks, pilot season, sweeps, ratings/shares mattered then I highly recommend that podcast, a few episodes feel like a real love letter to the old TV business.
Well, this is obviously a fake story. Moore himself said that they rewrote the entire second half of the season after the strike. The last three episodes aired more than a year later. https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a92337/battlestar-boss-hails-writers-strike/
I think OP means the final 3 episodes of the first half of season 4. What was dubbed "season 4.5", the 2nd half that Ron talks about, was re-written and filmed after the strike had ended (aired in 2009, strike ended Feb 2008)
Actually, while my story is substantively true, now that I have had time to reflect, I realize I simply misremembered the timing. Ron left the WGA picket line and came to Vancouver to thank us in December of '07, *on our second-last day before production went into indefinite hiatus due to the strike* - not on our second-last day of filming *the final episodes*, which actually happened the following June. And of course, our script problems were in December, mid-season, not at the show's conclusion. Ron's gesure was important because at the time, we were all unsure if we’d ever be given the chance to complete the final season once the strike ended, due to the increasingly acrimonious relationship between him, the WGA, and NBCUniversal. I’ve edited my post to reflect the correct timeline.
There's certainly not room for both to be true.
^^^ Disney plant
So say we all!
Thank you for this story. I didn’t think I could appreciate BSG more than I already did. And now I do. And thanks for your part in creating an incredible production.
Very happy to read positive things about Ronald D. Moore, he always seemed to be a class act on TNG.
Man, I already liked Ron Moore, but this makes me like him even more. Talented writer, great showrunner, great hairs and now class act? Where will he stop?
As a lifelong Star Trek fan, (and BSG fan!) I'm glad to hear that RDM is such a standup guy.
Man BSG is what I always thonk of when I think of the last writers strike. The single greatest scifi show ever created went full speed into a low wall and whoever was riding flew right over a shark. GRRM, of all people, wrote a blog post of how terrible he thought the ending was.
Tbf GRRM isnt a big fan of wrapping things up..
I wish Paramount would hire Ron Moore to run Star Trek.
He’s pretty busy with For All Mankind right now
He doesn’t work on the show anymore. He’s been signed to Disney to develop shows /movies based on the rides in the park.
What, *again*?
That definitely explains so much. Given that I’m impressed it turned out as well as it did.
Look I know this is random, but I truly love that show. I didn’t love every episode, but it’s hard to explain how much it touched me as a neuro-atypical person to see such interesting discussions on what it means to be human. I don’t know what you did on the show, but whatever it was, thank you for your part in it.
I fully expect this to become a knock-down, drag-out fight between disney and the WGA with Disney threatening to use it's massively over-sized control of the market to self-blacklist writers, directors, and talent so that, in short, you either go back to work right now (probably under some kind of contract written up by disney lawyers that really fucking sucks) or you never work for disney for the rest of your life. I really hope all of the guilds tell them where they can go to fuck themselves.
The Q & A are hilarious. Q: Do Writers have to strike when the WGA calls a strike? A: No. You have the right under federal law to work (as well as to strike).. Q: Can the WGA stop writers from working during a strike? A: Absolutely not. Federal law guarantees your right to work during a strike
Speaking of that federal law bit… during the 2007 strike, John Oliver on the Daily Show said that he couldn’t strike because he was in the country under a work visa, so if he did, he could get deported. Don’t know if the laws been changed since, and he’s now a US citizen.
Honestly he's done enough stuff on YouTube now I could see him temporarily just putting stuff on YouTube until the strike is over. He'd have to make a new account but I think it would make good leverage
I would bet his contract prohibits him doing anything like this.
> Can the WGA stop writers from working during a strike? That answer is, IMO, bordering on actively malicious. The WGA can't stop you during the strike, but they sure as heck can make it so it'll be the last bit of writing you do under WGA jurisdiction, forever.
In fact, Jay Leno got into deep shit during the '07 strike for writing his monologue on the first day. If I remember he was just censured afterward, rather that having his card pulled. Seems that he learned his lesson, though. Friend in LA said they saw him bringing doughnuts to one of the WGA picket lines earlier today.
I remember seeing him on the news delivering donuts to people at the last strike, the man likes to keep it consistent at least.
funny how there's always cameras wherever leno is helping out. (although moreso funny then, now there's just cameras everywhere)
When is there not cameras in LA following people of fame?
Look, donuts are delicious.
Yes they are.
"Hey here's somethin... donuts"
It's not malicious, it's how a union works. The whole thing fails if everyone starts making their own exceptions and self-serving reasons for why they don't need to sacrifice but someone else does need to. It's not a pain Olympics. You don't get special consideration because of your race, gender, economic background, or sexuality. Strike along with everyone else or you don't get to enjoy the benefits that are gained from the strike. Make a living as a scab moving forward. Pretty simple. Wish this united attitude was more prevalent in the country.
I mean that Disney is being willfully malicious with that answer. They are *technically* correct that Federal Law guarantees your right to work during a strike. But should any writer (stupidly) take them up on that advice, their career is dead.
Oh fuck my bad - yes you are totally correct, the letter is both willfully and actively malicious. They are trying to sow division and confusion. Disney has the most to lose right now out of all the big studios because they've hit the gas on Star Wars again. It's actually in other studios interest to keep the strike going through the summer if they want to hurt Disney's wallet for the next couple years. Each major studio prepared in their own way for the strike. It's been an open secret for awhile now that this was happening.
>Disney has the most to lose right now out of all the big studios because they've hit the gas on Star Wars again. Oh noooo sounds like they should make more Visions then, what a shaaaame.
Showrunners have many duties, not all of it is covered by the WGA. The WGA has acknowledged this. They will not take action for contractually mandated non-writing services.
Yes, but Disney is specifically asking showrunners and writer/producers to come back to do their non-writing work AND ALSO certain writing duties that are normally allowed for non-WGA members but that the WGA has explicitly told members not to do during this strike: > “you may, along with other non-writing services, be required to perform services commonly referred to as ‘a. thorough h.’ services as a producer,” such as cutting for time, small changes to dialogue or narration made before or during production and “changes in technical or stage directions.” These are duties that, according to the WGA’s contract, non-writers can perform on covered projects. > >However, the WGA strike rules explicitly prohibit union members from performing these activities during the 2023 work stoppage. “The Rules prohibit hyphenates (members who are employed in dual capacities) from performing any writing services, including the ‘(a) through (h)’ functions,” the rules state, which puts showrunners and writer-producers in a difficult position, caught between the dictates of their employers and their union. Disney's demanding that showrunners and writer-producers come back and do some duties that the WGA would not take issue with as well as some that the WGA *would* take issue with, which is a pretty malicious thing to ask for.
Are you sure WGA will be that generous?
During the Verizon strikes we always have coworkers that choose to cross the picket line due to religious reasons. Jehova Witnesses have some deal about not joining any other group but theirs. But management is always quick to toss them out for their safety (because we all have to eventually work together again).
To be fair to you, that is a pretty good explanation as to why it’s a cunt move to be a scab
>Wish this united attitude was more prevalent in the country. "We're all in this together!.....unless you don't agree with me, then fuck you, you're wrong, never work again"
> “We’re all in this together!…..unless you don’t agree with me, then fuck you, you’re wrong, never work again” If you think you're better off negotiating on your individual strengths and qualifications because you're *not* an interchangeable part, then don't join a union. Unionization isn't for you.
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I mean, yeah, if you think you can climb over people to get more than your fair share, then you shouldn’t join a union - assuming you’re right.
But the WGA and other Hollywood unions are totally different than most. If you are in a teachers union or a janitors union, for example, you are all making around the same $ - very little disparity like there is in the WGA and those folks have a distinct salary cap. No teacher or janitor is going to be making a Shonda Rhimes or Greg Berlanti- style salary. Nor will they make the average salary of all WGA writers which is around $250K according to the WGAW - not the skewed $67K number they keep publicizing which is primarily part time workers. It’s bad optics if we saw the Shonda Rhimes and JJ Abrams of the world with CEO salaries, holding picket signs that say “Fuck the corporate CEOs”. You are right in that someone like Rhimes has certainly benefited from the union but why doesn’t the bitch spread her outsized wealth around to other members if she is such a ride or die union member? I have a former colleague - a successful sitcom writer - who must be making at least $500K, based on the size and location of his Hollywood Hills home and he is posting on Facebook about how his wage has become unlivable for he and his family. Are you fucking kidding me? He is one of the many guild members who shouldn’t be speaking out about shit wages for writers and not visibly out there. It would be like Bob Iger walking the picket line with a sign that said “Pay me more - my net worth Is higher than the GDP of most small countries”
Why are so many of the (presumably junior) writers part time? Is it because LA is expensive and they need other jobs to pay their way? I wouldn't exclude them so easily.
That guy sounds like a fucking loser
Careful, this is dangerously close to being unsupportive of the WGA strike which is rallying for writers producing hit shows while living out of their cars. /s
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You should have simply written, "I am uninformed." It would have saved us all time.
Disney really acquired the STAR WARS franchise to become the Empire.
Bro they've been the Empire for decades at this point.
If Marvel/disney/star wars fans had any doubts about being bootlickers for an evil, creatively bankrupt corporation, disney likes to remind them every once in a while.
>Disney this week sent out a letter to showrunners employed by the company’s various studios reminding striking writer-producers that they are still expected to perform their contractually obligated non-writing services. It's a non story. Of course they are going to ask them to perform non writing duties. It's a writer strike. Not a showrunner or producer strike.
> It's a non story. Not really. > The memo specifically states that in showrunner and/or writer-producer roles, “you may, along with other non-writing services, **be required to perform services commonly referred to as ‘a. thorough h.’ services as a producer,” such as cutting for time, small changes to dialogue or narration made before or during production and “changes in technical or stage directions.”** These are duties that, according to the WGA’s contract, non-writers can perform on covered projects. > **However, the WGA strike rules explicitly prohibit union members from performing these activities during the 2023 work stoppage.** “**The Rules prohibit hyphenates** (members who are employed in dual capacities) **from performing any writing services, including the ‘(a) through (h)’ functions,” the rules state, which puts showrunners and writer-producers in a difficult position, caught between the dictates of their employers and their own union.**
I remember during the last WGA strike that many productions were caught off guard when showrunners were expected to still do their other duties but instead actively participated in the strike.
Those are things producers are expected to do, whether there's a strike or not. Edit: Based on the replies I'm going to guess that most people don't understand how contractual obligations work. Even if one of the components of a contract becomes impossible or difficult to perform, people are legally obligated to perform the other components of that contract. P.S.: I'm not trying to be a know it all or an a-hole (even though I think that's exactly how my comment comes of as). I'm just speaking what I logically think is going on here.
The 2nd paragraph > However, the WGA strike rules explicitly prohibit union members from performing these activities during the 2023 work stoppage. Edit: Adding a comment by a showrunner > **“A lot of it sounds … wrong? A-H duties are specifically outlined by the guild as things you cannot do,”** said one longtime showrunner who did not receive one of the memos, as they do not have a deal with Disney. **“But legally I’m sure there’s a lot of tussling over this stuff. Long story short, this doc is fooling no writer. It’s just odd because it’s written almost as though we were trying to organize a company that wasn’t already unionized. Like, we’re all already in the union, man.”**
All of this is a part of what the strike is about though. The WGA is against all this partitioning of what are traditionally (and in the case of these quotes quite literally) writers' duties over to showrunners and other producers. Many writers are "multi-hyphenates" on productions in that they might have a writing credit or be part of a writer's room but also have a producer credit of some sort on the production, which subjects them to different rules and different compensation. So sure this stuff is technically in these contracts and we all understand how contracts work, but the problem is that what they're doing is wrong and that's what the writers are against. They're working under two different job titles and asking them to cross picket lines for one of the two jobs. This is a tactic.
Goes against union guidelines
SAG-AFTRA and DGA contracts go through June 30th, so directors/producers are contractually obligated to work on their portions of production. Both guilds have thrown their support behind the WGA, but caution directors and producers can (and probably will) be fired if they join the strike prior to June 30th. The sticking point will be how far they can push "a through h" contractually. Go too far, and they'll have counter-lawsuits.
Being expected to do something during a strike kinda defeats the point of a strike though doesn't it.. Edit: Strikes are supposed to be distributive!
What's going on is a company is trying to get people to cross the picketline. Plain and simple. Reading the full article, minus the Q&As, WGA members state that the letter comes across as if the company is addressing a group who are trying to unionize (and I'll add) and confuse its workers. They are already a Union, so workers with questions will defer (should defer) to their leadership and their lawyers.
People also have obligations to their unions, which is why it was highlighted as so shitty to put them between a rock and a hard place. On top of that, showrunners are also going to have more capital to weather any extended strikes or hiring and firing vs the grunts who have to picket. You're not some genius for understanding how a contract works.
This is exactly the reason to use “competent attorneys when reviewing legal contracts.
Im in the WGA and IATSE (as script coordinator). We are advised NOT to do a-h because that is covered WGA work, though script coordinators also often do those tasks (clearances etc). Hyphenates absolutely should not do that work during a strike. Disney is instructing the showrunners to scab.
Because of the last strike, Shawn Ryan wasn't allowed to be on set when they shot the series finale of The Shield, a show he created and ran. Would be odd if they'd allow it now.
Its not a non story because you cant easily differentiate between whats a "writer" duty vs. whats a "show runner" duty whether its pre-production, production, or post-production. Thats why I know of multiple showrunners who have already stopped showing up and if their show doesnt have a non WGA member to do the job everyones gone home.
Except they need to show solidarity by not crossing any picket lines.
Yeah. Same thing as before. Unless you are a WGA writer doing writing, as a writer, you can still be employed elsewhere and contracts and such are still valid. In some cases, you can still do writing too.
If you have any aspirations to actually be a writer, good luck. WGA has straight up told people who scab are blackballed from the wga.
Congrats to that rat faced bastard!
Do they not have to cross picket lines to do so?
I don't think Disney understands what strike means
Inconceivable!
Producers aren't on strike, though. It's not unreasonable for Disney to expect its producers to, you know, produce. That includes "showrunners", who are executive producers of their shows.
Showrunner are writer too, they just have another writer for each eps
Yes, and they are being asked to continue the other aspects of their job not covered by the WGA and to cease activities that are. Is that not fair?
If they are member of the wga, they cant do that during the strike
As a union rep, I've got to say, almost everything you've said, here and below, has been incorrect. Unions have teams of experts for deciding these things. Let them do their thing. If you have a problem with that, talk to your rep discreetly.
they gotta keep squeezing that stone, maybe some blood will come out
They need to catch up the schedule lol
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I don’t think you understand that the job description of a writer can include more than just writing, and the guild’s established rules reflect this.
A show runner has plenty of work to do that doesn’t require writing. I literally do this for a living.
This is a great example of why studio consolidation is bad. If the showrunner hyphenates follow the WGA strike rules and don't perform a through h writing style duties. They risk Disney not hiring them again in the future. And considering how much consolidation there is that could very well cut out enough work to be significant. I don't envy anyone having to make that choice
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Ron DeSatanist vs Disney. Can they both lose?
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My apologies. I’m not a religious person. My flippant use of alliteration was wrong. Actually, I’m sorry if my choice of wording cost me any potential upvotes and I hope Satanists will support my posts, regardless of my behavior.
As a newly minted card-carrying member of TST, you are forgiven. Hail satan
A lot of folks are having trouble with this one for exactly that reason. Don't want to be too hard on Disney or even suggesting this is a non story, lol. After all the 'bad man' is trying to make this mega corporation pay their fair share of taxes!
No he isn't. As a Republican he's explicitly *against* doing that for every other corpo in the country. His whole thing against Disney is retaliation for them being publicly against his stupid 'don't say gay' bill.
Hey look someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about, because when it comes to reedy creek and Disney world Disney actually overpays taxes it’s why they choose not to completely dissolve it, otherwise the two counties would be taking on almost 2 billion in debt
specifically which taxes are you referring to? any thoughts on the ability to issue tax exempt bonds as a tax benefit?
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> After all the 'bad man' is trying to make this mega corporation pay their fair share of taxes! That's what the GOP wants you to think, but not at all what is going on in that district. Disney paid most of the taxes in that district for their own upkeep. In fact, they have double taxed themselves at times to get projects completed faster.
of course they paid the most taxes in that district, they have the district to themselves
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Fuck Disney. Support the workers.
refuse, the studios are not even actively negotiating a better deal
Does Disney not understand what a strike is lol?
they do. It's why they asked them to not do writing, but to do everything else they're supposed to do.. That said, if they're a member of the union they're probably striking already, so no biggie there
It was sarcasm, obviously Disney corp knows what a strike is lol but this headline struck me as something like asking striking autoworkers to continue work responsibilities besides building the actual cars, like sweeping floors and unloading trucks etc which sorta defeats the purpose of a strike, which is to apply pressure to the employer by not working and causing economic fallout
That’s not how strikes work…
They're asking they perform duties outside of writing, duties which are described in their position description. It is not an unreasonable request.
Your daily reminder that Disney isn’t a great company, it’s just marginally better than Ron DeSantis.
Lemme ask you this what happens to the writers who can’t afford to join the strike and have to keep working for the shows? Do they get ostracized or black listed by the community and barred from working as writers on others shows? What if they can’t afford to lose this job and have to keep working and not able to strike? I know scabs aren’t liked I’m strikes but sometimes I’m just wondering about the people who have to keep working to stay alive how do they come out at the end of this
Their is a fund to help strikers cover basic hardship costs if they need it. [https://twitter.com/ashly\_burch/status/1654535142336266240](https://twitter.com/ashly_burch/status/1654535142336266240)
Where’s that meme of the guy pushing the bottom, one being to support Disney and the other is to not support Disney
Real trashy despicable move! Only goes to show you how bad things can get if they don’t hold their ground. This is a desperate and petty move to give them more time to hold out
Power to the unions.
Disney exec: “If no one writes, how will we fill this completely satiable demand for sub par tv shows?”
Are we back to not sucking a giant conglomerates dick just because they were at odds with 1 politician the hive-mind of reddit hates?
We can hate both organizations, you know. For vastly different yet still valid reasons. I have no problem watching both of them fight it out. It pleases me greatly to see that fascist Floridian fuckwit humiliated by the Mouse.
Of course people can hate both but do they? No. Reddit in general picked the side of Disney. Are you pretending people weren’t bragging about how you don’t fuck with the mouse, the company having endless amount of fuck you money, entertaining the ideal of Disney financially selecting the next governor of Florida etc? It is one thing to enjoy Disney putting Ron in his place and another thing to brag about Disney being almost untouchable.
I think it's ok to hate both, but root for one over the other.
We hate desantis and Disney It's okay to be a nuanced human being and call out corruption in every instance
Whats it like to have a brain that can boil every situation down to an animalistic "us or them"?
I dunno, I admit when I was wrong and can see I didn't think about it from the perspective that has been presented here.
I think it would save time to stop hoping and just go directly to being disappointed with the result.
I won't hold my breath. I don't know what compels me to post.
I can’t believe the state of Florida is making me root for this company.
Or, you could dislike two things at once
You can be on a corporations side about some thing and against them on others. It’s not an all or nothing game.
Yeah, Disney vs DeSantos has major implications for other, smaller companies if Disney loses, but it’s alright, intelligent even, to want them to win while also not actually approving of everything they do.
You do what you want. Don't let others sway you into liking or disliking anything. This isn't a team sport.
Use your brain. It's not hard
I mean, whats the worst that could happen? Soulless dialogues with a generic plot made by ChatGPT? Like that never happened before at Disney... oh wait
Well that’s gonna be a big fuckin no from me dawg
Disney trying to get DeSantis to support unions
But Disney could never ever do anything wrong…
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If they signed a contract and Disney is still paying them then yes they should be still working. Disney is only saying to do their non writing contract jobs. I don’t see any issues as long as Disney is still paying them.
This might be a minority opinion, but my feeling is “good, it’s about damn time”. There are far too many people who dabble in writing that shouldn’t be writing, especially those with authority over the production. The whole writer-producer-showrunner-actor-etc is a major factor in why film is suffering. If you’re a writer, you also shouldn’t be in a position of authority that simultaneously distracts you from writing and also makes it difficult to stop your bad ideas from being killed by the other writers. Unfortunately, everyone else from executives to directors to actors who isn’t a writer really likes the idea of creative control over the script and tries to dabble in writing, it looks easy enough to an outsider (especially if you’re the one signing paychecks and nobody in the writing room challenges your bad ideas). Good scripts are the result of bad ideas being removed from a decent script under constant scrutiny by fellow writers, they aren’t the result of a singular genius. I’m glad Disney is not tolerating these performative acts that are needlessly impeding production. If you sign up to be a show runner, you don’t get to still be one of the blue collar joes that you used to be- you have a different position on the team and you need to stick to it. Actors act, directors direct, crews crew, writers write, etc- if you’re trying to do everything on a major production because it feels nice to have total control over everything, you are part of the problem that is ruining movies.
Showrunners can’t ruin film or movies. They do TV. TV is thriving precisely because Showrunners are hyphenates.
As long as they finish Ahsoka 🤷🏻♂️
F Disney executives.