To clarify:
August 11: Initial counter offer from AMPTP
August 15: WGA offers counterproposal
August 22: AMPTP publicly releases unchanged offer from August 11, ignoring WGA's August 15 counterproposal entirely
3/3 #WGAstrike#WGAstrong#1u
This bears repeating over and over and over. I’ve heard from 3 executive friends that the WGA had never countered to the AMPTPs offer. That the WGA negotiating committee is in over their heads. So you have to repeat this timeline as often as necessary so it eventually sinks in.
It takes a WHOLE room to make a great story. Some of my key players:
The yes and-er
The character keeper
The plot rememberer
The twist dropper
The action expert
The romance lover
The board wrangler
The page grinder
The caretaker
The notes decoder
The mathematician
#WGA#WGAStrong
David Zaslav and Other Execs to Get Bonuses Based on Free Cash Flow, Debt Reduction while Record Number of Hollywood Workers Face Evictions (there, fixed it). https://t.co/pzmtowk9RS
AMPTP members, check your emails! below is a copy of MY latest full update on the state of negotiations with the WGA cc @DEADLINE@Variety@thr@PuckNews@TheAnkler
(WATCH) Ron Perlman doesn’t hold back anything when delivering his remarks to supporters at the National Day of Solidarity rally in Burbank today #SagAftraStrong
Hey @sagaftra while we are on strike and cannot work, lets address some fixable issues. 1) The earnings qualification for health insurance. If someone makes above the threshold in a year to qualify and then falls short the next year, why aren’t they credited to for that overage?
My first 20 screenplays:
#1: Unreadable.
#2-4: BAD
#5: WTF was I even thinking?
#6: Pretty good! (optioned x2! Joined WGA.)
#7: BAD.
#8: Pretty good!
#9: Pro Level?
#10-11 Pretty good!
#12: Okay (Sold to WB)
#13: Okay
#14: Pro Level (optioned)
#16: Okay (pilot for NBC)
#17: Okay (produced MOW)
#18: Okay
#19: Pro Level (Optioned)
#20: Assignment. Nailed it.
Around here, I started to figure out this screenwriting thing a little bit. The fun part is I am still learning all the time.
I’ve been repped by 5 different agencies over 27 years along with five different managers.
I have takeaways!
Not the least of which is this:
I think having at least one younger and/or more openly aggressive rep on your team is vital.
Here is why… 🧵👇
🙋🏻 I am slated to lose WGA healthcare because I had to make $30k by June 30 to keep it and obviously watched the deadline come and go while picketing. Our leadership said from the beginning that a health insurance extension would be something they'd aim to negotiate
After casting Margot in three films in a row - SUICIDE SQUAD, TARZAN and FOCUS, she and her husband Tom, came to see me and asked me to support them starting a production company. All three of those films were made to support other talent and ideas. Not Margot. Suicide Squad was our IP and a writer director who had broken through on TRAINING DAY for us. And Will Smith. Not Margot. TARZAN was a bet on our star HARRY POTTER director David Yates. Not Margot. And FOCUS was Will again, but also a bet on the writers of CATS AND DOGS and directors of CRAZY STUPID LOVE. Not Margot. But she took the opportunities and shined brightly. She overdelivered on every opportunity she got. We gave them a first look deal at Warners and supported them every way we could. They worked extremely hard and have created a company in LUCKY CHAP with a real voice and differentiation. BARBIE is their first blockbuster, but not their first success. They are well on their way to becoming an iconic production company now. Good for them and mega congratulations on BARBIE!! (which was started and produced after I left. I had nothing to do with this success.). Being a studio executive is not a complicated job - support the talent you believe in (making sure to choose talent that creates positive experiences for other artists). Help them find material that fits their world view. Connect them with other artists that could cause a 1+1=3. Be constructive and fearless in your notes and feedback. Be trustworthy. Celebrate wins and provide comfort when things don’t work (as many projects won’t). Keep an eye out for new talent within those projects so that you can rinse and repeat. Who will emerge from BARBIE? Who overdelivered? America Ferrara in my opinion. What about yours?