Posted on 01/11/2008 1:45:42 PM PST by bahblahbah
Longtime Hollywood publicist Julian Myers will turn 90 soon. And he worries the end may be near ... for Hollywood.
Myers frets that the WGA stalemate -- with all of its acrimony, vitriol and job losses -- is a harbinger of ill things for the industry.
"The strike impasse is speeding the end of Hollywood filmmaking and television production," says Myers, who has been working in the biz since 1939 and is still an IATSE member. "There are more union contracts coming up for renewal, and already unionists are crossing union lines. IATSE is urging its members to go right on through. Insults are being exchanged, faces will be bashed and fatalities are a possibility."
Myers, of course, remembers when such confrontations were more common. He recalls participating in a 1946 strike in which 900 unionists were arrested in front of Warner Bros. Studios and bussed off to a Burbank jail.
Now, with tensions again running high, Myers worries that the town might be consumed.
"Does a dying Hollywood need a civil war today to hasten its erosion?" he asks.
Some people think the last great movie was ‘The Sound of Music’.
There is plenty of work if you're not hamstrung by a union.
Oh yeah! I forgot about that one!
In all fairness, my wife did compel me to see "Titanic". I wonder how long ago that one was out. It was in fact the last movie I watched. This is partly because later titles did not sound like they would interest me all that much, and also, the movie theaters lost their allure. Paying a lot of money for overpriced popcorn, while sitting in a dark, wheezing, plague-ridden mob of consumptives and barking seals during flu season kind of turned me off to the whole thing.
Then, by the time Hollywood tried to tell me how to think and vote, their credibility with me had aready faded.
Awards ceremonies, orgies of self-worship for the Beautiful People, did the rest.
The DGA just announced they’re starting formal negotiations with the companies tomorrow. They’ll get it done fast and that’ll be that, let’s hope.
Great bumper sticker, BTW. Where can I get one?
He may be right.
Just like the news media is being churned and thrown-over by new ways of reporting and disseminating the news, the same thing will happen to the entertainment media.
The little guy will be able to broadcast television shows and make movies and, eventually, compete with Hollywood.
Already most of the celebrity function has become unhinged from the “movie star” world. Britney, Paris, supermodels, myspace, etc. will continue to provide the new tabloids with the new celebrity chatter.
The days of having to pitch a show to studio bosses is over. Even George Lucas says he is now going to make films the new way-—low budget, for streaming on the internet or whatever.
Hollywood is so yesterday.
If you ever look around the indie music scene, you’ll find that these days even your average garage band can make “records” that find appeal through the internet.
The same will start happening with movies. Yeah, they won’t be epic, special effects movies. But stories that people enjoying watching-—those will start getting made and broadcast by the average dude just like indie music.
It’ll be great.
The only thing I’m missing is 24.
Oh, what ‘filth’ has my cousin (a good Catholic) written? ‘Toy Story 2’.
It’s been a crap product for the last 25 years anyway.
The text is from the President of the IA, Tom Short, and the rest I added including the Local 80 and 728 bugs.
When I say “support from the public,” I mean those surveyed who know and care about the issue. The general public - that is to say, noncombatants outside Hollywood - rightly have much more important things to worry about. Such as Brittany’s mental health issues.
The Weinstein Company agreed to the WGA terms today. The DGA and SAG memberships are very much in sync with the WGA on this issue. I have been a WGA member since 1981. I have been through three strikes before. This one is different.
Yes, although I think the WGA did do a generally good job of coordinating with other unions, its relationship with IA has been strained.
I hate the fact that a strike was necessary, but I do support the WGA leadership’s decision. We made our bed and must lie in it.
And I’m sorry that below-the-line crew members are also suffering. But you must understand that the AMPTP proposals were so reactionary that had the WGA agreed to them, it would have wiped out 40 years of progress.
There is a good chance that the DGA will get a deal without a strike, and that the terms of that deal will be workable for the WGA, which could bring about an end to the strike. I say this primarily because the DGA has never gone on strike before.
But of course there could be a first time for everything...
Good post. Now I understand the writers strike better. It hasn’t impacted me until today when I found out that 24 is canceled for this year. It’s my only “must see” TV show and the writers have killed it along with your job for the time being and jobs of countless others
That's why everyone below-the-line is pissed off and won't ever forget this. They could have done it sooner or later but they did it now and they spout off all sorts of Marxist agitprop about this being a labor struggle. That's bullshit and they know it.
This was about getting a raise not fair wages.
They can suck it and they better never come on the set if they know what's good for them.
Hollyweird would’ve been bankrupt a decade ago if the copyrighted works of old that they continue to profit from had lapsed into the public domain AS WAS AGREED at the time of creation and sponsorship.
They have “classics” made by dead people that still bring in the dollars on cable, broadcast tv, home video, and limited theatrical rerlease, plus merchandising.
There aren’t as many “classics” from the past 40 years. The goal today is make your money back in the first week or bury it.
I hope the strike ends. They do make a bucket load of money — the celebs, directors, producers, — all the top people make way too much money.
Someone tell me why Brad Pitt is worth over $100 million? He’s talentless and his HO is worth about $70 million to tell US how to live our lives?
I really really hate celebs, and idiots like them make my blood boil. They should NOT have that kind of money.
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