For once, I thought it would be good news and nothing but good news.
The writers of Sit Down Shut Up are going back to work. Well, most of them, at least.
Nine of the eleven writers who walked agreed to a compromise deal with Sony. First, I’m going to talk about the deal they got and why their actions and achievements here are courageous and deserving of all of our applause.
And then I’m going to talk about how disgusting the latest WGAw press release is, as well as the irrational dogma behind it.
First, a quick sum-up. Sit Down Shut Up is an animated show produced by Sony. The writing staff wanted to work under a WGA contract, but Sony’s television animation arm is signatory to The Animation Guild Local 839 (IATSE). The IATSE contract is inferior to the WGA contract, so the writers walked.
When they did, I saluted them for their stand, and I wished them the best of luck, but I also pointed out that the legal ramifications of Sony’s deal with IATSE were such that it seemed nearly impossible that the show could even go WGA if Sony agreed. My hope was that the writers would get an IATSE deal on par with WGA standards.
After many weeks, 9 of the 11 are going back to work…yes, under an IA deal, but a vastly improved one.
The key concession from Sony?
Sony will pay them residuals as if it were a WGA show. They will not miss out on any residuals from reruns, New Media, DVD or any other form of applicable reuse.
Oh, wait. Sorry. Did I say that was the key concession? I was wrong.
This is.
Sony agreed to extend that offer to all WGA writers who come along to work for their television animation company.
(Correction: It’s actually better. They agreed to extend this offer to all writers who work for this particular show, and they essentially promised that all future Sony primetime animation would be under a WGA signatory company)
You see what these writers did?
They put their asses out on the line and made personal sacrifices, and they got something real and important not just for themselves, but for writers. All of us. If you get a job writing television animation for Sony next year, you’ll have them to thank. Each and every one of them.
They also worked out a deal where they would receive P&H through the WGA. Here’s how they did it: rather than get paid everything under the IA deal, they would receive less under IA, but then get that money back (and then some) via a blind script deal covered by the WGA. Pretty ingenious, actually.
Now, to be even more laudatory, it’s not like these writers were rookies at this sort of thing. These are decorated soldiers of the Jurisdiction Wars.
Two of the 11 walked off The Sarah Silverman Show on Comedy Central in order to win union coverage…and they did.
Another two walked off a former UPN show entitled Mission Hill, and they won as well.
Another one was one of the founders and principal editors of United Hollywood, the blog that did such a fantastic job selling our position to the public and the membership during the strike.
Two of them were the writers of the famous (or infamous, if you’re Nick Counter) AMPTP parody.
But wait!
There’s more!
Back when the writers of The Father of the Pride walked out for only three days under a similar circumstance, only to return under an IA deal that’s not as good as this one, the WGA, under the leadership of Patric Verrone, granted those writers the Meltzer Award for “extraordinary courage shown in their efforts to advance animation organizing.”
So if these long-time organizing warriors put themselves on the line for five weeks at considerable personal risk, survived threats of legal retaliation and the very real chance that their show and salaries would disappear, and then extracted an excellent deal from Sony that locked in full WGA residuals for ALL writers that follow them, you’d think the WGAw would throw them a parade, right?
WRONG.
See, this is the new WGAw, where the motto is “Give me perfection or give me death.” The America’s Next Top Model writers got a good taste of it (and their jobs died), and now these courageous writers…heroes, frankly…are getting their bitter spoonful too.
Here’s the press release from the WGAw.
The fundamental issue here was WGA jurisdiction. Every primetime animated show currently on the air has been done under WGA jurisdiction with terms enforced by the WGA. Every single one. In the case of Sit Down, Shut Up! Sony insisted on hiring WGA writers, and Sony execs repeatedly assured them the show would be WGA. When the writers were told it would not be WGA, they walked out and demanded WGA coverage. For five weeks, they faced continuous ultimatums and illegal threats from Sony, while at the same time Sony offered enhanced economic terms. Finally, when Sony offered to pay ‘WGA equivalent residuals’ and to give each writer up to $200,000 in additional compensation through a blind script deal, most of the writers decided to accept. We understand why they did so but wish they hadn’t. Had they stuck together we believe that they would have won WGA coverage for Sit Down, Shut Up! Two WGA members refused the deal, and we and their fellow writers applaud them.
Well. Let’s go through this, shall we?
The fundamental issue here was WGA jurisdiction. Every primetime animated show currently on the air has been done under WGA jurisdiction with terms enforced by the WGA. Every single one.
True. And irrelevant. All of those shows are produced by Fox. This is produced by Sony. The WGAw knows full well that this is apples and oranges, and simply saying that we deserve jurisdiction isn’t going to make it happen, especially when another union came in to that shop ten years ago, ran an election and won jurisdiction fair and square.
So that’s stretched truth #1.
In the case of Sit Down, Shut Up! Sony insisted on hiring WGA writers, and Sony execs repeatedly assured them the show would be WGA.
Here’s the thing. We’re not “WGA writers.” They don’t own us. I’m a WGA writer and an 839 writer. Depends on who hires me. So let’s dispose of that bit. Yes, Sony completely screwed up. And again, Sony screwing up doesn’t eliminate IATSE’s jurisdiction. If I promise to rent you an apartment I’ve already rented to someone else, you can be angry at me and you can sue me if you’d like…but the one thing you can’t do is kick the current occupants out.
When the writers were told it would not be WGA, they walked out and demanded WGA coverage. For five weeks, they faced continuous ultimatums and illegal threats from Sony, while at the same time Sony offered enhanced economic terms.
The WGA apparently brought the NLRB in on this question of legality involving the breach letters, so that’s far from resolved. We’ll find out soon enough. However, it’s definitely true that for five weeks, the writers struggled under serious hardships in order to stand up for what they believed was right.
Finally, when Sony offered to pay ‘WGA equivalent residuals’ and to give each writer up to $200,000 in additional compensation through a blind script deal, most of the writers decided to accept.
Welcome to the smear.
The WGAw makes it sound like these writers got $200K added to their compensation.
They did not.
That money was in lieu of some IA compensation, and not every writer will get that much.
The WGAw makes it sound like these writers decided to go back to work because Sony threw some cash at them, and they greedily caved.
They did not.
The $200K portion of the offer had been made weeks earlier, and the writers still remained out because what they wanted was WGA residuals for themselves and future writers. They expressly did not agree to go back to work because of the $200K. The WGAw is spinning that one 180 degrees.
The WGAw puts quotes around WGA equivalent residuals as if to imply that they’re somehow less than.
They are not.
Smear, smear, smear.
We understand why they did so but wish they hadn’t. Had they stuck together we believe that they would have won WGA coverage for Sit Down, Shut Up! Two WGA members refused the deal, and we and their fellow writers applaud them.
And what’s the basis for this belief that they would have wrestled coverage away from the union that had clear precedent and obvious law on their side?
No basis other than religious faith, apparently.
Yes, two WGA members refused the deal. According to the WGA, they are the only writers deserving of our applause.
Horseshit.
By the way, I have no problem with those two members not going back. They sacrificed, and they deserve equal credit for the compromise that got hammered out. And after all, it’s their career, it’s their lives, it’s their moral code, and they have every right to live by it. Deciding to go down swinging rather than compromise is a legitimate choice one can make for one’s self. In fact, one of the writers staying out is the partner of one of the writers going back. Goes to show you that even birds of a feather made different choices here.
But I’ll be damned if refusing compromise is the only choice we’re somehow authorized to applaud.
The WGAw needs to take a long look in the mirror. Our leadership loves to fight, no matter what the odds. And that’s nice if you’re a character in a movie. But when these quixotic battles use human beings as pawns, it’s time to stand up as members of this union and say “enough.”
Smearing writers who elected to go ficore apparently wasn’t a vulgar enough display of jingoism.
Now my union is spending dues money to smear full members…members who have made personal sacrifices for the rest of us…simply because they didn’t sacrifice to Patric Verrone and David Young’s liking.
And thus, if you wrote on Father of the Pride and Patric approves your return to work, you get a medal.
If you write on Sit Down Shut Up and Patric doesn‘t approve your return to work, then you get shit on in a Guild press release, beaten like a pinata on Nikki Finke’s site and falsely accused of petty greed.
That’s religious orthodoxy for ya.
But here’s the funny thing.
What the writers of Sit Down Shut Up (including the two who remain out) achieved for all animation writers–current and yet to come–is far more than Patric Verrone has achieved for animation writers since taking office.
So, apologies Patric, but I’m going to applaud them all.
Thank you Josh Weinstein, Bill Oakley, Rich Rinaldi, Aisha Muharrar, Alex Herschlag, Ken Keeler, Laura Gutin, Dan Fybel, Aaron Ehasz, Michael Colton and John Aboud.
You deserve better from your Guild. Maybe they’ll wake the hell up and give all of you guys the award you deserve.
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