Yesterday, while I was in Northern California enjoying the balmy weather (102 degrees), the office was notified that artists working on Sit Down, Shut Up were being laid off due to lack of scripts, but that there was hope they would be rehired soon.
"Why?" the TAG office asked.
"Because it looks like most of the writers have agreed to come back to work," was the answer.
Ordinarily we're cynics about these things, also ordinarily we keep our pie holes shut until there's some kind of actual end result and not just hearsay. But now the trades have picked up the scent:
The month-long stalemate at Fox's new animated series "Sit Down, Shut Up" could be headed for a resolution, with most of the show's writers said to favor an agreement with producing studio Sony Pictures TV. Sony recently approached the scribes with a new version of the deal it offered them June 23. While the current proposal is said to include a more generous package than what's been previously presented, it is said to keep the main deal points from the previous offer intact, including maintaining the show's status as a signatory to IATSE, not the WGA. On June 12, the 14 writers on "Sit Down" walked out in protest of IATSE's jurisdiction over the show and in pursuit of coverage by the WGA. The writers claimed that they were misled by Sony that they would be covered by the WGA. Meanwhile, Sony has maintained that its TV animation division, Adelaide Prods., which produces the series, is a longtime signatory to IATSE.
Not all "Sit Down" writers are said to be on board for the modified proposal. At least two of the scribes, including one of the exec producers have declined it, meaning that if a deal is reached, not all original writers will return to the animated show, an adaptation of a live-action Australian series ...
For the sake of a lot of folks who will lose jobs, pay and benefits if the show slides beneath the waves, we hope that agreement can be reached.
We'll relay news each time we stumble across some.
Posts
11 comments:
"We'll relay news each time we stumble across some."
Are those really the words you want to be typing? Shouldn't the union be more proactive in doing everything it can to keep these artists working and helping to resolve this situation.
Just wondering
Yeah!!! Go in there and beat those writers and execs until they agree to keep the artists employed! Now that's a strong ass union!!
Perhaps the wondering poster could suggest what TAG might actually do to keep those artists working and resolve the situation? This is a mess between Sony and some writers who don't want to join TAG. So where's TAG's leverage?
I wish there were another weaker writers union from which I could leverage better artist terms for my own small piece of the team effort.
"We'll relay news each time we stumble across some."
Are those really the words you want to be typing? Shouldn't the union be more proactive in doing everything it can to keep these artists working and helping to resolve this situation.
A joke. It was a (badly played?) joke.
Hard to believe, but we don't have a hell of a lot of control over this situation ... beyond getting out information as it breaks.
Neither does any other union or guild we know about. (You'll note that the clarion call by high profile animatioon scribes for SDSU writers to stand tall and resist has -- apparently -- not been embraced.)
I am starting my own. It's called WAFTRA, and we're currently in negotiations with Nick Counter and Nikki Finke to increase anonymous blog poster residuals to .0000000001.
Call me naive, but shouldn't a Union of any worth have say in whether or not a company can continually start and stop one group of members(the artists) while they try to figure out their deal with another group? Whatever the situation with the writers is, should Sony be allowed to put your artist members on hold so frivolously while they deal with it? Aren't there any union guidelines designed to protect the artists that Sony agreed to work within when they became a union shop?
Alright, now go ahead and call me naive.
Well, not naive, but perhaps not well informed. Do you think Sony or any studio would agree to a union contract that required them to pay multiple groups of workers while they were negotiating with another group of workers? Do you think the DGA or the WGA or the Teamsters have deals where their members get paid while production is stopped because the studios are negotiating with actors?
Call me naive, but shouldn't a Union of any worth have say in whether or not a company can continually start and stop one group of members(the artists) while they try to figure out their deal with another group?
Anon. right above nails it.
Labor law is such that companies can't simply relace one collective bargaining agreement with another when the spirit moves.
Generally (and it's "generally", not "always" because we're talking human institutions here), the contract that's in place is the one that prevails.
It's why an IATSE person who works under the DGA's jurisdiction becomes DGA and joins the Directors Guild pension plan, why a WGA member who works under SAG's jurisdiction joins that organization, and so on.
For it to be any other way would be to invite chaos.
Since I don't have an Artful Writer account, I have to ask about your posts there.
[The WGAw's] first contract for animation was in ‘97, when it negotiated a term deal with Fox for “The Simpsons” and other Fox animated shows.
I thought the daytime DiC series Pocket Dragon Adventures was the first WGA covered animated show.
Then in Spring of 98, the WGA organized The PJ's at Imagine TV with their MBA. It wasn't until late Summer of 98 that they organized all the writers covered under Fox-owned primetime shows including The Simpsons.
I believe you're correct. The first WGA animation deal was a concessionary contract (i.e., no residuals, lower minimums) on "Pocket Dragon Adventures." Then came the Fox prime-time shows soon after.
Post a Comment