Agents Do the Darndest Things

One of my favorite parts of Comic Con is the Professionals Lounge. There you can rest your weary feet from fighting your way through 125,000 people without getting down and sitting on the floor in hallways which have no chairs. You can meet up with friends whom you can't find in the 125,000 crowd and multiple rooms holding 4,000 to 6,500 people and you can meet new friends. You can have a cup of coffee without waiting in the long lines for the one Starbucks in the convention center, have meetings, and most important of all, actually hear the person you call on your cell phone. Definitely one of my favorite places at Comic Con -- it's sanctuary.

This con I had an encounter that is just one of those typically absurd quirks of Hollywood. It started with a nice conversation with a writer in the Professionals lounge. He told me about the novel he was writing and I told him about how I was going to turn a script I had shelved in the mid nineties into a novel -- because a TV and film writer friend suggested I do that. I mentioned how surprised I was that the friend had even remembered reading it, let alone continued to think highly enough of it to suggest I turn it into a novel, but that all is a different story so I don't want to dwell too much on it here.

There was an added bonus to talking to this writer because he was easy on the eyes and long-haired -- a winning combination for me (hey, I'm a red-blooded American female, so sue me for thinking like a female.) -- so later when I ran into him on the convention floor, I, of course, said hello and some quick amusing quip. He was with a woman, whom he introduced as his agent. After he told her my name, she turned to me and quite blatantly asked me what I did. So I told her, I'm a writer. She literally jumped backwards away from me, saying "Uh-oh."

She was gone before I could say, "Hey, you asked me... I didn't jump in with that."

You would think that if she were that afraid that the mere meeting of a writer would put her in jeopardy of being chased for representation, she would read the badge first. That a badge that says "Professional" on it at a convention with professional writers and artists would stand a good chance of being on a WRITER. And if you were laying low from writers, you wouldn't go asking them what they did for a living the moment you meet them. Or at least I wouldn't, if I didn't want to know.

Guess that's Hollywood, though.

Strike Ends

The strike is over by a 92.5 % vote. Showrunners were allowed to return to work yesterday, pending a positive outcome of the vote which happened today; the rest of the WGA writers will return to work on Wednesday.

I was pleased that Patric Verrone and the negotiating team allowed the membership to vote to lift the restraining order which sent the membership out on strike, even though their guild rules say the negotiating team can do so without a vote from the membership.

From what I heard of the deal presented to the membership Saturday night, it wasn't a great deal... I'm not even sure it was a good deal. It didn't seem like much better than the DGA deal, except for some window-dressing, and it seemed to lose sight in some areas that I don't think the DGA deal did.

However, it does come down to something Patric said when the strike started... when he took the DVD issue off the table to accommodate the AMPTP and they still walked: that it would come down to how much the membership was willing to fight for.

In an earlier post here, I talked about how much I admired Russell Means for standing up against bullets and possible death for his beliefs concerning his Native American people. I'm not sure I could suffer the pain of injury he went through nor the fright of possibly dying for a cause. So he looms large for me.

Here, writers were not facing bullets, but they were facing financial hardship and even ruin for themselves and many other people in the industry. So they have to decide how much they are willing to risk to keep fighting, will continuing the fight gain them more, and if the deal they got is good enough.

I don't think anyone likes the 17/24 free window in which the studios can run content, with paying adverts, without paying residuals, and I was surprised that the writers caved on this when Patric and others insisted that this was so bad in the DGA deal. I thought a much fairer window would be 7 days... like to the next episode of a series. Or to the next weekend premiere of a movie. That to me seems like real advertising. I'm surprised that the majority of writers figured in the end that three-four weeks was okay. Perhaps it was something that the studios wouldn't budge on, but I don't see that there was anything that they gave the writers in exchange.

But worse than that, in my opinion is the lack of a sympathy strike provision and the changing of the expiration date to May 1st which essentially takes away all future leverage of holding the Awards season and TV season hostage. If people thought that the studios and conglom owners could starve out the strikers now, then they have just given them the tools to starve workers out even better in the future. Strikes only work when THE SIDE BEING STRUCK HAS SOMETHING TO LOSE BY THE STRIKE and the change of expiration date takes away all the leverage the writers had. In three years, the writers and rest of the industry will be starved out long before the studios feel even the pinch that they felt today. But I know it's hard to suffer hardship now for a future day which may not come to pass. It requires fortitude and courage of the kind that people who shed their blood in the Revolutionary War and Civil War had, that all freedom fighters have.

Although I'm glad that they tried to get the sympathy strike clause, I never thought there was a snowball's chance in hell of them actually getting it. Just think, if all unions could have walked out at the same time, all the screens would go blank across this country. The moguls wouldn't know how to put a TV show physically on the air or have the time to drive each can of film to the theaters, let alone know how to thread it into the machines. How long would the strike have lasted then? That kind of solidarity between unions is something management will never allow again.

That has been the real tragedy of unions in this country and how their effectiveness has been blunted. I can't imagine why they allowed their effectiveness to be eroded thus but I also can't judge why it was given away by so many unions, because I suspect that was the only way they could get decent contracts in the past, and they had to make the same decisions that the writers have to make today: is it worth more suffering to keep fighting for what you believe in or is the offer good enough to live with? While one can understand that it might have been an impossible fight, for management might let the strike continue to doomsday rather than allow that right, it certainly makes it harder for working men and women to stand up against management today.

The other thing that bothers me about this deal is the neglect to get the favored nations clause written into it. Much has been touted that the DGA couldn't have made their deal even as good as it is without the WGA striking and that the WGA did better, however slim that was. And now the way I understand it, the DGA will get the better deal through favored nations. For those who have the hopes that SAG can build on what the WGA got and make a better deal, and hence it will trickle down... they are in for a surprise... there is only a handshake deal on new media favored nations and on no other area -- and we know how good handshake deals made in secret rooms with no paper trail or public/press attendance are. I suspect that if SAG makes a better deal on DVDs or even new media or whatever, the DGA will get that deal through favored nations and the WGA will be left out in the cold, wondering what happened. And that 7.5% of the membership who voted no will tell them -- you caved too quickly.

So, because this is a contract where writers have to decide if the deal is "GOOD ENOUGH" for them to end the strike, I'm glad they were given the opportunity to vote on it, so that the results become really the will of the membership. Apparently, it was good enough -- the vote was overwhelming. Now the writers have ten days to ratify the deal. Obviously, it will be -- how could it not? They gave away the last of their leverage... the Oscars are going ahead as planned, episodes to finish out the season are starting up... and there is no way they can jump-start another walkout if somehow enough decided the deal wasn't good enough and voted no. So it's pretty safe to say that it seems a done deal.

The above photos of Patric Verrone walking and the still united crowd show how elated people were on this last day of picketing at NBC Burbank Studios. Through cold and rain, they had kept the faith and now this would be the last time they had to do it. Spirits were definitely up.

I loved Patric's sign, which said, "I'm not talking." That's because he was walking the line on Friday and the big meeting was on Saturday night, where everything would be explained. He looked exhausted and I don't think he wanted to face bombardment. And he shouldn't because goodness knows, he put up a helluva fight for the writers.

Interestingly, this is the first time that I'm actually happy with the way I look in a photo from this windblown, sunbaked, exhausting three months. I even think I look cute, although my friend, Joe Reinkemeyer is much cuter. We've run into each other on several of the pickets, but this is the first time I've taken a photo of him or with him. Now that it's over, I wish I had done more photo-taking as a remembrance of those I stood shoulder to shoulder with.

Now the days I hate are back, that is the days of looking for work again. This is the one industry where outsiders don't understand how difficult it is to keep working... or should I say, to keep working for pay, because I don't think we ever stop working.

On Thursday we had our last big rally day, this time at Disney. The great thing about the rallies are that you not only get to meet new people, but you get to see familiar faces who may have been picketing at other studios and at other times. Part of me had hoped that I would run into Carl Binder, whom I met back at a story meeting on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and who is now on Stargate: Atlantis, which I enjoy watching. I had heard he was picketing at Disney, but I also heard he was doing the 6 am shift and no way was I coming for that. So consequently our paths never crossed, not even at the same picket line.

My friend, Pam, came out again to picket with me. And it was a delight to meet David Clennon who is most well-known for his role on Thirtysomething, although he has a ton of credits to his name. He saw my little WGA Strike sign sticking out of my hat and stopped to ask where he could get one. That led to a delightful long conversation.

I saw David also on the picket line at NBC Burbank on Friday and since we now were 'acquainted' with each other, meaning he knew my name as well as me knowing his, I was able to introduce him to a writer/reporter for Starlog Magazine who was interested in interviewing David about some of his prior Sci Fi work at a later date. I hope it works out for them.

What Film & TV Writers Actually Make for Their Work

I don't often put quotes from other articles on this blog of mine because it is supposed to be about what I'm doing. However, MELANIE McFARLAND had some very interesting data which might surprise many of you about what writers actually make for their work. Please read the full coverage in Melanie McFarland's "On TV: Forget Hollywood; writers strike is a blow to locals, too" in Seattlepi.com on January 8, 2008 (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/346583_tv09.html):

"Out of some 10,500 film and television writers who are members of the guild, the WGA estimates that 46 percent did not work within the past year. Among those who did work, about 25 percent made less than $37,700. Half don't clear six figures. And when you look at a writer's average annual income over a five-year period, it comes out to about $62,000.

"What people need to realize is that it's not just about the people who are making six figures," said Bainbridge Island-based strike captain Sara B. Cooper. "It's about the people struggling to break in. It's about the people who write that one script, who are working reality shows with no benefits, who work insane hours and get abused by their employers and have no one to intercede for them. It's about a lot of people who just want to get a taste."

Cooper, who says she has been a guild member since 1990, offers her career as an example of that struggle. She lived in Los Angeles until 2001 and has been on the writing staffs of a number of series including "House," "The X-Files," "Chicago Hope," and "Homicide: Life on the Street" (writing under her former married name, Sara Charno).

"I'm not going to lie," Cooper said. "Sometimes we do get paid an obscene amount of money for what seems like very little work. When I was on staff, I was doing really well." During that time, she said, she was supporting a family and saving money for the children she planned to have.

Cooper also wrote the script for 2001's "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," for which she was paid the guild minimum at the time, $95,000. That was before her agents, lawyers, business managers and the government got their cuts.

Since 2001, however, she's been living the life of most WGA members, pitching stories and reaping peanuts. Recently, she said, she came up with several story ideas and pitched them. Then she waited. The studio came back months later and asked her to pitch again, and ended up buying one story. For a little more than six months of work, she says she grossed $16,000."

Picketing to Support Laid Off Workers As They Are Pink-Slipped by the Studios

As I approached Warner Brothers for the solidarity with those workers the studio was planning to lay off that day, I noticed this statue in front of one of their off-lot buildings. This is so much what our industry is supposed to be about. The filmmaker who shoots the script written by his writer partner in filmmaking and acted out for him to capture the visuals and audio by his actor partners, who say the words and do the actions, their writer partners laid out in the script.

The idea of studios was to facilitate those people coming together to make product with the money to make that happen. Yes, those owning the studio had to make money to pay back their financial outlays and to have money for future projects and to support themselves. But the moguls were also people, despite their not-so-nice reputations, who walked among their creative community and had bonds with them. Today studios are just one more money-making division of multi-national companies whom I fear only care about posting profits in the short term and not caring what happens to studios or the creative community or entertainment in the long term. When the profits fall, or the system teeters, or entertainment finds a way around the oppression of the studio system, the multi-national companies will simply divest themselves of the studios and leave the creative community to deal with the fallout.

Last time I mentioned that I was walking the line in the rain, unsuccessfully holding onto both an umbrella and a strike sign and how STEVEN SEARS had his little strike sign stuck in his hat band which freed up his hands. Before he left, he kindly gave me his little strike sign, so here is a picture of it on the line at Warner Brothers.

To show support for the workers scheduled to get laid off today, the WGA pulled its picketers from all studios except NBC Burbank where the Jay Leno Show was still going on without a WGA contract. Hence, there were not only more people here, but we got to reconnect with people we haven't seen in a long time. One such person for me is LIZ FRIEDMAN, whom I worked with on Hercules, the Legendary Journeys and who is now a writer on House. She told me she has written the episode scheduled to air following the Superbowl. She also told me that the Xena Day, Jan. 24th, has been moved from Disney to NBC Burbank, which makes more sense, since Xena was a Universal show and NBC Burbank is the only part of NBC Universal that's being picketed now.

I also managed to walk the line with a very cute blond actor named Alex (part of SAG solidarity) and a writer CAROLYN OMINE from The Simpsons show. They made the time fly by. And I learned a lot about how the writers dealt with the fact that for the first nine years of the very successful Simpsons franchise, the show was not part of the WGA Guild and hence not entitled to its benefits of health insurance and pension, to name a few.

Picketing Leno in the Rain

When we left for Christmas holidays, the word was that picketing would resume on January 7, 2008. But unlike other years, when things in the industry slow down to a virtual crawl during the holidays, things were happening this time. Letterman signed an interim deal with the WGA for his own company, WorldWide Pants, which owns his Late Night Show with David Letterman -- a smart move by a smart man -- and owns The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson -- after assuring the WGA that his company is the one that would be paying the residuals.

And Jay Leno continued to threaten to come back to his job without his writers, citing how he was forced to do so. Guess he wasn't smart enough to own his own show. Most likely, Letterman had foregone some rich payoff some time in the past to keep ownership rights.

As soon as I heard that Leno was planning to do his show again, starting on January 2nd, I wondered why the WGA wouldn't be picketing him then. Why they would wait for the 7th to resume picketing. But the WGA website still touted the 7th for picketing to begin again.

Because I'm not on any strike captain's phone list, I didn't get the call that they were indeed picketing the Jay Leno show, so I didn't know until it hit the news. Hence the first day I could join them was today.

And today was a great day to choose -- because it was raining!!! And I learned that it is nearly impossible to juggle an umbrella and a strike sign. There were some people with umbrellas, but they didn't have their strike signs up or didn't have them at all... and that wasn't good.

Anyway, I tried to juggle both, but if I had the umbrella covering me, the strike sign angled and jabbed people. And if I angled the umbrella and held the strike sign proudly, the umbrella jabbed people. Into this no-win situation, I finally gave up, closed the umbrella, got wet, and risked getting sick.

I was informed that we had hot coffee and I eagerly went to the bus stop bench to get a warm drink. As I stared at the pot, I realized that I didn't have a third hand for the coffee. With a sigh, I knew I'd be forgoing the coffee. And that was even more alarming than the fact that I couldn't take pictures either.

However, there was a couple of bright spots on the picket line. I found Steve Sears, writer of Xena: Warrior Princess, Sheena, Riptide, and many other TV shows, walking the line with his camera. The other prop that Steve is never without is his signature hat.

However, the clever Steve had a small, 4" by 6" strike sign sticking out of the headband of his hat. This left his hands free and yet, everywhere he went, he was displaying his strike sign. Because of the rain, he had it covered by a plastic sandwich baggie, how clever is that? And how cool. He told me he had made them for children's day on the picket line.

I told him I wanted one and he said that he planned to make more. I told him to let me know when he had more, because I really wanted one.... that would be so good for me as well. Steve told me that they were going to have a Xena Day on the picket line at Disney Studios on January 24th. Apparently, the fans have been going out there bringing water and food to the writers there. Not sure what Disney has to do with Xena, since the show was done out of Universal, but maybe Sam Raime/Rob Tapert's company is there these days. I forgot to ask.

Steve left before I did, so he gave me his little sign, saying he could make more. I was very pleased, however my Hercules baseball cap doesn't have a hat band to stick it in. No worries -- once I get home, I will pin it to the cap, for next time. However, wherever I carried it, people remarked on how cool it was.

I also got to walk the line with a very nice sitcom writer, Don Foster, Two and a Half Men. He said he usually is at Warner Brothers, too. So I'll probably see him there.

By the time I got home, I was soaking wet, jeans, shirt, jacket, even socks. Did I mention that I hope I don't catch cold?

The Most Important Thing You Will Ever Read About The WGA Strike

Through the wonders of the Internet, every day I come across great information from better informed people that I.

This was posted by writer Larry Brody on his TVWriter.com message board. It wasn't written by him, but by Robert J Elisberg at HuffingtonPost.com. Since it is so important that we all get the word out to everyone we can, from people who really know what they are talking about, I'm hoping he won't mind me re-posting it here. I urge you all to go visit his original at the HuffingtonPost.com. I'm iffy about that site, as sometimes I like what it says and sometimes I don't, but I encourage you all to see for yourself.

Robert J. Elisberg HuffingtonPost.Com
WGA Strike Primer: Understanding Misunderstanding
Posted December 16, 2007 12:55 PM (EST)
Breaking Entertainment News

For all the flying rhetoric overhead, sometimes you have to wear safety goggles to see the obvious. Eventually that can lead to resolution.

So, first, the obvious:

The corporations of the AMPTP wanted a strike. It's hard not to acknowledge that. Their first offer cut residuals - that was never serious, but just presenting it showed their hand. Their first straight offer was zero for everything Internet. Guaranteed to get a strike-authorization vote. And then they walked away from negotiating. Later, they increased one of their zero offers to $250 (which could drop back to zero) - and again walked away from negotiating. And gave writers six ultimatums before they'd return.

These are not stupid people. Malevolent child-eaters perhaps, but not stupid. Think, Hannibal Lechter with a table at Spago. They knew no sane human could ever accept these. They had stockpiled their scripts, and sat comfortable that showrunners would finish all their TV series, that their pilots for next year would all be shot, that their entire slate of movies would be finished over the next six months, as writers held off striking to team up with SAG. At they point, they wouldn't care if actors struck. Because they'd have their nuts all stored away for an Ice Age, able to carefully ration their release over a very long time. Even directors, whether with a deal or not, would find themselves isolated, with nothing to direct.

There was one problem, something the AMPTP corporations completely misunderstood.

Writers aren't stupid either. Petulant, argumentative, annoying perhaps. Lousy businessmen. Worse dressers. But quite smart. And rather than let the corporations stockpile for a long nuclear winter, they struck while the supply was still limited.

The AMPTP also misunderstood that showrunners were not only really smart, too, but were writers - and they walked out in stunning unanimity. All those stockpiled TV scripts couldn't be filmed. And sit in stockpiles. The AMPTP misunderstood, as well, that stockpiled movie scripts require final polishes, and that companies are wary of spending $100 million without a writer for always-necessary on-set rewrites. The AMPTP corporations misunderstood all of this, while walking away from tables looking toward June and their long hibernation.

Make no mistake, even an early strike is horrific for everyone concerned. No one wins during a strike. The hope is that both sides win once it's over.

Yet the deep misunderstandings continue. And one most of all. But first, it's important to follow the path of misunderstandings.

Alexander Pope's warning is sage, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." Indeed, people with limited information often think themselves expert, and it's that crevice where they fall into trouble.

Most outside observers drop into this hole. Unfortunately, the issues in this negotiation are intricate and arcane. One word can make a universe of difference. (Truly. Remember those infamous six ultimatums by the AMPTP? The only demand they care about - the sixth one they never mention - is that writers change "distributor's" gross to "producer's." Distributor's gross is money. Producer's gross is words. Few "experts" are remotely aware of this one-word, essential point.)

Articles with "little knowledge" are everywhere. One example for all must suffice. In a recent Huffington blog, producer Ron Galloway irresponsibly chastises the WGA for introducing reality and animation into the negotiations. It seems informed. In fact - fact - reality and animation were in the WGA proposal since before the strike was called! (Moreover, they aren't even strike issues. The WGA will never strike over these.) Either Mr. Galloway knows these issues have always been on the table, and he was being deceptive. Or he didn't know, in which case he has no business commenting.

In truth, most people not in the WGA or an AMPTP negotiator have little business commenting. Writers themselves barely-near comprehension after walking for weeks with thousands of fellow-professionals debating their own livelihood. If it's hard for writers with all that, imagine how almost-impossible for others.

And so, they misunderstand. The best fortunately go to many sources and touch the surface well. The worst let themselves be dupes. And the public gets hit with misunderstanding.

And so we see the John Ridley's and Craig Maizin's of the world quoted regularly for "the other side," without reporters knowing if they are actually explaining the other side, or just their own. Maizin is a WGA member with a personal blog, whose recent entry was wrong in more ways than Dick Cheney about Iraq. Ridley's only saving grace is that he makes Craig Maizin's analysis seem human. (Mr. Ridley's "WGA Film Company" was a bizarre, illegal, impossible fairyland, freakishly made worse by claiming, "This is no fantasy, no act of wild imagination." It was such a fantasy, it made "The Lord of the Rings" look like an Alan Greenspan treatise on world economics.)

But mainly, the AMPTP misunderstands one huge issue. This is that misunderstanding - at the heart of the whole, pathetic mess.

The AMPTP - General Electric, Sony, Time-Warner, News Corp., et al - being multinational conglomerates, understand the relentless drive for money. But it is not in their corporate DNA therefore to comprehend striking any other reason. Yet there is another reason.

The Writers Guild of America is striking because they absolutely understand that their union's future, indeed their livelihood is at stake.

This is not hyperbole. It's literal. Most people misunderstand why the Writers Guild of America is striking, too. But most can grasp it once it's explained.

The AMPTP, not so much.

You see, writers have long had a credo of "Pass it on." When I say "long," I mean cave-dwellers, sitting around the fire, enthralling listeners with tales of hope, terror, laughter and enchantment. Passing on stories is a writer's reason for being - and at the core of that, they pass on their craft to other writers. Writers can be argumentative, isolated and petulant, but they adore what they do - to sit alone for a lifetime, dreaming up ways to enthrall others, you have to adore what you do - and so they have a burning desire to see that devotion continued. And so, they pass it on.

WGA writers understand that all the protections they enjoy today - minimum payment, pensions, health benefits, residuals - all came because earlier writers risked their careers to get them. The corporations did not provide these out of benevolence. And the entire film industry benefited from the gains the annoying writers got for them.

(Everyone. Do not dare think that Hollywood moguls have suffered from decades of contract demands. We all grasp how profoundly successful Hollywood is to the envy of the world.)

And so writers at their center are driven to pass it on to the next group of writers, and proud to do so. And this is something the AMPTP corporations misunderstand critically.

But it goes deeper than that.

The Internet is not new-fangled. It's not even the future, because it's here. Ed Zwick and Marshall Herkovitz created a wildly-popular web series, "Quarterlife." So popular that network television bought it.

And so, at last, here's that "literal" part. This is what lies ahead. It's really obvious:

TV, movies and the Internet are already so seamlessly merged that streaming, Tivo playback, movie downloads, and network broadcasts run on the home video screen, one and the same. Now, go to the next step.

If corporations only have to pay $250 for residuals on the Internet as opposed to $20,000 on TV - where do you think all reruns will eventually be shown?

It gets worse. The corporations don't want original Internet content covered for the WGA. Where do you think the first-run "broadcast" of a series will be? After streaming once on the Internet, a company can simply "re-air" it on network TV. It's the same screen. The only difference is that General Electric-Sony-TimeWarner-Fox won't have had to pay more than a pittance for the material.

If you don't think this would happen, you haven't been watching the AMPTP offering zero and walking away from the table.

You haven't been watching media consolidation. Or the Middle Class being shrunk by power at the top. The AMPTP corporations wanted a strike with the Writers Guild, and a strike with SAG. And don't care about the directors.

But that's where they've misunderstood the one huge thing.

They misunderstand that the Writers Guild actually does get it. (SAG, too.) The Writers Guild fully understands that accepting any empty deal will destroy the WGA, lose all their benefits, and wipe out any protections for those to come. They really do get it. That's why you see such a vociferous strike. And it's what the AMPTP corporations misunderstand most of all.

We all read that the AMPTP is angry at WGA negotiators. This is mere petulance. Get over it, act your age. The WGA didn't send over tennis buddies, they chose tough negotiators, just as did the AMPTP. For actual anger, anyone should walk a picket line for hours and talk to actual writers whose actual livelihood, home and future is on the line. You will see people actually livid at the actual gross negligence of blatant corporate greed at its most egregious. And this actual anger is what the AMPTP corporations misunderstand. It's what reporters and observers misunderstand.

And all the writers want is a fair deal for both sides.

Imagine that.

Misunderstanding that writers won't settle for a bad offer because they can't gets in the way of reality, and therefore resolution.

Does this mean the writers won't ever collapse? No, anything is possible. But this is the critical: if we get that far, where the AMPTP corporations have starved out a siege, it will by then include actors, directors, crew, staffs and the entire industry, and the companies will have destroyed themselves in the process.

And out of the ashes, the creative talent - who make the movies and TV people watch - will have found a new canvas to paint on, as they always have throughout history. It will be called the Internet. You know, that thing that doesn't make money. And stories there will continue to amuse, excite, scare, annoy, educate, titillate and entertain everyone. And the old dinosaur movie studio and "TV" networks will be lost in the dust.

It will happen. And the AMPTP companies can join in and even take the lead, or be destroyed by it.

That's why understanding opens the door to resolution. So, understand that the members of Writers Guild of America get it. They know their future depends on the Internet. They know that they need to pass it on. Once anyone understands that, the rest comes like breathing.

I'm glad people like this share their knowledge with the rest of us.

And here I found another one of Robert Elisberg's articles, this time from the LA Times, posted by the same wonderful Brody on TVWriter.com message board, which has a lot of great information.


Producers fight the future

By Robert J. Elisberg
December 25, 2007

LA Times

Several weeks ago on the picket line, I mentioned to a negotiator for the Writers Guild of America that the absolute worst analysis I've been reading about the strike has come from entertainment lawyers. He laughed and said, "I know."

It was no shock to read that a Thursday Op-Ed article in The Times, "Curtains for the guilds," which posited that creative unions will be swallowed by a Black Hole, was co-written by an entertainment lawyer. At least his co-writer was someone with an intimate awareness of what is actually taking place in Hollywood — a Cornell professor.

Kevin Morris and Glenn C. Altschuler are bright. What neither know, however, is what the strike is actually about. Alexander Pope was right: a little learning is a dangerous thing.

Writers Guild members are livid. They'd be livid whoever was leading them. Never mind that the support for guild leaders David Young and Patric Verrone is enthusiastic, regardless of the studios' snarky attempts to discredit them. Guild members are livid that 22 years ago, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers sweet-talked a 4-cent royalty deal for home video, with a promise to revisit this new technology — then failed to do that and insisted that the guild remove a request this year to increase it.

Writers removed it — the alliance did nothing, and then walked away from the table.

Writers are livid, too that the initial offer for new media payment was zero. Zero for streaming, original Internet content, downloading: you name it, it was zero. The insult was galvanizing, for it showed the producers' hand. And when the producers "raised" their offer to $250 for streaming — which can drop back to zero if the companies themselves decide — writers remained livid. Pound the picket line for weeks on end and you will begin to learn how furious the writers are. Especially after the AMPTP corporations walked away from the table again.

Writers have a long tradition of "passing it on" that dates back to the caveman. Not just passing on stories themselves, but the love of the craft to future writers. What the companies have offered would destroy that future. And the Screen Actors Guild's. And yes, even the future of the Directors Guild of America, whose members may well recognize (despite the authors' certainty) that they too must have a fair deal on New Media or perish.

Does this mean the writers will never collapse? No, anything is possible.

But this is the critical point that Morris and Altschuler miss: If we get that far, to the point at which the AMPTP corporations have starved out the writers, as the authors postulate, the siege will by then include actors, directors, crew, staffs and the entire industry — and the companies will have destroyed themselves in the process.

But life happily has a way of correcting itself. What the authors overlook is the core issue of the strike — the new media. The Internet is not, as the AMPTP insists, a newfangled thingy that doesn't make money. (Viacom and Microsoft recently announced a $500-million deal. Surprise.) And if the companies end up taking everything down, the creative talent — who actually make the movies and TV people watch — would find a new canvas to paint on, as they have throughout history. It will be called the Internet. You know, that thing that doesn't make money. And stories will continue there. And the old dinosaur movie studios and "TV" networks will be lost in the dust. Anyone who thinks that Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Apple, Yahoo and on and on aren't chomping at the bit for content, is not looking close enough. Because the door has already been opened.

This all could be an utter disaster. Writers could splinter. And so too could the companies of the AMPTP, seeing their finances going down the drain, TV seasons and movie schedules lost, huge competitors rising on the Web, stockholders up in arms, $30-million bonuses lost, advertisers demanding give-backs, and the public pressuring them.

The latter outcome seems more likely than the former. Writers are profoundly united because their future is at stake. Corporations are dealing with somebody else's money. Hopefully, no disaster will occur. Hopefully, the AMPTP corporations will return to the table. Hopefully, they'll recognize that it's in their best interest to be part of the future rather than be left behind.

Robert J. Elisberg is a screenwriter in West Los Angeles and a commentator for the Huffington Post who has written for the Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, C/NET, E! Online and others. He served on the editorial board for the Writers Guild of America West, helped created the WGA.org website and writes a technology column for the Writers Guild East.

Fair Use Notice: This material is made available, free of charge and without profit, for research and educational purposes, public review, and debate as provided for in Section 107 of the United States Copyright Law.

Reality Television - the Reality is It's Written

Today there were no picket signs at Warner Bros. Studios. Were writers so weak-willed that a little bit of rain kept them away? Were they afraid they couldn't hold umbrellas and strike signs at the same time? No! The reason that nobody was out picketing WB was that there was a rally up the street on Alameda Street for the Reality TV writers among us.

What? Reality shows have writers, you say? News flash, they do. So do game shows -- somebody has to research all those questions and formulate the questions -- they don't just drop down from the heavens like manna.

Anyway, I know very little about that world, so it was an eye-opener. Reality TV writers are not covered by the WGA, consequently, their employers don't have to pay them health insurance benefits, or provide a pension. Residuals are unheard of. Wages are lower than industry standard -- guess the AMPTP won't be trotting out one of these writers saying they make $230,00 a year. And a typical day is 14-16 hours with no overtime. The typical crew member, covered by a union, gets overtime after 12 hours. You say you get overtime after 8 hours? Welcome to glamorous showbiz.

It's not unheard of for a game show to be covered by the WGA. Jeopardy is. Deal or No Deal is not. When reality TV writers approached FOX studios for health insurance, FOX responded that it wasn't their problem, go talk to the production company. One of the biggest suppliers of Reality TV is Fremantle Media of North America, which makes shows like American Idol, Price Is Right, Next Great American Band, and Temptation. Apparently, Fremantle responds to its employees desire for health insurance by getting rid of the problem: firing the writers who request it.

One reality writer and producer, Kai Bowe, formerly of America's Next Top Model, mentioned that reality TV writers are very aware that studios are using them as strike busters -- that they are being forced to work against the very union they would like to get protected by.

Aaron Solomon ran Temptation for Fremantle until he got tired of working 14-16 hours a day seven days a week trying to get 170 hours of programming done and into their schedule with unpaid overtime and quit.

In front of Fremantle, President of the Guild, Patric Verrone vowed to not abandon the reality TV workers in their quest for benefits and unionization. Not knowing much of the subject, I always naively assumed that if a group wanted coverage, then they could just join. I figured if the WGA was having trouble getting the reality TV writers under their wing, it was because the reality TV writers did not want to be unionized. The large group of people who gathered in the streets today, in what started off as rain, told me different. Apparently, once again, it's getting the Studio and production company to agree to the WGA covering the reality TV writers that's the hang up.

Patric had some interesting information to share. Apparently FOX gave health insurance to writers on The Simpsons after the show was on the air for 9 years, but refused to do the same for the Futurama writers.

Since unpaid overtime is a violation of state labor laws for any industry, some of the angry FOX writers threatened to sue and got quiet settlements from FOX. One writer, however, refused to settle and went for the hearing. The state decided he was owed $35,000 in unpaid overtime from FOX because the fact that he wasn't in a union made him an hourly employee entitled to overtime pay. So Patric encouraged Fremantle to unionize its shows because Union writers don't get overtime.

Patric's closing remarks were to read from an email from one of the state senators. The email informed us that the state legislature is going to look into labor violations for Reality TV workers. That brought cheers from the crowd.

Earlier, before the speakers took the stage, we were entertained by American satirical rock band duo, Tenacious D, (Kyle Gass and Jack Black). These musician/actor satirists had a couple of wonderful satirical songs on the Writers Strike. You can hear them on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlgm_rtfQS8.

Once again it was really nice to reconnect with a writer who I hadn't seen in a few years, BARRY O'BRIEN. I met him when we were both working at Spelling Entertainment, he as a writer on Titans and me, the script coordinator of All Souls. I last saw him at the House of Blues where Barbara Hall was performing. She was the showrunner of Joan of Arcadia, for which I was the script coordinator and she was a consulting producer on Judging Amy, on which Barry was a writer. He is now a writer on CSI: Miami.

Additional comment: To anyone who thinks that Reality Writers DO NOT WANT TO JOIN THE GUILD or the WGA is forcing them, please read this article and the subsequent comments:
http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/2007/12/reality-writer-responds-to-amptp.html

I also wish to highlight this comment from Raye on the above:
To quote a fellow writer, if we took animation and reality off the table, and DVD residuals, then Nick Counter would scream, "Take off your pants! No pants at the table! I will not negotiate with people in pants!"

Bloggers on the Line Day

Another day on the picket line at Warner Brothers. But today was special in that four WGA writers who normally walk the line at various studios decided to congregate at one studio in the Valley and declared this Bloggers Day, inviting the readers of their blogs to join them on the line today at Warner Brothers.

Now I'm a non-WGA writer. I had enough WGA writing credits to get to be an associate member of the Guild at one time, but not enough YET to become a full-fledged WGA member. So consequently, I do not have to do any picketing, but I do it because I see the WGA as right in their demands and as my future. I'm still the person who has the 'day job' to pay the bills (often in support of the writers as script coordinator) while throughout the year (not on the picket line), I try to convince agents, studio execs, showrunners, and yes, even some of these writers, who are inviting non-WGA support people to walk with them, to read my specs so I can become one of them. So consequently I'm holding down an 8-hour day job, walking the picket lines, trying to end this strike by communicating with people on the Internet to help them understand the writers side, etc. etc.

Since I'm already functioning on 5 hours sleep a day doing this, I can't picket every single day. So even though I was not planning on walking the line today, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet JOHN AUGUST, JANE ESPENSON, CRAIG MAZIN, and JOSH FRIEDMAN, who invited us to walk and talk with them, as I don't necessarily get to the studios they are picketing.

I only attempted to talk to two of them, as I only can recognize two of the four and I only have time to read the blogs of two of them. So imagine my dismay that after I waited until they were free from talking with other people and I introduced myself, I got a perfunctory and polite hello from them and watched them walk away from me, without even giving me a chance to come up with something interesting to talk about. Now, I don't expect every writer on the line to talk to me, but I did expect better from those who had specifically invited people to come walk and talk with them.

Now, perhaps you are thinking that we are not there to socialize and that is true. It's grim business we are doing. But consider that we are walking back and forth across the same street for three hours straight instead of what we'd be normally doing: writing, watching TV, shopping, petting the cat or dog, even cleaning house. And the only things to keep one from going nuts with boredom are responding to the honking cars and trucks and talking to each other.

Perhaps I would have had better luck trying to talk to the other two of this group, had I had the opportunity to speak with them, but I had a satisfying tour of duty because of other people I did get to talk to - a couple of screenwriters for whom I only know first names, my writer friend MELODY FOX, and actor STEVEN CULP.

Before the strike, Melody Fox was on staff of the SciFi series Flash Gordon. She's a great writer, a nice person, and fun to be around. I don't get to see her often enough. I thoroughly enjoyed a discussion on spec scripts and I learned a lot from her.

I also spent a lot of time with actor Steven Culp talking as we walked back and forth across the street in front of Warner Brothers gate 2/3. This is a solid actor whose work I've admired ever since I first saw him play Bobby Kennedy in the movie, Thirteen Days. He creates wonderful characters, who are very real and moving. He was my favorite character in JAG, yes even over the two main stars. I liked him in Desperate Housewives, where he played Bree's husband, Rex. But I had just seen him do a tour-de-force guest role on Stargate: Atlantis, where I felt he was able to show more of the breadth of what he can do than in any other role I've seen. He was nuanced and moving as a man so desperate to save his child that he crosses the line into doing things that he knows are illegal and reprehensible and who is later devastated by what he has done and has to atone for. I really felt for his character and that was a hard thing to do considering what the character had done. Steven Culp had done a great job in finding the sympathy in this character.

I had been so taken with his performance that I had told Joseph Mallozzi, showrunner of Stargate Atlantis, in his blog how much I enjoyed Steven Culp's performance in that episode. How neat and serendipitous that only a few days later, I find myself walking the picket line with the actor himself, so I can tell him in person what a fine job he did. I would be honored if someday it works out that he is acting in a script I've written.

SAG supports WGA in Rally at Universal Studios

Two hours of walking up and down on a concrete sidewalk in front of NBC Universal Studios between three gates and beyond... isn't working in Hollywood glamorous? But we were doing it for a very important cause -- the WGA is on strike for writers to get a contract which includes a percentage of the revenue made by the studios off their creative writing on the Internet and cell phones, and an increased percentage of DVD sales. Today SAG, the Screen Actors Union, joined us in full force.

They have been on the picket lines with the WGA since the beginning, as individuals who care, reportedly even bringing food to their striking writers, but this was to show actors in force supporting writers and hopefully to get good media coverage to spread the word of what's going on.

Normally, I don't post the photos of the actors or the writers on the lines and have only posted the neat signs. I had planned to do that here as well when it occurred to me that that perhaps was a mistake... the actors had come out, not only to lend their support, but their visibility, so if publishing a few photos of your favorite actors gets you to read about our striking brethren, then I think that was what today was about.

I don't think the actors will mind posting them here, but if anyone does object to having their photo here, then please let me know and I'll remove it. We are all in this together and we respect each other.

It did bring out the news media. In fact it was always easy to spot where an actor was, because usually there were three or four cameras clicking away and someone with a microphone or recorder. Even if you were talking with an actor you knew, you would most likely be interrupted by someone wanting him/her to speak a few lines into the recorder for them. Course, I didn't mind -- that was how they could best lend a helping hand: publicity to remind the world what the writers were striking for. As long as they didn't catch bedraggled me on camera, I was okay.

There were so many actors and writers as well as press moving up and down the sidewalk that I'm sure I didn't see many who were there. Of those I saw, the casts of Numb3rs, Desperate Housewives, The Unit, Army Wives, and Chuck were very represented with several, if not all of their main casts. I saw ROB LOWE, dressed in a white shirt and tie, and CALISTA FLOCKHART from Brothers and Sisters. Given the way Rob was dressed, I suspect they were shooting today and had just stopped in when they could.

I had wanted to chat with SHAWN RYAN, at least long enough to thank him for the open letter he wrote to the industry, stating why he wasn't going to do his producing duties -- that he couldn't produce the last episode without having his writing hat on as well. Both at FOX and at NBC Universal, he was always surrounded by people he was talking to whenever I happened to pass by. But I'm sure there will be many more opportunities before this is over.

I did get to chat a moment with MARC CHERRY, the showrunner of Desperate Housewives. I have no idea what Marc is like to work for, but my encounters with him have always been delightful. He's one of the nicest and most humble men I've ever talked to. After meeting him last year, I sent him a handwritten note telling him how much I loved his show. For me, watching a show about the everyday lives of four women is an anomaly. While I believe in equality for women in all ways in my heart and soul and deeds, in terms of watching television, I'm an action adventure, male bonding, male banter, cowboy, cop, science fiction type of girl. So loving Desperate Housewives is truly a mark of how well-written and well-acted that show is. After I had written that note to him, to my surprise, I got a handwritten note back from him thanking me for writing him. So today when I talked to him, I also saw the same humble and very real man. He was telling me how honored he felt to be a strike captain and how he was doing his best to do a good job and live up to the honor. This desire to do a good job for his fellow writers is obviously reflected in how many of his cast members were out here today.

There were also a few dogs on the picket line, but my favorite pet support is the T-shirt here of the kitty holding the strike sign with the caption, 'Kittens support WGA'. I was having a bit of trouble getting the actress' head in as well as the T-shirt because I couldn't back up at the time, and she said she actually preferred to not be in the picture. Hence, I honored her request and so the head cutting off is more or less deliberate, and not meant to be insulting.

One of the actors I was delighted to see was LESLIE SILVA whom you may know from Odyssey 5. We were supposed to work on a project together and unfortunately, it never came to pass.

Another actor I hadn't seen in a while who was a delight to see was JASON RITTER, whom I worked with on Joan of Arcadia. Jason is not only one of the most handsome and talented young men I've met, but he's also one of the nicest and sweetest to be around. Not only is he a terrific actor, but he and his girl friend put together for Christmas a slide show explaining to us why it was Joan of Arcadia, not Luke of Arcadia, Helen of Arcadia -- you get the picture. And these incredible talents did it in one night. Jason tells me he's been working on an independent movie, so that should be great to see.

I urge you to check out the news coverage on the today's picket line to get a more comprehensive picture of who was there, because of all the things I am, a good photographer I'm not. Also check out sites like www.unitedhollywood.com They are one of the sites that will give you a good comprehensive overview of what the writers strike is all about.

I just want to say to all those reading this that it is very important to us that you the public understand what's going on, because I believe in the power of the people and I believe that once you are informed on the issues, you too will be on the side of the writers, and perhaps, doing whatever is in your power to help them.

Strike Watch: WGA and Supporters Rally at FOX Studios

Although I'm a writer, I don't yet have enough union credits to be a WGA member. When I sold my Hercules, the Legendary Journeys story, I became an associate member for three years, but as many people in this industry can attest, it's still a hard struggle to get your whole body into the staffing door, even when you manage to get a foot in.

And while I continue to write and hone my writing skills, so I can one day be a full-fledged WGA member, I try to work as often as possible with writers on one-hour drama shows as script coordinator or as writers/producers assistant. What better place to hone your skills than among those who do it -- who can at the very least teach by example... and sometimes more. Consequently I support the strike not only because it is the right thing to do and because I care about my fellow writers, but also because I have a vested interest in the issues.

Even so, these issues are bigger than just the writers. The same issues will be on the table for the actors come June and the directors come June. It just happens that the writers' contract comes up first, because this is about shares of the profits for those who create the product we see in whatever medium we see it -- all the creators. Still, it has been said that what the writers get, or are forced to take, will be a harbinger for what the actors and directors get, or have to take. And if the studios manage to break the writers' guild, it is a dire precedent for what might happen with the other guilds.

And while crew people do not stand to benefit from the proposals on the table (i.e., crew people don't get residuals or payments past their daily salary) and while they will share the hardships of getting laid off as well, many of them have been standing with the writers, for they know that all workers are united in one thing: if management can overrun some of them, it makes it much easier for management to run over the rest of them when their contracts come due.

And then there are all the people who don't belong to unions, like writers assistants and script coordinators, who are at the mercy of the individual studios offering them jobs (with varying salaries, hours, and benefits), who may only have the clout of the showrunner to help them... something which is getting harder and harder every year for a showrunner to do, as the studios keep getting more powerful.

I loved seeing this SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Solidarity sign at the rally at FOX studios this morning. SAG, like many unions have come out in support of the strike, their hearts are with the strikers, but 'no strike' clauses (no doubt insisted upon by these same studios in other years for this exact purpose) keeps them from striking in sympathy while they still have an active contract. The best they can do is show their support by showing up on the picket lines on THEIR OWN FREE TIME, while still showing up for work, so that their employers can't fire or sue them, as they are threatening.

Many of us are or have been in this boat and it's spirit crushing to have to cross the picket lines of your brethren to fulfill your job.

The writers struck on Monday, so they are out on the picket lines since then, and all week, every gate at every studio has seen their presence. Since then, every day we see more and more layoffs of the little people. Some writers assistants and script coordinators are still working, waiting for the ax to fall on them, many were laid off this week. Most of the production crews are still working, but they know that if this strike goes on and the scripts run out, so will their jobs. Those of us working in post, where I am right now, are still working, but for how long? If there aren't episodes being shot, there's nothing to post. And yet, no matter where our sympathies are, the legal machine of the striking guild does not cover us, so we continue to work. And it's not lost on us that we can continue to pay our bills for the moment where our brethren might not. It's grim on both sides of the gate.

So it was with great elation that I joined in on the massive rally at FOX Studios (ON MY OWN FREE TIME, in case my studio is reading) -- elation, not because of the need for writers to strike, but because of the massive numbers: over 4,000 strong. This is my first view as I approached. Avenue of the Stars was closed off so thousands of people could gather in front of FOX Plaza, the headquarters for the studio. Here people listened to Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine get the rally started with two songs and listened to the inspiring words of courage and resolution by various speakers, including Rev. Jesse Jackson and Norman Lear. There were so many people gathered in front of the podium that we were standing shoulder to shoulder.

Then we began the march down the street and around the side of the studio lot to the front gate. Pico Blvd was not closed off so we had to stay on the sidewalk. As we got closer to the front gate, I noticed there were people up on the top of the building watching us and I couldn't help but get the image of guards watching prisoners exercising in the compound. Weird feeling.

There were so many of us that we stretched down the block and around the corner. So we kept moving, in an orderly fashion crossing the street at Motor and then moving down the other side, with the idea of returning to our starting point and doing the walk again. It is when you are on the other side of the street that you could appreciate how long the line actually was.

It was when I was on the other side of the street taking this photo of the line stretching as far as the eye could see that the police announced that they would be closing off Pico Blvd from Motor (where we crossed the street right in front of the Main Gate) to Avenue of the Stars (the street we walked down) so that we could gather in the street in front of the gate, like a proper rally.

So we could all be together and show our 4,000 plus might. Have to say that there was very little police presence and they were very polite and accommodating to us. Of course, we were all well-behaved as well.

They closed off the road and told us we could have the street. And so we moved off the far sidewalk and moved up from the back and showed FOX what we were all about.

It's hard for my little camera to do the rally in front of the Main Gate justice and my purpose was not to report, but to participate and support. So I'm sure there are much better images out there for you to peruse. This will just give you a flavor of the day.

With so much of the news media slanting their reports to the producers' side, if you are unclear about what the writers are fighting for or just would like a very simple way of explaining what you know to others, I encourage you to visit this You Tube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ55Ir2jCxk

It's the best I've found. Also if you are wondering why there is so little about what's going on in the legitimate news outlets, considering how important this is to so many people and how it impacts people's lives and our economy, I urge you to visit this site I just found:

http://murderati.typepad.com/

I don't often link to other places in this blog, but this one is important. Let us all pray for a speedy resolution and one that is fair to all sides.

Busting the Myth: What 'Tweeners Are Watching and Why

I was a bit surprised to get an invitation to a Humanitas Master Writer’s workshop called “Busting the Myth: What ‘Tweeners Are Watching and Why.” I must admit I hadn’t given much thought to what we are saying to young girls about the roles of women, not in our primetime fare, but in our programming for children. So I went to the panel discussion at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences where we were treated to a special presentation by SEE JANE, a research and advocacy organization founded by Academy Award Winner Geena Davis. The topic: gender images in the media specifically geared towards the young audience.

Like the rest of society, film and television has been rife with a disparity of roles for females as opposed to their male counterparts in terms of availability and substance. But like in other professions and areas, we have made significant strides in those directions. While the disparity still exists in adult fare, especially for older women, the playing field is a lot more level today than it used to be. How surprising, then, to learn that while there is pretty much parity for females and males in live action aimed at our children, there’s a big disparity in animation and an even larger one in videogames.

Panelists were actor GEENA DAVIS, who co-founded the SEE JANE organization in conjunction with the DADS AND DAUGHTERS national non-profit; DR. STACY SMITH, researcher for See Jane and associate professor at USC; BEN SILVERMAN, executive producer of Ugly Betty and The Office and founder/CEO of Reveille Productions; ERIC COLEMAN, vice president/executive producer of animation & production for Nickelodeon, overseeing Sponge Bob; JONAS AGIN, senior vice president of The Tom Lynch Co.; DOREEN SPICER, co-writer of “Jump In!” film for Disney; and KARIN GIST, co-writer of “Jump In!” film for Disney. Moderator was CYNTHIA LITTLETON, deputy editor of News for “Daily Variety.”

Dr. Stacy Smith reminded us how in the ‘60s, there was concern about violence onscreen in children’s programming and in the 70s, the focus was on children exploitation and sexual exposure. Today, there are grave concerns surrounding sexual stereotyping in programming designed for children and 'tweeners. There’s a concern about equity, because repeated exposure to sexual stereotyping leads to a sexist, gender view of the world. ‘See Jane’ is attempting to reduce gender stereotyping for female children and increase percentages of roles for girls and women.

Actress Geena Davis summed it up best when she said she created See Jane because as an actor, she’s constantly aware that there are fewer roles for women. She admits to selfishly wanting to play baseball roles rather than the cheerleader ones. And she managed to do so… 13 years ago. The two movies that she made back to back, Thelma and Louise and A League of Our Own, increased awareness because she met many women who told her how those movies changed their lives. At the time, the media touted that these movies would start a wave of female buddy films and female baseball films. Unfortunately, it took 10 years for the next one to appear.

As she watched shows with her young daughter, she saw lots of gender imbalance and disparity. Unfortunately, she explained, women will watch shows about boys, but men won’t watch shows about girls. This is said to be human nature. But is that true? she asked herself. Could it be growing up with this disparity, not human nature, which took kids into adulthood perpetuating this inequality into adult fare? What if we change it from the beginning, so that they grow up with a more balanced viewpoint? Perhaps then, they’ll carry that into adulthood. That was the genesis for See Jane.

Dr. Stacy Smith supplied the empirical resources, for she studies gender balance and the amount of roles of male and females in children programming and movies, utilizing G-rated films and 1,000 children shows. Her findings for single-speaking characters aimed at children and tweeners was this:
TV content m:f 1.72:1
Movies content m:f 2.5:1
Videogames content m:f 6:1

In live action, there is almost parity between the sexes. G-rated–TV shows are close to parity. These same ratios are seen in adult and TVG fare. The highest disparities of females to males are in animation. While TVG shows equity, TVY and TVY-7, in particular, need improvement.

But in films, there is a curious phenomenon at work today: women more likely cast in traditional roles, while males (or the male personality) are often portrayed as less intelligent, more action, more humorous, dumb, strong and bad.

And while multi-channels and more media outlets make it seem like it should be easier to find one’s niche, the reality is that all we get is more of the same.

As a network representative, Eric Coleman explained that when a project comes in, he first looks at the content and idea. He doesn’t seek out gender shows to do, but the reality is that certain networks have more girls watching than guys. The bottom line, he reminded, is that “hit shows are the driving force of programming. We’re giving them what they want.”

Doreen Spicer answered him that perhaps we should be looking at it as “something like: ‘If you build it, they will come.’ – If you do it, and it’s successful, then other people will copy it.”

Coleman went on to elaborate that networks want strong female characters and balance because it’s smart for business. “But it’s not enough to say, ‘got to have more females.’ You need to bring something to the table… a show that’s so awesome that it’s gonna break through.”

One such series brought to the table this season is Ugly Betty. Executive producer Ben Silverman thinks it’s fantastic how many people embraced the character and suggested the enthusiasm shows that many people want this kind of program. In the Spanish world, Ugly Betty is seen as successfully challenging the stereotype of what is beauty. Its predecessor originated in Columbia -- a country under attack for corruption -- where Miss Columbia is more popular than the president. Hence, there, Ugly Betty stands for purity, an absence of the corrupt world, not the vapid world often shown.

In the US, however, Ugly Betty is seen more from the looks angle. It’s ‘The Ugly Duckling’ syndrome and its popularity points out an underserved audience. Even so, it didn’t surprise Ben that the first note he got from the Network was “We need an angry guy.” The audience laughed but Ben said he had been okay with that note.

One of the things that makes this kind of programming difficult, Eric offered, is that we’ve shut down the discussion of race and gender politics in the real world.

To which Ben proudly responded that The Office may insult many different groups but it also shines a light on problems through its humor – e.g., who’s in prison, who’s running the company. Hence, with Michael Scott as today’s ‘Archie Bunker’ who sees his female boss just as a sex object, Ben sees The Office as promoting dialogue on the subject.

It was then that Doreen Spicer and Karin Gist weighed in. They had done a very successful coming-of-age film for Disney, called Jump In! It’s about double dutch jump roping tournament in inner city Brooklyn. Originally meant to be a movie about just girls, the studio wanted a boy in. I suspect the studio was thinking along the lines of what Geena said: That boys won’t watch girls without a significant guy interest in it. But she didn’t elaborate.

Doreen Spicer was very familiar with skipping rope and she knew boys didn’t do double dutch, especially not in Brooklyn. Since you have to give the studio what it wants, she asked herself, how can I get a boy in? Doreen decided that the only way a boy would get involved in a ‘girl thing’ is if he’s hooked in by thinking it’s interesting and fun, then finds it challenging, plus… he likes a girl doing it and wants to spend time with her.

Karin explained that then the central question becomes, will he be seen as a wuss by his male peers if he joins the double dutch team? He’s fearful that he will be teased about something only girls do. The idea of creating a script of a boy doing something out of the box excited Karin, for most scripts have girls coming out of the box, doing things, not boys.

What came out of these ruminations is a movie in which a boy, whose family owns a boxing gym, is expected to be the third-generation boxing champ of the family by winning the Golden Gloves. When he is forced to take his younger sister to a double dutch tournament, he discovers two things: jumping rope takes talent and creativity and the girl he has a crush on is on the team. He joins the team as they prepare for the city-wide competition and has to overcome obstacles such as a bully disseminating a picture of him double dutching with the caption of ‘loser’ and a dad who sees this as the reason his heart isn’t in the ring and labels him weak. In the end, he learns to follow his heart, not someone else’s dream, and about family support and love.

Turning gender stereotypes on their head was so satisfying to Karin that she craves this kind of projects now: the boy-driven, out-of-the-box kind. The point of tweeners shows like this is to ‘empower’ the kid. To have them see a kid finding his dad dumb as a cliché. To have them explore their inner strength without having their parents look stupid.

When the floor was given to the audience to ask questions, a woman asked how parents could combat this gender stereotyping. Geena Davis explained that parents presenting their views to their child while watching the show with their child can mitigate a lot of bad parts. For example, she said, if you are watching violence, ask the child, “Wouldn’t that hurt if it happened to you?”

All agreed that the danger is for writers to write down to the child audience, especially when teenagers think they know everything and speak from that place. To this, Geena added that animation writers have told her it’s too hard because the girl needs to be more beautiful and smarter than anyone, stronger. The stereotype has become that the girl is the smartest and does the best and is the best behaved. Karin Gist agreed with Geena, for even writing Jump In!, she had to write the character description as “pretty but…”

The answer to this might be to have more girl characters, so each character doesn’t have to be everything – doesn’t have to represent every different type of woman. More choices working and playing together means none need be the spokesperson for all girls or womanhood.

Jonas Agin talked about the network side – saying that broadcasters want to be responsible and want to make the message clear. In fact, they will allow a character to be as flawed as you want, as long as he/she is redeemed in 22 minutes and has a clear message behind it. Networks have a strong sense of responsibility, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because their audience want it. A big part of the appeal of The Simpsons is that Homer may be the worst dad ever, but he shows he has a lot of heart. People hunger for that heart, they just want to be entertained without the heaviness of being lectured.

Ben added that one of the reasons he got the call for Ugly Betty is because the pharmaceutical companies want female-skewing programs. Bringing new revenue sources to television, pharmaceuticals believe it’s the women who make their dumb, put-upon husbands get the colon cancer drug that the husbands wouldn’t necessarily get on their own. So they want to provide programming that will keep the women watching.

But there's still a long way to go. Even though CBS is shifting in personality with a woman running it and the CW is clearly programmed by a woman, there has been no systemic change in the number of women in movies (17%) since 2004, even with some women in the top positions. And, Ben educated us, women watch more reality shows than men. How this all affects what our children are exposed to remains to be seen.