The DGA deal looks great. At least that is what everyone in the press is saying. And the writers better be grateful and take it... or else.
The �or else� part has been well reported. Even before the DGA came to an agreement with the studios, we were hearing about the ramifications of not taking their deal. It would be catastrophic. It would split the WGA. I read it again in the trades Friday morning. The story goes that there is a growing schism in the guild, and top screenwriters are ready to walk.
I was asked about this schism Thursday by two reporters. I was embarrassed to say that I didn�t know anything about it. I hadn�t been approached, even in the most oblique way, to join with the "top screenwriters" who are going to pressure the guild to accept the deal, or else.
I can only assume that this is because my film failed so sensationally this year that I quickly fell off the list. I guess even secret screenwriter cabals judge you by your last picture.
But then I realized that no actual top screenwriter I know has been approached to join either. And none of them know anyone else who has. So I asked these two reporters if they had spoken to any writers who had indicated, even off the record or on deep background, that they were going to pressure the guild or go financial corps. Neither of them had. And neither of them knew any other reporters who had actually spoken to writers who said they would do any such thing.
Curious.
Yes, we have had one writer publicly declaring financial core status, but this can�t be what the press is referring to, can it? Because they surely wouldn�t describe one or two writers out of seven thousand active members as a major pressure group. At least so one would think.
Even if these reporters had found and interviewed a couple of other writers who were threatening to do the same, surely they would have reported it as �a couple of mid-level writers are going to pressure the guild.� But no, that can�t be it because a few writers isn�t a schism. Journalists and editors don�t just throw around terms like that.
But if it is true, shouldn�t someone actually know at least one big writer who is in this group? Shouldn�t someone have let it slip? We have been called a lot of things, but when is the last time a writer was accused of keeping his mouth shut? Surely someone would want the glory that comes with being the spokesperson for a group that is going to save the Guild from itself. Look at �85 and �88, the Union Blues spokesmen were out front from day one. They even had a catchy name and a logo.
Yes, there will be many different opinions about the DGA deal and whether we should take it or not. But that is not what is being reported. You would think that Jim Brooks, Steve Gaghan, Eric Roth, John Logan, Robin Swicord, Susannah Grant, Aaron Sorkin, Callie Khouri, Tony Gilroy, Ron Harwood, Diablo Cody and a coterie of other highly-paid, award-clutching scribes are circling the Guild offices in black Priuses, waiting for the right moment to pounce and pressure us into taking the DGA deal verbatim.
Those are top screenwriters, no doubt, but I would find it strangely ironic if they were plotting subversion while picketing, working tirelessly on various Guild boards, and openly expressing their support for the strike.
So here is where my mind started to go: Could this reporting have anything to do with a well organized and very expensive PR campaign to convince WGA members that we should shut up and be grateful for what we got? But then I thought, �Come on, these are The Trades and other very reputable newspapers � top media sources that we rely upon not just for local news, but for well-researched and independent reporting on international events. Whether it is Burbank or Baghdad, they speak with integrity, they check their sources, they get things right or they don�t print it.
Seriously, what would this town be like if we couldn�t trust our newspapers, our well-meaning agents and producer friends?
So, you have my apologies for questioning this undisputable fact that is so well reported. This powerful group of influential screenwriters not only exists, we should be very, very afraid of them.
Sometimes I just have this cynical streak.
Paul Haggis
writer-director of �Juno� (honest)
No comments:
Post a Comment