IS DELIVERANCE NEAR?

Full disclosure:  I am a member of the Writers Guild of America, and I'm currently on strike against the wonderful guys who gave us the NBC schedule and the studios that gave us...I can't remember what they gave us. 

There was a break yesterday when United Artists, controlled by Tom Cruise and his partner, Paula Wagner, settled with the Guild.  I have no idea whether Cruise forced the Guild negotiators to convert to Scientology to make the deal, and I don't want to know.  Don't ask, don't tell.

Does this mean the solid wall of the Hollywood moneymen is crumbling?  Frankly, I wouldn't bet on it.  There's no real Hollywood anymore.  The feature studios, and most of the major TV outlets, are simply parts of conglomerates.  They aren't really needed to produce a profit for the parent companies.  So, the incentive for them to settle a strike isn't as great as in the distant past, when movie studios only made movies and TV networks weren't subdivisions of somebody else.
If NBC can't operate for another four months, General Electric, which owns the network, will not go out of business.

One of the sad things about Hollywood today is that so many of the executives who run the place could easily be making asphalt.  Passion?  Come on.  For a new restaurant, maybe.  Art?  Way below global warming and the chance that the house might fall into the Pacific, along with the "Kucinich for president" buttons.  Excitement?   If you think it's tough sitting through some of the industry's productions, imagine the grand experience of making them.  Forest Lawn is more alive.

I was once in a meeting with an agent who held up the proceedings for half an hour while he chose the paint for his office.  It's that kind of thing.  It wasn't even a nice color.  

I suspect this strike will drag on for a time, at least until some of the MBA's in suits miss having lunch with their secretaries, many of whom are male, all of whom seemed to be named Eric.

Posted on January 8, 2008.