The big news out of LA this morning is that the Directors Guild of America (DGA) has reached an agreement with the AMPTP. You can read all about the positive and negatives here (and while you are there buy a t-shirt, they may become collectors items soon). The deal does seem to achieve at least some of what the WGA (Writers Guild of America) wanted. But the whole idea of pattern bargaining has been turned upside down in the entertainment industry and there are rank and file grumblings about that. So it is not a done deal that the writers strike will end by any means.
In the automobile industry, for example, the Auto Workers band together (UAW) and traditionally strike one of the big three companies (the weakest and so the one it feels it can make the best deal with) and the other auto makers have to fall in line around that contract knowing if they don't they will face strikes while the competitors continue to happily make cars under the new contract. In the entertainment industry (and it is an industry - one of America's most profitable and one where the USA continues to be the gold standard) it has been working the other way. The Media Conglomerates (AMPTP) band together and make a deal with which ever of the big three guilds (WGA, DGA, SAG) they feel will be easiest to get what they want from - setting a pattern the other Guilds will follow. BUT - and it is a big but - there is no reason any other Guild will necessarily agree. AND having Directors ready to work without scripts (or the real nightmare, having it all ready and clock running on the financing you got to actually make the movie and then the actors refusing to show up land to to work) doesn't really get you anywhere - other than bankruptcy court.
So the writers now have reached a crucial plot point. I simply note that in strike of 1960 the WGA stayed on strike over the recommendation of its own Board of Directors choosing instead to stay strong behind its Negotiating Committee, and the result was health care and a pension fund that became industry standard.
One quick point. I received an email from a fellow writer saying "Well, at least the DGA stood up against the AMPTP longer than the French held out against the Nazis." One of my day jobs during this strike has been teaching High School History so I am compelled to say that the French held out a great deal longer. The DGA did however hold out longer than the Italians against the US when the Allies actually landed in Italy proper.
So lets see where the story goes from here. In Italy it ended with Mussolini hanging from a lamp post. Lets all hope things go better for the DGA.
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