The Show Will Not Go On

It has been an exciting week in show business with labor action affecting both the television and theatrical communities.

Last Monday, members of the Writers Guild of America walked off the set, shutting down production on the late night talk shows, sitcoms and any dramas that hadn’t put enough episodes in the can. The issue is over compensation for internet and DVD usage of produced product. Writers want a piece of the pie, greedy producers want to keep it all for themselves.

As all of us realize, the future of all media is on the internet. No one buys CDs any more, we all download. Networks increasingly release their first run programming on YouTube or other websites, or put out DVDs of entire seasons so viewers can watch the reruns at their own discretion. Currently, writers, actors and directors–the creative people without whom there would be no television–get little if any of the revenue generated from these non-broadcast means of distribution.Writer/comedian and Writers Guild member Tim Kazurinsky, appeared recently on Chicago television station WGN and broke it all down.

Next June, contracts between producers and members of the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America expire and the same issues are on the table. Everyone is watching how this negotiating plays out to see if producers will come to their senses and share the revenue, or if they will remain the selfish idiots we’ve always known them to be, and force a walkout by actors and directors.

(In 2000, while still a working actor, I spent five months on the picket line when SAG and AFTRA struck commercial producers, over the very same issue of residuals and internet airing of advertising. I learned first hand how soulless producers are.)

While most performers stand behind their union brothers on the writing side, not everyone is. Apparently, comedian and talk show host Ellen Degeneres has chosen to go on with her show despite the strike. She will come to New York November 19th and 20th to tape her show. Members of the Writers Guild of America East plan a frosty reception.

On the theatrical front, when talks between Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) broke down in their negotiations with the League of American Theatres and Producers, that union representing stagehands authorized a strike. At 11am on Saturday, November 10th members of Local One set up picket lines shutting down nearly all of Broadway.

A total of 35 shows are currently running, with the majority of them affected by the strike. The non-profit houses and a handful of others operate under separate contracts and will remain open. They include: The New Amsterdam (Mary Poppins), Helen Hayes Theatre (Xanadu), Hilton Theatre (Young Frankenstein), Circle in the Square (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), American Airlines Theatre (Pygmalion), Studio 54 (The Ritz) and Biltmore Theatre (Mauritius) and Vivian Beaumont (Cymbeline).

Explaining their situation to confused ticket-holders, the union issued the following statement:

Theatre owners and producers are demanding a 38 % cut in our jobs and wages. They have built a $20 million fund to be used against us from the sale of theatre tickets to the public.

Broadway is a billion dollar a year industry and has never been more profitable than now.Cuts in our jobs and wages will never result in a cut in ticket prices to benefit the public, but only an increase in the profits for producers.Unlike the producers, we are not fighting for our second or third homes; we are fighting to keep the one that we have.

We ask for your understanding in our efforts to defend ourselves and protect our families. 

The strike will not effect off Broadway or off off Broadway plays however, which in my opinion, usually offer more interesting shows anyway. Attendance was up by about 30% over the weekend at off-Broadway houses and at least 57 non-Broadways shows are running.

Writers Guild of America, East statement concerning Ellen Degeneres LINK
Writers Guild of America, West LINK
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local One LINK