An Assistant Speaks

Hi Ent, the spirit of the following is simply meant to offer another perspective on the potential writers strike that we haven't seen discussed yet: the below-the-line/un-guilded assistants.

THE RIGHT KIND OF RIGHT

Why are you reading this? Do you care what I have to say? Because you haven't yet asked me or my coworkers or my peers at other productions and companies what we'll do when the strike hits.

AMPTP - I get it, you represent the businesses. Mickey Mouse, Time Warner, GE, all the big and smallish guys. And we're just company overhead, not faces; simply money in their banks. It's been a failure of a new television season, you're only seeing year-to-year weekend gains in film when it's a sequel or there's a caped hero, and you can't stop the cybersleuths from leaking your properties on Bit Torrent or TV links. Hear us clear, employers: as your personnel we absolutely recognize your need to partake in smart business; hey,after all, someone's gotta cut our checks and throw us free trips to Disney.

And writers - I get it, this strike will help "us" in the long run.We'll benefit most from this when we're working writers/producers/directors/whatever and you're all shriveled up,recalling the glory days and living off your residuals from that streaming media check you got from your episode of CSI or Monk. Hear us clear, boss: we absolutely believe you deserve to be paid for your creative property. But we also believe in compromise and rational decision making.

See here's the real deal: we lose. No if, and, or but's about it. We don't have a strike fund. We don't get our benefits from the guild.We'll have a part time job at some bar on the promenade and COBRA payments, compliments of our insurance being terminated upon production's closure. Most of us aren't dumb, we knew what we were getting into here - hard work and long hours in the hopes of proving ourselves to either move up or make the contacts to do it on our own.So where's that opportunity we were so humbly promised? What do all those late nights add up to?

Tell me to stop whining. I should. But so should all of you. AMPTP haven't offered compromises (we all know they only took off the table what shouldn't have been "on" in the first place). The WGA is too concerned with the war and not the specifics of the battles. You're both too busy arguing over chairs (thanks for the updates, Nikki) or where to hold the meeting to realize that every one of you represents fifty more faces. (I'd love to do the math to figure out how many assistants to writers will be out of work come November 1st, but I'm too busy trying to make plans to pack up said boss.) I don't speak for all below-the-line slash assistants, just enough of them. Obviously we don't have a guild; that shouldn't stop us from having a voice.Voices that should also speak up, we're still a part of this. We're not (yet?) members of the WGA, nor will we be offered membership until we sell something, so stop using the argument that it will benefit us later. I'm sure if we could join we would. The sentiment of your argument is designed to make you (both writers and executives alike)feel better. Some role model you are. There's more than one way to stand up for what's right. What kind of "right" do you want to be?

Here's my solution: keep going. Negotiate, compromise, do everything you can to work it out. Don't fuck the writers on residuals again(particularly new media and DVD sales) - give them their fair cut of the pie. But don't fuck the below-the-line and their measly $600paycheck either. Writers, just because your contract expires on Thursday doesn't mean you can't keep working while negotiating. I'm not saying forever, but how about long enough to prove you're not trying out maneuver the AMPTP. It's quite clear you hoped to catch"the man" with it's pants down by striking now (as opposed to waiting and aligning 'till the actors and directors get screwed too all the while still negotiating on your own).

Bringing the industry to a halt is good in theory until you remember that "the industry" is actually people trying to make a living.People with families, mortgages, credit card debt, college payments,etc etc. Faces simply caught in the crowded crossfire of what's right and who's right. So if you choose to stand by striking now, please know your support staff might not be there when you do finally sit back down. For, we too, have our rights. The right to work, the right for our turn to pursue our dreams, and the right to look up to you--those that have come before us. What kind of "right" do you want to be?