The Senate and the House aren't the only places holding an election these days. Here in Hollywoood, we have the WGA election coming up. For all of our general interest readers, then, a warning that we're about to go a little wonkish. First, some background...
Two years ago, the L.A. Times Magazine printed as essay I'd written for them, "The End of Television as We Know It." It was an outgrowth of what I'd learned during my two-year term as chairman of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. That article was written from the consumer point-of-view but everything in it is now becoming the subject of a much larger and potentially confrontational debate here in Hollywood.
The WGA (Writers Guild of America) election for the Board of Directors is September 18. This is very important because the contract between the AMPTP and the WGA runs out in 2007 and either we are going to make a reasonable deal or we won't. If we don't, it means a strike, and that will hurt writers and it will hurt Hollywood. Best to avoid it.
But the stakes this year couldn't be higher because we all know that the entire digital area has broken Humpty Dumpty's TV set and any new contract has to deal with that.
So, while I've endorsed a group of candidates in this election, and written privately to friends on their behalf as well, I want to go one step further with one single candidate: Naren Shankar.
I'm doing this because Naren, for reasons I'm not even clear on (and he's not willing to discuss), did not get his election statement in on time for the election booklet. In any case, missing a deadline is something writers probably should have sympathy for, so I'm printing his statement here. Naren, in case you're wondering, is an Executive Producer on "C.S.I." Here's the full-text of Shankar's statement:
"I’ve been in the Writers’ Guild for nearly 15 years, and in that time, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the industry so polarized. We’re saying that we’re not going to let the Companies screw us again like they did in ’88, and the Companies are saying that we just don’t understand the business. Everybody seems angry. And I think, in a large part, that anger stems from fear.
We’re not far from a time when broadcast networks might effectively cease to exist – they’ll be replaced by a few dozen giant YouTubes on the net. And who’ll need to go to a theater if they’ve got a hundred-inch screen, Dolby surround, and first-run features on demand in their living room? The Companies’ old business models are breaking down, and it’s already starting to hurt the way we earn a living and maintain our health and pension plans.
I believe that the single most important issue in the upcoming negotiations is digital delivery. It is going to re-define our industry in the very near future, and it will affect all writers: feature, TV, animation, reality, new media, as well as our colleagues in the DGA and SAG.
There are other areas of critical importance which must be addressed. We can’t allow product placement and integration to be forced down our throats and turn our programs into long, lame commercials; but in the age of DVRs and declining ad dollars, we have to remain open to different ways to finance our shows. We have to continue our efforts to organize reality, animation, and new media and get those writers the benefits they deserve; at the same time, we have to protect the definition of what a writer is if we want to keep our Guild a unified organization of professionals who share the same basic interests.
But if we’re going to make any progress on any of these issues, we have to be willing to sit down with the Companies and talk. Together, we’re going to have to come up with creative, new ways to keep the entertainment industry strong while protecting the interests of our Guild for its members and their families.
It’s not going to be easy. We’re going to have to look at a new world of digital entertainment and try to predict the future.
I’m a former engineer with a Ph.D. in Applied Physics, so I understand technology. And as Co-Showrunner of “CSI” I deal with the corporate side of this business on a daily basis. I can be useful on the Board. I’m asking for your vote."
I'm voting for Naren because, well, honestly, we need all the mental firepower we can get on the Board and, as he said, the man has a PhD. in Applied Physics from Cornell. He's probably the only guy I know who could really understand the "Let's Get Small" post that so many people seem to keep hitting. In any case, Naren's also working on a hit show on CBS and that means that Les Moonves takes his calls. We need Naren's intellectual and entertainment biz throw weight on our side.
I've met Naren a couple of times. A few years ago, I moderated a "C.S.I." panel at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Plus, we got to talk last week at a candidate's get-together thrown by our mutual friend, Melissa Rosenberg. The WGA Board has sixteen people on it. Eight seats are being filled this year. He clearly should be one of those new voices.
Aside from his obvious skills, Naren is one of those high profile "names" in the world of writing. The Board needs a few of them to put a face on our issues. People like Ron Bass, who's currently on the Board, and people like John Wells who ran the WGA as its president.
There are many other good candidates in this election, of course, but they all got their statements printed and didn't need me to re-print theirs here in this blog. They still get a plug, though. Other people I know who would be good on the WGA Board include Aaron Mendelsohn, Ron Bass, Dawn Prestwich, John Wirth and Karen Harris.
If you're a member of the WGA, it is important to vote because our overall turnout will be read as a barometer of how involved the Guild members are in their concerns over the coming negotiations. If you're a WGA member and you're reading this, the candidate's night is Wednesday, September 6. I would be there to hear them all in person but, get this, I am hosting the entire high school football team for dinner at my house and I'm cooking the burgers.
So, that's my two-cents, for what it's worth...
