Features: Bridging the Feature-TV Divide, and Producer Outreach About Free Work
I think a lot of Guild members were expecting our 2020 MBA talks with the AMPTP to be the year we finally, finally put Features issues at the forefront. Thanks to the pandemic, that's, unfortunately, not how it played out. Regardless of COVID-19 affecting our industry and our negotiations, I expect that a lot of Feature writers aren't thrilled with the result. Though there were actually great gains made in streaming residuals across the board, including in Features... it's another 3 years before we can attempt to address larger, chronic Features issues that need addressing directly in the MBA.
Plainly, it sucks. I'm pretty sure the Board and the Negotiating Committee would agree on that front, and not just the Feature writers on the Board and in Officer positions. Given the circumstances and the total lack of a strike threat, I believe they got the best deal possible.
I primarily work in TV. I won't pretend to be fully immersed on every Features issue. I'm not going to make campaign promises or bold proclamations about things I'm not read in on, or that I'm 99% sure are MBA issues. That in particular would be disingenuous, as this coming Board term doesn't include a negotiation with the AMPTP.
But I will tell you that I'm listening and looking to learn.
And I will tell you that I'm a TV writer ready to rattle the sabers for Features issues so the entire town knows how serious we are about addressing things come 2023.
I'm also TV writer who is well positioned to explain to other TV writers why Features issues should matter to them, should be a thing they're willing to fight for.
Simply put, it's because these issues are coming for us, too.
I know, because I've had a front row seat to how streaming, short orders, and small rooms have started to turn TV careers into something much more itinerant, irregular, and feast-and-famine than they used to be.
I also know from my experience in TV development just how much free work can affect a writer, especially when it feels like you're working your ass off, you pitch and spec and pitch and spec, manage to attach producing partners on projects, and yet somehow still fail to maintain your health insurance.
While in Features writers do not hire writers, I don't believe that we, as a Guild, are powerless outside out of MBA negotiations on Features issues.
There are abusive practices we can work on curbing now, with outreach to producers who are so often responsible for a writer's endless free work, wanting to get a script or treatment or pitch just right before taking it out to the town. The problem many writers I've spoken with actually have is fear of speaking out and being labeled difficult. That's why the Guild needs to be proactive about this outreach. It can't be directed at a single producer, about a single project, after a complaint has been levied. Rather, we blanket the town and let them know this practice is not okay with us. It's a basic facet of human behavior: just knowing you're being observed makes you less like to misbehave. Well, let it be known... we're watching. We've taken on bigger, better organized, more entrenched systems in the recent past and proven that the way of doing business in Hollywood can change. Let's see how far we can get without the MBA.
In addition, I have a proposal about TV freelance scripts that would enable Features writers to gain TV experience. I've heard from several Features writers that even if they wanted to cross over into TV, lack of room experience can be a major impediment. Showrunners can assign freelance scripts so this is not something that needs codification in the MBA.
A few other Features issues outside the scope of the MBA have been brought to my attention, and while I'm not ready to make proposals on them (see above re wanting to know what the hell I'm talking about before running my mouth), like I said... I'm listening.
