comment #1

Kristopher Tapley says ...

Maybe Los Angeles shouldn't have allowed itself to become such a one-industry town. Where are the banks? Where are the textiles? Long gone in favor of self-imposed dependence on glitz and fantasy.

comment #2

Indeed says ...

Another intepretation is that the WGA members themselves are responsible for going on strike in the first place.

That's like getting mad at Honda instead of the person driving the car that hit you.

No, Im not saying the producers should come off scott free in this blame game, but personal responsibility is quite a virtue.

comment #3

supertaster says ...

Since you asked, Wells, no, the producers didn't cause a recession (assuming the veracity of the recession claims)...try reading this with a matter-of-fact tone, not a confrontational one usually assumed for disgreements...

...as an outsider with many friends in the industry, it seems to me that the blame belongs mostly with the incompetent WGA leadership by virtue of their greed and amateurish negotiating tactics...a speedy resolution was NEVER part of their plan...all one has to do is go back a few months to the stories you ran quoting over-confident and very green negotiating "experts" bragging about their tactics of sweating out/smoking out/starving the producers until they broke...

comment #4

D.Z. says ...

Kris: The irony is that they don't even shoot movies here much anymore *precisely* because the place has been turned into a giant tourist trap masquerading as a set.

comment #5

Edward says ...

D.Z. they make less films in LA not because it is a tourist trap, but because it's cheaper to film elsewhere. Am I wrong in blaming the union's for the expense of filming in LA?

comment #6

D.Z. says ...

Edward: It might be cheaper, but, theoretically, we should have more prime locations which would offset any desire to shoot elsewhere. Instead of that, though, L.A.'s been carved into a over-sized strip mall by greedy developers; and no one wants to spend hours in traffic looking for the few decent places they can use for the final product. It's more than money. And the unions have nothing to do with it, since studios still pay too much for shoots outside of the city. Look at Evan Almighty.

comment #7

JacksOrBetter says ...

That's a very reasonable interpretation, in my opinion. The studios and their owners have, and always will, hold the real power when it comes to labor issues.

[i]"That's like getting mad at Honda instead of the person driving the car that hit you."[/i]

That's so stupid it's actually kind of funny. Thanks.

comment #8

The Hoyk says ...

"That's like getting mad at Honda instead of the person driving the car that hit you."

If Honda put faulty brakes in the car that caused the guy driving it to hit me, then yeah, I'd be mad at them too.

comment #9

Richardson says ...

I actually would agree that the poor leadership representing the WGA certainly didn't help matters with the strike. But, since the WGA has no greater responsibility towards the workforce of the state or the industry, it really isn't their responsibility to keep California out of a recession.

The studios and producers, on the other hand, have a lot of control over the California economy and, while it is not literally their job to keep California out of a recession, doing their job properly should keep California out of a recession.

So, yeah, the WGA leadership was incompetent and clearly not interested in settling... but the producers and the studios were the ones who pushed it to the point where the WGA membership would listen to their bad new leaders, and then did everything they could to not negotiate at all for as long as possible, even knowing that the studios would lose money because of it.

comment #10

Richardson says ...

"Am I wrong in blaming the union's for the expense of filming in LA?"

They have a share of the blame, certainly. In LA and NYC, there is enough established filmmaking that the unions have been able to force the studios to certain agreements, where in other states, the lack of filming and the lack of sufficient strong union membership [for instance, who's going to specialize in being a film Teamster in Iowa?] has led to more lax union rules in other states, making it cheaper.

But that's far from the only reason. The biggest reason is locations -- in LA, nobody is starstruck by somebody wanting to film in their location, they just charge a fee like everybody else. Most places in the country outside of LA, you can film for free if you have a good smile.

comment #11

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