Chapter 958： Labor dispute

Head to head Hollywood 958 author Qian Duxue Full text 4477 words

Head to Head Hollywood Chapter 958 Labor Disputes Entering November, New Universal continues to lead the North American entertainment market. The music album "I Come, I Create" has become a hit, and it has five songs that have reached the top of the US bulletin chart and become the number one single. In the TV market, New Universal is also leading the way. NBC's reality show "Universal Model Contest", TV series "Bloodthirsty Forensics", ABC's reality show "Wise and Brave", FOX's reality show "Truth or Dare", TV series "How I Met Your Mother", AMC The TV series "Shameless"... In addition to CBS, almost all of the major American TV stations are broadcasting TV programs produced by Universal Television. Not to mention the popular American TV series "Warcraft" on Starz TV. It has the visual sense of a scaled-down version of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and the visual effects are very shocking. In the game market, "World of Warcraft" was born; in the movie market, "The Incredibles" and "Harry Potter 3: Prisoner of Azkaban" were released successively, suppressing all "monsters". Even in the fashion market, because New Universal has completed the acquisition of Prada, after some free publicity, more Americans have recognized this luxury brand, and sales have surged... It is simply a trend of cooking oil on fire. In the enterprise value section of the latest issue of "Wall Street Japan", a survey report was provided, and a list of the top ten unlisted companies in the United States was published. Among them, New Universal Group ranked second with a valuation of US$114 billion! It trails only Minnesota's low-profile farming family Cargill, which is valued at $135 billion. What is the concept of the $114 billion valuation of New Universal Group? News Corp.'s current market value of $72 billion is not as good as New Universal. Disney's market value is $57.2 billion, or half of New Universal's valuation. In the film and television media industry, New Universal is only behind Time Warner. In its heyday, AOL Time Warner, with a market value approaching $250 billion, is now worth $123 billion. However, it will be a matter of time before Time Warner is surpassed. It is estimated that it will take less than half a year. With the successful re-election of President George W. Bush, it is conceivable that in his second term, it will be the opportunity for the New Universal Group to stir up the tide of the times. There are even rumors that President George W. Bush will award Dunn a Medal of Freedom, the highest honor for American civilians, at the commendation conference at the end of the year, in recognition of his efforts to improve women's rights this year, especially in the protection of underage female sexual abuse. outstanding contribution. This is of course the official statement. The real reason is probably because Dunn successfully won Harvey Weinstein and blocked the release of "Fahrenheit 911", allowing President Bush to be re-elected without any risk. The rumors are true. Dunn did receive a call from the White House office. But he refused. This kind of limelight is unnecessary and meaningless. It's as if the British royal family wanted to award Dunn with honors in recognition of his outstanding contributions, but he refused. Dunn is Dunn! His name is the halo, and he can represent himself. No need for the glory of the government and the royal family to prove his success. This summer, Dunn contacted all parties and suppressed "Fahrenheit 911" in a righteous manner, which can be said to have helped President Bush Jr. a huge favor. It is conceivable that in the next few years, the New Global Group will not encounter too strict policy restrictions in the development process. It's as if Murdoch's News Corp. wants to buy Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, and there will be no more obstacles. As a big donor, he provided political donations for President Bush's campaign and made such a great contribution. If the president is re-elected successfully, News Corporation will naturally receive a lot of benefits. Just in the flourishing momentum, Tang En heard some discordant voices. is from Hollywood. "What? Strike?" Dunn looked at the document in his hand and was really surprised. The document, from the MPAA, is also marked "Important". The content is very simple: "Reliable news, the Hollywood Screenwriters Guild, is brewing a new round of collective strikes. Tomorrow at 9 am, there will be an emergency meeting at the MAPP headquarters building." The words are concise, but rich enough. The Writers Guild of Hollywood is going on strike again! Strikes are very common in Hollywood. In order to fight for more rights and interests, many labor unions can only take extreme measures - strikes when negotiations with the six major studios have failed. This is a question left over from history. Back then, red ideas infiltrated Hollywood and created the "Hollywood Gang of Ten", which set off round after round of strikes, causing the whole of Hollywood to become hazy. Later, there was a period of anti-communism in the United States, and even top scientists like Qian Xuesen were quarantined and deported. Hollywood even arrested a group of filmmakers with wrong political inclinations, sent them to the guillotine, and actively engaged in "color revolutions". But it did not stop the trend of strikes. Among the dozens of unions in Hollywood, the four most powerful unions are the Producers Union, Directors Union, Actors Union, and Screenwriters Union. Among the four major trade unions, the producer has the highest right to speak, so the conditions are the best. Every Hollywood movie that makes money must give dividends to the producer union, which is an omni-channel dividend. The directors’ union has the same right to speak as the actors’ union. The second condition is that every Hollywood movie that sells well at the box office also has the right to participate in dividends, which is the box office share. The producers' union, directors' union, and actors' union are too powerful, and no one can afford to offend them. Everyone can only pinch their noses and admit it, and they have to give money. This is a convention, and it has exceeded the height of the law. If you want to survive, you can only do this. Fortunately, the film company has the ability to do accounting, especially after the group is formed, it has increased the ability to turn left and right, can control the amount of dividends, and can use money to manipulate the other side. Mutual restraint. However, the screenwriters union is too miserable. Because of the lack of strength enough to threaten the film company, Hollywood has always squeezed the screenwriters union hard enough. How low is the role of the screenwriter? It can be seen through a piece of entertainment news. "Entertainment Weekly" once published an article listing "10 things you must not do if you want to get involved in the entertainment industry." Among them, one is "must not sleep with the screenwriter"! The implication is that Hollywood screenwriters have no status at all. For those actresses who fantasize about "sleeping" in Hollywood, it is futile to sleep with screenwriters, sleep in vain! Hollywood has more than 100,000 screenwriters. Among them, the Writers Guild has 12,000 registered members, with an average annual salary of $200,000. However, there are only 2,000 screenwriters with an annual salary of more than $200,000, and most of them are struggling with food and clothing. There are even up to 48% of screenwriters who are unemployed and can't get a penny of income! Basically, the Writers Guild is a small group every three years and a large group every ten years! The last time the Writers Guild went on strike was in 2001. At that time, it was the California government who came forward to coordinate and settle the matter. They calculated that if things got bigger, it could cost California as much as $7 billion in economic losses. At that time, Dunn was not a Hollywood giant and did not participate in the negotiation process. He only knows one result, that is, the Hollywood production company and the Writers Guild have reached an agreement, agreeing to pay an additional $41 million in copyright royalties for the screenwriter's work in the next three years. Now, three years have passed, and the Writers Guild has repeated its old tricks and threatened to use a strike to get the Hollywood studios to back down and share more profits with them. The Producers Guild is eating meat, and the Directors Guild and Screen Actors Guild are eating vegetables. The Screenwriters Association's head office, right? Not to starve to death! In labor disputes, there is no distinction between good and evil, and the **** determines the brain. A typical example is Michael Jordan. This basketball god, when he was a player, was actively running around and confronting the management. He had a loud tone and a mad attitude, and demanded a substantial increase in the salaries of the players to protect the interests of the players. At the time, he won, earning an all-time high of $30 million a year. Later, Jordan retired, bought an NBA team, became the owner, and became the biggest hawk. The toughness of the attitude surprised the Mavericks owner Cuban. Even Jordan became the representative of the management and the spokesperson for all the team owners of the NBC League. The limelight was so strong and inexhaustible that it once caused the NBA to be suspended for half a year. Later, the players had no ball to play, no money to make, and they couldn’t hold on, so they had to compromise. Jordan had another big win. Tang En is a member of the Screenwriters Association. He has accumulated more than 60 film and television works registered with the Screenwriters Association! The copyright protection fee alone costs more than $6,000 a year. However, this is only a small amount of money. Dunn is also the big boss of New Universal Group! He represents the interests of Universal Pictures, Dunn Pictures, Marvel Studios, Rose Pictures, Pixar, LEGO Animation Studios, Focus Pictures, Universal Television Productions, STA Television, and more! In this "labor dispute", Tang En is a real "capital". Dunn paid more attention to this matter, and called Ron Mayer and Shirley Lansing to his office to understand the situation. In the 2000 Screen Actors Guild strike and the 2001 Screenwriters Guild strike, Dunn was not able to participate because of his lack of strength. This time, he is a real Hollywood boss, and he speaks with great weight. His attitude can even decide how to deal with this upcoming labor dispute. "The strike is not really, it's mainly a threat." Ron Mayer was the president of CAA in his early years, and he handled this kind of thing with ease, and said with a smile, "The last agreement was fulfilled, but with the development of the times, the movie The market is getting better and better, the last agreement is outdated, it is not surprising that the Writers Guild wants to change to a new clause." The original agreement between the Hollywood production company and the Writers Guild was that the Writers Guild could get 3% of the film and television works. Dividends from copyright profits, including box office, DVD, pay TV and pay-on-demand. It stands to reason that 3% is also very high. However, there is a huge difference between "profit dividends" and "income dividends". Even a globally popular movie like "Harry Potter" can fall into a loss, which shows how ruthless the Hollywood studios are. So much so that it is almost difficult for the Screenwriters Guild to get the dividends it deserves. Not only that. Shirley Lansing said: "The 3% profit dividend is divided into two parts, 1% is a fixed dividend, and 2% is a big sales bonus. That is to say, only when the film has enough revenue, the Screenwriters Guild can Get the remaining 2% of the dividend. In fact, it is difficult for the Writers Guild to get even 1% of the dividend. As far as I know, the only film company that honestly pays the Writers Guild a 3% dividend is Sony Pictures. Dunn laughed and said: "The Japanese, if you don't pay a little protection fee, they can't live in Hollywood at all. However, it's not much better now." Shirley Lansing shook her head with a smile, and then seriously Said: "Tang En, this matter should not be a big one, but it should be resolved as soon as possible. The people who benefit from the strike are often not those top star screenwriters, but those little-known screenwriters. This group is too large, and more It is easy to be sympathetic to the public. And this kind of thing is often an opportunity for big stars to show off, such as Tom Cruise, he is the most 'sympathetic', every time he strikes He will express support , which has been widely recognized by movie fans. Other actors, even if they do not express their opinions publicly, can not express their opposition and must do it themselves." Ron Meyer added: "Including producers, directors and other crew members, if they are on strike, Continuing to make movies at the stage is equivalent to helping the film company. Not putting pressure on the film company is equivalent to opposing the strike. This also leads to the fact that if there is a problem, the film project must be put on hold. Don’t forget, it is now 11 It's a month, and the awards season is coming." Dunn's face became solemn. Indeed, the Writers Guild found a good time. If it cannot be resolved as soon as possible, then it will not only affect the production of film and television programs, but even affect the awards season, and even boycott the Golden Globes and the Oscars. At the height of the 2008 screenwriters' strike, the Golden Globes were canceled because of a boycott by the Screen Actors Guild and the Screenwriters Guild. "Okay. Shirley, please, please go to the MPAA meeting tomorrow and give me a report back." Dunn said ponderingly. This labor dispute, as Ron Mayer said, should be a small fight. The last 3-year increase in the copyright agreement of 41 million US dollars has expired. This time, it will be supplemented and raised to 45 million US dollars, which is almost the same. However, this is a battle for the right to speak. Dunn must get involved and show his status in the industry. The strike thing will never stop. Whoever has the greater right to speak will be able to win more in line with their own interests. Whether it is the Screenwriters Guild, the Producers Guild, the Directors Guild, or the Actors Guild, Tang En's idea is very clear, and the dividend can only be limited to the box office and surrounding copyrights of the movie. Derivative copyrights are off limits! Such as games, tourism real estate, consumer goods and fashion sales, this kind of industry, must put an end to their invasion. . Nine Heavens God Empero