Chapter 221: Chapter 221 Influence
"I support the writers' demand for better treatment, but I don't support a strike, that's my attitude!"
In the most recent issue of Vanity Fair magazine, Lin Ming Yang's photo of him clasping his hands, smiling, and shrugging his shoulders became the cover of this magazine, and his attitude towards this Hollywood writers' strike followed him on the cover of the magazine.
The media was in an uproar over this statement. Some time ago, the star of the hit series "Desperate Housewives" Eva only in the strike site to deliver pizza; Oscar-winning actress Holly Hunter wearing a hat and gloves "armed" appeared in the United States online - Time Warner Center downstairs, holding a sign with the words "in the same boat! The sign reads "Together We Stand" in support of the strikers. A number of other major movie and television stars have also appeared in the procession, joining the writers with placards reading "Stick to the Strike" and chanting "Be Fair, Give Me Back What I Get".
Lin Mingyang expressed a voice that was very different from the mainstream at this time, and naturally, it "sent a shockwave". In an interview, Lin Mingyang pointed out that the efficiency of the strike depended on the association's ability to manage the "haves" and the "have-nots". "The efficiency of the strike depends on the association's ability to manage the "haves" and "have-nots" within it. "Within this association, the economic situation between people has been very different for a long time. If the strike lasts more than a month, the association will face the thorny issue of members challenging the leadership." This internal gap between rich and poor could turn out to be the root cause of the strike's difficulty in being sustainable in the long run.
He originally intended to alert the Screenwriters Guild to the problem, but unfortunately his well-intentioned comment was misinterpreted, and the Screenwriters Guild immediately offered a rebuttal, "The problem we're trying to solve with the strike involves people at all income levels." Jeff Hermanson, head of the West Coast chapter, said, "I've never seen such solidarity." And Sheri Goldman, spokesperson for the East Coast chapter, said, "If people were to ask what differences there are between those at the top of the screenwriting ladder and those at the bottom in terms of their determination to strike, the answer would be absolutely 'none'!"
This rush by the Screenwriters Guild to jump in and set the record straight rather reveals their inner concerns, and the fact is that the strike has only been going on for a little over a month, and already people within the Guild are beginning to waver and even complain that those writers with deep pockets are able to sit at home and enjoy the fruits of the strike without worrying about it, while those in the salaried class are beginning to have to start facing the difficulties of a tightly-packed life.
Strike organizers are still immersed in the joy of the Golden Globes pulled down, Lin Mingyang "alternative declaration" but to the Writers Guild alarm, the Actors Guild and Directors Guild of the collective silence has been able to illustrate some of the problems. Lin Mingyang's "statement" is like a wind vane, those actors who once publicly supported the writers' strike have become low-key, no longer seen in the striking crowd of celebrities.
In an effort to reverse the negative momentum, the Writers Guild of America issued a statement that it might stage a demonstration at the Grammys, music's biggest awards show, on February 10th, making it impossible for the ceremony to take place. Greg Mitchell, a spokesman for the Writers Guild, made a public statement making it clear that the striking writers refused to write crosstalk for the Grammys. The Writers Guild also explicitly warned the stars of the Screen Actors Guild that they would have to walk through a thick wall of strikers if they wanted to attend the awards show.
In the face of this challenge, the American Federation of Musicians and the American Association of Television and Radio Artists have joined forces to "stand in solidarity" with the Grammys, and in a joint statement they strongly urged all their members to show their support by attending this year's Grammy Awards.
The American Federation of Musicians is the largest professional musicians in the United States, and the American Association of Television and Radio Artists on behalf of the rights and interests of 70,000 professional entertainment practitioners, the weight of this joint statement is very heavy, and the media even regarded it as a contribution to the Grammys as scheduled, a shot of "cardiac stimulant", before publicly expressed support for the strike of well-known Musicians such as Justin and Beyonce have abandoned their original positions.
At the same time, several entertainment giants that had been pressured by the momentum of the strike have also begun to fight back against the writers' strike. Due to the failure of the new season's TV series filming plan, four major TV stations, FOX, CBS, NBC and Warner Bros. will cancel the contracts with dozens of writers, and as a result of the impact of this, not only the new season's drama filming plan may be in vain, but also these dozens of writers will not have a job. The new season of the show may be canceled, and dozens of writers will lose their jobs.
Hollywood's Weinstein Brothers had already reached an agreement with the writers' union to continue hiring the striking writers, allowing the company to continue producing the movie at hand. But before the agreement was reached, Harvey Weinstein received a number of calls from other giants warning him not to negotiate with the Writers Guild alone.
Lin Mingyang's predictions were fulfilled. The organizers of the strike claimed that the strike was to protect the interests of middle-class screenwriters, but during the strike, the first to be fired were those middle-class screenwriters, while the really "big" screenwriters, who had enough capital in their hands, were fired because of the strike. The real "big name" screenwriters, because they had enough capital in their hands, the producers would not tear themselves apart, so they did not worry about losing their jobs at all.
The Writers Guild of America has become increasingly divided, with middle- and lower-income writers hoping to speed up negotiations and end the strike this morning, but higher-income writers and strike organizers agree that this is not the best time to negotiate.
The original negotiating situation was favorable to the Writers Guild because the strike, which has been going on for seven weeks now, has had far-reaching effects in Hollywood: it has nearly destroyed the peak season for television series, put numerous feature film projects in jeopardy, and led to disruptions in the industry's annual awards season. Numerous negotiations during the strike broke down due to a lack of mutual acceptance of each other's terms, and the Golden Globes were the most affected, with the Oscars, known as the windshield of the Oscars, forced to cancel the ceremony because of the writers' strike.
It was the abortion of the Golden Globes ceremony that brought the originally tough film and television company executives back to the negotiating table, but now this advantage has been completely canceled because of Lin Mingyang's "tough" declaration, and those companies that were originally prepared to negotiate with the Screenwriters Guild have withdrawn from the negotiating table.
The Directors Guild, as a "hardcore ally", has also turned against Lin Mingyang at this time. After the Vanity Fair interview with Lin Mingyang was released, they quickly reached a three-year package of temporary agreements with the studios, an agreement that put enormous pressure on the striking screenwriters.
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The strike situation took a turn for the worse for the writers, while the entertainment giants, who were "holding out," breathed a sigh of relief. But at this very moment, at an executive meeting held by MGM, Lin Mingyang once again made a shocking statement.
In Lin Mingyang with a very plain tone of voice unexpectedly said the word "negotiation", the buzzing in the conference room abruptly stopped, those who just held their own views on the heated discussion of the executives are tense up, staring wide-eyed at Lin Mingyang, the feeling is like a good play to the middle of the show suddenly out of a The feeling was as if a heavily armed police officer suddenly stepped out in the middle of a good play.
Ecks was frozen in surprise like a half-broken log, not speaking for half a day. The atmosphere in the conference room became a bit strange for a while, the chairman of the company's board of directors left his words there, and the president didn't say anything, so the people below could only look at me and look at you, looking at each other without knowing what to say.
Good thing that Ecks finally slowed down, he coughed, the following small talk abruptly ended. Ecks gently drank a mouthful of water, cleared his throat and looked at Lin Ming Yang with a serious face, "Is there nothing wrong with your brain?"
These words made everyone else fall over, the company could use this tone of voice to talk to Lin Ming Yang, except for Ecks could no longer find a second person, the relationship between the two was clear to everyone, but Ecks said it so directly, still the people below had some difficulty accepting it.
"Aren't I just bringing out my ideas to discuss with you guys?" Lin Mingyang glared at him, as MGM's absolute controller, in fact, this issue he alone can say, but in order not to give people the impression of arbitrary management, Lin Mingyang still took this resolution to the executive meeting, so that he did not expect other people's reaction is so "fierce".
Ecks then asked, "Do you know what the media calls you now?"
"There are many ways the media calls me..." shrugged Lin Ming Yang, "Which one are you asking about?"
Ecks hummed softly from his nostrils, "You're known quite a bit in the newspapers, but all this time the media has been calling you the representative of the 'hawks' who are boycotting the writers' strike... I don't know how you feel about that?"
"I'm merely stating the basic facts..."
Lin Ming Yang Hua hadn't finished speaking when Ecks interrupted him, "But the media made a different interpretation, now everyone knows that you're against the strike, and those big companies are all taking a tough stance right now, could it be that you can clear your name from all of this?"
Eckes words let Lin Mingyang speechless, he accepted the "Vanity Fair" interview said those words are out of honesty, but in fact has become a "head out of the head", the media a burst of speculation, those big companies took advantage of the situation to play a beautiful turnaround, sweeping the last two months of the "pussy gas! "Those companies behind the bosses at this time in their hearts may be how to "thank" Lin Mingyang it.
Eckes asked in a serious tone: "Sitting in this position today, what you said are right, at least you have stood in the perspective of a company owner to look at the problem... You first stood clearly against the strike, this time but suddenly 'compromise', how will everyone see you? will think of you?"
"I made those remarks earlier only hoping to cause self-reflection among the insiders of the Screenwriters Guild, but screenwriters not receiving fair treatment and status is a problem that has existed in Hollywood for a long time, screenwriters made a scene in 1988 because of this matter, which brought about a huge loss to the entire entertainment industry in Hollywood, and today history is repeating itself, in addition to the fact that those striking screenwriters should be think about it, don't all of us here have any sense of reflection?"
Lin Mingyang's eyes swept through the faces of these executives one by one, and all he saw were blank expressions, and he was slightly disappointed in his heart, because people always forget the pain after a good wound.
He sighed softly, "There is an old Chinese saying, 'If you don't forget the past, you can learn from the future', this writers' strike did not have a big impact on MGM's company, and if we were to ask why, some people might say that it's because we prepared well in advance to deal with the strike. But the truth is that's not the main reason. MGM, as an independent production company, has limited expansion into industries other than movies, especially in the field of television, where we are basically uninvolved, we don't have a huge industrial chain like Warner or Paramount, so we lost the least amount of money in this disaster..."
Lin Ming Yang tapped the conference table with his knuckles and looked at the company's subordinates with a grim expression, "I would like to remind everyone here that being spared because of weakness is not something to be proud of. I am quite dissatisfied with MGM's current situation, and in the future, we will definitely have to expand into other areas of the entertainment industry, and by the time we have grown to the size of a company like Warner or Paramount, or surpassed them, we will be the first to bear the brunt of another general strike of screenwriters that breaks out in Hollywood at that time."
"Everyone here is the core of MGM, if you can't stand in the height of the future to consider the company's current strategic development, then I can say that you are all incompetent managers."
During Lin Mingyang's "lecture", Eckles remained silent, and at this time he finally spoke up, "Do you think strikes will continue to occur in the future?"
Lin Mingyang replied with certainty: "As long as the labor-management conflict exists and the core issues are not resolved, strikes are bound to become a cyclical cycle... Under the sun, everything is history repeating itself!"
"And what does our initiative to negotiate with the Screenwriters Guild change?" Ecks stared daggers at Lin Mingyang. The current Screenwriters Guild of America already had serious internal disagreements, seeing as their alliance was already untenable, when their internal disagreements evolved into conflicting contradictions and the camp disintegrated, the strike would naturally come to an end.
Just need to wait patiently can reap the benefits, now than MGM anxious company there are many, MGM completely unnecessary at this time to stand out as the "wrongdoer", if the negotiations broke down, not only offended other companies in the industry, but also in the Screenwriters Guild to make a fool of themselves. Eckles could not figure out why Lin Mingyang would suddenly make this decision.
Lin Mingyang also had his own considerations, the current strike situation is indeed unfavorable to the Screenwriters Guild, but those big companies that are tough on the surface actually expect the strike to end earlier, both sides need a step, and MGM this time to come forward, take the lead and the Screenwriters Guild to reach an agreement, which can motivate both sides to go back to the negotiation table, and the storm of the strike will have a chance to calm down.
Lin Mingyang's idea was to come up with a new labor agreement in which the studios would pay the writers a share of the sales of film and television programs distributed through emerging media such as the Internet and cell phones. In the first two years of the three-year agreement, the responsible screenwriters would be able to share a flat fee capped at $1,200, and in the third year, a number of percentages of the distributor's total earnings.
Previously, film and television companies have been using the emerging media market is not yet mature as a reason to refuse to provide such a share to screenwriters, but through this contract, screenwriters will not only from the digital media market share, but also in the Internet film and television share will also get more "dividends". Lin Mingyang came up with this agreement in the profit share to make a lot of concessions, but in general is still in the Eckles and other executives can accept the scope.
No one objected to the new labor agreement, and the focus of the meeting shifted to why MGM should be the "leader".
"Because MGM's goal is to become the leader in this industry!" Answering the questions of the crowd, Lin Mingyang did not hide his arrogant ambition, "If this agreement can be successfully signed, it will greatly increase MGM's influence on the entire industry, because when other companies negotiate with the Screenwriter's Guild, this agreement will become a standard... Absolute market share, a strong company size, these are the key to MGM's future development. These are the goals for MGM going forward, but at best we'll be a monopoly. A true industry leader looks at the development of the entire industry, its standards are the standards of the entire industry, and its development direction is the development trend of the entire industry. What we have to do is to take the initiative to master this industry influence from now on!"
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This time of year is supposed to be the busiest time in Hollywood, as many of the annual awards ceremonies are centered around this time of year. But a wave of writers' strikes that lasted two months has left the Golden Globes "dead in the water", and as the wind vane of the Oscars, the Golden Globes have suffered from pressure that has put the Oscars organizing committee on pins and needles.
The Oscars were held as scheduled during the 1988 writers' strike, but the situation was different then than it is now. Back then the program scripts were finished before the strike and were left unchanged throughout the evening. Now it's impossible to create a good script for the Oscars ahead of time because the list of competing films hasn't been announced yet.
As the date of the nomination announcement draws nearer, the Oscars organizing committee is getting anxious. Once the nominations are announced, all kinds of scripts will have to be written, and if the writers continue to go on strike, the awards ceremony is likely to be "sloppy", and the process will inevitably be shortened.
Award show producer Jill Cates said bluntly in a media interview, "I hope the writers and producers can reach a 'cease-fire' agreement before the awards show. But what will most likely happen is that on Oscar night this year, the only thing the audience will hear most of the time will be the awards presenters repeating the usual 'The Oscar nominees are...and the Oscar winners are...' lines."
Without the gags between the award presenters, the witty jokes about the entertainment industry and the streak of witticisms to poke fun at the ugly stars, the awards show may not mean much more than the glittering trophies and the long list of winners. Based on this judgment, the media's expectation of TV ratings for this year's Oscars party has also dropped to an all-time low.
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