The ongoing writers strike is taking center stage in the WGA East’s officer and Council elections. In their official candidate statements, released today, they all pledged their support for the strike, vowing to remain on the picket line until a fair contract is achieved. The strike, which began May 2 and is now in its 114th day.
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, who is running unopposed to be the guild’s next president, said that she will lead the guild “over the finish line in our epic battle for fair pay,” and that “We will not give up. We will not give in.”
As the current vice president of the guild’s Film, Television and Streaming sector, Cullen wrote that “This strike has meant nonstop, round-the-clock talking with members, meeting with staff, leading committees and coordinating with sister Guilds, politicians and non-members. But I burst with pride at our heroic army of...
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, who is running unopposed to be the guild’s next president, said that she will lead the guild “over the finish line in our epic battle for fair pay,” and that “We will not give up. We will not give in.”
As the current vice president of the guild’s Film, Television and Streaming sector, Cullen wrote that “This strike has meant nonstop, round-the-clock talking with members, meeting with staff, leading committees and coordinating with sister Guilds, politicians and non-members. But I burst with pride at our heroic army of...
- 8/23/2023
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
Hundreds of WGA East members who work for Hearst Magazines Media are planning to stage a walkout Thursday to demand a fair contract. The half-day action is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Et and will last the remainder of the day.
“WGA East members at Hearst have been bargaining a first contract for over two years and their last scheduled day of negotiations is March 28,” the guild said. “With only one bargaining session left, the Hearst Union is taking collective action with a unit-wide walkout in their fight for a fair first contract.”
Rallies in support of the walkout will be held at four locations: outside the Hearst Tower in Manhattan; at the Hearst offices in Easton, Pa; at the Hearst offices in Ann Arbor, Mi; and the Hearst offices in Birmingham, Al.
The guild represents some 500 of the publishing giant’s editorial, video, design and photo staff at more than 25 brands including Esquire,...
“WGA East members at Hearst have been bargaining a first contract for over two years and their last scheduled day of negotiations is March 28,” the guild said. “With only one bargaining session left, the Hearst Union is taking collective action with a unit-wide walkout in their fight for a fair first contract.”
Rallies in support of the walkout will be held at four locations: outside the Hearst Tower in Manhattan; at the Hearst offices in Easton, Pa; at the Hearst offices in Ann Arbor, Mi; and the Hearst offices in Birmingham, Al.
The guild represents some 500 of the publishing giant’s editorial, video, design and photo staff at more than 25 brands including Esquire,...
- 3/21/2023
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
Seven Diverse Scribes Selected For WGA East & FilmNation’s Inaugural New York Screenwriters Workshop
Seven women and minority writers have been selected to take part in the inaugural New York Screenwriters Workshop – a six-month intensive program that focuses on professional development for diverse, emerging screenwriters in the greater New York City area.
The workshop is a partnership between the WGA East and FilmNation Entertainment, a New York City-based producer, financier and distributor of independent films and television.
“Even during this pandemic, screenplays are still being written and projects are being developed,” said WGA East executive director Lowell Peterson. “The guild is thrilled to partner with FilmNation on a project that will open doors to under-represented screenwriters. The strides we make in creating opportunities for people to build careers despite historic exclusion helps build an industry that is both fair and sustainable. This program is an important part of the Wgae’s efforts to make the film and television industry more inclusive and equitable.”
The...
The workshop is a partnership between the WGA East and FilmNation Entertainment, a New York City-based producer, financier and distributor of independent films and television.
“Even during this pandemic, screenplays are still being written and projects are being developed,” said WGA East executive director Lowell Peterson. “The guild is thrilled to partner with FilmNation on a project that will open doors to under-represented screenwriters. The strides we make in creating opportunities for people to build careers despite historic exclusion helps build an industry that is both fair and sustainable. This program is an important part of the Wgae’s efforts to make the film and television industry more inclusive and equitable.”
The...
- 6/3/2020
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
Four individuals and one writing team have been selected as winners of the 2016 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition. The Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee announced the winners via Livestream today. The fellows will each receive a $35,000 prize, the first installment of which will be distributed at the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards Presentation & Live Read on Thursday, November 3, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. For the fourth consecutive year, an ensemble of actors will be reading selected scenes from the winning scripts.
The 2016 winners are (listed alphabetically by author):
Michele Atkins, “Talking About the Sky” (Seattle, Wa)
Spencer Harvey and Lloyd Harvey, “Photo Booth” (Balgowlah, Australia)
Geeta Malik, “Dinner with Friends” (Los Angeles, CA)
Elizabeth Oyebode, “Tween the Ropes” (Sunnyvale, CA)
Justin Piasecki, “Death of an Ortolan” (Los Angeles, CA)
A total of 6,915 scripts were submitted for this year’s competition. Eleven individual screenwriters and one...
The 2016 winners are (listed alphabetically by author):
Michele Atkins, “Talking About the Sky” (Seattle, Wa)
Spencer Harvey and Lloyd Harvey, “Photo Booth” (Balgowlah, Australia)
Geeta Malik, “Dinner with Friends” (Los Angeles, CA)
Elizabeth Oyebode, “Tween the Ropes” (Sunnyvale, CA)
Justin Piasecki, “Death of an Ortolan” (Los Angeles, CA)
A total of 6,915 scripts were submitted for this year’s competition. Eleven individual screenwriters and one...
- 9/29/2016
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Lloyd Harvey and Spencer Harvey.
Spencer and Lloyd Harvey, a Sydney-based sister-brother filmmaking team, have been shortlisted for the 2016 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting for their script Photo Booth.
The Academy established the Nicholl Fellowships competition in 1986 to both identify and encourage talented new screenwriters from around the world.
The twelve scripts shortlisted this year were selected from a staggering 6,915 entries.
Photo Booth, set in Sydney, follows a successful performance artist who, after trying and failing to adopt a baby through the system, decides to adopt the unborn baby from her husband.s one night stand with a waitress.
.On a broader note, it is about choices and how near to impossible it is to pinpoint the moment, the choice, that defined who we are and how we got here. It is also about how women can be judged and often limited in choices when it comes to family versus career,...
Spencer and Lloyd Harvey, a Sydney-based sister-brother filmmaking team, have been shortlisted for the 2016 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting for their script Photo Booth.
The Academy established the Nicholl Fellowships competition in 1986 to both identify and encourage talented new screenwriters from around the world.
The twelve scripts shortlisted this year were selected from a staggering 6,915 entries.
Photo Booth, set in Sydney, follows a successful performance artist who, after trying and failing to adopt a baby through the system, decides to adopt the unborn baby from her husband.s one night stand with a waitress.
.On a broader note, it is about choices and how near to impossible it is to pinpoint the moment, the choice, that defined who we are and how we got here. It is also about how women can be judged and often limited in choices when it comes to family versus career,...
- 9/14/2016
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
A lot has gone on in 2014. Our world continues to change rapidly. It no longer will be what it once was and we have to move on from it. Imho, few have a handle on where it is all heading. All the more reason why you should want to dig in deep and explore. All the more reason why we need filters and curators to point us in one direction or the other. All the more reason we need someone to approach it as a business, and stop relying on those who feel forced to do it as a hobby.
Here’s my quick survey on the year in film biz that was, as told by the articles that resonated for me (or at least ten of the subjects). Many thanks to my friends who helped pull this together by recommending reads along the way.
The “Too Many Films?” Debate.
Here’s my quick survey on the year in film biz that was, as told by the articles that resonated for me (or at least ten of the subjects). Many thanks to my friends who helped pull this together by recommending reads along the way.
The “Too Many Films?” Debate.
- 12/23/2014
- by Ted Hope
- Hope for Film
By Beanie Barnes
Data is a funny thing. It can, at once, confirm and discredit the exact same theory. For example, if a $500m film makes $100m at the box office on its opening weekend, it could mean that the film is a) a bust or b) gaining momentum. Such was the case with Avatar. By the end of 2009, several people were calling the film a “flop,” but by mid-2010, it was obvious that, of all the words to describe Avatar, “flop” was not one of them. And although the film has been hailed as a marketing and technological success, if it had failed, it very likely would have been called it a marketing and technological bomb (with marketing heads rolling at the studio).
Misreading data is prevalent in film. It isn’t so much that we misread the tea leaves, so much as it is that, rather than reading...
Data is a funny thing. It can, at once, confirm and discredit the exact same theory. For example, if a $500m film makes $100m at the box office on its opening weekend, it could mean that the film is a) a bust or b) gaining momentum. Such was the case with Avatar. By the end of 2009, several people were calling the film a “flop,” but by mid-2010, it was obvious that, of all the words to describe Avatar, “flop” was not one of them. And although the film has been hailed as a marketing and technological success, if it had failed, it very likely would have been called it a marketing and technological bomb (with marketing heads rolling at the studio).
Misreading data is prevalent in film. It isn’t so much that we misread the tea leaves, so much as it is that, rather than reading...
- 6/27/2014
- by Ted Hope
- Hope for Film
As tough as failure may be, something good can come of it – an opportunity for improvement. There is a stigma and shame that tends to come with failure, so much so that people rarely accept “failure” as an actual reason for failure. We often bury failure and, along with it, any opportunity to learn and grow from examining it.
Failure is cumulative. Just as success can breed more success, failure can breed more failure. Which is why it is so important to learn from it. That’s why, as noted in my previous article, I’m providing details about my failed effort as a first time distributor, working on the film, Four.
I realized my experience with failure was just one of thousands that happen every year. And rather than sweep it under the rug, I recognized the value of it. Because while filmmakers are so diverse,...
Failure is cumulative. Just as success can breed more success, failure can breed more failure. Which is why it is so important to learn from it. That’s why, as noted in my previous article, I’m providing details about my failed effort as a first time distributor, working on the film, Four.
I realized my experience with failure was just one of thousands that happen every year. And rather than sweep it under the rug, I recognized the value of it. Because while filmmakers are so diverse,...
- 6/13/2014
- by tedhope
- Hope for Film
By Beanie Barnes
My favorite philosopher wrote that, in order to understand success and analyze what causes it, we need to study the traits present in failure. He pointed out that people who fail do not really write memoirs – generally, publishers do not return their calls nor do readers pay for such stories, even if a story of failure is more valuable than the one of success — just ask the authors of the brilliant book, What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars, which they had to self-publish. This disregard of failure happens a lot in film where we often (and only) celebrate success. That is why it was so amazing that Sundance, at this year’s festival, opened the Pandora’s Box that is “failure.”
While it’s true that the best movies get made because filmmakers somehow find a way to get around the many hurdles of making a film,...
My favorite philosopher wrote that, in order to understand success and analyze what causes it, we need to study the traits present in failure. He pointed out that people who fail do not really write memoirs – generally, publishers do not return their calls nor do readers pay for such stories, even if a story of failure is more valuable than the one of success — just ask the authors of the brilliant book, What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars, which they had to self-publish. This disregard of failure happens a lot in film where we often (and only) celebrate success. That is why it was so amazing that Sundance, at this year’s festival, opened the Pandora’s Box that is “failure.”
While it’s true that the best movies get made because filmmakers somehow find a way to get around the many hurdles of making a film,...
- 6/6/2014
- by tedhope
- Hope for Film
Responding to recent articles in the New York Times and Salon, filmmaker Kentucker Audley has launched a Change.org petition asking “mediocre” independent filmmakers to stop making films. The articles blame overproduction and too many films achieving theatrical release for the economic and artistic issues facing independent film. For the New York Times’ Manohla Dargis — who herself asked distributors to “stop buying so many films” at Sundance — too many films in theaters produces a noise drowning out the virtues of the fewer good movies that deserve critical and public support. For Beanie Barnes at Salon, overproduction has led to […]...
- 2/24/2014
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Responding to recent articles in the New York Times and Salon, filmmaker Kentucker Audley has launched a Change.org petition asking “mediocre” independent filmmakers to stop making films. The articles blame overproduction and too many films achieving theatrical release for the economic and artistic issues facing independent film. For the New York Times’ Manohla Dargis — who herself asked distributors to “stop buying so many films” at Sundance — too many films in theaters produces a noise drowning out the virtues of the fewer good movies that deserve critical and public support. For Beanie Barnes at Salon, overproduction has led to […]...
- 2/24/2014
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The best movie culture writing from around the internet-o-sphere. There will be a quiz later. Just leave a tab open for us, will ya? “Hollywood is still confused by sex and the middle-aged girl” — Kathryn Laskaris at The Star makes a stretched connection from Gravity‘s moderate skin-showing, but raises some interesting questions about how we view older women on film. “The Other Paul Anderson: The Psychotic Action Vision of Pompeii Director Paul W.S. Anderson” — Matt Patches at Grantland interviews the director about some of his signature scenes. The piece somehow doesn’t launch a pool of blood at your face. “America’s next Wal-Mart: The indie film industry” — Beanie Barnes at Salon looks at the numbers and makes a case that thousands of movies are being made every year that no one has any intention of seeing. Supply is crushing demand. “Cool Story, Bro” — Emily Nussbaum at The New Yorker reports from the future (March...
- 2/24/2014
- by Scott Beggs
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
America’s next Wal-Mart: The indie film industry by Beanie Barnes:
“The indie film industry is cannibalizing itself. Manohla Dargis is right – there are too many films in the ecosystem. And this oversupply didn’t just happen. John Sloss warned back in 2007 that the industry’s problem was not a shortage of films, but a shortage of eyeballs (Mark Gill issued a related warning in 2008). But the industry’s response to this warning has been to make more films. This is creating an economically valueless cycle where unprecedented “cheap” money is flowing into the industry and films are being made at their highest rate ever. Meanwhile the percentage of indie films (let’s say films made for less than $5 million outside of the studio system) that are financially successful has not increased, and the amount of money people make from these films has actually decreased.”
I Re-Watched Reality Bites...
“The indie film industry is cannibalizing itself. Manohla Dargis is right – there are too many films in the ecosystem. And this oversupply didn’t just happen. John Sloss warned back in 2007 that the industry’s problem was not a shortage of films, but a shortage of eyeballs (Mark Gill issued a related warning in 2008). But the industry’s response to this warning has been to make more films. This is creating an economically valueless cycle where unprecedented “cheap” money is flowing into the industry and films are being made at their highest rate ever. Meanwhile the percentage of indie films (let’s say films made for less than $5 million outside of the studio system) that are financially successful has not increased, and the amount of money people make from these films has actually decreased.”
I Re-Watched Reality Bites...
- 2/22/2014
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
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