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The Deep State War Heats Up :ph34r:


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@Deranged Rhino

 

I'm curious, and since this is in your wheelhouse, I thought you may be able to answer. Is this what is appears to be on the surface? Or does it go deeper?

 

At midnight Pacific time Saturday, the Writers Guild of America ordered all its members to fire their agents, following a drawn-out battle between the union and the Association of Talent Agents over money.

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1 hour ago, Hedge said:

@Deranged Rhino

 

I'm curious, and since this is in your wheelhouse, I thought you may be able to answer. Is this what is appears to be on the surface? Or does it go deeper?

 

At midnight Pacific time Saturday, the Writers Guild of America ordered all its members to fire their agents, following a drawn-out battle between the union and the Association of Talent Agents over money.

 

It goes deeper in the sense that Hollywood as an industry is undergoing a massive restructuring from the old way of doing business. That absolutely connects to the OP topic of this thread because the old system made it easy/easier for a small group of people to control what gets made and aired. 

 

From an industry perspective, the WGA/Writers have finally woken up to the fact that their agents were robbing us blind with their packaging deals. How it works in a practical sense is this: 

 

* I'm a show runner/creator and I write the next hit TV show. 

* My big agency/former agency takes the script and promises to put together a package of talent that will help assure the show is bought and produced - this package includes: one or two star actors, a star director who will also serve as Executive Producer. The actors and directors will be pulled from their own client list/agency - meaning they're taking 10% of their fees and my fees off the top. 

* My big agency takes the completed package to the studios and networks. Rather than negotiating for the highest sale they can on my behalf, the creator, they make me take less money in order to give that cash to the other parts of the package. 

* For all their hard work, my big agency not only collects the commission fees for each deal - they get what's called a packaging fee which is another 10% of the total buy. 

 

At no point in the process do I, the creator, have a say in who they're packaging. At no point in the process do they negotiate solely on my behalf - it's always with an eye for what will make the most effective package to assure they get to double dip. 

 

It's quite literally a racket. 

 

But they're the biggest agencies in town, they have the most juice, the most clients and for years they assuaged the complaints of their clients by not telling them, outright lying about the fees, or bullying them into accepting the packages as their only option. 

 

David Simon, creator of the Wire and one of the leaders of the WGA wrote this post - it goes into more detail and gives you a sense of what we're really talking about. The big agencies have been skimming literally millions of dollars from writers/creators for decades. This is a must read (despite being inside baseball):

https://davidsimon.com/but-im-not-a-lawyer-im-an-agent/

 

 Simon's piece above rightly states that the bulk of this is millionaires fighting with other millionaires... but there's a wide swath of "working class" writers who have been crushed by this system. That process works like this: 

 

* I'm a writer for hire / staff writer, not a creator. 

* A showrunner is looking to hire staff for his newly sold (and packaged) show. 

* Because the agencies already took a huge chunk of the investment capital off the top - there's less money to pay staff writers... 

* Over the last ten years that's created a movement within TV to hire less writers and make the writer's rooms smaller. 

* Staff writers are now allowed to work on multiple shows (used to be a contract no-no) to make up for this - meaning we have to do twice the work to make the same amount of money we were making on one job just 4 years ago. 

 

And, to cap it off, if I write a new script that gets some attention (just happened last winter) and I refuse to let them try to package it (also what I did) - what happens is my big agency doesn't even try to sell it. Instead, they put it in a drawer to assure that other projects within that genre/demo which they can package get read/spread around instead. 

 

So, it's a racket - but it's also a gate keeping system. Assuring that only those who play ball - or those who don't know there's even a bigger game afoot - keep getting jobs while those who want their agents to negotiate in good faith on their behalf get pushed to the back of the line. 

 

In short - the Hollywood system gutted it's development money and system during the last WGA strike (in 2007, right as the global economy fell apart). The studios and networks changed how TV was developed and how movies got made by only taking packing deals which they (perhaps rightly) assumed would up the odds of whatever they bought being a big hit. This was a way for the studios to protect their investment - but the agencies saw it as an opportunity to skim even more money off the top of every project. 

 

Not sure if that's helpful or just a ramble. :beer: 

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37 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

It goes deeper in the sense that Hollywood as an industry is undergoing a massive restructuring from the old way of doing business. That absolutely connects to the OP topic of this thread because the old system made it easy/easier for a small group of people to control what gets made and aired. 

 

.

.

.

 

Thank you very much for the insight. As always, your take on things is very much appreciated.

 

And good luck!

 

:beer:

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At first blush, the packaging thing sounds like a smart business move. Increases the chances for the idea to be sold to a studio/network by having everything already in place to start production.

 

Unfortunate that the talent agencies turned it into a way to line their pockets and screw over their own clients.

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1 hour ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

It goes deeper in the sense that Hollywood as an industry is undergoing a massive restructuring from the old way of doing business. That absolutely connects to the OP topic of this thread because the old system made it easy/easier for a small group of people to control what gets made and aired. 

 

From an industry perspective, the WGA/Writers have finally woken up to the fact that their agents were robbing us blind with their packaging deals. How it works in a practical sense is this: 

 

* I'm a show runner/creator and I write the next hit TV show. 

* My big agency/former agency takes the script and promises to put together a package of talent that will help assure the show is bought and produced - this package includes: one or two star actors, a star director who will also serve as Executive Producer. The actors and directors will be pulled from their own client list/agency - meaning they're taking 10% of their fees and my fees off the top. 

* My big agency takes the completed package to the studios and networks. Rather than negotiating for the highest sale they can on my behalf, the creator, they make me take less money in order to give that cash to the other parts of the package. 

* For all their hard work, my big agency not only collects the commission fees for each deal - they get what's called a packaging fee which is another 10% of the total buy. 

 

At no point in the process do I, the creator, have a say in who they're packaging. At no point in the process do they negotiate solely on my behalf - it's always with an eye for what will make the most effective package to assure they get to double dip. 

 

It's quite literally a racket. 

 

But they're the biggest agencies in town, they have the most juice, the most clients and for years they assuaged the complaints of their clients by not telling them, outright lying about the fees, or bullying them into accepting the packages as their only option. 

 

David Simon, creator of the Wire and one of the leaders of the WGA wrote this post - it goes into more detail and gives you a sense of what we're really talking about. The big agencies have been skimming literally millions of dollars from writers/creators for decades. This is a must read (despite being inside baseball):

https://davidsimon.com/but-im-not-a-lawyer-im-an-agent/

 

 Simon's piece above rightly states that the bulk of this is millionaires fighting with other millionaires... but there's a wide swath of "working class" writers who have been crushed by this system. That process works like this: 

 

* I'm a writer for hire / staff writer, not a creator. 

* A showrunner is looking to hire staff for his newly sold (and packaged) show. 

* Because the agencies already took a huge chunk of the investment capital off the top - there's less money to pay staff writers... 

* Over the last ten years that's created a movement within TV to hire less writers and make the writer's rooms smaller. 

* Staff writers are now allowed to work on multiple shows (used to be a contract no-no) to make up for this - meaning we have to do twice the work to make the same amount of money we were making on one job just 4 years ago. 

 

And, to cap it off, if I write a new script that gets some attention (just happened last winter) and I refuse to let them try to package it (also what I did) - what happens is my big agency doesn't even try to sell it. Instead, they put it in a drawer to assure that other projects within that genre/demo which they can package get read/spread around instead. 

 

So, it's a racket - but it's also a gate keeping system. Assuring that only those who play ball - or those who don't know there's even a bigger game afoot - keep getting jobs while those who want their agents to negotiate in good faith on their behalf get pushed to the back of the line. 

 

In short - the Hollywood system gutted it's development money and system during the last WGA strike (in 2007, right as the global economy fell apart). The studios and networks changed how TV was developed and how movies got made by only taking packing deals which they (perhaps rightly) assumed would up the odds of whatever they bought being a big hit. This was a way for the studios to protect their investment - but the agencies saw it as an opportunity to skim even more money off the top of every project. 

 

Not sure if that's helpful or just a ramble. :beer: 

Could you spiff up the intro? I'm just not feeling it and it was hard to get past the first two paragraphs. Ciao.

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1 hour ago, Deranged Rhino said:

(Note, the Simon article above is worth the read for any fan of his - and because I can only imagine how he'd post down here in PPP. He turns cussing into an artform :lol: )

Mose’ def. 

4 minutes ago, 3rdnlng said:

Could you spiff up the intro? I'm just not feeling it and it was hard to get past the first two paragraphs. Ciao.

She arched skyward her pelvis to meet his savage thrusts which left her panting for breath when the act was completed. 

 

That damn chicken never knew what happened before it landed on the barbecue grill. 

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3 minutes ago, Nanker said:

Mose’ def. 

She arched skyward her pelvis to meet his savage thrusts which left her panting for breath when the act was completed. 

 

That damn chicken never knew what happened before it landed on the barbecue grill. 

Quit contributing to global warming.

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2 hours ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

It goes deeper in the sense that Hollywood as an industry is undergoing a massive restructuring from the old way of doing business. That absolutely connects to the OP topic of this thread because the old system made it easy/easier for a small group of people to control what gets made and aired. 

 

From an industry perspective, the WGA/Writers have finally woken up to the fact that their agents were robbing us blind with their packaging deals. How it works in a practical sense is this: 

 

* I'm a show runner/creator and I write the next hit TV show. 

* My big agency/former agency takes the script and promises to put together a package of talent that will help assure the show is bought and produced - this package includes: one or two star actors, a star director who will also serve as Executive Producer. The actors and directors will be pulled from their own client list/agency - meaning they're taking 10% of their fees and my fees off the top. 

* My big agency takes the completed package to the studios and networks. Rather than negotiating for the highest sale they can on my behalf, the creator, they make me take less money in order to give that cash to the other parts of the package. 

* For all their hard work, my big agency not only collects the commission fees for each deal - they get what's called a packaging fee which is another 10% of the total buy. 

 

At no point in the process do I, the creator, have a say in who they're packaging. At no point in the process do they negotiate solely on my behalf - it's always with an eye for what will make the most effective package to assure they get to double dip. 

 

It's quite literally a racket. 

 

But they're the biggest agencies in town, they have the most juice, the most clients and for years they assuaged the complaints of their clients by not telling them, outright lying about the fees, or bullying them into accepting the packages as their only option. 

 

David Simon, creator of the Wire and one of the leaders of the WGA wrote this post - it goes into more detail and gives you a sense of what we're really talking about. The big agencies have been skimming literally millions of dollars from writers/creators for decades. This is a must read (despite being inside baseball):

https://davidsimon.com/but-im-not-a-lawyer-im-an-agent/

 

 Simon's piece above rightly states that the bulk of this is millionaires fighting with other millionaires... but there's a wide swath of "working class" writers who have been crushed by this system. That process works like this: 

 

* I'm a writer for hire / staff writer, not a creator. 

* A showrunner is looking to hire staff for his newly sold (and packaged) show. 

* Because the agencies already took a huge chunk of the investment capital off the top - there's less money to pay staff writers... 

* Over the last ten years that's created a movement within TV to hire less writers and make the writer's rooms smaller. 

* Staff writers are now allowed to work on multiple shows (used to be a contract no-no) to make up for this - meaning we have to do twice the work to make the same amount of money we were making on one job just 4 years ago. 

 

And, to cap it off, if I write a new script that gets some attention (just happened last winter) and I refuse to let them try to package it (also what I did) - what happens is my big agency doesn't even try to sell it. Instead, they put it in a drawer to assure that other projects within that genre/demo which they can package get read/spread around instead. 

 

So, it's a racket - but it's also a gate keeping system. Assuring that only those who play ball - or those who don't know there's even a bigger game afoot - keep getting jobs while those who want their agents to negotiate in good faith on their behalf get pushed to the back of the line. 

 

Not sure if that's helpful or just a ramble. :beer: 

Your boy Simon got an edge. ?

 

Great read about something I know nothing about. You got deception, greed, villains and heroes...plus words like f-bonnets and graphic imagery about tire-slashing vandals. 

 

Thanks for sharing. 

 

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23 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

74f6bc75d70015d4021a480493dce744c33fbc63247576bfedaf72fa69e2d3cb.jpg

510fc7d6f8092de400a1e6c897c45a4e086f24697c00838428092257d36eaf6c.jpg

 

Funny how the massive, world wide corruption scandals keep getting investigated/resolved with bare minimum coverage in our national media... 

 

(But nothing is happening)

 

******************************

Epstein update / new filing. Thread

 

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9 minutes ago, Buffalo_Gal said:


Whoa.

 

This is big. The source, Big League Politics has issues, are not reliable - but the article links and cites court filings, it's not opinion. 

 

This story, and the lack of coverage, should illustrate to everyone how crooked the media is when it comes to exposing the truth. For months we have heard media types standing by their breathless Russia coverage because it was a ratings boom! Yet, this has even more ratings bait - it encompasses the entire political class of DC, has sex, drugs, cults, and murder. 

 

Yet... Crickets. 

 

Its also worth pointing out again that it's not by accident the NXIVM case, the Epstein case, and the multiple corruption scandals are all running parallel to the Russia story and spygate stuff. 

 

The truth is being shown for all who wish to see. 

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Just now, 3rdnlng said:

Isn't his hearing on May 2?

 

I think so - but I suspect it will be moved up to keep him secure/safe. I have to think, though I can't prove it, the US/UK/Ecuador had this all worked out before the arrest. I'm almost positive that giving over Assange was part of a deal May cut to keep GCHQ/MI6 out of the SpyGate cleanup.

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4 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

I think so - but I suspect it will be moved up to keep him secure/safe. I have to think, though I can't prove it, the US/UK/Ecuador had this all worked out before the arrest. I'm almost positive that giving over Assange was part of a deal May cut to keep GCHQ/MI6 out of the SpyGate cleanup.


How can their names be kept out of it though? There are records and names have been named already.

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17 minutes ago, Deranged Rhino said:

 

Tomorrow the comment sections on everything will be blasted with crazy. 

 

It should come with a health warning :beer: 

 

Will be pretty amazing just how much more vile than normal twitter comments will be tomorrow.

 

And on Holy Thursday as well.  Doubt many (any?) of the commenters will realize the irony.

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5 minutes ago, Buffalo_Gal said:


How can their names be kept out of it though? There are records and names have been named already.

The individuals may have to take the blame but only get a slap on the wrist. The UK government will be insulated.

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3 minutes ago, Buffalo_Gal said:


How can their names be kept out of it though? There are records and names have been named already.

 

My guess is that their names won't necessarily be kept out of it, since as you mentioned, that ship has sailed. Instead, I think Trump/DOJ/other associated groups won't come out against them as strongly both verbally and legally. And that they will be allowed to save some face and perhaps set up an ultimate few scapegoats/bad actors to take the fall on their side. I wouldn't want to be Richard Dearlove right now (who I think is actually a very distant relative of mine).

 

I just wonder what other future concessions Trump will be able to wring out of them for their involvement. 

 

 

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10 minutes ago, Buffalo_Gal said:


How can their names be kept out of it though? There are records and names have been named already.

 

Well, some of them can't be kept out of open source - Dearlove/Hannigan are both out there... they're also both "retired" so they can vanish from the public spotlight without much of a fuss. The big thing is if their names appear in any criminal filings, indictments, or GJ testimony... that can be scrubbed (with redactions/classifications) and keep it from spreading up the chain in the UK. I've always assumed there were other names, active officers, inside MI6 which were involved who would be spared. 

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1 hour ago, Hedge said:

 

My guess is that their names won't necessarily be kept out of it, since as you mentioned, that ship has sailed. Instead, I think Trump/DOJ/other associated groups won't come out against them as strongly both verbally and legally. And that they will be allowed to save some face and perhaps set up an ultimate few scapegoats/bad actors to take the fall on their side. I wouldn't want to be Richard Dearlove right now (who I think is actually a very distant relative of mine).

 

I just wonder what other future concessions Trump will be able to wring out of them for their involvement. 

 

 

Don't be so hard on yourself, he may not even know you are relatives.

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