Go here:http://community.livejournal.com/whywewatchljcom/22815.html
for info

Check out http://www.truthaboutfremantle.com/ and learn when the American Idol Truth Tour will be coming to a city or town near you.

From http://criminalmindscharityblog.blogspot.com/

On Monday, July 7th at 2:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, this auction site will go live in an attempt to raise money for the Actors Fund and the Writers Guild of America. Whether SAG strikes or is locked out or a deal is made is of course a concern, but regardless of whether there is additional labor turmoil, there remains a real need to help those that were adversely affected during the recent Writers Strike. Fans, actors, showrunners, writers, musicians, crew, etc. can work together to help make people financially whole again. Every week dozens of new donated items will be put up for auction. Open your hearts and your wallets for those that need it most and bid high. Open your closets and donate those items that some fan would love to own and you really don't need.

Items this week available for bids include items from Battlestar Galactica, Desperate Housewives, ER, Heroes, Judging Amy, Lost, The West Wing, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Criminal Minds as well as books by fantasy & sci-fi author Elizabeth Bear and items from Disney.

Per his Huffington Post column:

""For more thoughts on the situation, tune in to the investor conference call I'm doing for Wachovia Capital Markets, tomorrow (Weds. - may be today by the time you read this) at 11:30 a.m. Pacific (2:30 p.m. Eastern). The call is open to the public and free of charge. Call in details below:

DATE: Wednesday, July 2, 2008

11:30 AM Pacific; 2:30 PM Eastern

PARTICIPANT DIAL-IN: (800) 374-1206 (domestic)

(706) 634-5796 (international)

Passcode: 54441528

REPLAY DIAL-IN: (800) 642-1687 (domestic)

(available for 1 week) (706) 645-9291 (intl)

Passcode: 54441528"

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-handel/screen-actors-guild-whats_b_110365.html

If anyone can get a question to him on either

1) Why the conglomerates can legally get away with telling the talent there's no money in new media versus simultaneously telling shareholders that new media will be a cash cow

or

2) Just how much of shareholder funds AMPTP companies are wasting on the new "Lets Keep Working" trade ad campaign and associated PR film costs (especially given the inaccuracies in them...no actors union is on strike, the Milken Report figures they use are based on pretty thin conjectures, etc

I would be duly impressed

Check out http://criminalmindscharityblog.blogspot.com/

Coming Together To Make A Difference

On Monday, July 7th at 2pm est, this auction site will go live in an attempt to raise money for the Actors Fund and the Writers Guild of America. Whether SAG strikes or is locked out or a deal is made is of course a concern, but regardless of whether there is additional labor turmoil, there remains a real need to help those that were adversely affected during the recent Writers Strike. Fans, actors, showrunners, writers, musicians, crew, etc. can work together to help make people financially whole again. Every week dozens of new donated items will be put up for auction. Open your hearts and your wallets for those that need it most and bid high. Open your closets and donate those items that some fan would love to own and you really don't need.

We're All In This Together......Still!

We have cool stuff pledged so far from shows such as Lost, Desperate Housewives, The West Wing, Criminal Minds, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Daily Show & The Colbert Report.

Bookmark it and be there July 7th 2008 :)

...those discussions etc are moving here:
whywewatchljcom

I may do the occasional writer related update here but I expect what is going on with the actors to take up most of my time.

Check it out here: http://community.livejournal.com/whywewatchljcom/10653.html

go here http://community.livejournal.com/whywewatchljcom/10162.html for links to videos from

Anne-Marie Johnson http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0424509/

Dave Clennon http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0166359/

Danny Woodburn http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0940173/

and Alan Rosenberg http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0742165/

Go here for the details:

http://community.livejournal.com/whywewatchljcom/8480.html

A labor dispute has broken out behind the scenes on Fox's upcoming animated laffer "Sit Down, Shut Up."

As first reported by Deadline Hollywood Daily, writers on the show have stopped working after learning that Sony Pictures TV had placed the show under IATSE jurisdiction, rather than through the Writers Guild of America.

Writers and producers had assumed - and said they had been told - by Sony that the show would be covered by the WGA. That's because all of Fox's animated shows are WGA, under terms of a hard-fought battle won by the net's primetime animated scribes several years ago.

Sony, however, said the scribes should have known that "Sit Down, Shut Up" would be an IATSE- repped project, given that guild's deal with Sony Pictures TV's animation division, Adelaide Prods.

Now, it appears that the writers, studio and "Sit Down, Shut Up" may be caught up in the ongoing jurisdiction tussle that has been waged in recent years between IATSE and WGA.

"Sony's in an impossible place," said one insider. "They have a valid IA deal, while the writers (want to sign with WGA)."

Insiders said "Sit Down, Shut Up" exec producers Mitch Hurwitz, Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were surprised to learn that "Sit Down, Shut Up" would be an IATSE show, rather than WGA, as was the rest of the show's scribes.

It's not a new issue for Oakley and Weinstein, who fought - and eventually secured - WGA coverage for their short-lived WB animated series "Mission Hill" (which was produced by Warner Bros. TV) earlier this decade.

As guild issues were being hammered out, the show's writers had been working without a contract - and without pay - over the past several weeks. Once it became apparent last week that "Sit Down, Shut Up" wouldn't be a WGA series after all, they stopped work.

"We started working as a favor to our friends at Sony," one scribe said.

It's unclear what kind of compromise might be reached. IATSE fought attempts in 2003 to give the WGA jurisdiction on NBC's "Father of the Pride's" writers, compromising by allowing some WGA-style contract features.

In this case, Sony said its Adelaide Prods. "has been a signatory to the IATSE bargaining agreement for at least ten years, and has been producing animated programming under that agreement. All of the deals made with the writers were specifically negotiated with their agents specifying that this program would be covered by the IATSE bargaining agreement."

On the Animation Guild (IATSE 839) blog, business rep Steve Hulett characterized the dispute as one between the writers and Sony, not IATSE.

"Please don't drag us into a fight between Sony and the WGA," he wrote. "This dispute is between corporate execs in Culver City who apparently misinformed some new hires on an animated television show. TAG ain't involved."

Hulett noted that as far as he knows, WGA has no contracts in place for animation writers at Sony. In the case of late-1990s UPN skein "Dilbert," Sony created a non-Animation Guild company for scribes, which the WGA organized, he added.

The WGA, meanwhile, said it is in conversations with Sony, and that it holds out "hope this will be settled soon."

"The writers of 'Sit Down, Shut Up' are Writers Guild members," the org said, "and they want the show to be covered by a WGA contract."

Should IATSE remain in place and the show's scribes opt not to return, the fate of the series - which is co-produced by 20th Century Fox TV - could be in jeopardy.

"Hopefully they work it all out," said thesp Jason Bateman, who lends his voice to the show's main character. "It would be a shame to spend four months (putting together the show) and then have all that go out the window."

Based on a short-lived live-action Australian comedy, "Sit Down, Shut Up" revolves around a high school where the faculty believes the students must always come second. Hurwitz, Oakley and Weinstein exec produce with Eric and Kim Tannenbaum.

Besides Bateman, the show's vocal talent includes Will Arnett, Maria Bamford, Will Forte, Tom Kenny, Nick Kroll, Cheri Oteri, Kenan Thompson and Henry Winker.

source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117987427.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

...recorded at the National Conference For Media Reform 2008 by Freepress.net, here's a seminar on the history of the WGA strike entitled "Creativity and Talent in the Entertainment Industry: Impact of Consolidated Media"

You can listen here: http://www.freepress.net/node/41438

Or download the mp3 here: http://www.freepress.net/audio/download/41438/ncmr08_creativityandtalent_v2-48Kbit.mp3

...it's like deja vu all over again but with actors

...campaign is here
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=AFTRAnetwork&p=r

...deal details are here
http://www.aftra.com/primetimeYES/facts.html

Doesn't the deal look pretty much like the *exact same* deal the WGA got with *zero* improvements to you? Because that's how it looks to me

Go here for info: http://community.livejournal.com/whywewatchljcom/6238.html

I'll update it as I get more reliable info.

...it will be running on cable channels in the Los Angeles area...for more info go to http://www.savejerichoagain.com/tv-campaign-info/

Go here: http://community.livejournal.com/whywewatchljcom/5010.html

Alan Katz, a WGA writer and strike captain talks to Tanja Barnes at the SAG Solidarity Rally on June 9, 2008

If you want to vote in a Variety poll on Variety editor Peter Bart's new blog check out: http://www.variety.com/blog/130000613/post/280028028.html

The question is “Who’s in the right -- SAG or AFTRA?”

Your options are
SAG
AFTRA
They're both ridiculous
Side that keeps us from strike
Side that gets the best deal

I notice with a minimum of snark that the AMPTP is not an option...the poll question then of course would have to read "Who is utterly wrong?"

...and by the way Bart doesn't moderate comments...ouch!

Over at whywewatchljcom we have started working on some icons and slogans to support the actors in their negotiations.

The concept we are working from is a play on a slogan the actors used during the WGA strike "we can't act a blank page"

So with for those of us holding the remotes it's "we can't watch a blank screen"



bookishwench came up with a pretty cool and yet simple icon for general support of SAG while fishtank_36 created a clever icon for CSI fans (you should head over to Why We Watch to see it...;)

I've got slogans I dreamed up for 5 shows modifying the basic concept of fishtank_36, but since I don't watch everything on TV and I know there's some fandoms I just won't get the sentiments right for, I could use your help. So either post your ideas for your favorite shows here or over in whywewatchljcom

My show suggestions (and critique away):

Law & Order: Criminal Intent: It doesn't take MCS to figure it out...we can't watch a blank screen(MCS is short for Major Case Squad)

Burn Notice: Michael Westen was burned. The viewers shouldn't be...

Mad Men: Sterling Cooper's a good ad agency but with nothing to sponsor?

Desperate Housewives: Without the wives we're just desperate...

House: No doctors = no patience...

Hi all

I am looking for a few icon designers to help create some icons for the new LJ com whywewatchljcom If you've got ideas, post them over in the new com. Credit will of course be given and space to store them online will be found so as not to tax your bandwidth.

The slogan for the com is "We can't watch a blank screen" It would be cool if your designs could incorporate the slogan :)

Thanks