Thursday, April 18, 2013

Leverage!

And here are two examples of same, being exercised:

Example One:

Writers for "Fashion Police" have walked off the job.

Writers on the E! Network cable show hosted by comedian Joan Rivers have gone on strike following a dispute over back wages.

The Writers Guild of America, West did not immediately announce the action, but at least one writer on the show posted a blog on the action.

"I just went on strike from my job writing for a highly rated cable TV show,'' Eliza Skinner, a writer on "Fashion Police," posted on Tumblr. "That might mean the brilliant comedians I know here online or in real life will be asked to come in and replace the striking workers."

Skinner continued: "There are tons of people that are so funny, and I’d LOVE to have you write on our show -- I’ve even recommended some of you for the job in the past. And who knows -- they might ask you to do it. But while we strike you really shouldn’t work my job. Really really really." ...

This, of course, is kind of the traditional leverage. Working people get ticked off, so working people go on strike. Worked pretty well, once up a time. But that was when the playing field was a bit more level.

Then there is ...

Example Two:

The fight between the nation's largest theater chains and Walt Disney Studios over the upcoming release of "Iron Man 3" escalated on Thursday, when AMC Chief Executive Gerry Lopez took the studio to task for taking what he described as an unusually hard line in negotiations.

The dispute prompted AMC, the nation's second-largest theater chain, to announce Wednesday that it would stop selling advance tickets for the film. In another development, Regal, the nation's largest theater chain, also on Wednesday night decided to stop selling tickets for "Iron Man 3" because of objections over Disney's terms, a source close to the circuit said.

"We've been surprised at the ask," Lopez told The Times, referring to Disney's revenue demands. "The depth and the breadth of the ask puts us in a very, very uncomfortable situation ... clearly they are under some kind of financial pressure." ...

Sure Diz Co. is under financial pressure. Gobbling down Lucasfilm for $4.5 billion gave the Mouse chronic gastric upset.

So it's cutting staff.

And getting aggressive with movie distributors. (Hot company-on-company action!)

You have to claw back all those billions from somewhere, do you not?

0 comments:

Site Meter