The State of the Strike
The DGA and management are negotiating. Meanwhile, the WGA keeps making deals with companies looking for a competitive edge. So pressure is being exerted from both sides. Ken Ziffren, the universally respected entertainment lawyer who played a big part in resolving the 1988 dispute, has stepped in as the directors' lead negotiator. The Oscars are fast approaching and in peril if this isn't resolved soon. All signs point to a deal. But does management hate the writers so much that they'll set the template with the DGA, and then offer us half? And is Nikki Finke out of her fucking mind?
Labels: show business, strike
posted by John Levenstein at
1:53 PM
8 Comments:
What's your beef with Nikki Finke? Are there specific posts you can point to? The ones I read are innocuous enough.
it's her personality type. i'll let chris jump in.
Thanks, John, I'll take it from here.
Robert, Nikki Finke has taken it upon herself to be the voice of the strike. I suppose that would be all well and good if her voice wasn't so annoying, self congratulatory, and driven by the rumor mill. Her "Toldja" headlines and constant self pats on the back serve as constant reminders that she is someone who has seized upon this sorry situation as an opportunity to make a name for herself. It's a free country, so she's entitled, but it's the manner in which she's done it that really is obnoxious in my opinion (and John's, right John?)
The saddest example of this was the article she wrote around Thanksgiving which all but declared the strike would be over due to an impending deal that would be brokered upon return from the Thanksgiving holidays. Her "sources" had assured her this was going to happen. It did not. The hopes of many writers were hanging in the balance, believing that she had insider knowledge, and they were crushed upon learning that it wasn't true. She conveniently disappeared from posting for the rest of that week. No explanation except that she was feeling "ill."
Now she has just posted that she's "exhausted," "overwhelmed" and just needs to rest since she's been "going, going, going since the strike started." It's not about her, yet she is making it about her by writing such a pitious comment. She also does not post any comments questioning her approach. I should know, I've sent a few her way.
I resent that she sells herself as a journalist when she is essentially a gossip columnist capitalizing on a situation that impacts so many people so profoundly.
Forgive the misspelling of piteous please. I'm exhausted, overwhelmed, and I've just been going, going, going since this post started.
> I'm exhausted, overwhelmed, and I've just been
> going, going, going since this post started.
Lol. For real.
I've only read a few of her posts throughout the strike, and I'm not in the industry, so I missed everything you pointed out. It does bug me a lot whenever bloggers turn off comments for their posts. Like what are they so scared of?
Don't get me wrong, she does allow comments on most of her posts, but she picks which ones get posted. Anything that criticizes her doesn't make it through. I'm not saying that she should allow just any old rant to go through, but as a "journalist" she should be able to take the heat. Instead she puts herself at the center of it all, and acts as though she's giving so much of herself for us demanding writers. What?
I question why the mainstream Hollywood media hasn't scrutinized her role in this whole strike a little more.
thanks chris! (the TOLDJA headlines have come to bother me the most)
looking like there may be a directors' deal. more soon.
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