Rumors, Facts, Picketing and Leverage

We've had the phones ringing off the hook today, with people telling us they've heard that "a deal is imminent" and "both sides have agreed to the deal points." This rumor has picked up so much steam in such a short time that it's a little scary.

We're in a news blackout. So we can't get confirmation or denial from the WGA. But here's what we do know: last time we all got excited about a rumor that a deal was about to be reached, it turned out to be untrue, and the collective damage done to our morale was considerable.

So here are a few things to factor in:

• SAG just reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the WGA last night. Patric Verrone stood onstage at the SAG Awards with Alan Rosenberg. Several actors weighed in supporting writers, and Rosenberg himself said: "The strike is about protecting the next generation so they can continue to create, continue to give great performances that can be rewarded."
  


• The companies know that if they can't negotiate a deal with us, there will be no Oscars, because of SAG's support.
  
  
• It's possible that good-faith negotiations are going on right now; but because of the news blackout, if the congloms were stalling (as they have in the past,) we wouldn't have any way of knowing about it.

So we would argue it's dangerous to assume either way, because we don't have the facts.

The last time we got our hopes up, frankly, they were dashed. Let's not forget it. Buying into blind optimism -- and it's "blind" because we're in an information vacuum -- is a dangerous thing to do.

But while we don't know what's going on in the negotiating room, we can still directly influence it. Negotiations succeed or fail due to leverage, applied at the right time and in the right places.

SAG has given us more power with their support; and every day that we show up on the lines, and keep up the blogging and the publicity and the determination publicly to get a fair deal for our work, we hand power to the men and women negotiating for us in that room.

That is the best way to end this strike quickly.

Our advice: ignore the rumors. Keep up the pressure. Because that pressure is the only thing that's going to get us, SAG or anyone else in this town a fair deal.