"I support the screenwriter's demand for higher salary, but I don't support the strike, that's my attitude!"

In the latest issue of Vanity Fair magazine, Lin Mingyang's photo of holding hands, smiling and shrugging his shoulders became the cover of this magazine, and his attitude towards the Hollywood screenwriters' strike also appeared on the cover of the magazine.

As soon as this statement came out, the media was in an uproar. Some time ago, Eva, the star of the hit drama "Desperate Housewives", delivered pizza at the strike site; Oscar-winning actress Holly Hunter appeared "fully armed" under AOL-Time Warner Center in a hat and gloves, holding a sign with the words "Together in the Boat" to show support for the strikers. A number of other big-name movie and TV stars have also appeared on the line, holding placards with the writers who "Keep on Strike" and shouting "Be fair, give me back".

Lin Mingyang pointed out in an interview that the efficiency of the strike depends on the association's ability to manage the "rich" and "poor" within the association. "Within this association, the economic situation of the people has long been very different. If the strike lasts longer than a month, the association will face the thorny problem of members challenging leadership. "This internal disparity between the rich and the poor can be the root cause of the strike's prolongation.

He originally wanted to remind the Screenwriters Guild to pay attention to this issue, but unfortunately his kindness was misinterpreted, and the Screenwriters Guild immediately retorted: "The problems we want to solve through the strike involve people of all income levels. Jeff Hermanson, head of the West Coast chapter, said, "I've never seen anything so united. And Sheri Goldman, a spokesperson for the East Coast chapter, said, "If you were to ask the writers at the top and those at the bottom of the cast about their determination to strike, the answer would be an absolute 'no'!" ”

In fact, the strike has only lasted for more than a month, and some people within the association have begun to waver and even complain that those screenwriters with rich families can sit at home and enjoy the fruits of the strike, while those screenwriters in the working class are beginning to face the difficulties of living in poverty.

The organizers of the strike were still basking in the joy of pulling down the Golden Globes, but Lin Mingyang's "alternative declaration" sounded the alarm for the Screenwriters Guild, and the collective silence of the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild was already very revealing. Lin Mingyang's "statement" is like a weather vane, and the actors who once publicly supported the screenwriters' strike have become low-key at this time, and the stars can no longer be seen in the strike crowd.

In order to reverse this unfavorable situation, the Writers Guild of America issued a statement saying that a demonstration may be held at the Grammy Awards, the biggest in the music industry, on February 10, so that the awards ceremony cannot be held normally. Gregg Mitchell, a spokesperson for the Writers Guild, made it clear that the striking writers refused to write a string for the Grammys. The Writers Guild also explicitly warned the stars of the Screen Actors Guild that if they wanted to attend the ceremony, they had to walk through a thick wall of strikers.

In the face of this challenge, the American Society of Musicians and the American Society of Television and Radio Artists have joined forces to "stand in solidarity" with the Grammys, and in a joint statement, they strongly urged all members of the Grammys to show their support.

The American Musicians Guild is the largest association of professional musicians in the United States, and the American Society of Television and Radio Artists represents the rights and interests of 70,000 professional entertainment practitioners.

At the same time, several major entertainment giants who have been overwhelmed by the momentum of the strike have also begun to fight back against the writers' strike, due to the new season of the TV series shooting plan is not guaranteed, FOX, CBS, NBC and Warner Bros. four major TV stations will cancel contracts with dozens of screenwriters, affected by this, not only the new season of the drama shooting plan may be lost, but the jobs of these dozens of screenwriters will also be lost.

Hollywood's famous Weinstein Brothers had already negotiated with the Writers Guild to continue hiring striking screenwriters, allowing the company to continue producing the films at hand. But before the deal was reached, Harvey Weinstein received calls from a number of other giants, warning him not to negotiate with the Writers Guild alone.

Lin Mingyang's previous "prophecy" came true one by one, and the strike organizers claimed that the strike was to protect the interests of middle-class screenwriters, but in this strike wave, the first to be fired were those middle-class screenwriters, and those real "big-name" screenwriters, because they had enough capital in their hands, the producers would not easily tear up their faces with them, so they would not worry about losing their jobs at all.

Tensions within the Writers Guild of America are growing, with low- and middle-income writers hoping to speed up negotiations and end the strike this morning, but both high-income writers and strike organizers believe this is not the best time to negotiate.

The situation that had been negotiated was favorable to the Writers Guild, as the strike, which had been going on for seven weeks, had far-reaching repercussions in Hollywood: it nearly destroyed the TV season, left many feature film projects in dire straits, and caused chaos in the industry's annual awards season. During the strike, many negotiations broke down because of the mutual refusal to accept each other's terms, and the most affected was the Golden Globes, which was forced to cancel the award ceremony due to the writers' strike.

It was the miscarriage of the Golden Globe Awards ceremony that brought the executives of film and television companies back to the negotiating table, but now this advantage has been completely offset by Lin Mingyang's "tough" declaration, and those companies that were already preparing to negotiate with the Screenwriters Guild have withdrawn from the negotiating table.

And the Directors Association, as a "hardcore ally", also "defected" at this time. After Vanity Fair's interview with Mr. Lin was reported, they quickly reached a three-year tentative agreement with the studio, which put enormous pressure on the writers who were on strike.

-- The strike situation has taken a turn for the worse, and the situation is very bad for the screenwriters, while the entertainment giants who are "holding on" are secretly relieved. But at this time, at a senior management meeting held by MGM, Lin Mingyang once again spoke amazingly.

When Lin Mingyang unexpectedly said the word "negotiation" in a very flat tone, the buzzing in the conference room stopped, and the executives who were still discussing their own opinions just now became nervous, staring at Lin Mingyang with wide eyes, and it felt like a fully armed policeman suddenly walked out in the middle of a good show.

Ex poked there in astonishment like half a piece of wood, and didn't speak for a long time. The atmosphere in the conference room became a little strange for a while, the chairman of the board of directors of the company put his words there, and the president did not speak, and the people below could only look at me, I look at you, looking at each other and not knowing what to say.

Fortunately, Ex finally came to his senses, he coughed, and the whispered discussion below came to an abrupt end. Ex took a sip of water gently, cleared his throat, and looked at Lin Mingyang with a serious face: "Your brain is okay, right?" ”

This made everyone else stunned, the company can talk to Lin Mingyang in this tone, except for Exx, there is no second person, the relationship between the two is very clear to everyone, but Exx said it so directly, it is still a little difficult for the people below to accept.

"Haven't I been thinking about it with you?" Lin Mingyang glared at him angrily, as the absolute controlling shareholder of MGM, in fact, he can have the final say on this issue alone, but in order not to give people the impression of arbitrary and arrogant management, Lin Mingyang still took this resolution to the executive meeting, what he didn't expect was that other people's reactions were so "intense".

Ex then asked, "Do you know what the media calls you now?" ”

"There are many ways the media can call me..."Lin Mingyang shrugged, "Which one are you asking?" ”

Ex snorted softly from his nostrils, "You have a lot of names in the newspapers, but during this time, the media have called you a 'hawk' representative who resisted the writers' strike, I wonder how you feel about this?" ”

"I'm just telling the basic truth..."

Before Lin Mingyanghua finished speaking, Ex interrupted him: "But the media has made a different interpretation, now everyone knows that you oppose the strike, and those big companies are now all tough, can you dissociate yourself from these things?" ”

Ex's words made Lin Mingyang speechless, what he said in an interview with "Vanity Fair" was out of honesty, but in fact he became a "bird", the media was hyped, and those big companies took advantage of the situation to make a beautiful turnaround, sweeping away the "nest gas" in the past two months, and the bosses behind those companies couldn't figure out how to "thank" Lin Mingyang at this time.

Ackes asked earnestly, "Sitting in this position today, what you said is right, at least you are already from the perspective of a company owner... If you first took a clear stance against the strike, but then suddenly 'compromised', what will everyone think of you? ”

"I made those remarks before, just to cause self-reflection among the insiders of the Writers Guild, but screenwriters have not been treated fairly and status is a long-standing problem in Hollywood, in 1988 screenwriters made a fuss because of this incident, which brought huge losses to the entire entertainment industry in Hollywood, and today history repeats itself, except for those screenwriters who strike should think, don't we all here have a sense of reflection?"

Lin Mingyang's eyes swept over the faces of these executives one by one, and all he saw were blank expressions, and he was slightly disappointed in his heart, because people always heal their scars and forget the pain.

He sighed softly, "There is an old Chinese saying that 'the past is not forgotten, the future is the teacher', and this writers' strike has little impact on MGM's company, and if you want to ask why, some people may say that it is because we are prepared for the strike in advance." But in fact, this is not the main reason. MGM, as a reading production company, has limited expansion in other industries except film, especially in the field of television, we basically have not set foot in the field, we do not have a huge industrial chain like Warner and Paramount, so we have the least loss in this disaster..."

Lin Mingyang knocked on the conference table with his knuckles and looked at the company's subordinates with a stern expression, "I want to remind everyone here that it is not something to be proud of to have survived because of their weak strength. I'm quite unhappy with the current situation at MGM, and we're definitely going to expand into other areas of the entertainment industry in the future, and when we get to the size of Warner, Paramount, or surpass them, then we'll be the first victims of another writers' strike in Hollywood. ”

"All of you here are at the heart of MGM, and if you can't think about the company's current strategic development from the perspective of the future, then I can say that you are all incompetent managers."

When Lin Mingyang was "lectured", Ex was always silent, and at this time he finally spoke: "Do you think the strike will continue in the future?" ”

Lin Mingyang replied in the affirmative: "As long as the labor conflict exists and the core problem is not resolved, the emergence of strikes will inevitably become a kind of cyclical cycle... Under the sun, everything is a repetition of history! ”

"Then what can we change if we take the initiative to negotiate with the Screenwriters Guild?" Ex stared at Lin Mingyang intently. Now there are serious divisions within the Writers Guild of America, and seeing that their alliance is no longer maintainable, when their internal differences turn into conflicts and contradictions, and the camp collapses, the strike will naturally end.

You only need to wait patiently to reap the benefits, and now there are many companies that are more anxious than MGM, and there is no need for MGM to stand up at this time to be this "wronged boss", if the negotiations break down, it will not only offend other companies in the industry, but also be bored with the Writers Guild. Ex couldn't figure out why Lin Mingyang suddenly made this decision.

And Lin Mingyang also has his own considerations, the current strike situation is indeed unfavorable to the Screenwriters Association, but those large companies that are tough on the surface actually expect the strike to end as soon as possible, and both sides need a step, and MGM stood up at this time and took the lead in reaching an agreement with the Screenwriters Association, which can prompt the two sides to return to the negotiating table, and the strike turmoil will have the possibility of subsidence.

Mr. Lin's vision is to come up with a new collective bargaining agreement, in which film and television companies will pay screenwriters a share of the sales of film and television programs distributed through new media such as the Internet and mobile phones. For the first two years of the three-year agreement, the lead writer will be able to share a flat fee capped at $1,200, and in the third year, a percentage of the publisher's total revenue.

Film and television companies have previously refused to provide such a share to screenwriters on the grounds that the emerging media market is not yet mature, and through this contract, screenwriters will not only get a piece of the digital media market, but also get more "dividends" in terms of Internet film and television shares. The agreement that Lin Mingyang came up with made a lot of concessions in terms of profit sharing, but in general it was still within the acceptable range of Ex and other executives.

No one objected to the new collective bargaining agreement, and the focus of the discussion shifted to why MGM was the "first bird".

"Because MGM's goal is to be a leader in this industry!" When answering everyone's questions, Lin Mingyang made no secret of his arrogant ambitions, "If this agreement can be successfully signed, it will greatly enhance MGM's influence on the entire industry, because when other companies negotiate with the Writers Guild, this agreement will become a standard... Absolute market share and strong company size are the goals of MGM's future development, but by doing so, we can become a monopoly in the industry at best. The real industry leader focuses on the development of the entire industry, its standard is the standard of the entire industry, and its development direction is the development trend of the entire industry. What we have to do is to take the initiative to grasp this kind of industry influence from now on! ”

-- The beginning of the year was supposed to be the busiest time in Hollywood, because many of the annual awards ceremonies would be concentrated at this time. But the two-month writers' strike has made the Golden Globes "stillborn", and as the vane of the Oscars, the Golden Globes have made the Oscars organizing committee feel like pins and needles.

During the 1988 writers' strike, the Oscars were held as scheduled, but the situation was different then and now. At that time, the script of the show had been completed before the strike, and it was not changed throughout the party. It is now impossible to write a good script for the Oscars in advance, because the list of films participating in the competition has not yet been announced.

Seeing that the deadline for the announcement of the list of nominees is approaching, the Oscar organizing committee is beginning to be anxious, once the nominations are announced, the creation of various scripts will begin, if the screenwriters continue to strike, the awards ceremony is likely to be "sloppy", and the process will inevitably be shortened.

Jill Kates, the producer of the awards ceremony, said bluntly in an interview with the media: "I hope that the writers and producers can reach a 'ceasefire' agreement before the awards ceremony. But it's very likely that on this year's Oscar night, all audiences could hear most of the time was the repeat of the presenters' 'Oscar nominations are... The Oscar winner is...". ”

Without the gags among the award presenters, the witty jokes about the entertainment industry, and the witty jokes about the ugly stars, the awards ceremony might be much more than the glittering trophies and the long list of winners. Based on this judgment, the media's expectations for TV ratings for this year's Oscars Gala have also fallen to an all-time low.

(To be continued)