ROTTEN TOMATOES: Writers Guild Totally Rejects Nu Image/Millennium

Writers Guild Totally Rejects Nu Image/Millennium

"It's cool," says the studio. "I never liked her anyway."

by Jeff Giles | January 31, 2008

Apparently, there's a limit to the number of interim deals the Writers Guild is willing to make with independent producers -- something Nu Image/Millennium is finding out the hard way.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the WGA has rebuffed a waiver request from Nu Image/Millennium, and the studio's co-chair, Avi Lerner, claims a Guild representative told him no deal would be forthcoming "because Nu Image is too lightweight to put pressure on major studios."

As you can imagine, Lerner isn't taking the rejection lightly. Addressing the Guild's hopes that its interim deals with The Weinstein Company, United Artists, Lionsgate and others will put pressure on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, he tells the Reporter:

"Do you think the studios care? They can wait another 10 years, but I'm talking about surviving. I can't understand why (the WGA) would make agreements with so many independent companies and not with us."

Lerner's main priority now is getting the company's Robert De Niro/Al Pacino/50 Cent thriller, Righteous Kill, into fighting shape. Though principal photography has been completed, he'd like to arrange for some reshoots, but without an interim agreement with the WGA, that isn't an option. Lerner suspects his recent public criticism of the strike is the real reason for the snub, but he has no plans to soften his rhetoric:

"I have an opinion about the strike. I think it's unjustified and harming the people who are striking. My opinion is that this union of writers is the most stupid union in the world. There are some who are making $2 million and others who aren't working at all. I know that this will create a lot of animosity against me, but I'm not scared. I think what they're doing is rubbish."

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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(1-17 of 17 posts) | Reply

Raziel5000 writes:
on Jan 31 2008 05:53 AM

I think the WGA should have made the deal - regardless of Lerner's stupid, ignorant comments. It would have shown a willingness that they are actually keen to get this strike over with and sent a message to the big studios. Now it looks more like they are just picking and choosing which companies they willing to work with and I don't think is helping their cause.

"because Nu Image is too lightweight to put pressure on major studios." When IS a company big enough to put pressure on the major studios. And if they are big enough - are they then not a major themselves? Where do you draw the line? Not a good move in my opinion.

Still think Lerner was wrong and out of line in his comments - it may be his opinion but why say it if he wants help from the WGA? Not really very savvy for the head of studio. Dumbass.

(Reply to this)

dahluzz writes:
on Jan 31 2008 06:41 AM

"jeze, i can't see why they wouldn't give us a deal. i mean it's not like i said their entire cause was idiotic and useless and that they have the stupidest union in the world! wait..."

c'mon, avi baby, "stupidest union in the world?" that's something a second grader would say. if anyone's hurting their own members it's you. your big mouth just kept the people at your company out of work! but hey, at least you're not scared, right?

(Reply to this)

crystalwhiteeyes writes:
on Jan 31 2008 06:42 AM

Leave the writers jobless!!!

(Reply to this)

sunsaz writes:
on Jan 31 2008 07:31 AM

I'm slowly going from annoyed to concerned in this issue. Once the Oscars comes and goes, there really won't be any excuses left for a swift resolution in this situation. The way SAG's been shooting their mouths off lately, we may wind up with both the actors AND the writers on strike at the same time before the year's out.

(Reply to this)

kdbarrett writes:
on Jan 31 2008 08:05 AM

Those are some pretty ignorant comments from Avi, but I still think the WGA should have made the deal. The size of the studio shouldn't matter as much as the NUMBER of studios they make deals with. And they STILL haven't made a deal with "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report". Both of those shows are pretty high profile. I don't understand why the WGA won't make deals with them.

(Reply to this)

Matanuki writes:
on Jan 31 2008 09:07 AM

Serves him right.

(Reply to this)

Judou writes:
on Jan 31 2008 10:04 AM

kdbarrett - the WGA cannot make an interim agreement with The Daily Show or The Colbert Report because those shows are owned by Viacom, who is still in negotiations with the writers through the AMPTP. David Letterman owns his show (and the Late Late Show), unlike Stewart, Colbert, Leno, O'Brien, Kimmel and Daly. All of them are employess of the conglomerates and do not have the power to make an independent deal.

I'm sure the WGA would love for Viacom to agree to the contract that more than a dozen other independent companies have agreed to, but they won't. That's why Stewart and Colbert are forced to work without writers.

It does seem a little strange for Avi Lerner to blast the WGA then be surprised they won't grant him an independent deal. From the beginning, the WGA announced the agreements would be strategic, not blanket, and clearly rewarding a guy who has contempt for the WGA would not be strategically wise.

Oh, well.

(Reply to this)

knowingtoast85 writes:
on Jan 31 2008 10:37 AM

"From the beginning, the WGA announced the agreements would be strategic, not blanket, and clearly rewarding a guy who has contempt for the WGA would not be strategically wise."

But I think there's nothing strategic about denying Lerner an interim waiver, particularly when the union has been making such great strides in both the image of their campaign and the spreading of their message. However you want to spin it, this just sounds like the WGA is playing favorites, and it's damaging to the writers who want to work for Nu Image as well.

From the sound of this article, Lerner's childish contempt for the union didn't make itself public until after the snub, so I think there must be some behind-the-scenes drama we're not privvy to. Maybe Lerner has a bad reputation? Maybe the chair of another, more high-profile studio wouldn't agree to sign an interim deal unless Lerner got the boot? Stranger, more immature things have happened in this town. Little else makes sense to me, given what we know.

(Reply to this)

randal1013 writes:
on Jan 31 2008 11:04 AM

lol, i felt bad for the lerner and his studio until i read "My opinion is that this union of writers is the most stupid union in the world". well no wonder the writers didn't want to make a deal with you. if you called ME stupid and then asked me to make a deal with you, i'd laugh and spit in your face. and lerner, shame on you for making a movie with 50 cent. that kind of ***** is what the big studios do, and it's detrimental to cinema. i hope your studio goes out of business.

(Reply to this)

Floor Man writes:
on Jan 31 2008 12:07 PM

"...Robert De Niro/Al Pacino/50 Cent thriller..."

Ha. Hahaha! Hahahahahahahahahaha! Something is very, very wrong with this phrase....

(Reply to this)

empoor writes:
on Jan 31 2008 01:21 PM

Dear god. I have soooo had enough of this. I don't totally agree with him, but I agree that the whole strike is pointless. They're whimpering that they don't earn enough, yet they make millions. Wanna make more money? Write better movies, get a better agent. Stop annoying the public with this strike. Also, this isn't only costing the writers their paycheck, but also all the other people working on those productions that are closed down now, who AREN'T getting more money when the producers/production companies cave in. AND THEY WON'T. THEY... WON'T. Get over it!

(Reply to this)

empoor writes:
on Jan 31 2008 01:28 PM

(Oh and 50 Cent?! WTF, does everybody think they can act now? And what's up with that title, "Righteous Kill"? Carla Gugino is nice, though.)

(Reply to this)

Matanuki writes:
on Jan 31 2008 02:05 PM

In reply to this comment (#1543665)
Beautifully put, Randal.

(Reply to this)

fresh25 writes:
on Jan 31 2008 11:00 PM

he's got balls, respect 4 that

(Reply to this)

arcadecowboy writes:
on Feb 01 2008 01:54 AM

"They're whimpering that they don't earn enough, yet they make millions."

Maybe 1% of WGA writers make millions. If even. The majority make pretty average salaries, and would like to send their kids to college, too.

Picture this: You're a musician in 1990. A record label wants to sign you to a deal. As part of the terms, you'll get paid royalties for record sales, cassette sales and radio play - but *nothing* for CD sales. Do you do it?

This is essentially what's going on here. Except it's 2008, not 1990, and it's the internet instead of CDs. Producers want to keep as much of the internet revenue as possible. Which is only natural, after all, this is America.

(Reply to this)

Matanuki writes:
on Feb 01 2008 03:32 AM

In reply to this comment (#1545340)
There's a fine line between having balls and being irredeemable stupid. And as many have pointed out, the eye opening amount of immaturity displayed by this Lerner chap is a conspicuous tell. He's not afraid, he says. He's also not intelligent. Because if he were, he'd know that respecting writers should be a matter of course. And that there'd be no movies without them. No movies, anyway, of even a remote degree of quality. His studio and all the others would be houses of little to nothing more than vacuity, employing stage crew, directors, actors, whose talents will be utterly wasted and, eventually, fade into nothingness. This, of course, in light of the recent news of Meet The Spartans' box office results, is an optimistic prediction.

Besides, Nu Image makes movies with guys like 50 Cent. Should they suffer the ultimate consequence of Lerner's inanity, I doubt they'll be missed.

(Reply to this)

Raziel5000 writes:
on Feb 01 2008 07:12 AM

In reply to this comment (#1544034)
Again, this is another miss informed and ignorant statment. 'Write better movies and get better agents.' Come on man, do you even know what this is all about??
Its for all screen writers - not just movie writers. TV shows, shorts, talk shows, independants etc. And it is purely for the benifit of those who make below to average money. Its to lift the MINIMUM (a minimum that hasnt been changed since the 80's - would continue to work without a raise for over 20 years?) of what writers are due for a product - not to make the successful better off. On a big budget picture, writers get a very good amount of money - but this strike isnt for their benifit. They are joining the ranks to help put pressure on the studios. The studios you seem so sure who wont cave in. Well, I predict they will offer the writers some or most of what they're asking for. Time will tell.

At least research and look into a cause before you bash it - otherwise you end up looking like, well, Avid Lerner.

(Reply to this)

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