WGA strike impact on the 2023 Tonys- Page 4

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/7/23 at 9:58am

It could possibly happen, just without the fanfare and a big opening number. DeBose could announce the winners herself and the shows can tape their performances at their own theaters. It won't be canceled or even postponed.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 5/7/23 at 1:19pm

@Mr. WW Your #1 and #2 responses betray the lack of understanding you disavow. In #1 I said a deal for the Tonys is extremely unlikely. In your response, you first say this is what you've been advocating the whole time and yet you immediately contradict yourself by saying that this all started by the "all or nothing" post (with which you disagreed). You then go on in #2 to make clear that you indeed hope this can be avoided by a deal.

There is no precedent for this strike because this time the stakes are existential for both sides. There is no room for agreements among "gentle people." That said, I don't think anyone believes this will never be settled. We are not going to revert to a time when entertainment is defined as what happens in front of a live audience. The question is when and it is in the nature of negotiations (in the area of labor relations in particular) that there are rarely signals.

You have framed your response in terms of your "hope" but hope assumes a snowball's chance. 

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 5/7/23 at 2:11pm

HogansHero said: "@Mr. WW Your #1 and #2 responses betray the lack of understanding you disavow. In #1 I said a deal for the Tonys is extremely unlikely. In your response, you first say this is what you've been advocating the whole time and yet you immediately contradict yourself by saying that this all started by the "all or nothing" post (with which you disagreed). You then go on in #2 to make clear that you indeed hope this can be avoided by a deal.

There is no precedent for this strike because this time the stakes are existential for both sides. There is no room for agreements among "gentle people." That said, I don't think anyone believes this will never be settled. We are not going to revert to a time when entertainment is defined as what happens in front of a live audience. The question is when and it is in the nature of negotiations (in the area of labor relations in particular) that there are rarely signals.

You have framed your response in terms of your "hope" but hope assumes a snowball's chance."

YOU SAID in #1 (I am copying and pasting):

1. I continue to believe that it is extremely unlikely there is not going to be any kind of "deal."

Was that a typo in your end? Because that implies you thought there would be a deal (the double negative). You can't blame me for misunderstanding you if you had a pretty significant typo...

That's what made me think we agree. If the word "not" was accidental then obviously we do disagree. But again, not my misunderstanding - your typo.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 5/7/23 at 3:56pm

I plead guilty to the typo although I think it was an obvious mistake in the context of what I (and Kad, whose post I said I agreed with) had said. Anyway, I think everything is clear now and I'll leave it at that.

[Anakela]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 3:05pm

AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute to Nicole Kidman Postponed

Due to the division in our community at this time, AFI has decided to postpone this year’s event with the goal to offer a celebratory environment worthy of our recipient. A new date will be announced soon.


This was supposed to happen on June 10, which feels like quite the early cancellation. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 3:16pm

Anakela said: "AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute to Nicole Kidman Postponed

Due to the division in our community at this time, AFI has decided to postpone this year’s event with the goal to offer a celebratory environment worthy of our recipient. A new date will be announced soon.


This was supposed to happen on June 10, which feels like quite the early cancellation."

Postponement — it's going to happen eventually.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 3:16pm

Anakela said: "AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute to Nicole Kidman Postponed

Due to the division in our community at this time, AFI has decided to postpone this year’s event with the goal to offer a celebratory environment worthy of our recipient. A new date will be announced soon.

This was supposed to happen on June 10, which feels like quite the early cancellation."

Is this televised? 

There is no mention of the strike as the cause. The nature of AFI is such that there is a great deal of acrimony right now (evidenced by the strike but not necessarily dependent on it).

[Anakela]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 3:28pm

It usually airs on TNT. 

[Playbill_Trash]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 4:06pm

To everyone saying “unions stick together” as a reason why a deal wouldn’t be made to make an exception for the tony awards telecast, it should be noted that “sticking together” goes both ways if it is genuine. Wouldn’t the members of the WGA be able to see how this cancellation would impact the broadway union members who are at a much higher risk of losing their current jobs if their shows and industry aren’t advertised as always? Why wouldn’t WGA members want to stick together with all Broadway unions and avoid jeopardizing their jobs if “unions stick together”?

I’m thinking of people like Amber Ruffin and Robert Horn and several others who are obviously WGA members and are at the same time nominated this very year for Tony awards for shows that need this publicity to survive. It is pretty insulting to them to assume they can’t support two causes at once and would accept their work for the stage being ignored and potentially forgotten. 

Put me in the camp of keeping the June 11th date, strike all the written bits for television, strike the host, give out the awards, and televise the live performances either from the awards home or from the shows’ theatres (but keep a live audience in there). This wouldn’t affect the strike at all.

If unions stick together, then WGA shouldn’t see that “exception” as broadway performers or anyone affiliated with that night as crossing their picket line. They should see it as fellow groups of unions fighting for their industry to survive and continue to recover from a pandemic. Hopefully we haven’t lost all sense of nuance and the ability to support more than one cause at a time. 

[Kad]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 4:41pm

To be clear: nobody has said that the Tonys can’t and shouldn’t go on, just that an exception to allow them to go on as usual with WGA contributions is unlikely and would be seen as undermining the strike. 
 

The Wing has options to craft a televised ceremony in ways that can avoid conflict with the WGA and not require people to feel like they are compromising their positions. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 4:45pm

Put me in the camp of keeping the June 11th date, strike all the written bits for television, strike the host, give out the awards, and televise the live performances either from the awards home or from the shows’ theatres (but keep a live audience in there). This wouldn’t affect the strike at all.

100%

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 4:55pm

Kad said: "To be clear: nobody has said that the Tonys can’t and shouldn’t go on, just that an exception to allow them to go on as usual with WGA contributions is unlikely and would be seen as undermining the strike.


The Wing has options to craft a televised ceremony in ways that can avoid conflict with the WGA and not require people to feel like they are compromising their positions."

Hardcore disagree. Some in this thread are clearly saying they believe there is no way in which a televised ceremony happens. 

[James885]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 5:33pm

IMO a televised ceremony will almost certainly still happen, likely it will just look much different from a normal Tony telecast. The MTV Movie / TV awards were  this past weekend and that was basically turned into a clip show with pre-recorded bits and montages with no red carpet or live audience. I would imagine a possible similar scenario for the Tonys with either pre-recorded performances or ones simulcast from the shows' theaters with the host or presenters simply announcing the winners. But if the WGA decides to picket, don't expect many of the honorees to attend. 

 

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 5:43pm

James885 said: "IMO a televised ceremony will almost certainly still happen, likely it will just look much different from a normal Tony telecast. The MTV Movie / TV awards were this past weekend and that was basically turned into a clip show with pre-recorded bits and montages with no red carpet or live audience. I would imagine a possible similar scenario for the Tonys with either pre-recorded performances or ones simulcast from the shows' theaters with the host or presenters simply announcing the winners. But if the WGA decides to picket, don't expect many of the honorees to attend.

"

If the Tony Awards are even slightly considering a format that is anything like the God awful format of last night’s MTV Movie Awards, they should probably postpone the awards or not broadcast it at all, because last night’s Movie Awards broadcast was a complete embarrassment. 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 5:49pm

Matt Rogers said: "If the Tony Awards are even slightly considering a format that is anything like the God awful format of last night’s MTV Movie Awards, they should probably postpone the awards or not broadcast it at all, because last night’s Movie Awards broadcast was a complete embarrassment."

 

I'd be more embarrassed to admit it if I had actually watched the MTV Movie Awards!

 

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 6:01pm

JSquared2 said: "Matt Rogers said: "If the Tony Awards are even slightly considering a format that is anything like the God awful format of last night’s MTV Movie Awards, they should probably postpone the awards or not broadcast it at all, because last night’s Movie Awards broadcast was a complete embarrassment."



I'd be more embarrassed to admit it if I had actually watched the MTV Movie Awards!

"

Well I’m not a complete snob like some on here so I have no problem admitting that I watched it. However, the only reason I watched it was to see how they were going to handle the format, and wow, was it bad. 

[Playbill_Trash]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 6:10pm

If WGA decides to picket the Tony awards, making broadway unions decide whether or not to cross, that is proof of unions NOT sticking together.

[Blindbutlerdeafmaid]

Posted: 5/8/23 at 7:23pm

Very little actual information is coming out of either the AMPTP or the WGA on the negotiations and most coverage seems to purport that if the strike continues through the WGA expiration (and the directors don't set a framework for a resolution faster) the most likely resolution would be in time to save Sept's Emmy Awards.

So, with any potential inside information highly unlikely, and the League/CBS not announcing anything yet, it's all speculation. 

As I see it, the Tony Awards are two VERY different beasts:
1) A Variety Telecast that gets a little less than 4 million viewers;
2) An Award Presentation that supports an entire industry's ability to market its product. 

Both can exist without each other and I suspect there's a solid argument to start distancing the two anyway as a big, splashy, BROADWAY special would probably get more viewers than an award show (especially if it were in the fall). The Little Mermaid Live! achieved more than double what last year's Tony Awards did (9.8 million viewers as opposed to 3.9 million viewers). 

Without being as snarky as to say: if a tree falls in a forrest... the value of a Tony (to a show) seems to be how much money you can put behind the marketing of that Tony, not the ceremony or the telecast itself.  

Perhaps, the believable outcome is that the ceremony still occurs, it's not televised, and a big splashy special gets produced when the climate allows for it (if at all). 

Looking at Shucked: Shucked's Today Show appearances had the energy of "NINE TONY NOMINATIONS" every time someone opened their mouth, two performances, and probably were seen by the 2.85 million viewers that Today averaged the week before in an environment that wasn't competitive with other shows and happened four payrolls sooner. Is an inclusion in a telecast seen by a million more people who know the show already with four other show performing and competing better for ticket sales? I would argue, probably not. (Not that other tv opportunities would factor into ANYONE's decision.) But they sure would seem to be able to get some serious ad mileage out of having won any number of them without the telecast happening.

I'll be very curious, but I certainly wouldn't argue over my position without ANY actual information made public by ANY of the relevant parties.

--- 

As far as the theatrical unions "having the WGA's back"... Iatse (and the other unions with venue specific CBAs don't even stand up for their sibling union tours in HIGHLY unionized houses. The Dolby is a HIGHLY unionized house where even non-union musicians must be replaced by local union musicians and its currently hosting the non-Equity Hairspray on subscription. If Iatse (or AFM or the others) won't support Equity's efforts to protect Equity tours in a 3,300-seat theater in a city where rights are traditionally still considered First-Class..... it seems highly suspect that they, theoretically, would do much to support this strike. Asking them to cross the line, however.....
 

 

 

Updated On: 5/8/23 at 07:23 PM

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 5/9/23 at 1:03am

I think people here need to be ready to be very disappointed here.

I have been in LA for the last week or so and the CBS studios have been flooded with people striking outside.

I would be very surprised if this doesn't get impacted in some way by the strike, it seems unlikely to resolve in 4 weeks 

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 5/9/23 at 4:37am

BoringBoredBoard40 said: "I think people here need to be ready to be very disappointed here.

I have been in LA for the last week or so and the CBS studios have been flooded with people striking outside.

I would be very surprised if this doesn't get impacted in some way by the strike, it seems unlikely to resolve in 4 weeks"

I don't think anybody here is saying that they expect the strike to be resolved in the next month or that a miracle waiver that allows the full participation of WGA writers will be granted. I think we're all pretty clear-eyed that this year's Tonys will look very different than a "normal" year. Where we're disagreeing is how close to a normal year they can get. Can there be a television broadcast with performances and awards? Would a live broadcasted event be picketed? Could there still be some sort of host?

[MayAudraBlessYou2]

Posted: 5/9/23 at 10:28am

An NY Times piece is reporting that AMPTP sources say they are prepared to weather this strike for 100 days, and there is currently no movement/no end in site.

We should all prepare for a VERY different Tony Awards this year. While there are ways to still make an engaging ceremony happen without running afoul of the strike...I'm not 100% confident in TPTB will be able to harness those options to their full potential. I hope that I'm proven wrong. Otherwise, without a major celebration that generates views/buzz, Kimberly Akimbo, Shucked, and Some Like it Hot are truly not long for this world.

 

All because greedy studio execs can't come to the table. Horrible.

[bdn223]

Posted: 5/9/23 at 12:02pm

The Academy of Country Music Awards that are airing this Thursday on Prime video should be test of what will happen with the Tony Awards. It is being produced by Dick Clark Productions, a company that is currently being struck, but is celebrating an industry the WGA is not involved in other than awards ceremonies unlike the MTV Movie and TV awards, similar to the Tony Awards. 

The only theoretical issue is Texas is not the most union friendly nor strong state, especially compared to New York. 

The fact that we have yet to hear whether the WGA will picket the event is a good sign, but then again Frisco, Texas where they are taking place is 21 hr drive/3 hr flight from LA, or a 25 hr drive/3.5 hr flight from NYC, the 2 locations where the WGA is currently picketing. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/9/23 at 12:39pm

MayAudraBlessYou2 said: "All because greedy studio execs can't come to the table. Horrible."

It's not just that –– the strike helps some of these studios get out of high-cost overall deals with certain showrunners, AND by not having as much product in production, it can help their bottom line go down without much impact on income for 2023, since most everything that will be released this year is in the can already.

[bdn223]

Posted: 5/9/23 at 12:44pm

https://deadline.com/2023/05/actors-equity-wga-picket-line-new-york-city-broadway-hbo-amazon-1235360627/

 

Equity is officially joining the WGA picket lines tomorrow...which is either a sign of good faith from a fellow union hoping if they help picket with the WGA now to shut down other productions so the WGA will either sign a waiver for the Tonys or promise not to picket to help save hundreds of jobs that will be reliant on the Tony's going on as planned, or a sign that the Tonys ceremony is going to be canceled as Equity will be in solidarity with the WGA and picket the Tonys.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 5/9/23 at 12:50pm

I'd assume the Tonys might be postponed and not cancelled, but we'll see.