From an early morning email received from Jayson Pope, WGAW Organizing Department:
Please forward to everyone you know in Atlanta. Let your voices be heard and tell Tyler Perry he should treat the writers, who write his hit show, with fairness and respect! He directs all the shows and gets a DGA union pay scale. His actors get paid SAG wages. Only the writers are being shut out of their fair share. Why is Tyler Perry dissing the writers who helped make his show possible?
The writers of Tyler Perry's House of Payne need your support. Read what happened!
To the public Tyler Perry is the model of self-made success. His sit-com "House of Payne" is the highest-rated sit-com in the history of basic cable. He signed a deal with TBS for $200 million and sold the syndicated rights
to MyNetwork for $100 million. He has won NAACP Image Awards for the much-needed diversity his films and TV shows bring to the screen.
But Tyler Perry doesn't do it all himself. We are writers who have helped "House of Payne" become the success that it is. We have written over
100 episodes of House of Payne in just 2 seasons and received compensation well below industry standards, no health care benefits and no residuals.
When we asked to be treated as professionals and receive minimums and benefits protected by a WGA contract, Tyler Perry illegally fired us.
Please read the attached Press Release and see the Turnout Flyer and join the picket line in ATL at Tyler Perry Studios!
In solidarity,
Jayson Pope
WGAW Organizing Department
323 782-4714
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This is from the WGA's Chair of the Committee of Black Writers.
Three of the fired writers are WGA members, and all four have been
trying to get Guild coverage for the show since last year. They have
been coming to CBW meetings (even the non-Guild member) and have met
with the showrunners and writers from the Comedy Central shows who went
on strike and won a contract. Negotiations between Tyler Perry and the
WGA have been going on since April, and this week he showed himself to
have been acting in bad faith all along.
Tyler, like any other sellout exploiter, profits from the desperation of black people
whenever he can. His show is covered by DGA and SAG. The only people
he has denied a union contract are the writers.
NY TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/arts/television/03perry.html?ref=arts
THR
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i149edf3e04ae0168d35c493ededcf9a9
LA TIMES
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2008/10/short-merger-pl.html
http://blogs.theroot.com/blogs/diggingdeep/archive/2008/10/03/tyler-perry-goes-to-jail-the-sequel.aspx
As a fan of both Mr. Perry, and of writers getting paid their fair share, I hope this matter is resolved amicably.
There is much to admire in Mr. Perry's drive, ambition, and business acumen. The prolific output of his studio is astonishing. Those who had a hand in his success deserve compensation.
I'm certain Mr. Perry will respond to this matter--and I'll follow-up with his comments.
