i want this to be a very long strike. like a year to see what happens to the networks if they have nothing new in 2009...
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tv and movie writers on strike
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i want this to be a very long strike. like a year to see what happens to the networks if they have nothing new in 2009...
They are not striking per-say but they are walking the lines with the writers. Every union needs the other. As Hollywood shuts down expect the pickets to grow. A lot of the actors are also writers. So it won't be hard for many to cross.
Random thoughts:
The idea of more reality shows on the air is enough to make anyone nauseous. I'd rather see reruns of past shows (Nowhere Man or Lone Gunmen, anybody?) than another insipid reality show.
The writers should indeed get their share of the DVD-download-etc. profits. However, writer Harlan Ellison has often stated that it's even more important to strike for some control of their material. Writers are the doormats of Hollywood. Their scripts are changed -- usually for the worse -- by every ham-handed studio executive who thinks he knows what the story needs. Stories are legend around Hollywood about the execs who wanted The X Files' Scully to be a busty bimbo and love interest for Mulder, or to put Mayans into a movie which takes place before man walked the earth. Alas, the writers are not striking for control of their material; they are once again concentrating only on money, assuring that they will continue to be treated like doormats. Well-paid doormats, but still doormats.
Finally: anybody recall Mission: Impossible? The 1988 TV series was created specifically to use scripts from the original series in order to make new episodes. It was sort of a novel approach to the strike that was going on at that time, and in point of fact those episodes were more entertaining than either reality TV or the later big-budget Tom Cruise atrocities.
The idea of more reality shows on the air is enough to make anyone nauseous. I'd rather see reruns of past shows (Nowhere Man or Lone Gunmen, anybody?) than another insipid reality show.
The writers should indeed get their share of the DVD-download-etc. profits. However, writer Harlan Ellison has often stated that it's even more important to strike for some control of their material. Writers are the doormats of Hollywood. Their scripts are changed -- usually for the worse -- by every ham-handed studio executive who thinks he knows what the story needs. Stories are legend around Hollywood about the execs who wanted The X Files' Scully to be a busty bimbo and love interest for Mulder, or to put Mayans into a movie which takes place before man walked the earth. Alas, the writers are not striking for control of their material; they are once again concentrating only on money, assuring that they will continue to be treated like doormats. Well-paid doormats, but still doormats.
Finally: anybody recall Mission: Impossible? The 1988 TV series was created specifically to use scripts from the original series in order to make new episodes. It was sort of a novel approach to the strike that was going on at that time, and in point of fact those episodes were more entertaining than either reality TV or the later big-budget Tom Cruise atrocities.
man, this sucks. I love "The Office".
the problem is I've streamed every episode of this season on nbc's website (I have no idea when The Office even airs!), which the writer's do not get paid for, but nbc sells ad space (which I think is more effective, since I remember watching the two 30 second ads for lipton iced tea and febreeze while I streamed an episode last week, yet have no idea what commercials ran between the shows I watched this past evening on tv), so I'm 100% in agreement with the strike. Regardless of how a show is shown, dvd, download, or streamed, the writers wrote the show and should get paid.
the problem is I've streamed every episode of this season on nbc's website (I have no idea when The Office even airs!), which the writer's do not get paid for, but nbc sells ad space (which I think is more effective, since I remember watching the two 30 second ads for lipton iced tea and febreeze while I streamed an episode last week, yet have no idea what commercials ran between the shows I watched this past evening on tv), so I'm 100% in agreement with the strike. Regardless of how a show is shown, dvd, download, or streamed, the writers wrote the show and should get paid.
DVDs may not even be around in a few years. Content will be delivered digitally. If the writers get a tiny or nonexistent piece of that revenue stream, than basically they get no residuals.
Why should anyone care? Well, if there aren't any residuals, then there won't be professional writers of film or TV. You can't support a family in LA on writing fees alone. The residuals and passive payments are a big part of a writer's income.
In my opinion, if the studios got what they wanted and turned writing back into sweatshops for uninsured hourly workers with no passive payments, that would kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
The writers aren't asking for the moon. Look at the DVD formula. Does it seem fair to you? They want a small, reasonable ownership over their original intellectual creative work.
All artists should get that! Video game writers, designers, authors, web designers. It's only a good thing for our economy and our businesses.
Apple is at the heart of the strike in a way, with the iTunes store. What formula should be used to calculate iTunes residuals? That is the question!
Why should anyone care? Well, if there aren't any residuals, then there won't be professional writers of film or TV. You can't support a family in LA on writing fees alone. The residuals and passive payments are a big part of a writer's income.
In my opinion, if the studios got what they wanted and turned writing back into sweatshops for uninsured hourly workers with no passive payments, that would kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
The writers aren't asking for the moon. Look at the DVD formula. Does it seem fair to you? They want a small, reasonable ownership over their original intellectual creative work.
All artists should get that! Video game writers, designers, authors, web designers. It's only a good thing for our economy and our businesses.
Apple is at the heart of the strike in a way, with the iTunes store. What formula should be used to calculate iTunes residuals? That is the question!
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-striketvgrid-html,0,7606966.htmlstory?coll=la-home-center
i'm guessing this page will be updated as the strike goes on. check on it on a regular basis to see how your shows will continue to be affected by the strike.
and latest news tells me that we won't have a resolution until after new years at the earliest.
i'm guessing this page will be updated as the strike goes on. check on it on a regular basis to see how your shows will continue to be affected by the strike.
and latest news tells me that we won't have a resolution until after new years at the earliest.
You have got to be kidding me....I can't go much longer without The Daily Show, Colbert Report and David Letterman
You have got to be kidding me....I can't go much longer without The Daily Show, Colbert Report and David Letterman
i kid you not. from the wga's strike blog in their latest entry...
United Hollywood Blog said:
http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/2007/11/news-flash-producers-arent-playing-fair.html
By scabs, do they mean other famous people, or random people they picked off the street?
If they can tell jokes I don't think they care.By scabs, do they mean other famous people, or random people they picked off the street?
But would they cross the writers. The unions stick together. And if they do find a guest host who will write the jokes?
Some actors haven't crossed picket lines, some have. The unions only stick together to a small degree, have any of the union employees like sound guys or set builders stopped showing up for work? I doubt it. In past strikes, talk shows have gone unscripted. Instead of having written jokes, Carson and company would just come out and talk about current events and talk with their guests. Obviously some shows would work better than others without writers.
The sag contract expires next summer and they'll want a cut of internet too. Some actors have refused to cross picket lines and walked the picket lines to show support even though they're not on strike.
I'm finding it kinda hard to feel sorry for the writers.
As a software developer, I don't get residuals for the code I write. Doesn't bother me.
I'm pretty sure all the key grips, camera operators, lighting operators, editors, costume departments, etc that this strike is putting out of work don't get residuals either. I'm pretty sure they don't get paid as much as the writers either. Can you have TV shows without camera operators? Hell if they went on strike the reality shows wouldn't even be produced!
Yeah I think the networks calling the web content "promotional" is pretty lame. But so is putting so many other people out of work just because you want a raise.
As a software developer, I don't get residuals for the code I write. Doesn't bother me.
I'm pretty sure all the key grips, camera operators, lighting operators, editors, costume departments, etc that this strike is putting out of work don't get residuals either. I'm pretty sure they don't get paid as much as the writers either. Can you have TV shows without camera operators? Hell if they went on strike the reality shows wouldn't even be produced!
Yeah I think the networks calling the web content "promotional" is pretty lame. But so is putting so many other people out of work just because you want a raise.
There's a difference between a writer and a camera operator. Writing the script is classified by US and international law as authorship, the creation of a copywrited work. Operating a camera doesn't count as authorship and doesn't make the cameraman the copyright owner of anything.
Authors of books and plays get royalties. So do songwriters. Do you really think that an author should make the same amount whether their book sells ten million copies or sells zero? If that were the case, wouldn't there be far fewer authors writing books?
You don't get residuals for your work, but your salary takes that into account. Writers have taken a pay cut on their initial fees in exchange for part of the back end, it puts part of the risk onto the writers and rewards them for work that makes the studio money.
The writers negotiated their current contract based on a smaller upfront payment plus residuals. And the studios were happy to do it since the alternative was to pay the writers more upfront, meaning that they'd have to pay a writer just as much for a pilot that never aired, or a movie that flopped and they lost money on. The studios are using the internet as a loophole to avoid the second half of the paycheck.
If the studios want to stop doing residuals, they can certainly propose that. But if they do, they'd have to bring writers initial salaries up which would cost them money as well.
The writers aren't asking for a raise. The studios are trying to take away income that they have been giving the writers all along. The writers are just fighting a pay cut based on a loophole, and rightly so. And while it's a shame that other people are out of work, unfortunately it's the only way for the writers to get the leverage to negotiate. Those other people not working are mostly if not all union as well, so while they may not be happy about not working, they understand what is required.
The DGA contract is up in a few weeks. They'll probably do their own negotiation. Most people seem to think that the DGA will cave in to a pretty poor deal, and the studios will try and use that as a precedent in their negotiations with the writers. This may be a big reason that the studios aren't interested in negotiations right now, they may be stalling until after they have a deal with directors.
Would it bother you if part of your compensation was profit participation based on disc sales but then your employer started selling software via downloads and didn't want to change the terms of your profit participation to include downloads?
Your typical WGA member doesn't even make a good wage by LA standards and has a "day job" just to make ends meet. Writers are the most jerked around, and screwed over facet of the tv/movie industry so I'm not going to complain when they stand up to the people trying to screw them even more out of the relatively small amount of money they get in residuals. I think it's a lot easier getting consistent work as an editor, DP, or make-up artist than it is as a writer.
You don't need to be union to work in Reality TV.
Lethal