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Writer's Guild Strike
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Bowfinger
Lifer
You're showing a very biased point of view. It would be equally valid to blame the studios. Since the studios want to keep more, "they screwed all their ... employees ... who get nothing from the sale of DVD's and also work on the shows."
There are two parties to the negotiations. Both sides are being stubborn. Both sides are being greedy. Both sides are placing their pocketbooks above the interests of the rest of the employees.
Maybe the top tier ones do, but I think the regular joe's of the industry make far, far less, especially for TV.
Frankly, I was hoping this was going to force the cancellation of pretty much everything on TV, would get me out of watching Grey's Anatomy with my woman on Thursdays.
Don Vito Corleone
Elite
Most writers make a small fraction of that amount, and frankly even $250K is a small fraction of the profits the studios make off of their work. I am 100% for the writers on this one.
K1052
Elite Member
The old contract was expiring so it was opened up for negotiation and they want it included this time around.
The writers are probably asking for quite a bit but the studios are pretty much unwilling to give up anything at all. I think this impasse qualifies as a studio attempt to break the union though this is really a war of attrition. The TV lineups for the next year are shot to hell and billions in ad revenue along with it. If the strike continues into the middle of 08 motion picture releases in late 08 an all of 2009 will be in danger and the downstream revenue (/video/dvd/cable/tv/games) studios survive on could disappear.
It's a game of chicken.
If that figure is correct then that's why the whole situation looks like lions fighting over a chicken nugget to the average Joe. I just looks like infighting among those who are already much more wealthy than Joe Schmoe will ever be. "Rich" is relative. One may be rich. . .in fact many may be rich. . . and some may be richer, but there's only 1 richest. You have the same exact struggle between those with more relative to those with less of many things on many levels of society. I can see why people who will never make $200,000 per year think of the striking writers as whining rich little bitches. It's human nature to feel indignant when you see somebody who already has more fortune than you do ask for yet more. . .But I can also see that the writers are standing up for a matter of principle. You should never let the guy on top -- the richest -- stay on top without showing he deserves to be on top. Don't let him get complacent and don't let him rest on his laurels or he will become a tyrant. So I can see why the writers are striking. Nobody likes to feel like they are getting walked on. So, until this whole thing blows over, I'll just keep watching DVD's. D'OH!! 😛
Besides, 90% of what is on TV is garbage anyway. I think the industry could use some fresh perspective and an infusion of new blood. When you make 6 figures a year, there's always somebody else below waiting to do your job. The writers better come to some kind of agreement before too long or the studios will just "write" them off and replace them.
teclis1023
Golden Member
I support the writers - they're being dicked around by the studios, and this is the best way to get what they want.
Fair what? This strike isn't actually over DVDs, everyone knows that right? The real sticking point is that the studios are paying the writers NOTHING for content distributed over the internet. That means when the show they wrote goes out on NBC's website, the writer doesn't get paid at all. Now seriously, how long is it going to be before the vast majority of shows are distributed that way... 10 years? Maybe a little more? Some shows already have significant online audiences.
So in effect, the studios are asking the writers to take a colossal pay cut for no particularly good reason (considering they are still making money hand over fist), and the writers told them to screw themselves. I think its great... and I support the writers 100%.
Atomic Playboy
Lifer
Exactly. The key issue at stake is digital distribution of media (downloadable content, whether visible for free on a studio's website or pay media downloaded through a service like iTunes). The writers don't earn money for digital distribution now. In the past, the writers underestimated VHS, establishing an agreement for far less money per unit than they could have negotiated, and ended up getting screwed when VHS became the format of choice for home video. Ditto for DVD. The writers, having realized the mistakes made in the past, are determined not to enter the digital age of media without an agreement in place that will guarantee they get paid for their work.
As for the nonsense about being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, that's an average that includes writers who get paid 7 digit salaries or more. Most Hollywood writers aren't making 200+k a year. Meanwhile the studio heads are pulling tens, if not hundreds, of millions, and the writers get a pittance. Without good writing shows fail; the writers know this. They're trying to broker a deal to gain more money because they are realizing the power they hold. As the studios see billions of dollars lost, they'll presumably be more willing to capitulate to a nominal salary for a group that has been largely fucked for the past 3 decades.
Brainonska511
Lifer
What gives a corporation the right to screw over all their employees, especially the ones that make it possible for them to make their tremendous amount of money every year?
What do you mean 'the right'? You are in effect saying that the writers have to work in conditions they find unacceptable. They aren't slaves, they will work when they want to.
I'll never understand the anti union stuff I hear on here all the time. I guess people quickly forget how much unions have done for them.
dainthomas
Lifer
Great. Then we can watch Clash of the Choirs, Survivor, and Dancing with the Stars seven days a week.
It's for this reason I just restarted my Blockbuster subscription.
Since the writers are paid per copy of whatever they write sold, the good writers get paid much more then the crappy ones. Seems perfect to me. In addition a lot of them don't get to pick what they are writing about. It's like a good actor being in a crappy movie, sometimes the subject just sucks but you do it so you can pay the rent next month.
Vic
Elite Member
I have mixed feelings. Naturally, workers of all types have the right to organize and pool the resource of their labor. Management does the same thing and they call it a company or a corporation. OTOH, I do not feel that workers, once unioned, have the right to monopolize their organized labor pool anymore than a corporation has the right to monopolize the market for their product.
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