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THURSDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Hollywood Writers Strike Called; Timing Announcement To Come Friday; Actors Agree To Walk WGA Picket Lines
I've obtained instructions issued tonight to WGA contract captains who turn into strike captains once the Writers Guild of America calls its walkout. That's right: it's not "if", but "when". Since there will be no bargaining talks on Thursday, a strike call could come Thursday night when the leadership meets with the general membership at 7 pm inside the incredibly inconvenient downtown location of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Picketing could start Friday or Monday. (See my previous: URGENT: Talks Come To An Abrupt Halt; Thursday Night's WGA Meeting A Strike Call?) Here are memo excerpts:
Show captains need to compile a personal contact list for everyone who could participate in pickets (including actors, writers' assistants, staff and crew, etc) or other strike actions.
Showrunners and all WGA members should assemble drafts of every unproduced script and other literary material for the so-called "Script Validation Program". (Details here.)
Showrunners, hyphenates with projects in development, and other hyphenates may want to speak to or write letters to the Producers they are working with "to make clear that our mutual goal is to negotiate a fair and reasonable contract. We welcome their support toward that goal."
Before leaving their offices on Thursday, all Writers guild members should take their personal items home. "If you have an office on a studio lot, you may want to box up your personal items when you leave work on Thursday."
There will be a WGA West membership meeting in Los Angeles tomorrow night at 7 pm. At the meeting, the Negotiating Committee will update members regarding the negotiations and make their recommendation as to how to proceed. The WGAW will send out another e-mail following the meeting with up-to-the-minute information.
There will be a captains meeting Saturday November 3rd at 1 pm. Agenda to follow. captains should plan to be on call this weekend. There will be a captains orientation session Saturday November 3rd at 11 am.
"If there is a strike, submit your scripts for validation. You have 4 days from the commencement of a strike to do this. Contract/show captains become picket captains immediately. Show up for your picket shift. Your captain will advise you where/when. Report any re-writing of your material, illegal demands, pressure to cross picket lines, etc to your picket captain."
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Today’s statement/offer by the AMPTP was an unbelievable fuck you to the WGA and… well, really to the whole town because the guild now has no choice but to strike. Very, very depressed. Not in my worst nightmares did I think the AMPTP’s offer was going to be this bad.
The AMPTP has counted on the WGA backing down all along, like we have so often in the past. The only way we can back up what we say now is by walking the picket lines. What’s the point of having a union if we don’t have the balls to stand up to Nick Counter and his insincere cronies? The sooner we strike, the sooner they will begin to take us seriously and, hopefully, show our union the respect it deserves. Anything short of striking now is voluntary servitude, and it will only get worse as time passes. Whatever muscles we have left, now is the time to flex them… or become the laughing stock of the industry. I don’t want to strike anymore than the next guy, but now we have no choice. Better to endure a few weeks/months of hardship than to capitulate ourselves into oblivion. This is a do or die moment for the WGA.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Paul. It’s a shame that this is where we stand after 4 months of meetings, but nothing’s going to change without a strike. And the time is NOW.
what’s going to change WITH a strike, LKB? I hope for the best for you all, but history stands on the other side…
that in mind, the AMPTP knows exactly what they’re (sneakily) doing.
First off, thanks, Nikki, for your reporting. It’s simply the most timely and accurate available.
We are at a terrible juncture, that’s for sure. I don’t mean to make too much of Paul’s comment above reflecting his fear that the writers, without striking, would become “the laughing stock of the industry,” but I can only hope that the WGA negotiating committee has more substantive concerns.
I’m an independent producer and a member of the Academy in the producers branch. I can name ten films I’m credited with and another dozen I’m not that wouldn’t have been made without my work. I get paid when a movie gets produced and I don’t get residuals, or health care, or pension contributions.
If the Guild is going to go out, and it looks like they will, wreaking devastation on a lot of families beyond their own, they better have a better reason than the collective self-image of their members.
Nikki or anyone else: what is “the number” (i.e., the comprehensive deal) the WGA would accept to avoid a strike? Does the Guild leadership have one? Wouldn’t it make sense rhetorically to offer it – something the membership feels is reasonable and that the AMPTP can say yes to – before we strike?
No offense CC, but you don’t get residuals because you don’t create or write. Producers are middle men. Valuable to the process, but middle men.
In my mind, especially on the the upper end, producers are ridiculously over-paid for what they do.
If “Dan In Real Life” and “Nightmare Xmas,” or “Cavemen” and “‘Til Death” are the best Hollywood can do, maybe it’s the viewers who need to strike for so writers and studios to be paid less.
Both sides have inflated their importance to the average Nielson viewer………anyone remember the NHL.
It will take alot longer for the AMPTP & the WGA to recover from this than their “leadership” believes.
I’ve been this route before, back the last time there was a strike. At that time, demagogery by WGA brass and staff made good people do and say dumb things, and I hope we avoid that this time around. There is nothing more ridiculous than watching, at a member/strike meeting, a 20-something young woman who arrived in a Mercedes citing John L. Lewis and other examples of Beverly Hills Bolshevism. Guilds are a good thing. Being silly never is. I live in hope, but I am not holding my breath for a sensible solution to this situation on EITHER side.
I’m a Director/Writer from Argentina and I want to send my solidarity to me fellow writers in the USA.
I know they will stand firm for their rights and fight for a fair recognition.
All the best to them and their families and the WGA.
What would happen if the writers went on strike and none of the viewers noticed?
It’s nice to know that when the writers go on strike they will be putting thousands of hard working people out of their jobs as well. Unlike the members of the Gentlemans Club, sorry I meant Writers Guild these people don’t get any residuals. So when their jobs go away they wont be getting a check every three months for work they did years ago. So thank you from the grips, electrics, hair and makeup, wardrobe, PA’s, craft service, construction, catering. office production, background, music supervisors, editorial, and on set medics. All of these people will lose work because a bunch of rich guys want to pretend that they are Julio Cesar Chavez. I’ll be watching Reality TV and playing video games.
Aspiring writers thinking this is their opportunity to get “into” the business will be sorely disappointed if they try, and end up being blacklisted. Because that is what would happen.
I am a WGA writer and I think we are striking for a bunch of millionaire showrunners and millionaire A-listers. There are just not enough of us who make that much in residuals to justify a prolonged strike. Sure, negotiate for more, but strike over it? Something is very fishy about that.
This a battle between rich writers and rich studios and us more “blue-collar” writers are the pawns in the middle. We’re the ones getting screwed. We do not have the cash to outlast a strike.
We got suckered into this strike by a bunch of egomaniacs who have some fantasy of “sticking it” to the man by inflating their own residual checks.
We will regret this strike very quickly. The studios and networks will find replacements for us but we will not find replacements for them.
CC,
I’m an independent producer and also a tv writer. I don’t think that it makes sense to hold yourself up as an example. You’re right, as an independent producer we don’t get health insurance or pension…but we also have an ownership stake in the finished product -something that writers typically don’t have.
But, as someone who believes in universal health care and pensions, I would be happy to join you in helping to unite independent producers behind these issues.
RCA
To Works for a Living –
Those jobs you mentioned wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for a writer. They work for a living too.
More reality TV. YAY!
Dear Works for a Living,
Calling the WGA a “gentleman’s club” obscures the truth, which is that the average annual salary of a WGA member is well BELOW that of the average gaffer, grip, or even PA.
None of us wants a strike…believe me. But don’t blame us. The unfairness is coming from the producers who don’t want to extend the current residual formula to the internet.
– Writes for a Living
I’m lol! Do you have any idea how low of an opinion most of us out in the fly over country (the ones who watch TV) have of ALL of you? Your industry is lower than malpractice lawyers in the rank of people the country could do without. I hope everyone in overpaid Hollywood loses their shirts. Maybe then you’ll all stop pontificating about political issues you know nothing about, because most of you never even bothered to finish college. You put shit on the tube and try to sell it with with surgically and chemically enhanced Barbie and Ken dolls espousing and doing the most amoral stuff I’ve ever seen, and you have the nerve to call it entertainment! Frankly, even your jokes suck, you are so out of step with the rest of us, yet you all somehow think you have a right to preach to the nation how to live. The only thing better than Hollywood going on strike would be if you fell into the ocean. And, you sanctimonious eco worshipers, think of all the electricity we will save by not turning our TV’s on! Good riddance.
Stacycy wrote: “Aspiring writers thinking this is their opportunity to get “into” the business will be sorely disappointed if they try, and end up being blacklisted.”
What’s with you people? Do you have so little confidence in your abilities that you need to resort to thuggery and bullying to make a living? You really need to stifle the competition? No wonder all the public gets in the theaters and on the small screen is low-brow schlock that panders to the lowest-common-denominator.
The time for unions has passed. Bring on the free market and let competition reign.
Based on the poor quality of most of the shows I see they have no right to strike. The top writers need to go and let some new talent rise to the surface. That’s why reality shows are already so successful because they don’t have much in the way of quality programming to compete with.
i don’t even know the bullshit story of why the amptp refuses to discuss the dvd and internet issue. they must have a reason… even if it’s a bullshit reason.
Dear No Offense:
On one hand, you are correct — producers are “middle men” who don’t create or write. On the other hand, we seek out, acquire, edit and shape material by writers who, generally, have no idea HOW to get a movie made. Once we’ve turned it into something commercially viable, we represent the material for years out of nothing more than passion for that writer’s idea, and the belief that it would make a decent movie. Far from a middle man, I would say the producer is often the only advocate the writer (or his material) has in this town.
And for this, we either get nothing for the years of submitting the material endlessly in an effort to get it set up, or a measly $12,500 development fee for what can often turn into decades of work and dedication.
As much as I endorse many of the WGA issues, at a certain point the producers — not the studios — will have to get their due for the work they put it.
And as a side note, I think the release of AMERICAN GANGSTER this weekend is testimony to the perseverance of Brian Grazer after the movie had fallen apart twice before, at an absurd cost. Sure, he’s revoltingly rich and powerful, but he also refused to give up on the movie.
Most writers would, I think, appreciate having someone like that in their corner.
Please, let’s try to deal with reality. If you say, “the annual salary of a WGA member who isn’t selling scripts is BELOW that of the average gaffer or PA,” then that’s true. Hey, guess what — the annual salary of a non-working gaffer or PA is BELOW the poverty level, which is where your strike is putting many of us.
The truth is, any WGA writer good enough to sell scripts makes a shitload of money, up front, and more down the road. We can read your contract minimums, and we can read the deals written up in Variety and HR. Your salaries support an army of managers, agents, and lawyers.
Sorry, gotta run now, I need to scramble to find a job on a reality show so I can feed my family while your fat strike fund continues to pay your mortgage.
Right on, Anne. The reason Hollywood has a hard time filling seats in theaters and at home is because of the anti-American, anti-Christian crap the writers and producers (as a whole) are foisting on the public.
They can strike all they wish, it really doesn’t affect my family, as we stick to taking walks, watching a handful of quality shows, and playing video games.
Anne, how do you get DSL service from your bunker?
You are espousing typical Midwestern prejudice. First of all, most executives and agents and assistants in Hollywood are Ivy League educated (which may be part of the problem) and not everyone in Hollywood is an extreme wacko champagne socialist, Mercedes driving leftist.
Writers are hard working, the backbone of the industry, and completely underappreciated. That said, both sides are being myopic and have inflated their own importance.
As for wishing we fall off into the ocean, please don’t wish that. Those in entertainment may be off at times, the quality may not always be there, but it sure beats the hell out of working for some multi-national corporation which is what the Midwest is filled with. What, and sitting in a cube with a job you got off Monster.com is so superior?
We may be “Hollyweird” but at least we’re not Square State shoot-me-now-from-boredom-conventional square.
First of all, as someone who also works behind the scenes in H’wood, I’d like to educate Works for a Living: Dude (or dudette), as someone else said above, without a SCRIPT the hair and makeup people, the drivers, the gaffers and grips and assistants wouldn’t have a job. It all, ALL comes down to the script.
And Anne? Feel free to entertain your fellow midwesterners with preachings from the Bible or Boy Scout campfire scary stories told by uncle Bob or however it is you feel would be better than what Hollywood currently has to offer. We honestly could care less about you fly-over states and we’re happy you’ve noticed. Now crawl back to your double-wide and your Rush Limbaugh and bowl of Cheetos for breakfast and let us carry on about our business.
I’m laughing about the ‘creative’ issues being bandied about and looking at the upcoming movie rosters from long before any strike was mentioned and I’m seeing a lot of rehashing of old movies and TV. A ‘Dirty Dozen’ re-make? Remaking ‘Near Dark’? Seeing how Hollywood won’t stick to source material for anything, how can you be relied upon to make a previous release better?
Stacycy wrote: “Aspiring writers thinking this is their opportunity to get “into” the business will be sorely disappointed if they try, and end up being blacklisted.”
Exactly. Total thuggery and bullying.
Stacycy> you need to read up on your history.
Chris, that’s exactly the reason the WGA doesn’t have support outside the union right now — you value writing above all else. It’s important but so are the other positions on a production.
Oh, and for the other suggestive comment up above that the annual writers income is way below that of even a PA, sorry to tell you that’s falsely inaccurate. 50,000 is the average annual income of a writer (yes, low), but a PAs is much lower. Can you do the math – what’s 600 week even if they were to work more than half the year?
if and when the strike happens it will show you how far the traditonal entertainment industry has fallen i am a college student who lives and breaths the tech world and i know many of my follow college students have told me that if the strike happens they will never turn a tv set back on to watch tv the nature of entertainment has changed with programs like joost and websites like youtube and the advent of advanced generation video games if the strike happens in my opinion the realm of tv will forever be changed the audience levels will drop immediately and they will never return the four major networks have already seen over the last 15 years a slow but steady decline in viewership due to cable and other entertainment options this strike will at least destroy one major network and it will shrink the other 3 network’s audiences
I don’t even watch tv (except the NFL). I’m not saying that writers suck in anyway, I’m saying the programming does. Keep one thing in mind though, compared to the median income in the U.S., most tv writers are highly paid and therefore can’t expect too much in terms of sympathy. Sure, producers and actors/actresses make too much money as well, but as long as people keep tuning into mindless drivel, this will continue (yes, yes. I know I am supporting another medium for people paid too much money – professional sports).
Just the mention of ‘blacklisting’ those who wish to pursue their careers at a wage and benefit level that they believe is adequate makes me sick to my stomach. How can that be tolerated in America? Have we no freedom of choice?
There’s a fat strike fund that will pay my mortgage? That’s good news. Where exactly is it? Thanks, rich gaffer, in advance.
The writers are not the caues of the strike. The studios are.
And, by the way, everyone below the line is next for rollbacks. The studios in the WGA negotiations are trying to raise thehigh budget thresholds by a huge amount. They will then do that with IATSE. Shows and movies currently paying you high budget minimums will soon pay you low budget minimums for the same work.
This is not about writers vs. studios or writers vs. the rest of showbiz. This is everyone who works in TV and film being screwed by the studios. The writers are just first in line.
You can certainly tell that this blog is hosting comments by writers — everything said on this page, whether its agreeable or not, is very nicely written! No spelling mistakes (except from Argentina guy, and he’s excused), no grammar issues.
Well said!
Rich Gaffer,
Just because a writer hasn’t sold scripts doesn’t mean they’re not working. We’re working – often for years -to get a script written, developed and sold. Having optioned a script and done a rewrite for a studio, I can tell you in all confidence that there are a lot of writers who aren’t making enough doing their jobs to pay their rent. It would be one thing if we weren’t talented enough to write in this business, but there are many other obstacles out there for talented writers – including cheap studios who throw low ball offers at us because we are not A-list writers. It would be nice if the WGA had support from other union workers, but the Teamsters are the only ones who have stepped up. I guess the WGA will remember this when the other guilds’ deals exoire.
I sympathize with Rich Gaffer, but just because you’re talking about potentially large sums of money doesn’t mean you should abandon basic principles of fairness. In this case, it is the producers who are being obstinate and unreasonable, and the writers who are working towards a just resolution of this. So Gaffer’s anger is misplaced — he should be railing against greedy producers. In three to five years, we’ll all be downloading entertainment direct to our HDTVs, and unless Gaffer feels that writers shouldn’t have the right to in the success of their successful creation, he should be with them, not the producers. His guild is.
The WGA should know that those of us in the “real world” are fine with watching football, dumb reality shows, using the internet, and watching On Demand. The other side probably knows this. Kid Nation is stupid, but is “Two and A Half Men” or “How I met Your Mother”, or “CSI WHATEVER” important? The Networks will be making BANK from the last half of football, cheap reality, and Political Ads. Time is NOT on your side!
Dear writes for a living, Boo freaking hoo. So none of these people would have jobs if it wasn’t for the glorious writers. Well I am a member of the WGA and I happen to make my living as a writer. I also produce so I actually know how much those “rich” below the line people make. Your condescending attitude is the reason that they will be out of work. Now go back and finish that spec script for The Suite Life of Zach and Cody.
With all the terrible shows out now who the hell even cares. Most of you guys deserved to be fired. Any retard could write the cheesey crap on TV right now. Even the hit shows like, “Ugly Betty” were just ripped from “Fella Mas Bella” and another spanish soap before that. All of the other highest rated shows are reality, Dancing With Anyone… I don’t think there are any shows out there with good original material, and the last well written show I can recall was Arrested Development. All the new shows out I have seen are very unimpressive. “Don’t give me some MD with a degree from the Phillipines.” Oh, how terribly witty and controversial, you radical free thinkers you. Or how about Cuban Sopranos AKA Cane…fuggedaboutit vato!!!!!
Are you guys high…or higher than normal?
No one cares if you go out on strike…really. Get out of California once in awhile and perhaps you’ll figure that out.
At least the weather will be nice while your out there striking in your self-deluding “unfairness” of it all.
WGA, guess what–no one cares if you strike or not. Why? If you strike, the networks just put the same tripe you wrote last year on the tube. If you don’t, we have to block our kids from watching nearly everything because of your morally and ethically bankrupt “shock” drivel that you put on nearly every show.
So, shove it, hope your kids starve, and maybe you’ll get an honest job later.
“We honestly could care less about you fly-over states and we’re happy you’ve noticed”
First of all, mr. “supporting the strike,” the correct expression is “couldn’t care less,” not “could.” You call yourself a writer?
And second, I was hoping you’d say something like that, you egotistical, overpaid, no-talent hack. Perhaps in your next message you could inform Anne of something you’ve done as a freakin TEEVEE WRITER that’s going to mean jack a year from now. Hope you lose.
To the person who automatically thought I live in the midwest, listen to Rush Limbaugh and am a bible thumper….I’m a hopeful agnostic (hope the hopeful isn’t too much for you), never listen to Rush L., and haven’t gone to church in a decade. The point I’m trying to make is that you guys/girls are truly out of touch and disgustingly amoral even for someone who truly questions religion in the first place (that would be me). But that’s always your knee jerk reaction to any criticism. I don’t even live in the midwest. But Hollywood has become just so totally absurd and obnoxious it doesn’t take a midwestern bible thumper to wish you all would go away.
@Stacycy – How dare you. HOW DARE YOU! How old are you – twenty, twenty five? You must be a youngin’ to even THINK something like that. You disgust me.
I have a great solution for all parties.
Let’s charge a “Slice of the Pie Fee” on all TV shows watched, All DVD’s rented or bought, and anything that appears on the Internet.
To make certain that everyone gets their fair share, let’s make this new fee $1,000,000.00 per viewing per person. The Company, the WGA, The Producers, and everyone else can have their fair share and make tons of money.
Oh wait a minute……. No one in their right mind would pay such a BOGUS Fee. The last time I studied Fuzzy Math, ZERO times ZERO still equals ZERO.
You are all money hungry whores just like the Oil Company Executives. Remember Ken Lay and Enron?? How greedy is too greedy??
The point I am trying to make is simple. Everyone deserves to make a fair living. I think if you kept the Union Dues and Union Fees that you pay, you would be much better off. Why let a small group of blow hearts ruin your long term careers? Unions are things of the past.
You people are “Hollywood Liberals” Why not do what your Democrat party preaches? Take the wealth from the people in your own industry who are over paid, and redistribute it to those who are not.
Is striking worth the very little you “MIGHT” get??
But I guess misery loves company.
Possibly one bennie to be had from this is the hope that viewers will get a terminal gutfull of contrived, worthless, reality TV, and punish anyone who sponsors it.
Regarding nasty Anne from flyover country: reading your comment, others might be tempted to misjudge the fine character of the majority of American Heartlanders. I am glad such nastiness is not really typical.
Here’s to a quick and fair settlement to the strike and best wishes to the talented WGA members fighting for fair treatment. I won’t be watching any of the reality lineup, that’s for sure.
The real fallout will be with viewers. As a viewer, I’m sympathetic to the plight of the writers (and think their demands sound reasonable) – but if it means “Lost” won’t come on in February 2008 as scheduled, I will be very upset.
Too bad Christopher died in that accident with Tony- cause he sure would have broken something in this strike.
We are talkin about a mob here, right?
Maybe now the writers can have a break and spend the time learning how to write a story.
Anne,
I’m confused. Why are writer’s immoral?
Thanks,
I don’t watch a lot that comes out of Hollywood now because the “Reality TV” junk is so ubiquitous. Given that one of the “justifications” for “Reality TV” was to reduce production costs by eliminating writing staff, a strike could well have the affect of pushing the studios into producing substantially more “Won’t See TV” for a lot of us.
After all, there are books, ball games, videos, and family time to take up the slack.
Finally, I would caution WGA members to recall the disasterous PATCO strike in the 80s. Bush can’t fire the WGA, but the studios can and there are a lot of wannabee Hollywood writers out there. That said, as an industry writer (technical writer), I see your point of the debate, I just don’t think the general public is sufficiently educated to grasp the issues.
Just my $0.02.
Sad
You are tripping over quarters to pick up nickels. You will never make up what you are about to lose.
Comparing the median incomes of the various crafts is not possible from a standpoint of accuracy. How many writers, or actors for that matter, actually make their living in the craft. Every waiter in Los Angeles is either a writer, director or actor. Aspiring of course, but still members of the guilds. The below the liners, the ones who work 52 weeks a year in their craft, will be most affected by our strike.
As for the person who commented that it is the WRITERS who make it all possible – without everyone else it is just a book. If you are good enough to write books, get to it.
If we all got along we would have much more power against the producers. Unfortunately our past actions have come back to haunt us, in regards to support from the other crafts.
Writer, 8:33 a.m.:
That’s “writers,” not “writer’s”. You did say you were — oh, never mind.
I am an unspecified network executive hoping to rush an unscripted reality series into development. The contestants will be members of the Writers Guild. They will compete in a series of contests, mostly consisting of writing for existing scripted series on our net.
Network lawyers have informed me that any writers who agree to appear on this show would technically not be crossing picket lines by appearing.
Please stay alert for further details.
Here is an idea. Become Canadian. There you will get your health care and Social Insurance. And, while you are working, you will get funded to write, film and produce. They have superb content, no FTC to contend with and whats more, the filming vistas the like of oh say, Broke Back Mountain, you remember that one, the one with the beautiful photography? You’re likely to be invited to Goldie & Kurts place on Million Dollar Row on Lake Muskoka. The economy is rocking up there the Loonie is on the rise. So go for it, while you still can.
The strike has even started — and the finger pointing and back biting has already begun.
Bottomline? Writers, producers and gaffers – we All work for a living.
We depend on one another. But for some strange reason – writer’s don’t like or respect producers – producer’s don’t like or respect writers and
gaffers dislike and resent everyone (just kidding).
Don’t ask me why? What a disfunctional biz we chose to pursue.
Let’s stop the insanity.
i’m a writer and it appears – I’m going on strike. I have a family – a mortgage and two small children. I’m not poor – I’m not wealthy – I have a thirteen week deal and I’m often out of work. That’s my reality.
My hope? I would just like the support of my industry co-workers. Why not? I would and have given my support to you!
kc’s “going on strike”
Anne, you said “most of US in flyover country” unless by that you meant WEHO, which I’m assuming you would even be afraid to shop in, is why we assumed you lived in the Midwest.
The irony of all this is writers strike hoping for more, financially and respect-wise, and what comes out is everyone in the whole world holds them in contempt.
Anne -
To sweepingly call a group of thousands amoral, is not only ignorant, but misinformed.
And if you hate enterainment so much, what are you doing here? You havent’t seen one show or film lately b/c you needed to be enterained? Because writers produce ALL GENRES, not just the crappy blockbusters for teenage boys (who show up in droves and make the studios tons of money or we wouldn’t write them).
Chances are if you hate a move, it wasn’t written for you. Move along. I do.
But most of America, including fly-over country (from where I’m from and don’t dismiss in sweeping stereotype), enjoy entertainment SO much that we have an obesity epidemic Somebody’s consuming what we dream up .
Nothing a writer produces makes it into production without being vetted by studio folks – that’s the amoraliy you accuse us of (you think we want to write Transformers?!). No, we do it b/c it pays for the smaller projects we want to do.
Writers can be a pretty pragmatic lot. In this corporate, mutli-national, dollar worshipping culture (the great irony is people like to think we’re a Christian nation, but the only thing we really worship is money), EVERYONE in EVERY industry (unless they live off a trustfund) makes compromises to put a roof over their heads, feed their kids, etc. I’m sure, Anne, you do too.
But thanks for playing. You’re ill informed on every topic in which you opine.
I know plenty of Amoral people in Hollywood, but I know just as many in flyover coutnry. Amoralliy does not have a zip code.
And, by the way, even people who do noble things for a living (Doctors, etc) need to be entertained.
cheers -
Hardworking writer in LA
What do you do for a living?
Sadly, neither an equitable settlement nor a prolonged strike will resolve the content crisis. No matter the outcome of a strike, there will only be more cheap “reality” TV and more films that are just 2-hour commercials for video games and ringtones.
Residuals on DVDs, on downloads, or on smoke signals — what difference does it make when your audience only wants to be be stimulated and not engaged? Moreover, the money-men actively encourage it by pushing most of the junk upon all of us; and writers are forced to comply.
I’m afraid that until we figure out a way to get people interested in stories again, WGA members are tilting at windmills. The stories are out there, but the system has turned off the tap.
Internet Killed the TV star.
Just another nail in the TV coffin.
Each side just seems to want more, more, more.
I stopped watching baseball after their strike, sometime around 1994. I stopped watching Hockey after their strike. It just amazes me with the strikes.
What’s going to happen when no one notices that writers are gone from TV. With half of the junk that is written today – what if what they put on is better – newer. Hell, half the stuff these kids are putting on youtube is better than what is on tv. And then to BLACKLIST the people coming in… how ridiculous. Thuggish threats.
Anne, if you don’t like what you see on television, just turn the box off. Personally, I don’t care for Fox News because they never actually have any news on that channel, so I change the channel. Works pretty well.
Even if I weren’t a writer, I would support them. Writers create the worlds that people (other than Anne) tune in to watch and most of them aren’t multimillionaires. Of course writers need producers, directors, actors, cinematographers, sound recordists, gaffers, grips, and the rest of the crew to bring their vision to the screen. Does that mean writers shouldn’t be paid what they’re worth relative to the success of the product they create? All the below the line people should also be well-paid. I’m not even in the guild yet; I work a day job while I work on my spec projects. Even so, I would never sell a screenplay to a guild signatory during a strike. I know my work is good enough that I’ll have a career after all this is settled.
It does seem as if the situation would be better if all the guilds were more united and all the contracts were up for renewal at the same time. It seems to me that the studios benefit greatly from playing the guilds and workers against each other.
Anonymous, get a spell checker, or at least stop typing with your thumbs.
You could work a little less hard if you learned to spell.
Tough to promote our cause if we can’t even spell.
As an avid scripted TV watcher I am disheartened by the news of the strike. Shows like BSG and Lost will be affected by this even more than their parent networks’ bungling of their schedules.
I understand what you are striking about and have to say you are right on the digital distribution angle. Much as music companies have to learn to deal with this, so do studios. While they may be showing the episodes for “free” on their websites, it looks like they are still collecting revenue from advertisers…revenue they currently get to keep all to themselves.
Just be level-headed about this so I don’t have to play too many video games.
Writers work for years on a script to get it sold?? I hardly think I would call writing “work”. Does a writer get up at 6am, fight his way through hellish traffic, deal with the stress of negotiating with assholes, break your back on a construction site, provide aid to the sick, teach our children, patrol the streets, drive cross country 8 to 10 hours a day?? No, they roll out of bed when comfortable, sit in front of a laptop in the comfort of home, and write for what..a few hours? With writing from you people it is no wonder that we parents have to work twice as hard to raise our children to be good, caring individuals. Television programming is awful, boring, uninspired and dumbed down as if we are all 14. Go on strike, allow the fresh blood to move in and provide some real entertainment and maybe the ratings will come up. A union for writers and actors is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. People who do nothing for a living. Maybe the crew needs to form their own union to counteract the WGA.
Get a job…
If the trade unions, or workers stood by the writers, a potential strike would end sooner. Right or wrong?
Everyone in the industry has been expecting a strike for like a year and has plenty of time to stash cash and etc. Hint Hint theres like a SAG strike coming next year too.
It’s the studio’s and producer’s job to agressively negotiate every detail of budget – theyre just showing off their capitalistic kung fu. The writers need to be agressive just to hold ground. It will be interesting to watch the wrestling match. But I would give the advantage to the studios and producers – its not a writing contest its a negotiation contest.
I, too, am originally from the flyover states (a big hello to neighbors Anne and RogerC!), but I work in LA. I’ve worked as everything from a line producer to a grip to a writer to a PA, and I have to say that everyone blaming writers for the quality of what’s being broadcast on TV or released in theaters doesn’t understand how decisions are made in the industry.
Writers are generally hired to write what they’re told to write, and never get the final say on what ends up on-screen. All along the way, changes and compromises are forced upon them based on what some studio exec thinks will sell the most tickets (or commercial spots), which usually boils down to appealing to the lowest common denominator.
Crew and craftspeople work their butts off, it’s true, and they’re going to be hurt by this strike through no fault of their own. The “quality” (if you want to call it that) of American television is going to suffer, too. But the writers aren’t taking this lightly; they won’t be able to work at all, and only the upper 1% or so of them have enough money to weather the storm.
I hate the idea of a strike, but there are a lot of studio ‘wigs making millions off the sweat of creatives and craftspeople. When they try to take away from WGA (or IATSE, or whomever) to increase their own profits, there is no way to fight back except through the threat of a work stoppage. What other muscle does a writer have? :p
I’m sure noone sane has read this far, but nonetheless, I’d like to address a few issues.
1. The main complaint on this page has been that writers make too much money. How do you think they managed to get to a point where they are making a lot of money? By organizing and striking when unfair offers from the studios call for it. In the early days of TV, writers used to make about as much as the guy who mopped up the soundstage. Without the WGA, they’d still be making peanuts.
2. The strike is not an issue of writers wanting more. It is an issue of writers wanting a fair portion of what the studios get. PAs, grips, actors, directors et al also want their fair share – which is why they all have unions to support them.
3. To all of you who say you’re just going to play video games, watch reality TV, and view video on the internet… who do you think creates the basic narrative for all of these things? Writers. Yes, hate to burst your bubble, but writers are employed to write the stories in your video games, steer the narrative in reality shows, and writers are creating all of the interesting material on the net. They’re not all unionized yet, but let’s hope someday they will be, so they can be rewarded for their hard work.
4. Complaining about the mindless drivel on TV? Hey, get in line. Writers constantly complain that the studios will not back anything that’s the least bit intelligent, different, or original. It’s the studios that assume that all of you out in the Midwest can’t handle anything but the lowest common denominator stuff that gets aired. And when they do take risks (eg. Arrested Development), they then pull the material off the air without supporting it properly, so people don’t get a chance to see it before it’s canceled.
5. Why should a PA get paid as much as a writer? That’s like saying that a secretary should earn as much as the CEO. I’m all for PAs getting paid fairly, but that doesn’t mean everyone should get paid the same amount. If you want to get paid more, go back to school, get a degree, spend 10 years perfecting your craft, then genuflect to the powers that be in Hollywood until someone finally gives you a break and hires you. Once you do all that, you too can earn a writer’s salary.
Jane – “Noone” is not a word.
So, if filming has been moved predominantly to Canada, wouldn’t it make sense that writing could be outsourced as well? I think that the writers backed themselves into a corner here, and they WILL end up settling for less than what they want–hell, they may end up with less than they have now! It is a sad fact, and hopefully more people will figure it out soon; UNIONS DO NOT HELP WORKERS ANYMORE!!! I hope that all of you writers, producers, directors and everyone else affected by this strike do not end up starving you families because of your poor union leadership.
Do any of you writers and producers remember at all why you came into this business? I feel at times that the beginnings of things are often forgotten and fade away amid all the fears and worries that success and aging can bring. I hear a lot of bickering over details that should have been worked out years ago. You’re worried about DVD residuals now but that format will be gone in five years. How long does it take to write a feature and get it produced, etc? And then finally distributed to the mass market? It takes time right? So by the time this is all done and feelings and friendships have been burned, those things that started us all on this crazy journey of story telling, when all the dust clears – everything you’re fighting for will be obsolete again. As it always is. Technology is always going to change how we do our jobs as storytellers. But we bicker over short term details and ignore the long term facts. Be smart in your negotiations. I’m not in your guilds yet. But if you’re not careful it all could be for nothing. Be smart. Both Producers and Writers. You two need each other for christ sake! Hell some of you are both a producer and a writer! And make sure, please be certain, that at the end of the day it is not about ego or prominence but about fairness and excellence. Those of us coming up through the ranks of the indie world are watching and trying to learn. Teach us well.
“If you want to get paid more, go back to school, get a degree, spend 10 years perfecting your craft, then genuflect to the powers that be in Hollywood until someone finally gives you a break and hires you. Once you do all that, you too can earn a writer’s salary.”
1. “Go back to school.”
Check, Masters in writing from a prestigious school.
2. “Ten years perfecting your craft.”
Check.
3. “Then genuflect… until someone gives you a break.”
Meetings, good coverage, still waiting.
4. “…earn a writer’s salary.”
Check – apparently that’s ZERO.
The system is broken. It’s way too hard to break in. Harder than it needs to be.
There are 8000 members in the WGA and like 30,000 scripts per year ($20 a pop) registered to the WGA.
Back in ‘88 writers who worked when others were on strike were not blacklisted but grandfathered into the guild and it became a career stepping stone. Can you blame them?
The WGA is harder to join than Skull & Bones. SAG and AFTRA are certainly much easier.
Nobody wants to see writers get screwed but that doesn’t mean we feel the love for the WGA.
Good riddance to you overpaid Hacks. I hope you stay on strike for months. You have devalued screenwriting by not producing anything worthwhile in years. You are telling me that it still takes a room full of Fat Lazy overpaid white men to come up with the hilarity of Carpooling, Back To You, or Desperate housewives? Or it takes 17 re-writes of a feature script of a remake of The Heartbreak Kid that completely butchers the original movie just to bomb at the box office?
Most Hollywood writers couldn’t even get jobs at their local paper if they had to write the whole article themselves. Get real. You make way too much money for the drivel you contribute.
To Anne and Other-Haters,
You don’t watch television and you hate Hollywood, yet you read and post on DeadlineHollywoodDaily. Does that make a lot of sense?
To Us,
It is a waste of time arguing with people who hate our business. Let’s try and get a constructive exchange of ideas going here. There’s a lot to figure out.
I am sympathetic with the “writers” to a point. I have been in the news business for 16 years in various positions, although this post may not reflect that
because this is being done on a break from work off the cuff so to speak. My Dad was a writer/published author. He also did film work way back when so I have a small background so to speak.
I find this concept that the press accounts say the that everybody is locked up on an interesting one. The theory apparently goes that if I write (create) something, I should be paid from birth to death, i.e. money from DVD sales etc etc.
So along that same line if GM makes a new car, sells new, through a dealer to a script writer. Obviously GM makes money and so does the dealer that sells it, but thats not good enough. When the script writer sells it to his kid, GM should get a percentage of that sale. When the kid sells it (say 10 years later) to somebody else GM should also get some kind of check based upon a percentage of sale.
Same thing is true with a computer, TV, and anything else, after all the theory goes if you create something apparently people think you should get money on it birth to death. Naturally some writer is going to extol about how he or she is different then the examples above, but the truth is its the same.
The same writer that howls about how he or she should be getting DVD royalties, would howl about having to pay GM a percentage of sale when they resold their car.
Personally I don’t share that theory, but its interesting none the less.
Bottom line is this. Apparently there is enough shows to run programs through mid January. If the networks plug in a week or two of reruns, they may get to the end of January. If the strike is still on going, we will see tons of reality shows (and I HATE reality shows and would hope most of American does but I suspect I am wrong) say from February forward. If the strike goes through March and April, the networks aren’t going to bother with season enders, and then nobody will get paid for this season.
If the reality shows are a ratings hit, you can guarantee that Fall 2008 will have alot of shows that are canceled or cutback. We will know by February if the reality shows are a ratings hit or not. By that time the WGA will be ready to make some compromise and likely the networks.
According to news reports, the typical TV show writer makes about $3500.00 per week. (Compare that to many areas of the country where a typical police officer makes 450-900 per week) Knowing that reality TV shows are being prepped, you are saying in essence that YOU personally can sustain say a $14K or more per month hit on your finances. This means that you have a huge savings account with at least 50K plus in it, otherwise you may not make your house payments, your car payments, insurance payments, and so forth. If the strike goes for awhile you may have to give up alot of stuff, and live off of family members who are employed in other fields. If you are able, good for you.
A breakdown of income on the IRS web site says that if a household makes 29,900 or less per year in JOINT income, that represents 50% of tax paying Americans. Needless to say many Americans would be pleased to make 800 dollars per week, much less 3 grand.
If the networks switch to reality TV shows in January, you will have many actors, producers, directors and crew members also in the same boat you are. They will just be paid a check 3 months longer then you have, and won’t feel the pain so to speak until the writers are near financial death.
So, on one side we have the writers willing to take perhaps a huge financial loss, and perhaps an even bigger one in the long term. On the other side of it, you have the networks running shows until January, then launching reality based shows and if those shows do well in the ratings, they may stay with them. Needless to say it will be interesting to see what happens.
Good luck and best wishes.
I’m a writer in L.A. who is constantly having to explain at parties that I’m not “that kind of a writer.”
You see, I don’t write for TV or film, I write for national magazines. Twenty years ago (20!) I started out writing pieces @ $1 a word for first North American serial rights.
Today I get still get paid $1 a word–only for ALL rights. (In fact I should be working on a rewrite for a shitty $1 word story right now instead of posting here.)
I also get paid $2 a word by some magazines (who buy all rights and publish my work in their international editions and on the web). The magazines that pay me $2 a word have been doing so for the last 10 years. In other words, no raise for me in 10 years.
I say BRAVO to the WGA. I have no idea about the details of this strike are about (when it comes to discussions of other’s people’s money, I tend to zone out) but I salute you for having the balls to stand up for yourselves. WGA members are the only writers who get any respect.
“Why should a PA get paid as much as a writer? That’s like saying that a secretary should earn as much as the CEO.” So, writers are equivalent to CEOs now? Do you have to turn sideways to fit your head through the doorway?
How is it that we should support the writers’ hissy fit – um, strike – because it is from them that all good things flow, but at the same time they are not responsible for the glut of crap TV shows because they only write what they are told to write?
It must be nice to have it both ways. Claim all the credit but accept none of the blame. That by itself shows that you deserve a big raise!
People keep harping on “the crap being written” without acknowledging the risk averse execs who order this stuff.
As a bystander to the development process, I watch many good projects get passed over in favor of crap because execs want to be in business with a high profile star or producer. Also, a lot of crap gets made just to give friends and family jobs. Hollywood is a huge family business.
The producers are merely tools of the studios trying to keep the biggest slice of the profit pie for themselves and, as the studios are all publicly traded corporate entities, for their shareholders.
Guess who the shareholders are? Those people in the flyover states. They want what everyone wants from their investment, unrealistically high returns. the only way to keep profits high is to keep down the only cost they can control, wages.
Most of you people need to step back and look at the big picture. As someone said above, the writers are only the front line. Every entertainment salary will be affected by this negotiation. Every new revenue stream has had to be negotiated. Used to be nobody got residuals from TV or HV. Why should the internet be exempt?
And let’s not forget all the profits the studios hide through shady accounting practices. There are teams of finance guys who do nothing but find creative ways to hide profit. So let the Writer’s get their fair share of what little profit the studios acknowledge.
This story’s linked on Drudge, so here come a bunch of folks who know next to nothing about our industry or how it works. Folks? Welcome to the front lines of the Little People vs. The Big Corporations. It’s happening to you as well as to us. This is a battle about what’s fair and what’s right, with the producers and studios coming down on the side of insatiable greed and the writers sticking up for rights and benefits that can be summed up simply as “their fair share.”
Now if you’re against that you’re against the Everyman and for multinational, multibillion dollar companies and you’re already a lost cause to humanity. Go ahead and insert that tracking chip subcutaneously, register your children for the draft and continue to drink the Kool-Aid.
I am not in the industry – however, I do remember two strikes that made national news. One was the air traffic controllers strike – Reagan responded by firing them all. The other was the 1994 major league baseball strike. The fans responded by staying home and finding something else to do – and if you remember, it wasnt until the national solidarity of 2001 that they began to hit their stride again – with most of the players from ‘94 gone from the picture.
I think its wrong to assume that the industry is going to come to a dead halt because the writers decide to go on strike – this isn’t 1988, and the producers may look on this as a perfect opportunity to get rid of the dead wood – writers who kept up their membership but haven’t written a line in years, and the ones who gave us the most forgettable TV season – and movie season – in recent history. The worst case scenario is one that was mentioned – that what TV and film production is still done in the US goes overseas – writers are supposed to be able to think of all the possible scenarios but I think they just sat around in meetings pumping each other up for a couple weeks until they were so inflated they couldnt see past 10/31.
You’re not bursting my bubble, the majority of game players out there are moving toward, or already playing, multi-player games that are unscripted. I guess it’s the reality show format but one where the gameplay constantly evolves and changes depending on the actions of the current participants.
You go for what you think is right, I’ll be playing BF2 and COD4 with a few (thousand…) friends of mine.
I hate to go off-topic so I’ll end by saying I agree with what you are doing and if you buckle now you will only screw yourselves down the road.
Writer J said: I guess the WGA will remember this when the other guilds’ deals exoire.
Are you really so ignorant and misinformed by your leadership that you managed to miss that the WGA has been at war with the IATSE for years, and has tried to raid the IA’s jurisdiction in animation and by trying to organize editors? That the WGA has long been on the outs with the DGA over the most idiotic and petty of issues? That the vast majority of issues the WGA won’t compromise over mean nothing to SAG and AFTRA.
The Teamsters have taken their stance because they’re teamsters. That’s what they do. Of course, we all know the WGA wouldn’t cross Teamster picket lines, right? Haha, yeah, except they have the in past.
Do a little research, Writer J. There have been plenty of strikes and near strikes over the years in Hollywood by other entertainment unions that the WGA didn’t support in the slightest. The overwhelming attitude of most writers is “me first.” Yes, often (but not always) “it starts with a script.” Writing is usually a necesary part of a film/TV production. But it is NOT a sufficient part of the process. The list of professions that are completely necessary is a long one, and the WGA is just a part of that. You’re not novelists, so get over that fact.
And if you think the vast majority of your laundry list of strike issues means squat to the other unions and guilds, then you’re living in a bubble. Yeah, we’re all with you on the internet download/new media stuff. If your leadership had been smart enough to jettison the rest of the junk issues, cut the vitriol and corporate campaigns and jurisdiction raiding, and kept on point, we’d all be with you. But your leadership that you selected didn’t, and now a lot of us in town aren’t with you. Them’s the breaks.
I have a request for those of you who write for Fox, especially House. Maybe you could spend some time during this strike thinking of plot lines other than characters sleeping with each other.
I guess this sells, since it happens so much, but some friends and I get together every Tuesday night for House and we all agree the episodes we like the least are the one featuring alley cats in heat. It is boring, predictable and porn DVD’s do exist.
At least (AFAIK) “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader” has not gone this route.
By the way I live in fly over country. Personally I think there are too many soap operas on at all times, but there is hope – House, 24, Sopranos. Some of you writers rock.
Well dear WGA and potential striking members of the creative guild do not despair, I’ve been on strike from Hollywood’s entertainment for the last two years and my life has never been better.
Excuse me uberproducer
but lots of writers have written for papers
and “Heartbreak Kid” was a Farrely Bros. film! Hello!
Just how uber are you?
The original was much better. Who’s fault is that? More than likely the studios (or the brothers Farrely DIRECTORS) who decided to whitewash certain aspects of it.
The original was GREAT and written by NEIL SIMON — guess what? A WRITER!
Hey everyone, I’ll be loyal to the WGA and NOT “scab” now if you promise to help me get in after the strike?
Hmmm… do I see any takers?
help me get in or just send your hate mail here:
nonwgaer@gmail.com
From what I understand a big issue of the strike isn’t about the quality of content it is about fairness. Musicians get royalties for their creative work every time a commercial broadcaster plays their work. But some team who creats a classic version of whatever show gets linked to a pod cast (supported by an advertiser that the corporation profits from) the writers are not getting royalties for their work. Essentially it is being viewd for free by the viewer, the corporation viewing it makes money and the writers are left holding the bag. Is this right?
As for content…they keep their jobs based on what is being watched. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Read a book. If you want better content let the networks know by selecting your entertainment carefully rather than watching something you don’t like and griping about it. The networks get the picture and they put on higher quality programming…then the bone head viewers don’t watch and it get’s cancelled. If a huge number of viewers didn’t watch pro wrestling and C.O.P.S and Maury Povitch they wouldn’t be on your TV.
Writer (9:57),
Anne may have come across this site the same way I did, by reading blogs. I have never been to this site before today, and this won’t be a regular “stop” for me as I seek to be informed about the news of the day. But I was curious about the issues and came to see for myself. There is no real disconnect for Anne to be here, yet she doesn’t watch television.
BTW, I, too, watch VERY little television, live in flyover country, and have concluded that this spat is rather like professional athletes’ strikes: people in non-essential industries who are largely out of touch with real issues of justice and fairness assuming that anyone really cares about their issues.
>>>Writers work for years on a script to get it sold?? I hardly think I would call writing “work”. Does a writer get up at 6am, fight his way through hellish traffic, deal with the stress of negotiating with assholes,
… sometimes the answer is Yes. And your point is what, exactly? That the amount of suffering should = pay scale? Tell me, how much did you ever contribute to, say, Mother Theresa?
>>> break your back on a construction site, provide aid to the sick, teach our children, patrol the streets, drive cross country 8 to 10 hours a day??
Let’s see…
A construction site requires instructions on how to do the actual construction. These instructions are usually WRITTEN.
Provide aid to the sick: Well, yes. Through books and TV and DVD and other entertainment that begins with WRITING.
Teach our children? Hmmm… BOOKS = WRITING.
Patrol our streets? Trust me, you do NOT want writers carrying guns, OK? (And I’m only being half flippant.)
Drive across country 8 to 10 hours a day? And how much effort did you put into STOPPING the recent decision to allow the impoverishment of our truckers that now permits MEXICAN trucks and truckers to cross the border into America? Were you even AWARE of that shafting?
And how did you just get through expressing your overheated opinion? Oh, yes: by WRITING. Which you learned FROM WRITERS through your textbooks.
Carping about the amount of money you imagine writers make dilutes your argument into petty childishness. “Boo hoo hoo, look what *they’re* getting.”
As for the crap you see on TV and movies, don’t blame writers. Blame all those with the power and money who INTERFERE with writers through their idiotic “suggestions” to make things “better.” If everything is crap and mindless, it’s because it’s all coming filtered through one groupmind: the Suit mind. All those rapacious bastards who’ve been raping America with frauds like Enron, et al — that same vicious, selfish, base instinct is what lords over the funds of mass entertainment. THEY turn everything in crass crap.
Thank you for reading.
First, to the people in the you-deserve-to-lose-your-jobs-because-the shows-on-TV-suck, camp: The studios and networks determine the final product that airs. Writers lucky enough to get shows on the air face endless, losing battles with studios and networks determined to censor, homogenize and dumb down our work. If the writers had more creative control, one of the things the WGA is constantly fighting for, the product would likely be better. I guarantee that virtually every single WGA writer would tell you that his/her best scripts are sitting in a drawer after having been rejected. Please direct your dissatisfaction to the AMPTP where it belongs.
Second, to the below the line, the-rich-writers-are-taking-away-our-jobs with-”their”-strike, group. By far the most disappointing shortcoming of current WGA leadership (and one I will remember at the next elections) as been the failure to reach out and form coalitions over mutual interests with other film and television workers, all of whom face growing union-diminishing efforts by the international mega corporations that have consolidated power in the media industry. Nick Counter must get a huge boner when he sees members of different showbiz unions attacking each other. If we wear each other down it just makes it easier for them to push us all off the edge of the cliff. I’ve been a WGA member since ‘93 and, while I’ve had years of six-figure income here and there, at other times I’ve gone two straight years without earning a penny. Zero. The biggest misunderstanding among WGA critics is that residuals are like some kind of bonus or free money for doing nothing when the correct interpretation is that these fees for the RE-USE of our literary creations are what keep most of us alive between jobs, periods that last a lot longer for most writers than the average below the line crew member. Sure, the small percentage at the top of the heap earn millions from the parameters established in these contracts but the point of collective bargaining is, ultimately, to establish a floor, a bottom line that protects the rank and file from rich conglomerates who’d gut the compensation and benefits of every worker in every department in a heartbeat without the unified front of organized labor. I have about two months worth of savings. I am terrified of striking. But the companies are essentially attempting to eliminate compensation already fought for and won on old distribution methods from new ones that are replacing them. That is what’s known as a rollback. Does anyone really believe that if the AMPTP succeeds in gaining rollbacks from the WGA that they will stop there? I lament the fact that there hasn’t been better outreach by Guild Leadership to other unions and I reject the offensive “You below the liners only have jobs because we write scripts” drivel. There is not a more collaborative creative medium. Everyone’s work is just as meaningful and essential in the creation of a movie or television show and every once in a while they actually result in a little bit of magic. If we could only learn to dispense with the current jurisdictional feudalism and apply the same collaborative spirit across union lines in negotiations with the studios, a strike would last about ten seconds and everyone would always have a fair and reasonable deal.
I clicked on the Drudge Report link to this site, because I am interested in the writers’ strike. I’m sure glad I did. Reading this had me rotflol.
Putting Anne and others down for voicing their opinions only shows how out of touch the writers are. I wish they could step back and take an honest look at themselves and their product. If that is impossible perhaps they could look at it from the market perspective. Movie and network TV viewership continues to fall. Wonder why? Perhaps it is due to the poor quality. Could part of that be due to poor writing? I know you are easily confused so let me help. The answer is YES.
The creativity and production of Youtube videos is far superior to 95% of the shows on network television and that does not include the wasteland that is reality TV.
My mother’s best friend was a wonderful talented character actress. I am sure she is rolling over in her grave with shame at the direction the industry has taken. You should be ashamed of your product and the absurdity of your strike.
What it comes down to, basically, is that Networks will now have the incentive to spread their net a little further afield. There is a rich spectrum of shows produced in other countries, of better quality, to be had for less. British sit-coms, sci-fi, and drama usually far outshine their American counterparts. Because of production values? In some cases, yes, but in a larger part due to the excellent writing skills used in crafting an engaging story line. Same with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Why do people watch TV? Not really to see the sex, the violence is secondary. The real thing that interests us is the story with interesting three dimensional charaters. Writers have a choice. This strike is about getting your fair share, but what about us viewers? Where is our fair share? Where have all the good shows gone, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Arrested Develoment, Firefly, etc… The choice the writers have is to say to a studio or producer, “No! I will not write this drivel you call a script idea. However, I will write a script I have which is far superior, and will bring in a large audience.” If you are a decent writer you get shot down a couple of times, but someone will eventually snap it up. Why? Because networks and studios need an edge; one they aren’t getting with formulaic scripts.
If the writers want more money, they need to start producing superior products. Don’t expect to get paid good money for poor quality, cracker-jack box writing: I can do that, and I’m and electrical engineer! To paraphrase (forgive me) a line from a well written movie (hint-hint), “Write it…and they will watch!”
–Peace
I’m shocked at the level of pure ignorance I’m reading here.
HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY ARE BEING MADE. Should the producers get all of it? As for the craft unions being put out of work…ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU WOULDN’T HONOR A PICKET LINE?
Right now, I’m watching more TV online than on my TV. Yet there’s advertising…which means money is being made. And it’s much harder to FF the ad online. All the online money is a loophole bonanza for producers right now. There is always a fuss over closing big money loopholes.
I’m sorry the producers are so greedy. I’m sorry that earning an above-poverty income is such a sin to some. Only producers should be allowed to arrive in a Mercedes.
The lack of understanding of creative work, the labor movement, the importance of a strike…shows that the blood, sweat, and tears of previous years worked amazingly well. We obviously did recover from the strikes…enough for people to forget the reasons they were important. But time has frayed the achievements. So …the strike.
My grandmother was the first person in her sweatshop to walk out on strike. She was 17 and had been sewing for two years. The ILGWU was there for her until she died at 87.
Her spirit will be walking that WGA picket line with pizzazz.
Probably enough scripts to last another few weeks and then we are into the holidays. Not a time that anyone wants to be on strike. Looks like we might be doing a bit of Blockbuster or Netflix for a month or more. It will be interesting to see what the Networks put on. We’ll keep the DVR busy in the meantime.
I, too, have noticed the dichotomy of various posters here alternately claiming they deserve more money because of their stellar work and then later claiming they only write what they are hired to write. Great job of having it both ways! If you’re just a horde of employees doing what you’re told, then you probably don’t deserve more money. I’ve been less than impressed with your output lately.
Also, I loved the allusion earlier to writers wanting birth to death payment for their work being like a car manufacturer expecting a cut of the money made from every sale for the life of a car! If you’re only writing what the big bad studios are hiring you to write, then you’re an employee and should get paid for the work at the time and nothing from then on.
Don’t expect sympathy from me or probably most of the average people out there!
I am surprised so many “highly educated writers” cannot discern the difference between amoral and immoral — very interesting. . .
And remember TV and film are collaborative mediums. Yes, the writer is important, very important, but like someone said previously, without EVERYONE ELSE, it is just a script or a book. If you feel so cheated in this industry, and if you are indeed as good as you say as a writer, then perhaps you should be writing books. Then you could belittle everyone else around you like you do in this industry (the director, the actors, the producer, the entire crew . . .)
Next time you complain about the penny you are not getting in residuals, think about the times you were paid for steps in a script deal that you never even executed. Oh say, $20,000 – $50,000 for work that wasn’t event done. Not alot of people can say the same.
I am sure the issues are complex, but considering I believe myself to be well read, I am hoping to see a synopsis of the issues the two sides are debating. I believe I have heard it’s related to internet and DVD rights, but I am sure there is much more to it than that.
Can someone lay-out the 2 – 4 key points of negotiation? Thanks.
PS I found this discussion thru Drudge, so don’t throw us all under the bus.
PSS There is validity to the discussion around playing video games, watching football, etc…, so be careful not to dismiss these thoughts to quickly.
By the way – my favorite shows: Mad Men, Dexter, Damages, The Closer, so I do appreciate good writing.
I understand both sides of tale. What people don’t realize is that fact that while many multi-millionaires will not feel any sort of effect from this strike, plenty of hard working people will.
Oh here we go, now it’s a chance for the “talk radio” crowd to lash out at Hollywood.
What was once an insider MB with banter back and forth has now become a DRUDGE megaphone the studios and AMPTP will just use to bolster their side.
These people aren’t wrong, writers and the WGA are taking themselves way, way too seriously. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard militant WGA strike supporters say “we’ll bring the studios to their knees.” It’s laughable. Never gonna happen.
Lots of the writing sucks. Lots of it is sensational. Some of it is good. Some of it is the writers’ faults, some the studios. Some the WGA. Maybe it’s time to let up and comers bring their fresh voice to the game…
The WGA only has the support of its members. How long will that last? How far can that take them?
Remember too — we are at war with people risking their lives.
Here’s the point: the leadership at the WGA sucks because they have LOST THE PR BATTLE. What a terrible job they’ve done in even conveying what this is about to the rest of the country!
DVD residuals for a measly 4 cents!? DVDS ARE ON THEIR WAY OUT!
It’s sad but writers are going to realize one day how insulated and inflated they’ve become. The non-savvy and humorless ones anyway.
I’m truely amazed by aquart’s comment about lack of understanding of creative work. Aquart….you and your writing bretheran have not put anything creative out in years. You either steal what’s hot in Europe or simply repackage what someone wrote while dear old granny was walking out of her sweat shop.
READ THESE MESSAGES ON THIS BOARD!!!
Nobody respects the unimaginative, refurbished garbage current writers are putting out. Why should a writer get residuals from a show they knocked off from elsewhere? Write something on your own. Come up with an original idea!! Then you can ask for a cut of something.
This soon-to-be strike is a bright and shining example of WGA stupidity. If you haven’t noticed, the WGA has no leverage, and there’s a reason for that.
For those of us who currently enjoy script sales success, rest assured that if this idiocy continues for too long, a large number of writers will go -core financial status- and get back to work.
A perfect example of the quality of today’s movie and television writers:
“Nick Counter must get a huge boner when he sees…”
Taken from DLW’s post earlier.
Very nicely stated…Classy, elegant, and what’s wrong with writing today.
Thank you DLW for making our case. Stay on strike…for the good of the industry. Let other talented writers who know what the public wants step in and write something worth strkiking over.
From what I’ve read, the writers are quit adept at creating entertaining material. It’s the birthing process where the producers and creative directors mutate it into their own vision that makes is all crap. If the writers had more creative control, then the product would be better. Imagine the Mona Lisa going to a museum for display and the curator drawing on a smiley face to cheer it up, because that’s his vision of what the audience wants. More power to the writers!
Please don’t strike. We will be left with crappy reality shows if you do. But, at the same time, I agree with your argument and hope for the best. Good luck!
Brandon-
Sorry for offending your delicate sensibilities with off-color vernacular.
Will I it be talented writers such as yourself who create something worth “strkking” over?
I support the WGA. I think getting residuals on DVD and internet content is a wise business decision.
Anne, why do you complain about Hollywood? If you truly think there is a better product no one is stopping you from supporting other people outside of Hollywood or maybe you should create it yourself. The problem is that the current media companies are so good at spoon feeding the masses their products that most don’t understand or realize the complexities and the amount of work it takes to even get your attention. It’s hard work and the brass ring is so very far away. So, yes there is a lot of product even I don’t like but I can always go elsewhere or create it myself.
This thread has included some of the most entertaining writing I’ve seen in a while. Keep it up and maybe one of the networks will syndicate it and pay you for posting. I particularly enjoy the sanctimonious posts from both the “we’re underpaid” and the “nobody gives a shit” crowds. Kudos!
On a more serious note, the WGA should considering hiring Mark R (9:26AM) as their spokesperson. He has the proper tone when arguing the strikers’ points. Others should take note.
-BB
“you and your writing bretheran have not put anything creative out in years…
Nobody respects the unimaginative, refurbished garbage current writers are putting out.”
Lori,
Do you know this year the motion picture box office broke previous revenue records, and that attendance is close to as high as it’s ever been?
What planet are you living on? The movie and television business is loved, respected and watched world-wide. This is an internal business struggle between people trying to entertain you. That’s it.
Where is this bitterness coming from? What is it that you would like to see that you’re not getting? If you can’t find something to entertain you on television or at the theaters then you’re just not looking very hard.
Writers make $2641 a week
(with a 20 week minimum, meaning the get paid for 20 weeks even if the job they are on ends after just a few weeks, or if they get fired they still get paid for the full 20 weeks) all this plus residuals! plus retirement plus insurance plus various vacation benefits etc
But they claim they arent making enough, aw, poor babies would you like a gold pacifier?
Jeez, what a bunch of whiners. get over yourself! Your selfishness puts actual hardworking film technicians out of work and actors, PAs, editors …and others.
(all of whom make LESS than you) But i doubt you care if some poor grip cant feed his family ….. but I am sure you will leave your west hollywood 3 million dollar bungalow to go up to Van Nuys and buy him some groceries? Oh that’s right, you have a golf game that day.
I can’t even write anymore, these greedy, selfish babies make me sick.
Please do strike, you will hasten the demise of the old media and propel the internet forward more efficiently – there are no silly unions in cyberspace.
If the writers get royalties when a movie makes profits, or TV shows do well, then maybe they should also have to contribute some earnings if a movie flops or the show is cancelled due to poor ratings. Want part of the profits, then take part of the risk… seems fair to me.
Wow, it’s kind of disheartening to read some of the vitriol against “those rich writers” here. Just so you know, the average WGA member makes about $30 to $40 thousand a year. The median is… well, the median is zero, because so few writers work in any given year. Writers do work hard. It’s not physical labor, and I completely respect and am in awe of every member of every TV crew I’ve worked with, who bring such talent and hard work to bear. But it is labor that writers do, and a lot of it is done on spec — we write scripts that will never get made, for which we’re not paid, just so we can get a foot in the door and try to write a script that actually pays. That’s why, when we do finally get paid, it seems like a higher salary. But we’re not making that salary regularly. That’s why we only make, on average, that thirty to forty grand a year.
This is a fight between writers and giant multi-national corporations. It’s David and Goliath. Goliath wants to crush David like a bug, and that’s not the way David wants to go out. Please consider that when you’re reading media coverage on our struggle.
And to my IATSE brothers and sisters — after the Companies wipe out the WGA, they’re going to go after you next. Please support us in standing up to these behemoths.
I love how people like Anne truly believe that writers wield Godlike powers when it comes to what eventually gets put on TV. They write what people tell them to write.
How easy it is to confuse people like Anne with the simpletons in the Midwest–neither is making any efforts at informed opinions.
I also stumbled across this site (not from Drudge), but it just reinforces in my mind how ignorant and entitled all those heaping hellfire on the writers (and gaffers, etc.) are.
Who’s fault is it that dreck like X show is still on the air? The people that continue to write for the show? Or the people that continue to support it by watching it every week? Jesus Christ, get a clue people.
How anyone in this nation could ever argue against a union is beyond me. Would you have been happier if you started working for a living at the ripe ol’ age of five?
“My point of View”
As a casual viewer of TV, I enjoy some of what I watch, turn off what I dislike, and Tivo what I don’t want to miss. I watch more on-line today than I did last year, and that trend will probably continue. I can appreciate the hard work that many people in your industry do, whether as writers, producers, directors, grips, camera operators, etc. I can sympathize that you are not getting a fair share, and I support you in that effort.
But I can also tell you that when I hear about movie budgets in the hundred million dollar range or actors that make twenty million a picture, I have little sympathy. Furthermore, when I am told that I am an idiot for being religious and living in a rural community by those same actors and members of the Hollywood community, I think I am entitled to be insulted and react defensively.
“Defending values”
Sadly, I do tend to agree with Anne. As a whole, it is easy to lump all of Hollywood together (actors, writers, producers, directors, grips, camera operators, etc.) and blame them for the things I disagree with. It really does seem that my values are not represented by what I see on entertainment television.
For that matter, we here in “fly-over land” have made it easy to lump together as beer swilling, bible-thumping, NASCAR watching, Walmart shopping neanderthals. Sure, I’m a conservative (Libertarian thank-you-very-much). I listen to Rush, clicked on a link from Drudge to get here, drink beer, attend NASCAR races (Lowe’s motor speedway is one of the finest sporting facilities I’ve ever been to), go to church every Sunday, and shop at Walmart. But I also listen to NPR, watch the BBC, enjoy gourmet cooking and fine dining, attend the symphony (although it has been a while), and will kill for another opportunity to travel to NYC to shop Fifth Avenue for my family for Christmas.
Please don’t lump me in with a bunch of people you feel are unwashed and illiterate, and I won’t lump you in with a bunch of people that I feel are immoral and overpaid.
“The solution”
If you want the majority of America to care about your issue, don’t attack us. Try to understand why we feel the way we do and educate us (without talking down to us) as the reasons you feel the need to strike. We all work for a living, whether you raise corn, write manuscripts, fix computers or automobiles, or sell real estate, we all need to be able to feed our families. I can understand the hard work many of you put in. I can understand your frustration when you create a piece of art only to have it torn apart, rewritten, tagged on to, rewritten again, and thus ultimately fail (of course with you to blame).
I want to see you succeed. I want to see you get what you deserve. I also want you to understand why many of us may not care. We’ve been alienated and treated like trash by some members of your community.
Good luck to you in your efforts. I hope that your strike is short so that the other members of your industry, like the ones that are not making twenty million dollars a picture, will not have to suffer to much.
First of all, thank you to Nikki for opening up the comments when it comes to posts about this matter. I’m a big fan of the site and come here at least two or three times a day.
Second of all, to those who hold those of us in the business with such contempt, why are you even visiting Deadline Hollywood Daily and why are you bothering to repeatedly post? If you have no interest in Hollywood or its product as you say, you being here doesn’t make any sense.
Anyway, onto the matter at hand…
There was an article in Variety yesterday saying that the strike might be good for indie producers but I don’t see how it would unless the strike lasted over a year. I assume a strike would benefit indie producers because their movies would have more time to grow (less likely to get booted off the screens by the latest blockbuster). But Hollywood has stocked up on movies and have some big movies that are ready to go before the cameras so them running out of product isn’t going to be anytime soon.
I don’t see how this strike benefits anyone in the business which is why I wish it hadn’t come to this. So much dick measuring going on from both the producer side and the writers side (over chairs for God’s sake!) that this should have been cleared up long ago. But, instead, everything is left until the last minute and still the posturing continues.
P.S. And to those who say they’ll just watch reality TV during the strike, I guess you don’t realize that a number of reality shows such as Dancing With The Stars are covered by the Writers Guild.
Nikki — outstanding work! Please keep it up.
I am not a writer, I am from a fly-over state, hear me out…
1) It’s painfully clear that many people seem very misguided in their opinions of what is going on here. It is easy to villify the writers because they are the ones about to strike here, and aren’t most films/TV programs crap? Sure. But it’s the producers who commission writers to write what THEY think will sell to the largest possible audience (to reap the largest possible return). Do you really think that making more sequels and remakes are the writers’ ideas? Of course not. But that’s what is made because the producers don’t give people like me enough credit — I want quality, I want originality, I want something different.
2) I am also not a business person, and it isn’t a stretch for me to grasp what’s happening with the potential for making mega-money on the internet. Within 10 years all programming and movies will be available for download (so we’re not just talking about turning on your TV vs. downloads — it will all be one and the same). It’s far cheaper to distribute online (vs. DVD), and far quicker. The writers will forever be screwed out of their fair share if they do not stand up now.
3) Some people believe that writers, like “movie stars” or athletes, earn too much money. I don’t believe this, either. They are the ones who allow the bigger companies to make huge huge dollars, so they should be compensated with big money (or at least, fair-er money). This is the American way.
Strike on!
Hi from Missouri.
I love entertainment and to me I value a good writer far more than I do a good producer or director. In all honesty, no tv show or movie would be worth watching without a great script and a great actor to act it out.
So why is it that actors are paid a gazillion times that of any writer? They should be the two highest paid people in Hollywood.
With that said, I am not someone who believes in the idea of unions or strikes. They had a purpose at one time but I believe that purpose has long since passed by. Either way I believe a strike could be severely detrimental to the industry as a whole.
If it is a short strike and it doesn’t effect programming then the average person will not care. But if it is a prolonged strike that causes shows to go dark or the end of the season in general, the people will be mad. Yes we in the rest of the world are lazy little sheep who watch TV and do as we are told by the tv and movie screen. But every once-in-awhile the sheep all gather together and get pissed. Look at baseball in 1994 and the Hockey strike. Hockey has never recovered and Baseball too many many years to recover from pissing off the fans.
I am a former political speech writer so I realize the difficulty of writing and the underappreciation writer receive. But before you walk out please look at the big picture. Yes there are idiots in the fly-over states but they are the ones who pay the billions a year for entertainment. In sports they devastated two sports when they got mad. Becareful, use your “threat to strike” card at least for a little while before you pull the trigger.
You may think short term as far as your union deal but remember the long term and what happens if the sheep in the rest of the country realize you all are not on the job and studios use their bully pulpit to talk about your “greediness” and what not, it can cripple the industry.
either way…good luck and hope you all get a good deal and go back to writing well! It’s a thankless job but some of you have to do it
“So along that same line if GM makes a new car, sells new, through a dealer to a script writer. Obviously GM makes money and so does the dealer that sells it, but thats not good enough. When the script writer sells it to his kid, GM should get a percentage of that sale. When the kid sells it (say 10 years later) to somebody else GM should also get some kind of check based upon a percentage of sale.”
RS, I think your model is faulty if comparing selling a car to fair share remuneration on intellectual property and product, with a few pretzel logic twists thrown in, most notably whether GM is considered Producers or Writers.
If GM is considered Producers and likening it to the model in place between Producers and Writers, then the given is that they ARE making money off of each sale of the car down the line, of which Writers are entitled their fair negotiated due.
If GM is considered Writers, then there’s an entity “above” GM left out of your model; the one making money on each sale, of which Writers (GM) are entitled to their fair negotiated due.
I think that’s correct. My head hurts.
Yup, came here from Drudge… because I just had to come watch the mental slap fight.
Here is the thing… Most people in this country just don’t care. They see writing as something anyone could do and if your demands raise the price of a DVD they want to buy a single penny – you lose.
It may be right; it may be wrong.
However, you writers have spent so much time telling us that our opinions aren’t worth anything that we have decided to return the favor.
How long, in minutes, will the strike last before the WGA crumbles into dust? How long before every Jimmy Hoffa wannabe on this board decides that, “Wait, with everyone on strike, maybe they will finally look at that script gathering dust in my desk!!!”
Please. Y’all feed off your own. Read the above. The strike isn’t even 24 hours old and all you can do is throw a pity party.
Enjoy your strike. It may be a long one.
You’re all a big bunch of hypocrites. Half of your are saying “write something smarter” but, guess what? we’re all still watching the crap that’s on the air. That’s like people who feel bad for what happened to Princess Di but don’t stop buying People and Us Weekly which is how the crazy paparazzi are making a living anyway.
People are saying “all of Hollywood is overpaid” well GUESS WHAT PEOPLE? This is a capitalist society–have any of you heard of the “invisible hand?” Lindsay stupid Lohan only makes so much money because there is a high demand for her. If everyone in ANY state, from California to Maine to Iowa, stopped caring so much about celebrities and wanting to be like them and be close to them, then they wouldn’t make so much money.
Ditto goes for ANY PRODUCT the comes out of Hollywood–don’t delude yourselves by thinking that American society is not obsessed with celebrity.
I create a lot of original ideas at work and I don’t get paid per idea ad infinitum. You write something and you sell it, then byebye blacksheep! If you want to own it for your whole life, or you don’t want any “suits” messing with it, then don’t sell it. Write it in a journal and then shove it under your pillow where you can keep it safe forever.
Good luck with the S-s-s-s-s-strike!
To Joe 12:25-
This is already the case. A writer’s earnings are a combination of a pre-determined basic minimum (except for those who are in high demand and can negotiate higher fees the companies gladly pay) and the residual payments for re-use of the work initially sold for theatrical exploitation when it is repackaged for other media. If it performs poorly the writer’s compensation is lower than if it performed well. Writers contracts also usually include some percentage of the “net profits” which are never paid out due to studio accounting declaring virtually every single movie “unprofitable.
There are a number of us here that came over from Drudge. So help us out. When we talk about compensation, we talk about total compensation. $30-$40K per year surely doesn’t sound like someone is overpaid but it would help to know if along with that there is a medical package, some sort of retirement package or pension. What are the benefits that come along with being a member of the WGA. Not trying to be critical but educate us a little. The Vitriol tends to polarize. A number of us came over here to find out just what is going on and what the details are.
..Fan of Prison Break, 24, The Unit, Boston Legal, Private Practice, ER, Vegas, Lost and Grey’s anatomy (although this last one needs some help in the writing department)
A bit of education to everyone on this board. As proposals stand, if the WGA were to get everything they’re asking for, in which they have a right, this union ALONE would increase the production costs for the studios by hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Apply the same rules, residual formulas, etc., that the WGA is asking for to the DGA and SAG contracts, and you’re talking about making it nearly impossible to work in this town. Why? Because production costs, as they stand now, are already causing (and have been as of recent years) what’s called “runaway productions.” You know, like Canada. A big percentage of films and TV shows produced annually are already being shot elsewhere, leaving all the folks that depend on this industry to survive (like me) with no other options other than to move, or change fields completely.
While I support all union members on fighting for what they deserve, because we all deserve a good pay, some unions aren’t telling their members the truth.
If you’re going to strike and picket, then go ahead and strike and picket. But please, leave your Bentleys and Benz at home.
Musicians are creators/originators and they work and tour for years with the hopes of getting a record deal with a major label. Some make it. Some don’t. Some succeed because they are truly talented. Some succeed because they are well connected. Some eventually write music or compose for the movies or TV or get a chair with an orchestra and are then required to join the union.
I’m a writer but I’m not a WGA member. I’ll become a member when I have to not because I want to. I never expected to have a stable income or life as a writer. I don’t feel entitled to any standard of living or minimum paycheck. I have representation and I got that because I can write (I think) and because my boss is repped by them (a MUCH bigger reason). Yes, the studios and networks profit off of writers and writers don’t get their fair shake but since when has labor gotten a fair shake from corporate America or the government?
The creative unions have a fundamental problem. They think their members are skilled labor aka they think they have leverage. Acting, writing and directing are all wildly subjective. Some people like Brett Ratner, some people don’t. Some people like Guillermo del Toro, some people don’t. Some people like The Kite Runner, some people don’t. The unions are full of people of dubious talent or skill but that’s in the eye of the beholder. There’s no standard or professional requirement to join. You don’t audition or submit a writing sample- someone hires you. Based on your talent and skill? Maybe. Because they know you and like you or owe someone a favor? More likely. I benefit from my connections and those of my agent and boss. Can I write? I think so but sadly it’s only a part of the greater equation.
Creators have gone corporate as well. Unions exist of and for themselves. The only strong union in entertainment is the union that reps all the creative elements- actors, writers, directors, etc. That’s it. Their individual strikes are just an annoyance. The studios and networks don’t care what they put out there-they just want to make money and well written shows or films don’t always make money. Success for a scripted movie or TV show is the product of tons of intangibles and hitting the zeitgeist at the right time. These companies are part of giant multinational corporations who write off their losses. They are not dependent on their entertainment holdings to make money or survive and many will take the short term risk of seeing if they can make as much money without writers by going with alternative programming. They know they’ll be able to settle with the writers in a few months or even a year if they need them back and who knows maybe they’ll manage to break the union in the process.
Life’s not fair. Capitalism breeds haves and have nots. It is what it is and to change that requires a much greater societal shift. But you can’t change it with an isolated strike. It’s true that writers have very little control over what the studios eventually put out there and frequently the notes on scripts are ludicrous or dumb. But if you want power over your own material you have to buy out of society’s benchmarks for success and live frugally and invest in yourself as an artist by making your own films or writing short stories or anything else that helps keep your creative fires stoked. Don’t expect a fair cut or creative satisfaction or even quality from a corporation, expect those things from yourself and use your time wisely. When I fail or am unhappy about my situation it’s usually my own fault. I live and learn and grow.
The past indicates that unless the WGA waits til June to strike it will be in vain. We’ll see…
Oh, and writing and spelling are two different things. No need to correct folks, it just makes you look petty.
Here is a thought! Why don’t the union leaders just ask some of the A-list stars who are getting 10-15 million a picture to help subsidize your wages? Everything in hollywood is a result of the writers. Right? Isn’t that what I’m reading? I am not bashing either side because I believe in a free marketplace, but as a consumer of your product (both good and bad)I can tell you that not just the flyover states think the money the stars make is obscene. As far as the material you are producing, if I don’t like it I change the channel. Thats the beauty of cable, 200 channels to watch! good luck with your strike, hope it’s short lived and you are all back to work soon. The economy needs everybody working!
To DLW 1:00
That sound like a fair enough deal in theory. Maybe the WGA is fighting the wrong battle. Maybe they should be fighting for an independent accounting of the “books.”
For all of you would-be writers that think you will make a difference by going on strike, you are dead wrong. This strike will hasten the advent of the internet and video gaming into the once precious spot you once held. More and more TV’s are being used to view video games than television shows. There are those of you who scoff at that notion. For the naysayers remember this, the Halo 3 video game made $125M in just 24 hours. Nothing from Hollywood has ever made that kind of money in the same amount of time. If you want to write so badly and make more money for your efforts, then put your ideas into book form. You will have no one to blame if you fail but yourself. If JK Rowling can do I am sure many of you can to.
To The Drudge Folks,
I think you guys are getting a little to hung up on the ‘culture war’ angle. This debate has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with people in Hollywood thinking people in ‘flyolver’ states are stupid because they worship Jesus Christ.
Who do you think makes up Hollywoood? Very few people grew up in Los Angeles. It’s one of the most transplanted cities in the world. It’s made up of people from all kinds of different backgrounds who were born and educated all over the planet, and came here because they wanted to create entertainment. And yes, those of us who are successful make good livings. There’s no point in denying that and playing the poor writer card (even though that is true in some cases).
It’s just not about that. It’s about the writers being tricked 20 years ago, and agreeing to a discounted formula for home-video residuals, and now the producers are trying to place that same discounted formula on internet downloads, and writers don’t find that fair, because the discounted formula was based on manufacturing costs for VHS tapes, which obviously doesn’t apply to internet downloads.
It’s an internal business struggle between management and skilled labor. I understand that it might be hard for many of you to understand this, but that’s because you don’t live and work in the entertainment business. For us, it’s a natural discussion that has been going on for years, and now it’s somewhat spiraled out of control. So just be patient, and we will work it out. But in the end, the people who will suffer from this will be those of us who work in the business.
We’re not asking for your pity. But I also don’t think we deserve your antipathy either.
Well, this fits right in with the rise of oil, the plumetting dollar, the 2 trillion dollar invasion and the re-emergence of the geriatric faux cowboy/disc jockey in New York. Things are going downhill at a great rate of knots, and the obscenely rich producers/studios are going to make it even worse. As for the guild? You got sucked in and you and your families will suffer. Nothing but nothing positive will emerge from this action. You all saw it coming and you let it run you over. Never mind placing blame, its irrelevant now. It’s going to hurt and it’s going to hurt for a long, long time. But know that there will probably be a special place in hell for the aforementioned corporate greed kings.
Joe-
You’re right, in theory. If the studios would open the books it would be easier to consider the “we all benefit in profit only” residual model the companies disingenuously proposed at the beginning of the negotiations. Of course they retracted it as soon as the myriad examples of their failing to pay profit participants like Winston Groom, the author of the novel on which “Forest Gump,” was based, had to sue because he was told the $660 million grossing film was still “unprofitable.”
Always hilarious (perhaps unintentionally so) when people who know NOTHING about a business feel obliged to open their mouths and show up their ignorance and stupidity and hatreds. Are you going to strut into the New York Stock Exchange next and start yapping as well?
How does the old saying go?
Better to say nothing and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and make it evident that you ARE a fool.
While those of you who hate Hollywood, realize (if you care) that there are people who work in the business and they have families and not everyone has Tom Cruise’s money. Some of us struggled for over a decade to get into this business and have gone through more hell that you lot.
There seems to be a lot of name-calling, but I wish to add acouple of quiet comments:
Book authors get a bit of each book sale. Why shouldn’t writers in movies, etc.?
I feel that most of the entertainment industry(whatever form it takes) is overpaid when compared with those who build for our future (teachers, etc.) and those who protect us (firemen/women, police, armed forces, etc.) The fact is, the general public seems to support this. The studios and networks decide on what is going to “go out,” not the writers. Maybe if people would sit down and talk keeping these thoughts in mind, instead of yelling and name-calling solutions would be found. While I agree the recent quality has gone down in movies (and sports), perhaps people working together would help it. Why is it that Disney family movies seem to do so well? Is anyone silent long enough to hear an answer?
By the way, I do not work in entertainement.
Writer states:
Do you know this year the motion picture box office broke previous revenue records, and that attendance is close to as high as it’s ever been?
What planet are you living on? The movie and television business is loved, respected and watched world-wide. This is an internal business struggle between people trying to entertain you. That’s it.
In response:
1.) Motion Picture Revenue and Attendance – I’m sorry Writer but the economist in me, sorry…my profession, simply can’t find your statement factual. Revenues are behind last year. Yes…while near record setting, adjusted for inflation, revenue looks strong. However, after you factor in inflation and ticket prices, you will find attendance is declining at an alarming rate.
2.) Industry is Respectted and Loved the World Over
I must ask you Writer…what planet are YOU living on? If your industry is so respected and loved the world over, why are 80 percent of the posts in this site not in support? If teh industry is so loved, why are television ratings falling faster and steeper than President Bush’s approval rating?
Where does the bitterness come from? A group of people who are going on strike who brought me Balls of Fury.
I believe, passionately I might add, that writers should be paid equally as actors. If they deliver a quality product.
Cheers, The Bob Newhart Show, Seinfeld, Boston Legal. The people who wrote these shows should be handsomely rewarded for the quality, witty, anad lfat out entertaining material they have brought into my home over the years. I’ll write a check to the strikle fund to support all of these people.
Shame on you that bring us Daddy Day Care and Delta Farce. Or Cavemen…
My bitterness comes form an obviously depleted writing talent pool demanding increased wages Spider Man 16.
Think of something new. Listen to what America wants to see. Be creative. Try something new.
I appreciate the art of writing. I like discuss a favorite show or movie over a glass of wine with my colleagues. Unfortuneatly, you as writers have given us very little to discuss as of late. Except of course for Boston Legal…WHere can I send the checks for that group?
Writer,
I see your well articulated point but that’s like asking someone to look at a tiny leaf on a tree of forest of giant redwoods. (How’s that for an analogy?) The WGA has not won the PR battle and gotten the word out.
My big gripe is that the WGA does nothing to foster, help, include struggling writers.
To the flyover-ers: I’m from the Midwest, 90% of the people out here are transplants, trying to make it. It’s hard work. Writing is really hard work. Struggling to make it is really hard work.
Maybe it’s time for a change and we need to blow apart a system that’s been in place for 80-100 years. Remember, the WGA registers how many scripts per year? 30,000? While they have around 8000 members.
This is a complex issue. I’m on the writer’s side 190% but it looks like this is all backfiring and blowing up in their/our faces. Thanks WGA leadership.
In the immortal words of Tom Cruise and Cameron Crowe: “Help me help you.” Help me get in:
NonWGAer@gmail.com
As a member of IA, I’d like to send the members of WGA full support and utmost respect. Frankly I am embarrassed by the stance taken by my union. Instead of threatening lawsuits against the WGA, and doing everything possible to undermine another unions efforts to get a fair share of the profits, perhaps the IA might be better served by putting that energy to better use, by starting to behave like a real union, and look at working to get some of the benefits that the WGA has fought so hard for over the decades.
I’m a writer who sold a script to a big studio at the end of last year and did rewrites it on it for them. Wasn’t a guild member on that deal and I made some good money on it. Enough to be able to write full time which was a blessing.
However, I’ve been working my ass off on new specs that I’m told I can’t sell. I’m attached to a huge pitch that we can’t go out and sell because the threat of the strike. I have a TV pilot I’m also sitting on because my agents have instructed me that they can’t sell anything to the studio’s because of the threat of the strike.
This has been going on for a month. People like me who don’t work in TV have already been feeling the effects of the strike for a month.
My plans of hitting the town with my spec, pitch and pilot are now all on hold. I worked my ass off over the summer to build the arsenal of material I’m sitting on. My money is going to run out soon and the fact that I gave up a job when I sold the script and thought I could afford to write for a living now has me kicking myself. I knew I was going to sell more projects soon, but now I have no idea when that will be.
I’m not a fan of this union. I’ve tried to ask questions and find out what this strike is about and no one can really tell me.
If this is all about DVD sales, then this is BS. The strike is putting me out of work and making go interview in corporate America again soon because of the timing of my career path.
People like me are screwed. People who just got their first writing gigs on shows are screwed.
Whatever the hell it is this guild is striking for, I hope it’s worth it. You’re causing me and my family so much stress right now because I cannot continue to earn a living doing what I do with all my projects frozen.
I will never look on this union as an asset to me. You wouldn’t let me join when I hadn’t sold anything. Then I sell something and you’re calling me and mailing me like a telemarketer that I better send in my dues and join the union quick. Then I join, give you a lot of money and now you put me out of work and you don’t tell me why. You don’t think for a minute how this is ruining my life and the life of all the new writers out there who were on the path to successful careers.
Settle this thing quick. My family needs to know that I’m not an idiot pursuing this career like I have all my life. I finally get my big break, get to do what I want full time and now I look the idiot telling everyone, “well I can’t really sell anything right now”.
Just promise me you jerks will finish LOST before this is all over…
The last half of the comments here confirm my feelings about regular readers of The Drudge Report.
They bitch about someone who makes $2300 a week, and cheer on CEO’s who get 250-million-dollar golden parachutes.
Meanwhile, most of them are probably choking on credit debt while their homes go into foreclosure.
America’s right has succeeded in brainwashing the “have nots” into feeling power because they can, at least, still be bullies.
Ick on the lot of you. As a proud and card-carrying union member, I say: Go WGA!
Lori,
No writer would be writing Spiderman 16 if people like you didn’t PAY TO SEE THE MOVIE.
I can’t believe how ignorant you anti-writers are being! You’re so miserable in your lives and so filled with bitterness that you just lash out at strangers and tell them how to run their business when you have no idea how it’s run and you’re too blind to see the obvious.
Sequels are made because the previous movie made so much money.
Who made SAW 4 the number one movie this past weekend? Hollywood? The writers? No. The audience did!
Just like Coke stays on the shelves because so many people drink it. If they didn’t drink it, there’d be Fanta or some other drink lining the shelves.
So don’t get all high and mighty and trash the writers because they’re writing wahat a lot of you and your friends watch.
I’m a screenwriter. My genre is horror. Some of you no doubt hate horror but you can’t blame me for Balls Of Fury or all these other shows and movies that you hate so much. I didn’t write any of them.
And here’s a news flash for you. Most of us writers in Hollywood (actually I live in New York so darling Anne wishing that California falls into the ocean won’t result in my death) don’t like what’s onscreen either.
One writer is not to blame for every movie written. Just as your entire town isn’t to blame because one of your neighbors climbs a water tower with an shotgun and wipes out the town.
So if you hate TWO AND A HALF MEN (as I do), take it up with the guys in charge of that show. Don’t bother me with your attacks and death threats and vitriol.
Angry Young Writer,
Okay. I reread your post and see that you did join the WGA. I suggest you look into going fi-core because then you will be able to sell scripts (for less money but less money is better than nothing isn’t it?) during the strike. Of course, the WGA doesn’t like members doing that but writers and actors have been doing that for years because of situations like you’re going through now.
OK – the Writers Guild goes out on strike. Then what? Does the guild think their strike will bring the Networks & Studios to their knees? Maybe back in the day they could, when all you had were 3 Television Networks and 6 Movie Studios whose sole revenues were generated by the product of WGA members. But those days are LONG gone. The WGA is gonna strike today against General Electric, Viacom, News Corp, and Sony. These are entities with vastly deep pockets and access to many forms of product for their Media Companies. The screens will not go black – which was the biggest (and virtually only) bargaining chip the WGA ever had. Think America will have a huge outcry because dramatic televison series are on hiatus? We’ll see, but don’t hold your breath.
SAG conducted a strike against the Advertisers 7 Years ago – and for 6 months actors were unable to work because their Union forbade it. SAG finally settled for virtually no gains that sent them into Strike mode. Basically, they just ended up costing actors 6 months worth of income for nothing – they didn’t get what they struck for. Advertisers figured out that they could go cast non-union actors living in Peoria, Knoxville, et.al, and air their commercials just as they always did, and now for less money. And there was no downturn in their product revenues because their commercials lacked SAG Actors.
Best of luck WGA – sounds like you’ll need it. Just remember all the OTHER people you’ll be putting out of work when you strike. Make sure you get what you’re striking for if you’re gonna sit out for many months, lest you hear the wrath from all those that were forced onto the unemployment sidelines along with you.
I am a young writer trying to make it in Hollywood and I am actually giving up my first deal in order to support the strike. I’m actually happy that Drudge linked to this article so that I could see what “the rest of the world’s” opinion is on the WGA strike. It seems like a lot of non-industry people are mis-informed and I would like to clear a few things up…
1.) Yes, DVDs will be obsolete in a few years, which is why the primary focus of the strike is NEW MEDIA – internet downloads, etc.
2.) The AMPTP is “rolling back” their negotiations, which means that now that the contract is up, they want to go back to paying WGA members what they were getting in the 80’s. We are now not just strugging to gain income from new media, but are also struggling against a massive PAY CUT in the years to come.
3.) From the outside looking in, it may seem that writers make a lot of money, but there are a lot of caveats: 1.) If we do get work, it isn’t often, therefore what we make is usually spread over a year or more of unemployment, 2.) The average income may be high because of the 1% of extremely successful writers, however the median income hovers around $0, and 3.) It takes years and years to even get your first break as a writer. It can be a rewarding job and well worth the wait, but it is still a long and hard struggle to get into the industry.
4.) In film, writers have absolutely ZERO say in what is done to their work. The producers can rewrite it themselves if they want. In TV, it’s a different story. The writers ARE the producers and are the last word – to an extent. We still have to answer to the networks. And, having working on a pilot where in the middle of shooting they told us that it was no longer taking place in Grand Central Station (we built an entire set) but in the Space Needle, I can attest to their power. The reality is that the only thing that governs television is ratings. If a great show (like Arrested Development) doesn’t get the viewers in, the networks pull it. Then, whenever a writer wants to pitch a new show even remotely like it, the Networks nix it before even giving it a shot. The reality is that you may not like the drivel that is on TV, however millions of your peers do. They ask for it and we are forced to provide it. This is a market and demand-driven medium. Don’t blame us, blame your neighbors.
5.) The below-the-line people (everyone else that works on set, costumers, gaffers, PAs, etc) ARE supporting us. They are Teamsters and they have agreed to not cross the picket line. I’ve produced union films and I know for sure that if the Teamsters didn’t believe in unions I sure as hell wouldn’t have paid a truck driver $1,700 a week to babysit a parking spot (not that he isn’t needed and valuable, because he is). Whoever says that the below-the-line workers are “victims” don’t understand the logistics of Hollywood. They are union folks and support us more than anyone else. The other unions would support us if it wasn’t expressly forbidden in their contracts. But in June, when the SAG and DGA contracts expire, it will be as much their fight as it is ours.
Believe it or not, I am still a capitalist. It is the job of the studio execs to provide the highest returns for their shareholders. If that isn’t their first priority, they should be fired. However, the only counter to that sort of capitalism is for workers to band together and protest for their fair share. It’s how democracy and capitalism works. It’s sad, but if you want fair and balanced, that is about as fair and balanced as it is going to get… I’m just happy to live in a society which allows both sides to voice their argument.
I am supporting the WGA in the strike and you should too…
This blog should serve as a forum for industry professionals to communicate constructively and find common ground and solutions and collective support. Too much energy being spent responding to curiously angry random people who are so cartoonish and uninformed that they could be shills for the AMPTP to sap WGA morale and energy.
Keep focus, folks. Don’t get sidelined by uninformed fruitless hate bombs. Be proactive, not reactive to AMPTP. Take charge of the PR campaign. With so many writers, someone can come up with a concise articulation of the facts, AMPTP’s greed, and start steering the ship.
So Jennifer, you are a young writer trying to make it but you produced a union film? Better make up your mind dear and get your story straight. Bottom line? The strike will ruin WGA members before it’s done and they’ll settle…for no gain. Also, Hollywood unions are notorious for doing NOTHING for their members. I’m an operator, and when I don’t work, I still pay ridiculous dues and the last time I was on strike, what was the result? Zero..Zip. The studios are probably packing up as we speak, booking their tickets to Australia and Canada, where they can do it all on the cheap. This town, this biz? It’s dead. If not now, then soon. Get over it. Trade in the Benz, sell the 1/2 million dollar 1 bedroom condo and split for the real world. It’s pretty satisfying after awhile.
Jeff, you ignorant A-Hole. Please define to me a “Have Not.”
Would that be someone not like you? Mr. proud card carrying member of an industry built on narcissism, greed, and mistrust?
Tell me if I fit into your “Have Not” category, being that I am a faithfull Drudge reader that finds this debate to be one of the most intersting, informative, and emotional discussions I have seen in a long time and because for the most part, we are ALL qualified to voice our takes on this as it comes from the general public:
1.) I “Have” a wife
2.) I “Have” a beautiful family.
3.) I “Have” a career.
4.) I “Have” a home ( In Santa Barbara.)
5.) I “Have” a television.
Don’t have
1.) A Mercedes Benz.
2.) An agent.
3.) A Huge Crib in Malibu.
4.) An overinflated impression of myself and my work.
5.) A guilty conscience of people of screwed over to get where I am.
Maybe in your world, I really would be a Jeff described “Have Not” because my opinion in this whole matter, that I did indeed come to from reading drudge, is that the choices we make in our lives are our own.
Every single one of you down there seem like lottery ticket addicts that hope, and hope to some day “make it” whatever that means. Some do achieve an element of glory, success, stardom, whatever was the goal and obviously most don’t.
I am 36, an Engineer and a restaurant owner in the heart of the wine country of Santa Barbara. I work seven days a week and have a family. So when I see your type come into our area, more and more now especially since the giant “Sideways” explosion, I can’t help but pity this unrealistic Dream world you all are under. Talk about being brainwashed! – It’s you and your peers level of ungrounded, yuppy lameness that makes us that are not in the industry laugh at you.
You want to be a multi millionaire exec?—Then Be one! You want to be an Artist — Then Be One. You strikers need to quit your sniveling and Strike! Woe to the money you won’t be making. Maybe then you will do something real for once. Ever actually work with your hands? I doubt it.
I would say 95% of “Produced “entertainment is CRAP. There are those gems out there that folks like us seem to find that keeps the TV’s in our house everstill. HBO seems to be the king of true talent — Flight Of The Conchords, now that is good stuff. Almost everything that is produced is for the thoughtless and the benign. In other words, most of us don’t watch your shit anyway. Does any of this matter?
No bitching here about the guy earning $2300/week. No support of cheer either for the golden parachute CEO. I made my choice in life and I DEAL with it. Double ick back to you sir and the whole stupid Industry you are a part of which really doesn’t do ANYTHING substanative anyway —unless your part of National Geographic but that would be a program perhaps a bit too deep for guys like you to understand.
First off, I just want to say as a television viewer, I stand behind the writers… Without their writing they wouldn’t bring such wonderful shows to life. Shows that we all love to watch.
I know myself and many others who don’t want to watch Reality Trash Television 27/7. If that happens, we will stop watching period!
I realize not all writers want a strike, and that is understandable.. But the reality of this is, there is going to be a strike, and well all everyone can do is take it one day at a time.
Lets hope there is a resolution soon.
The great thing about screenwriting is that viewers don’t see passive voice, pronoun/antecedent problems and split infinitives.
As an editor, reading the crap on this page is making my eyes bleed. But you guys totally deserve more money than people making an actual difference in this world.
Oh, if you have more than one DVD you’re talking about DVDs, not DVD’s.
I would like to respond to “Lives In Maryland” who said that book authors get a cut of each sale. That isnt correct. I spent most of my career working in the library and bookselling trades and there is only one way that book authors and screen writers are the same – that is, there are a small percentage of them who make a lot of money (millions), there are those in the middle who make maybe 20,000 or so a year and there are a bunch of them who make little to nothing. Book authors also dont get pensions and benefits – they get paid for the work and the contracts usually give them some cut for other rights like audio or electronic books or film rights, etc, etc – but if the book is “remaindered”, they get nothing. If the book is illegally downloaded, they get nothing; there is also a program on google where publishers get ad revenue for putting up large chunks, sometimes pages and pages of a book and the author gets nothing. In fact book authors to my knowledge havent ever gone on strike because they know in their hearts that there are a few thousand manuscripts in a pile ready and waiting to be published if they decided to strike. Book authors arent unionized. Maybe they should be – but then again, maybe writing for film and TV should be more of an open market trade like book writing is. Because it seems to me that there are more really good books than there are really good movies and TV shows.
>>>People like me are screwed. People who just got their first writing gigs on shows are screwed.
If you only think of yourself and not the profession, you can look forward to an entire future of getting screwed.
Rodney,
Where did Jennifer say she’d produced a movie (or had one produced)?
She said she “gave up my first deal” which meant she turned down a script sale because of the strike.
Reading comprehension clearly isn’t your friend. But if you were actually reading what people write here (and perhaps reading Nikki’s many articles on the subject) then you might be making educated comments instead of acting like a bull in a china shop, hurling inane comments and attacks on people.
For those who aren’t in the know, the studios are trying to eliminate paying residuals to ANYONE (writers, actors, directors) which means that we writers are NOT being greedy but rather being subjected to a potential PAYCUT. Please get your facts straight, Rodney and Co.
But, again, if you were in the business as most who read this blog are, you’d knew this already and wouldn’t be making such a damn fool of yourself with such stupid names attached to your comments.
Stiffington indeed!
I cannot believe some of the comments I am reading. The writers absolutely deserve their ‘fair share’ after all without them the actors and actresses on the shows you all love wouldn’t be near as engaging,funny,dramatic,snarky ect.. to watch on TV.
I will miss the shows I love to watch such as Dexter,Weeds and Supernatural but it’s all for the greater good. Keeping the writers satisfied and happy makes for better working conditions and better writing I would hope.
Wishing you all luck with the strike ,and hoping it all gets settled quickly, because I despise reality TV. If that’s what it came down to reality or nothing, I would choose the latter.
Dear Sir Rodney Stiffington,
Me thinks you are bitter.
So Jennifer produced a film and now is trying to write. Wow, that’s never happened before. Me thinks anybody who labels themselves writer/producer, writer/director is just as bogus. People do only one thing in this town and one thing only. And if they can’t, they leave. Sort of like your camera operating.
I am not in the entertainment business, although I do know a bit about business in general, and I think I see a number of incorrect premises on both sides of this issue. A writer or actor has no more intrinsic right to a residual than a carpenter has a right to a payment every time someone looks through a window he built. Residuals are simply a form of profit sharing … a way to lower up-front costs for risky and expensive projects. Workers share the risk by presumably working for less than they could get in a free market in return for a share of the profit in the event of a success. Given Hollywood management’s endless creativity in hiding profits, the payback in residuals was wisely structured to be based on something closer to sales than profits, but the principle is the same. The other motivation for owners to offer profit sharing is to encourage good work by giving workers a stake in the action. Note that neither of these motivations for profit sharing is especially tied to the creativity or artistry involved in the job.
When Hollywood comes up with a new form of revenue for their productions, such as the internet, this certainly changes the risk/reward equation. Many of these new sources cannibalize some sales from older sources such as box office receipts, so some residual attached to these new sources is surely appropriate to keep management from simply pushing revenue from a residual-paying source to a non-paying source. Beyond that, however, there is every reason to expect a change at both ends of the equation … a lower risk of failure or greater payoff on successes would be accompanied by a lower up-front payment to the writers. Are they willing to make that adjustment?
At this point, someone will probably try to argue that any new net income that results from something like the internet is a windfall and that all workers are entitled to a piece of it. No you aren’t. It is customary for windfall profits to go to the people who risked their investment. Pieces of the excess profit go to those who also share the loss for a project that fails. Workers are certainly entitled to _ask_ for some of that profit in their negotiations. If you get it, then you have a right to it in the sense that you have a right to anything in your contract. That is all. There is no other “fairness” involved here.
Dear rjp
The first legal document a writer signs is the CofA, “Certificate of Authorship”, basically signing away his legal rights of authorship in the US, his “droit moral”.. moral rights of authorship in the rest of the world. It’s the signing over of a writer’s _copyright_ to the studio . Residuals in any form are based on those copyrights. In exchange for granting his copyright to the studio, the writer gets residuals and payments.
Carpenters have no rights of authorship, no “droit moral”, nor can they copyright what they build.
Therefore, your statement that a writer has no more rights to residuals than a carpenter, is incorrect.
I believe that the studios make far too much from the hard work of the people that actually make films and television series. I think writers deserve their fair share, but I don’t think they are the ones being wronged the most. Everyone deserves a living wage. Based on NYC experience, Production Assistants on major films and television series make $9.29/hr and work minimum 60 hour weeks. Generally, PA rates are based on a weekly rate ($650 for 60 hours), but much of the time they are required to work more than 60 hours and are not paid overtime (not always the case, but prevalent). Without writers there wouldn’t be films/tv and obviously being a writer is a more skilled job than being a production assistant, but PA’s are also essential to this industry. Maybe when the writers get a bigger percentage of the bigger percentage, they can pass along a percentage of that percentage to the people at the bottom.
$650 after NYC taxes = $471.76
$471.76 x 52 weeks (if they are lucky enough to work that much, writers aren’t the only ones that don’t work all the time) = $24,531.52
Trying living on that in NYC.
Perhaps the below the line workers in Hollywood would have more sympathy for the writers if they instituted a differential pay scale for scripts produced out of town. The writers get paid wherever a show is made, the crews mostly only work on stuff produced locally. Where is their support for the other LA workers?
its days like today, when i spend 20 minutes reading these comments, that i know we are doomed as a civilization. (this is a light-hearted joke =R E L A X)
writers, go get what you feel you deserve; or as much as you can.
everyone that has a problem with them getting paid more, has their own issues. why do you care what another person makes?? and watch what you say, i bet somewhere in your perfect existence, your uknowingly supporting “someone” who is more grossly overpaid than the best writers in hollyowod. check yourselves…
AND i love when people talk about other people, places, professions, and act like they really know what they’re talking about.
oh, and do some of you people really believe that writers get final say on what plays on TV??
Wow!! ya, they just write a script (in one day, by themsleves, first try), demand it airs (that same night) and then they get cut a paycheck for a million bucks (as they walk out the door, 7 minutes later!)
hey, and guess what, nobody really cares if there are grammatical, etc errors on a dumbass comments bulletin like this. so, stop writing comments telling others how “so-and-so” missed a comma and thus, how could they call themselves a writer.
a strike by nature, is a negative thing. thousands of people who are not a part of the WGA could/will lose their jobs because of it. thats the reality. but its not any ONE persons/groups fault. so stop blaming each other and calling each other names. someone mentioned in here “Kid Nation” -thought that was kinda funny, seeing as how all us adults are behaving on this thing.
im not a writer, actor, grip, etc etc etc. just someone who stumbled across this commentary, and has become saddened at the ignorance of too many people…