Writer's Strike Apocalypse

[3113]

Okay, so it's not the end of the world. Okay, so it's maybe not as dire as striking farm workers hoping for a little more pay for their backbreaking labor....

But as we're all writers here, I thing we should be able to muster some sympathy. And as a television viewers, we should be able to feel that this is one of the first signs of the coming apocalypse.

Late night US talk shows go dark as writers strike

America faced a different bedtime last night. As TV and film writers went on strike for the first time in almost 20 years, the late night talk shows that are a nightly ritual for millions of viewers prepared to go off the air.
With writers unable to pen the topical monologues that are the main attraction of many top-rated programmes, networks were preparing to run repeats. Television viewers seemed likely to be deprived of familiar figures such as David Letterman and Jay Leno, both of whom draw around 4 million viewers to the television at 11.30pm each night.

The last strike, in 1988, lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry an estimated $500m. Early morning picket lines, with writers holding black and red placards, were mounted at studios across Hollywood, at the gates of Disney, CBS, Fox, NBC, Sony Universal and Warner Bros. The first writers to strike were in New York, as the deadline for action, midnight on Sunday, passed.

In Los Angeles, where the local time was 9pm, representatives of the Writers Guild of America and the studios were still meeting. The producers claim that they pleaded with the writers to delay the strike to allow talks to continue. But faced with the action on the east coast, the producers decided to halt negotiations.

"Notwithstanding the fact that negotiations were ongoing, the WGA decided to start their strike in New York," Nick Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, said. "Ultimately, the guild was unwilling to compromise on most of their major demands. It is unfortunate that they choose to take this irresponsible action."

The writers are demanding a larger share of DVD revenues and new terms for online and digital sales. Writers receive about 4 cents for each DVD sold. The studios argue that digital sales are in their infancy and it is too early to agree to a binding formula to recompense the writers. Patric Verrone, president of WGA West, said on Friday: "Our position is simple and fair. When a writer's work generates revenue for the companies, that writer deserves to be paid."

The two sides have been involved in talks since July, meeting on 17 occasions. Sunday's last ditch talks, under the auspices of a federal mediator, had reportedly made progress on several issues. The Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, and the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, had reportedly offered to mediate in the talks.

 

[rgraham666]

Blasted Commie writers.

If we give them what they want, there goes the third Ferrari in my garage.

What made me giggle was 'digital sales are in their infancy'. When was it VCRs came out? Thirty years ago? My kids would have had kids of their own in this span.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Blasted Commie writers.

If we give them what they want, there goes the third Ferrari in my garage.

What made me giggle was 'digital sales are in their infancy'. When was it VCRs came out? Thirty years ago? My kids would have had kids of their own in this span.

What he meant was that they might accidentally give the writers a good deal.

What does digital have to do with it, anyways? A sale is a sale.

 

[rgraham666]

What he meant was that they might accidentally give the writers a good deal.

What does digital have to do with it, anyways? A sale is a sale.

Well, there's only so much money to go around you know. And those exemplars of capitalism, the executives, deserve the lion's share of it.

Why without them pasteurizing content, making sure the shows are so bad people welcome the ads to relieve the boredom, who knows what would show up on the air?

 

[starrkers]

I love capitalism - everyone can get rich, as long as they don't actually DO anything, they just have to be a middle man.

 

[Liar]

What made me giggle was 'digital sales are in their infancy'.

Which is of course bullshit. Other media have had digital sales tariffs for writers for over a decade. A substantial part of my writer paycheck has come from sales of digitalized products. Both print media and video. Like Stella said, a sale is a sale.

 

[3113]

A sale is a sale indeed.

I just spent an hour with one striking writer. She informed me that writers get 4 cents (yes, cents!) from every DVD sale and they're asking for 4 more cents to total 8 cents...but they're willing to compromise and forgo that and stick with 4 cents if they get money from iTunes and other internet sales. Though downloads off the internet are "free" in some instances (like if you got to NBC or CBS), they come with commercials. So someone is paying for these episodes already aired to be re-aired on the internet. The writers want a small share of that payment.

My sympathy is all with the writers and almost everyone else in this town is also on their side. Here's hoping the strike doesn't last long and the writers get a few more cents for their efforts.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

My son's a grad student (screenwriting) at the AFI, but he's been on the picket line and plans to go back. I'm proud of him. Since he's in school, the strike doesn't directly affect him, but he says it's very tough on those who recently graduated.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Liar]

A sale is a sale indeed.

I just spent an hour with one striking writer. She informed me that writers get 4 cents (yes, cents!) from every DVD sale and they're asking for 4 more cents to total 8 cents...but they're willing to compromise and forgo that and stick with 4 cents if they get money from iTunes and other internet sales. Though downloads off the internet are "free" in some instances (like if you got to NBC or CBS), they come with commercials. So someone is paying for these episodes already aired to be re-aired on the internet. The writers want a small share of that payment.

My sympathy is all with the writers and almost everyone else in this town is also on their side. Here's hoping the strike doesn't last long and the writers get a few more cents for their efforts.

Simple solution: payt writers in percents. Not cents. Percent of a dvd sales. Percent of ad revenues, whether that is on broadcast or online. Percent of syndication sales.

What's to fucking difficult? The writer, actors, cameramen, producers et al made a product. The show. Everytime it generates revenue (unless wavered in a contract) split the revenue. Where that revenue occurs should be irrelevant.

 

[3113]

Where that revenue occurs should be irrelevant.

I agree completely.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Simple solution: payt writers in percents. Not cents. Percent of a dvd sales. Percent of ad revenues, whether that is on broadcast or online. Percent of syndication sales.

What's to fucking difficult? The writer, actors, cameramen, producers et al made a product. The show. Everytime it generates revenue (unless wavered in a contract) split the revenue. Where that revenue occurs should be irrelevant.

So easy to say...

You may or may not know that Disneyland totally revamped the "pirates Of The Carribean" ride after the success of the movies. They added Jack Sparrow here and there, changed the "dead man Tell No tales' voice to Gibb's, etc.
One thing they did not do was change the name of the Pirate Ship. It's still the "Wicked Wench" and not the "Black Pearl. Why not?

because the Black Pearl is the invention of the scriptwriters. And Disney would have had to pay a couple of cents per rider to them in royalties.

 

[Stella_Omega]

for a concise explanation;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ55Ir2jCxk