The Writers' Strike

[Wol]

Letterman owns his show, so it behooves him to keep the family together. Jon doesn't own The Daily Show.

I think the writers deserve what they are asking for, particularly in terms of new media (I agree on the DVD points, but I think online streaming on demand is going to take over DVDs in the future). But I really resent the characterization of the strikers as downtrodden working class grunts who are taking it in the ass from The Man. TV writers do work long hours, but they do it for ridiculously high salaries and get perks like you wouldn't believe. They are not supermarket clerks who have no health insurance or Wal-Mart employees who are fired when they attempt to unionize so they can have longer than a fifteen minute break on a 14 hour shift.

The benefits of a new contract are only going to affect the tiny percentage of writers who actually have material produced. That number is very small considering the amount of members in the guild. So while a lot of picketers are out there on the hope that this will affect them one day, it may well have no effect on them whatsoever. It's not like they're striking for better health benefits or for new wage minimums.

Like I said, I do think the writers deserve more. But this strike is going to hurt people who have nothing to do with screwing the writers - that's the production people who get no perks or any glory, who show up on set to do their job and who count on a series commitment to pay their mortgage. That's not right.

[Deleted]

What bothers me is that so many people look at the collateral damage and blame the writers for striking, not the studios who are LYING all over the fucking place about the money involved. They tell the WGA that there's absolutely no way internet content is making money and it's just too new to even assess the potential for profit, and then they turn around and tell their stockholders about the infinite potential for profit and recordmaking dollars already received.
I have two friends who are TV writers, successful ones. They have a two bedroom house right on the edge of Santa Monica, with a postage stamp backyard, and two reliable older vehicles. They are absolutely not upper middle class, unless the definition has been changed; they live about as well as other people our age who work normal jobs.
The difference is that I know I'm going to be earning my salary for the rest of the year; I have projects not scheduled to close until 2009. She went to work one morning and found out that Season 3 was the last season, sorry, hope you have some specs ready. And then, just like all the non-WGA people affected by this strike, she wasn't working any more. But the DVDs for all 3 seasons are still making money for the producers; they sell for about $50, so I guess she's making ten cents. If 100 are sold, she can pay for dog food for a week.
I'm not saying she's starving, or that any of the writers who were working when the strike started are in dire straits, or worse off than the people laid off by the studios. But the industry has been anticipating this strike for months and the studios had ample opportunity to avoid having to lay off all those people a month before Christmas.

[LurkerNan]

I may be in the minority, but I understand why the networks are laying off the production teams while the strike continues. Without production actually happening, those folks are not really doing anything, right? So why continue to pay large groups of people for no actual work? Networks are businesses just like any other, and strikes affect businesses all in the same way. Generally they often lead to short term lay-offs of other groups of affected work forces.

I guess I see it from an accountant's point of view, but it makes no sense to continuing paying large groups of people to hang around for projects not in continuation.

[Deleted]

mszoid said:

It doesn't shock me, after what's been going on with Family Guy.
For those of you who aren't fans, which is most of you, or don't know-last Sunday was the last episode that was fully done and OKed by series creator/EP/Voice actor/future MrNappingAthena Seth MacFarlane.
Fox has decided to air the next three new shows, which have not been given a final pass by MacFarlane, against his wishes. He's one of the show runners who is refusing to cross the line. Not only that, but he is currently not under contract with the network, as his contract with them expired this summer and they're still renegotiating.

Almost all the fans I've seen online are upset and planning on boycotting the episodes, and Alex Borstein (writer and voice of Lois) told people on her forum to please not watch.

Yeah, I'm planning to boycott it too. I love Family Guy and Fox just continues to piss me off with it's treatment of it.

[inkster]

Negotiations scheduled for November 26.

[scarlet]

This is excellent news. At least they're getting back to the bargaining table.

[NappingAthena]

inkster said:

Negotiations scheduled for November 26.

WOOT!!! Finally. If its getting to the point where its like-for crying out loud, negotiate already after two weeks, I don't want this thing lasting for months.

[indygirl]

I have a quick question. How is it that shows like The Soup and The Daily Ten--yes that was my morning tv schedule so stop judging me!--are on the air with new episodes? They obviously have writers. Is it because of the news angle? Because The Soup would barely qualify for that I would think.

[Deleted]

The Soup probably doesn't use WGA writers, which happens often on basic cable shows (VH1, etc) - Comedy Central excepted.

[indygirl]

A-ha! That must be it. Thanks so much!