Writers Strike

[elmerfudd]

OK, I don't know much about what they are striking for, I don't know much about the union . I know they want a precentage of DVD sales. At first I thought, Give'em a precentage. But the more I think about it. The more pissed I get . And I think this will come back to bite me (as a viewer) in the ass. I don't think the CEO's of corporate television are going to be taking a pay cut. So where is this precentage going to come from ? The consumer. And with the Holidays coming . Even if the writers do come back , we're still going to be watching Parades ,Christmas shows and propping Dick Clark up for New Years . And on top of that, it's an election year. This means we'll be watching political party nominee conventions , elections and inauguration . Before I never cared to much for reality TV. But soon, I'll be thankful for it . All I want, is to come home from work and watch some TV and forget about the shity day I've had. Now I wouldn't care if they got what they wanted I'd even pay the extra they are going to charge me for my toothpaste . But can't they get some more writers to write ,so we can watch our favorite shows year round. I mean what would they do if the garbage-men picked up seasonal ?

 

[mindido]

elmer,

Do you really think garbage men could write television episodes? Writing well is not easy. I saw something a few years ago (sorry, I can't remember where) that suggested writing (at least good writing) is one of the toughest things that humans can do. So I sincerely doubt that scabs would be a serious option for the entertainment networks.

I also haven't followed whats happening with this strike. I do understand that the writers want residuals for whatever method of conveyance their efforts receive (DVDs, downloads, etc.). It would seem that this should be able to be worked out with no cost to the consumer. Just a minor drop in the profit of the distributors.

 

[elmerfudd]

elmer,

Do you really think garbage men could write television episodes? Writing well is not easy. I saw something a few years ago (sorry, I can't remember where) that suggested writing (at least good writing) is one of the toughest things that humans can do. So I sincerely doubt that scabs would be a serious option for the entertainment networks.

I also haven't followed whats happening with this strike. I do understand that the writers want residuals for whatever method of conveyance their efforts receive (DVDs, downloads, etc.). It would seem that this should be able to be worked out with no cost to the consumer. Just a minor drop in the profit of the distributors.

I did not say garbage men could write television episodes . What I did say ,is if garbage men picked up seasonal . Right now there are around 22 episodes per year . I did not say anything about scabs . What I said was to get more writers to write for those other seasons. They can be union .

 

[mindido]

elmer,

I'm not sure where your from, but, here in the States, people that cross a picket line are known as scabs. No fellow union member would cross a picket line and, usually, members of other unions won't cross another unions picket line. For example; a union truck driver normally won't deliver anything to a company that has writers (or whatever) on strike. So no other writer, union or not, will cross a picket line of fellow writers.

The companys may try and hire writers (and a few may accept) but that won't work in this field because writers work as a team. It would be very difficult to find enough qualified writers for the remainder of the season.

This sounds like its going to last quite a while so, if I were you, I'd start thinking about picking up a good book. Remember those? They really can be quite entertaining. Many times more entertaining than most of the drivel we see on the tube anyway.

 

[elmerfudd]

I'm from The United States of America, and I said I didn't know much about union . Not anything , I know crossing a picket line is called a scab. But show me where I said to (cross a picket line) ? And as far as unions not crossing other unions picket lines, not true. I've seen it done. But that's neither here nor there. What I was saying is, to pay them .(I'd even pay the extra they are going to charge me for my toothpaste). Is what I said . And get more writers to write year round. Just like if a garbage man takes off for the Holidays, they not going to stop picking up garbage. Sorry, if it throwed you off by using garbage men in my analogy.

 

[mindido]

What I said was to get more writers to write for those other seasons. They can be union .

elmer,

I think this could easily be construed as advocating the crossing of a picket line.

I think you should be able to see by now that writing concisely is an art and not easy. From what I have seen lately, very few people are any good at it any longer. And recent statistics that I've seen bear that out.

 

[elmerfudd]

Reading concisely must be an art too. You take a quote form a reply, and say it's construed ? The original comment was, ( " Now I wouldn't care if they got what they wanted I'd even pay the extra they are going to charge me for my toothpaste . But can't they get some more writers to write ,so we can watch our favorite shows year round. " ) And writting might be an art that few people are good at. But when you have shows like the "Bionic Women" and "BattleStar Galactica" and the comic books. You have SmallVille , movies like Spider Man , Bat Man , yada, yada, yada. You take the "Bruce Willis film Last Man Standing" it's just a remake of the "Clint Eastwood -A Fistful of Dollars" Just set at a different time .It seems everything to day is recycled ,even the art of writing. Someday there will be a time , if not already. That just like the automotive robot taking an assembly guy's job, there will be a computer program to take over a writers job. All they'll need is someone to feed in hit careictors from other past hit TV shows and a plot . And it will produce a hit TV show. And the writers of today will be limited to . Awards Shows, pageants, and etc. Of course you'll still need a writer to write the program.

 

[The Young One]

Alright, time to lock this thread up. Lock it up.

 

[chile149]

writers

On point to the original comment, there are lots of writers out there, but not many good ones who can do TV or episodics in a professional manner. And then finding those good undiscovered ones is a whole other problem. Writing is hard. I'd even say what viewers might consider bad writing is still much better than what the average layman can do.

 

[mindido]

On point to the original comment, there are lots of writers out there, but not many good ones who can do TV or episodics in a professional manner. And then finding those good undiscovered ones is a whole other problem. Writing is hard. I'd even say what viewers might consider bad writing is still much better than what the average layman can do.

chile,

Amen!

 

[namka]

When will it finish?

 

[mindido]

When will it finish?

namka,

I have no idea. And its not looking good for an end anytime soon. I guess this is really putting a crimp in the SoCal economy.

Has anyone else noticed the problems that Jon Stewart and Colbert are having with their shows? They're still better than most everything else on the tube but I've noticed that they seem to be really struggling at times. It seems very evident to me that they really need their writers back as soon as possible.

 

[Graywolf]

All I can say is THANK GOD for the BBC and SCI-FI on cable. American tv sucks ass right now.

 

[KABOOM]

Has anyone else noticed the problems that Jon Stewart and Colbert are having with their shows? They're still better than most everything else on the tube but I've noticed that they seem to be really struggling at times. It seems very evident to me that they really need their writers back as soon as possible.

It seems they are just barely able to put together enough to have a show each and every night. Improv-ing it every night is putting a strain on them and they can only do it for so long. I think the same things is starting to happen to Conan a bit. But at least his show has more freedom to try different things. It doesn't all have to be political, unlike in Stewart and Colbert's cases.

 

[peter_jam]

I agree with you guys, talk shows are having a hard time right now, and who knows how much longer can they take. David Letterman worked out a separate deal with the writers, so I think that is the only show working normally right now.

I know that this affects us, the viewers, the most. But I know that this strike is fair and necessary. Most people argue that movie scripts are sold at a very high price, and they are right, but there are writers that can only sell a script every few years if they're lucky, so their main source of income are residuals. A residual is a small amount of money a writer gets once a dvd of a movie he has written is sold. Now, when I say small, I do mean small; for every dvd sold, a writer gets 0.3% of the total price. That's about 1,500 dvd's to fill up your gas tank. Writers are currently asking the percentage to increase to 0.6%, totally reasonable in my opinion.

The other issue is new media. New media consists of mostly anything you don't get through tv or dvd's, such as: Internet downloads (iTunes, etc.), webisodes, cell phone exclusive content, IPTV, etc. For example, if you buy season 1 of Heroes on dvd, writers get their small residuals percentage. If you buy and download season 1 of Heroes through Itunes, writers get nothing. By making content available on the internet, studios don't have to spend anything on packaging, the dvd's themselves, shipping, box art, etc. So they are making more money, while writers don't get anything. Another example, the writers of "The Office" wrote a series of webisodes, which anyone could watch on the internet. These webisodes were really good, they even won an emmy, and the studio made a lot of money becuase Ford Motor Company has a contract with them, so everytime you watched a webisode, you had to watch a ford commercial before. How much did the writers earn? Absolutely nothing.

Just my 2 cents, and sorry if something isn't clear but english isn't my first language. I'm trying to improve it though, I want to be a writer

 

[mindido]

I have to agree with all of the above. The writers deserve whatever they can get. I think their contribution is exceedingly evident by whats now going on with Stewart and Colbert. It will be interesting to see how long they can continue to do the show without the writers.

I have this thought in the back of my mind of Stewart, one of these nights, jumping up from his desk, grabbing his hair and running off the stage shouting something unintelligible. Not to be seen again until the strike is over.