Hollywood Writers Strike: All Hollywood Writers Are Not Millionaires
Nov 23rd, 2007 | 10 responses
NOTE: This is a Guest Voice Post by skippy the bush kangaroo (who writes in lower case and who originated the word “blogtopia”).
Hollywood Writers Strike: All Hollywood Writers Are NOT Millionaires
by skippy the bush kangaroo
hi everyone, skippy the bush kangaroo here, and i’m very honored to be writing for the moderate voice today, about something very close to my heart — the wga writers strike.
now, if you listen to the spin that the american motion picture and television producers association puts out, you’re probably saying to yourself, “why should i care about millionaire writers wanting more money?”
but the truth is that the majority of writers guild members make less than $20,000 a year…a far cry from millionaires!
i’m not in the writers guild, but i am in the screen actors guild, and our contract is up for re-negotiation next year. most actors i’ve talked with agree, that the advances or rollbacks that the writers obtain during this current labor action will set the precedent for what happens to us in june.
i have many close friends in the writers guild, and believe me, they all wish they didn’t have to go out on strike. but there are two points that they would like to achieve.
these two points are explained in this video by tim kazurinsky (you may remember his as sweetchuck in the police academy films, or as a member of saturday nite live in the 80′s).
that’s right, the writers have only been making 4 cents per dvd sold. and they were only asking for a mere 4 cents more per dvd sale, for a total of 8 cents. considering that a dvd sells for about $29.95, it doesn’t seem like much.
and, i have to report that at this point, the writers have taken the demand for another 4 cents off the table (right before they went out on strike). mediachannel.org:
the wga’s repeatedly referred to four cents as the usual residual writers receive per dvd sale. on the last day of contract talks, guild negotiators took the dvd proposal — seeking to double that rate — off the table but were infuriated by what they saw as a lack of movement by the companies and have hinted since then that it might be back on the table. the wga had no comment wednesday about the status of its dvd proposal.
the second point is that currently the writers get absolutely nothing when their work is shown on the internet, even though the networks are getting advertisting dollars for showing episodes of their programs on the web. just try to watch “grey’s anatomy” on your computer without having to sit through that herbal essence commercial…and unlike with tivo, can’t fast-forward it!
however, the networks have cleverly decided to call such internet showings of programs “promotion,” and thusly refuse to pay residuals. this might not seem like such a big problem, but anybody who dealt with the net neutrality issue would surmise that the telecommunication industry has big plans for using the internet as a distribution system in the upcoming years.
at least, barry diller, former head of abc programming and hollywood wunderkind, seems to think so:
internet-distributed television, talk of which dominated the consumer electronics show earlier this month, has large factions of both naysayers and disciples. and allaire has shown a knack for making believers out of key people. armed with $16 million in funding from aol, barry diller’s interactivecorp., hearst and venture-capital group allen & co., brightcove recently added diller to its board of directors. former aol chief executive steve case, whose cable/broadband network lime is powered by brightcove, is an investor as well.
most of my writer and actor friends think so, too. and if the common distribution system for television in the next decade is broadband internet, you can bet the writers (and the actors) don’t want a contract without residuals for usage on the web.
i’m one of the lucky ones in hollywood, i’m making a good living. but that has only been in the last few years. i spent most of my hollywood years just barely getting by, and often i had to have other, non-acting jobs to supplement my income. that’s how i know just how important residuals are to the creative industry worker.
i was a strike captain back in the commercial actors strike in 2000. though the other side was comprised of a different set of suits (that is, we were negotiating with advertising agencies, and not studios and networks), they had the same mindset. and they made no attempt to hide their agenda: the total elimination of all residuals. i am afraid that this labor action is very much about the same thing.
luckily for everyone invovled, the two sides have agreed to get back to the negotiating table, starting next monday. wish us all luck. if you’d like to follow the progress of this strike, united hollywood is a very good “unofficial” blog with daily updates. other blogs that is staying on top of this story include nikki finke’s deadline hollwyood daily and speechless without writers. also the blogs of james gunn and ken levine, who are two very successful writers that are keeping tabs on this labor action.
and of course, over on my blog i’ll be reporting as much inside dope and outside poop as i can find, which to date includes my experiences walking the picket lines at nbc (where i saw the back of john edwards head), at 20th century fox, and in the big hollywood blvd. rally earlier this week.
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10 Responses to “Hollywood Writers Strike: All Hollywood Writers Are Not Millionaires”
[...] Clark Hollywood Writers Strike: All Hollywood Writers Are Not Millionaires » This Summary is from an article posted at The Moderate Voice » Domestic and international news [...]
It’s important to note that those who write without capitalization are almost alway substandard people, which does not, of course, disqualify our friend skippy from the ranks of left-wing bloggers (or Hollywood actors.)
[...] the bush kangaroo, posting at The Moderate Voice, has written a post in support of the [...]
The writers, like all workers, are being short changed. That’s the trend across the board, in all fields.
There has to be push-back, although only realistic, limied pushback is possible.(or advisable).
The writers are quite reasonable, IMO, and deserve support.
may i suggest that the same substandard criterion be applied to people that don’t use spell check?
“almost alway“? not “alway alway“? or, as willie nelson said, “you were alway on my mind.”
I would just note that some of those ‘substandard’ writers created the text for extemely successful shows, from which protits are still coming in – only not to the writiers.
First where did he get the price? Check amazon he inflated it by 50% the real price but I guess that still leaves the question. What should a writer who got paid to write a script get paid vs. a company who paid a 100 million to make a film? Are not the best writers sought out, paid more, and able to negotiate for more than the min? I’m not upset for them trying to get more, it’s the American way, but I’m not real worried about it either.
[...] Hollywood Writers Strike: All Hollywood Writers Are Not MillionairesThe Moderate Voice – even though the networks are getting advertisting dollars for showing episodes of their programs on the web. just try to watch “grey’s anatomy” on your computer without having to sit through that herbal essence commercial…and unlike with tivo [...]
kryon77 said,
November 23, 2007 at 4:38 am:
It’s important to note that those who write without capitalization are almost alway substandard people, which does not, of course, disqualify our friend skippy from the ranks of left-wing bloggers (or Hollywood actors.)
Errrr, as the first letter of a name, shouldn’t the “k” be capitalized, or are you substandard as well?
Bones, imagine it this way:
Say you invent a product for the company you work for, and you negotiate a contract that says that you will get paid a royalty for every widget sold in x country. Your company has always sold only to country, and never dealt with anyone else, so you figure you’re on safe ground.
Now imagine x country has a civil war, and divides into two countries, x1 and x2. Your company now says that, since x2 is a new country, your agreement is no longer valid for that country, and you are not entitled to royalties from there, meanwhile, they will continue to sell your widget in x2.
Now let’s take this to the writers’ case, and say that everyone in x1 is gravitating and moving to x2, which basically screws you out of any royalties…effectively, this is what has happened to the WGA.