2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike

[OPaul]

From the POV of a Writer

Here's what I hate about this whole thing, and unions in general.

At the end of the shift I was put on scab watch. Four of us stood around a back gate with instructions to photograph anyone who drove onto the lot who might be a scab writer.

Just because these people don't want to work (which I perfectly understand), why does that give them the right to stop others who are not apart of the union.. or guild... from working? If they don't do the work, then others will.. and should be allowed too IMO. They should not be bullied into agreeing with the strikers.

[spacer]

By the way next time, you could say nah, just kidding, or some other way of dropping a hint if your joking.

I get that it's gonna frustrate fans, but it's they're life thats sucking at the moment, not ours.

1. Yes, I tend to forget that sarcasm and word play doesn't translate through text.

2. Who says my life doesn't suck more than those writers? And who says that their lives are sucking at all? Last time I checked even their current revenue shares are quite substantial.

[Pretend]

^

1. Yeah, word play doesn't translate through text :/ :(

2. I probably didn't mean to use suck, because they do pretty good, but they probably think, since they've done something good for a good TV show , like 24/lost/heroes ect, something thats hard to hate, that they should get a little more $$

[MrKuro]

However, they could have picked a better time to do it so as not to cause this much frustration to their fans.

i think thats part of the point too, cause havok to the fans, and hurt the networks by affecting their primetime tv.

I agree with the cause of the strike, without good writers there would not be any shows. .. and they really do not get paid enough for what they do.

I know it hurts to be missing my favorite shows, but hopefully it will be resolved soon, and good things will come out of it.

[Pretend]

Yeah, I'm just hoping when it's over they won't be one again..(for some time).

[spacer]

2. I probably didn't mean to use suck, because they do pretty good, but they probably think, since they've done something good for a good TV show , like 24/lost/heroes ect, something thats hard to hate, that they should get a little more $$

Yeah I agree with ya on that one. I'd want fair compensation too.

But with the cynical mind that I have, part of it agrees with the writers and the other part doesn't. I agree that the writers SHOULD go on strike, but I don't agree with WHEN they went on strike.

[gaurav]

Dammit no Lost? Bummer! Give the writers what they want.....which is after all the right thing of course.

[Pretend]

Yeah, sounds easy when you put it like that.?

[Rappy Veteran]

Dammit no Lost? Bummer! Give the writers what they want.....which is after all the right thing of course.

The amount of money these networks earn they could easily work something out I would think but they are playing hardball.

[Pretend]

^ I don't know why the networks would do that, they're ratings are gonna f....a.....l......l and probably at a pretty speedy rate.

[OPaul]

Exactly, there has to be more to this... otherwise a deal would have already happened.

[Hurmoth]

Exactly, there has to be more to this... otherwise a deal would have already happened.

Not really. It is pretty much straight forward. The WGA and the AMPTP have been at each others throats for several months now and really have never been friends to begin with. The WGA asserts that the studios are making a large sum of money from "new media" and from reruns that air on TV (due to the fact they still have ad air time). The studios argue that they don't know how much they make and proposed a three year study on "new media". Clearly the studios don't want to give a dime of the money they make from "new media" and are purely stonewalling the writers in order to make more money. That's pretty simple.

Ratings aren't everything here, ads are. The studios won't lose as much money from this strike as what they will from having to pay money to 12,000+ writers for residuals. Remember, the payments are longterm as this strike will be short term. This strike represents not just the writers, but the directors and actors too. Both of those guilds will use what the writers get as a template for their contract (which ends next July).

Essentially if the studios win out, they'll lose less because of the strike than just giving in. If the writers, directors and actors win, then the studios will lose millions in residuals to all of the writers, directors and actors. This is larger than just some TV shows that might get canceled or postponed for a year.

On top of that, people will continue to watch TV. Numbers might go down, but the studios will continue to make money.

[spenser.d]

Heh. I just first heard about this strike thing today in one of my discussion sections for a college class (that has nothing to do with media, btw). Shows how much TV I watch. Good for them though, if it weren't for the writers, we wouldn't have shows in the first place.

-Spenser

[Pretend]

Yeah, Without them we wouldn't have good programs to watch.. Still can't believe people think the writers are idiots for this :/

[OPaul]

On the plus side, this will give me time to catch up on some shows I've been missing and meaning to download.

[Rappy Veteran]

On the plus side, this will give me time to catch up on some shows I've been missing and meaning to download.

Yeah I might get some shows I have been meaning to watch!

[Pretend]

Yeah, I've had some kinda new shows i wanted to start watching, now I can :)

[Hurmoth]

Here's an interesting thought. One of the producer/writers for The Office mentioned that since their show was added to iTunes it has been downloaded 7 million times. At $1.99 the take in is $13,930,000. I'm not going to assume how much Apple gets from this, but when NBC decided to pull from iTunes, according to Apple--who wanted to lower the price to $.99--stated that NBC was trying to push for $4.99 (which would make another 7,000,000 downloads $34,930,000). Yet the writers don't see a penny of that revenue. Who's greedy now: the writers or the studios?

[Pretend]

Really shows you how greedy the studios are.

[Hurmoth]

^ :laugh:

[Pretend]

LOL, and it looks like shes having fun on strike.

[Rappy Veteran]

^ :laugh:

That is quite funny!

[Hurmoth]

Big Brother Staffing Up for Early Launch

Variety reports that CBS may rely on its "Big Brother" as a strike contingency. The reality show, usually a summer staple, has started staffing up for an in-season run that could be on the air as soon as February.

Indeed, in anticipation of a strike, the network quietly began casting for the next edition of the show a few weeks ago.

Executive producer Allison Grodner is also said to be working on a new creative twist for the Julie Chen-hosted series, in which a group of strangers live together in a house for three months.

The trade adds that the next edition of "Big Brother" might actually use celebrities, as opposed to ordinary people.

Source: ComingSoon.net

[Rappy Veteran]

Oh dear god if theres anything thats really crap on the telly then its a series of Big Brother!

[Pretend]

I can't stand Big brother :/