Hollyweird writers on strike - anyone care?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Just wondering.

[Aerkuld]

Personally, no.

[Tobra]

Superman cares. In his support of the proletariat rising corporate devils, he will not watch any television at all.

Me, I don't care so much...

[Rick Lee]

Couldn't care less. I haven't watched a minute of network tv in many years. Besides, Hollywood only does remakes of old tv shows and sequels anymore. So they shouldn't need any real new scripts for a very long time.

I am kinda curious though. How much do these guys make? I highly doubt it's so little that they could be considered labor. The well-paid UPS drivers probably make a lot less for a lot harder work.

[Overpaid Slacker]

Truthishly, network TV sux anyway. A couple of weeks ago I saw a list of the 20 most DVR'd television programs. I have seen zero episodes of any of the network tv shows, and hadn't heard of several of them.

I'll miss these writers and their contemptible product like I missed hockey.

JP

[onewhippedpuppy]

TV sucks. I only occasionally watch the History Channel, Discovery Channel, Speed Channel, and sports. Seinfeld was the last decent sitcom.

[sammyg2]

What Matt said, plus 1

[96740]

Hell no. This is great! What writing? The best shows on are 20 - 30 year re-runs anyway.

[strupgolf]

They have writers for the crap on TV ? Man, that's amazing. And they went on strike ? I know, their holding out for more "creative thoughts" and some more peanuts. I dont "shiv a git".

[legion]

Isn't this kind of like the unemployed going on strike in France?

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

TV sucks. I only occasionally watch the History Channel, Discovery Channel, Speed Channel, and sports. Seinfeld was the last decent sitcom.

I couldn't sit thru even Seinfeld. what's neat about that is if I decide to, I've never seen it before all the way thru, if at all.

[madmmac]

Do they really need writers for TV reality shows?....seems like that is about it for network TV.

[Rick Lee]

Wasn't Jay Leno a pretty successful stand-up comic before he started filling in for Carson and then got the full-time gig? Why does he need writers? I don't think Carson ever wrote his own stuff and I don't think Letterman has ever gotten me to even chuckle. But Leno, IMHO, could get by with his own material. I went to a Kevin Eubanks guitar clinic when I was in college and long before he got with Leno. He was so shy and quiet, kids almost had to beat answers out of him. He sat on the edge of the stage and played amazing stuff you never see him play on Leno. But he kept his head down and barely made eye contact when he spoke. 180 deg. from his personality on tv.

[the]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Wasn't Jay Leno a pretty successful stand-up comic before he started filling in for Carson and then got the full-time gig? Why does he need writers?

I think that's quite a bit of material to ask one person to write on his own, to fill 5 shows per week with new material.

[lendaddy]

Originally Posted by the

I think that's quite a bit of material to ask one person to write on his own, to fill 5 shows per week with new material.

A three minute monologue and a gimmick segment a night is all that's really "written"

[BGCarrera32]

Originally Posted by lendaddy

A three minute monologue and a gimmick segment a night is all that's really "written"

And even that sucks. I doesn't take a rocket scientist to make fun of the President and write stupid sex jokes.

[Rick Lee]

The lowest hanging fruit is found every day in major newspapers. So many ridiculous errors written by reporters who know nothing about what they're covering and there are plenty of wordplays in the papers too. I remember one article about a pellet gun incident where the cops were searching for bullet casings. Unreal.

[Hugh R]

The WGA also writes for features, not just TV. I work on TV and features, and I rarely watch TV, I always seem to have other things to do in the evening. As was pointed out by Matt, Speed, History, Discovery and even Ken Burns shows like the Civil War and the other documentaries he's done are written by members of the WGA.

I kind of side with the WGA. If you right a book and publish it you get royalties. If you buy a DVD of a movie for $20, the writer gets 3 cents in residuals. If they didn't have a "Union" or Guild, they wouldn't have gotten even that. The unions and guilds in Hollywood are quite different from say the UAW or the United Steelworkers. By that, I mean they understand that intellectual property like a movie script is portable and can be filmed in places other than Hollywood. The UAW, and their ilk, have seen their "immovable" factories in Michigan move or close after it was too late.

[dd74]

You people would care if you worked in or around Hollywood. There is much more to this strike, and much deeper implications to this strike, than any of you seem to realize. I can even count a few L.A.-area Pelicans that might be hit in various ways by this strike - some of whom are not directly related to Hollywood.

Hollywood is like any other industry. When it shuts down, a very large amount of the surrounding population is effected.

[dd74]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

I kind of side with the WGA. If you right a book and publish it you get royalties. If you buy a DVD of a movie for $20, the writer gets 3 cents in residuals. If they didn't have a "Union" or Guild, they wouldn't have gotten even that. The unions and guilds in Hollywood are quite different from say the UAW or the United Steelworkers. By that, I mean they understand that intellectual property like a movie script is portable and can be filmed in places other than Hollywood. The UAW, and their ilk, have seen their "immovable" factories in Michigan move or close after it was too late.

I believe one point of contention is the writers want more per DVD - 8 cents per copy sold.

The second problem is the internet and how they get paid for downloadable shows. Currently, the studios call episodic television that can be downloaded "promotional material." This would be true if an episode of, say, CSI, were arrayed in clips. However, if a person can download a whole 50-minute episode, with or w/o commercials, it seems to me that falls under material for which residuals should be paid.