When I first started chanting Nam(u) Myoho Renge Kyo in 1984, one of my first prayers was to join the Writers Guild of America. My prayer was answered, I joined the Guild, and a couple of years later, the Guild went on strike. In the immortal words of Billy Pilgrim, so it goes.
The big issues back then were what is called "foreign residuals", that is to say, payments to writers when the studios make money from re-selling the writers' material to a foreign market. The example used over and over again back then was how "I Love Lucy" was the biggest hit show in China, but the show's writers weren't getting any dough from the licensing of those shows. Television producers and studios do make an enormous amount of money in foreign markets, so that pot of gold was something both the writers and the studios were willing to go to the mattresses about.
Of course, at the end of the long and bloody strike, there was a great deal of long-term nasty fallout. The worst, to my mind, has been the proliferation of "reality TV". After all, if producers don't have to pay writers, they don't have to pay residuals, right? No, but your audiences might end up looking at Paris Hilton's shopping sprees and Dancing with the Stars instead of something scripted. If the audiences are willing tolerate that, and advertisers are willing to pay for the air time, then there really isn't any need for writers.
Me, I unplugged my cable when we invaded Iraq, and I'm as happy as a clam.
Now, the Writers Guild of America is on strike again. This time, the issue is money (again), but it's all about new technologies. Cell phones, internet streaming, new media and how to track and compensate writers for ways in which their services profit the studios.
And both sides are polishing their buttons and marching off to war.
What's interesting to me is that the people who survived the last strike are not the people rattling their sabers now. It's a lot easier to be romantic about war when you haven't seen your friends getting blown up, and the same is true of both sides in this conflict. There seem to be those on both sides who were looking for a fight, here, and now we have it.
The Guild has quite a large "strike fund" - that is to say, a pot of money from which striking writers can borrow to pay their bills, house note, etc. for the length of the strike. But, as in any modern war, there will be extensive civilian caualties. The set dressers, the caterers, the mom and pop set-painting businesses, the grips, the costumers, and the restaurants which, in a few months, will have to start laying off their workers because nobody is "doing lunch" anymore. Film making and television aren't really all that glamorous - they're jobs. Our industry is like any other, like aerospace or meat packing or steel. It's a place where people work. And LA is an industry town.
This morning, when I drove up to the studio where I am working (not as a writer), the Guild members were out in force at the gate, picket signs in hand. There must have been at least 50 striking writers at one gate alone. This studio has a small lot and only three gates. I can imagine what it's like at the other lots.
Well, stay tuned and pray for peace.
Be reasonable, be fair, be cool.
Byrd in LA
Byrd:
The writers should get their cut of the pie. AND, people should get off their duff, turn off the tube and do something else instead, like read a book. It's amazing to me how so many people have lost the simple pleasure of quiet times - no TV, no radio (although I prefer that medium over television.
Today I saw a young woman roller-blading down a busy street talking on a cell phone. Giving writers their fair share, to me, is a no-brainer - and I hope they get it. It's unfortunate that so many ancillary folk will be hurt, but the writer's who make it all possible should get their due.
The bigger issue with me is why people must be entertained from cradle to grave by the crap on TV that passes for entertainment. Hours of TV a day, DVD's, CD's and radio in the car, cellphones seemingly attached to people's head, blackberrys, and lord knows what else, or what's next. People have forgotten or resist the meditative wonder of silence. It seems to me as if people gravitate toward distractionb because they can't face what's in their own life and mind.
As a final note on writers - like other authors, it bugs me that places like Amazon that sells new editions of my book and also re-sells used versions my books on their site and I don't see a dime. I know they have sold hundreds of my books this way and it hasn't brought me one extra dime in royalties. So, I hope the writers prevail and I pray that some day people will wake up to the fact that their whole life will have passed them by, and they've never probed much deeper into their life than the idiosynchratic BS of America's Next Top Model. How fraking sad!
Charles
Posted by: Charles at November 7, 2007 01:46 PMI agree that watching t.v. kills creativity, turns you into a passive observer of life in general, and brainwashes you into a consumer life style. Still it's so much more entertaining than real life. Drugs are bad for you too but there's a tremendous appetite for them. Watching sunsets may be overrated and even the worst stuff on the tube is better than Shakespear. I don't watch much television but I see nothing superior about not watching it. Have you ever read the book, Four Arguments Against Television by Jerry Mander? It's pretty good. It left me with the impression that t.v. was a means to control the poulation. Which doesn't see so good, but if not for t.v. wouldn't some less benign form of coersion be necessary?
Posted by: clown hidden at November 7, 2007 04:13 PMYes! I love Mather's book on the Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television! That book is well over 25 years old, but I still love it - it made a huge impresison on me in my youth.
And Clown....how can you harp on my darling Will Shakespeare? He's another major influence for me. Now THERE was a writer!
Have a good day, all- Byrd in LA
Posted by: Byrd in LA at November 7, 2007 05:01 PM
Of course I'm interested in fair play but I have to admit, it's difficult to have sympathy for a group where the average salary (I heard) is $200,000. OTOH I watch way too much TV, so I should be grateful to the writers. With the proliferation of channels there is some excellent content out there, series such as Mad Men (AMC), Army Wives (A&E), Sopranos (HBO), West Wing (NBC), BBC series (drama and comedy), PBS, even good reality shows from the Health Channel and Animal Planet.
I'm wondering if writers for news shows are in this union as well? And I have to ask, Byrd, did you cross the picket line?
Posted by: Vanya at November 8, 2007 12:09 PMYes, Vanya, I did - I'm a temp right now, and unemployment benefits don't cover me if I'm on a job action. So I came on up to my desk. But I did honk my horn and wave, so they know I'm with them. I also have a fab strike tee-shirt which I can wear around town to show my solidarity (such as it is).
The people who aren't crossing are the Teamsters-- at some movie locations, and studios. We'll see what comes of that.
I think the newswriters are with the WGA East, although I'll have to check on that. I know they're unionized, I just don't know what branch of the union.
Bye for now. Writers of the World , Unite!
Byrd in LA
Posted by: Byrd in LA at November 8, 2007 03:21 PM"The bigger issue with me is why people must be entertained from cradle to grave by the crap on TV that passes for entertainment."
It keeps us from dealing with the fundamental anxieties of human life.
Posted by: robek at November 9, 2007 07:32 AM