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Okay, Fine, Let’s Talk Strike

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 12:52 am by Jami

First, let us have a moment of zen:

Ah, that’s much better.

I’m a bit torn on this issue. On the one hand, I support Unions. I’m a liberal commie red that believes in worker’s rights. If there’s one thing that infuriates me more than Nancy Grace procreating it’s people getting screwed out of their money (Pat Lee, I’m looking right at you). If you do the work, you should get fair compensation.

What bothers me about this particular strike is that these Hollywood writers make an obscene amount of money. Auto workers are making shit wages and their jobs are disappearing. I was totally behind that one. Teachers are rarely paid what they are truly worth in this country. Please, strike all you want. My impression may be wrong and if it is, I will gladly throw in my support for the writers, but these people make more than auto workers, teachers, and just about every other union combined. And they’re striking for more money? Hard to really feel sorry for them.

Now I will admit that I know nothing about writing for television or movies, just a few figures for scripts that I’ve read in the trades now and then. The numbers have always made me want to change professions. With one script, a writer can rake in what amounts to my annual salary (and that’s after taxes). If the internet and DVD sales that the networks were hoarding endangered their ability to pay the rent, maybe I’d have a little more sympathy. And if it does truly make a dent in their ability to pay rent and utilities, then please, strike all you want. I will have to poke around a little more to see what’s what. But in the meantime, the ranting continues.

I’ll give them a pass on the DVD residuals. The DVD market is surely a cash cow for the networks. Why the writers didn’t ask for this sooner is beyond me. What seems a little more dubious is the money networks get from internet streaming. As John Stewart says, you can watch all this stuff online for FREE. Yes yes, the networks sell spots on the ineterwebs as well, but the amount they must spend on bandwidth, security, coding, and all that backend mess probably costs as much, if not more than the ads they sell to sponsors. Users don’t pay a dime. If anything, they cost the networks more money as they drive up server and hosting costs the more they stream this free media.

The other major flaw with the writer’s strike tactic is the reality scab. Reality television is cheaper to produce and often times more popular than traditional scripted programming. American Idol regularly kicks the living shit out of any programmed network show. The strike merely gives networks the opportunity to assault us with more reality shit. And apparently, we can’t get enough! It’s like the empty calories of television. We just keep chugging away at those soft-drink reality shows and get fat and lazy and ignore those scripted programs that writers spent weeks and months writing.

If you really want to make money on the webs, get yourself a damn blog like the rest of us assholes. Actually, a blog by a Hollywood writer with the inside skinny on how movies and television shows get made would grab more traffic than any random blogger making fun of Hollywood. Hell, you freaking write for a living! Think of your blog as a mental exercise to get the ideas flowing. And hell, you could even sell your own advertising on your site and make your own damn money without ever dealing with a network exec, grumpy director, or diva actor ever.

Like most of my claims, a lot of my beef with the writers could be completely wrong. If you know better than I, and I’m sure you do, please tell me so in the comments so that I may see the err of my ways. I honestly would like to whole heartedly support the writers. But from where I stand, it seems like a grab for cash from folks who already make more than any of us will ever see ever in our life times. Jealous much, but that’s the way I feel.

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13 Responses to “Okay, Fine, Let’s Talk Strike”

  1. AvatarKevin
    Posted: Nov 6th, 2007 at 3:35 am
    1

    The first thing that jumps to mind is the movie “The Replacements”. My favorite part was “Do you know how much the insurance on a (porche or ferrari, I forget which) is, plus I’ve got alimoney!”

  2. AvatarMartin
    Posted: Nov 6th, 2007 at 4:18 am
    2

    Found this sort of an interesting read while trying to find out more about this strike..

    “Brian K Vaughan on the writer’s strike”
    http://tinyurl.com/38m9al

  3. AvatarJami
    Posted: Nov 6th, 2007 at 7:27 am
    3
    Author Comment

    I really appreciate what BKV has to say. That’s some insight that I will have to ponder further. I do agree that comics desperately need to unionize because writers and artists regularly get screwed time and time again and there are virtually no protections for them. Thanks for the link. I will ponder and ponder.

  4. AvatarNelly
    Posted: Nov 6th, 2007 at 8:13 am
    4

    Writers receive 4% of the profits from DVD sales. Just before the strike started they dropped the demand to be given a higher percentage of the profits in an attempt to reach a settlement thus not needed to go on strike.

    The larger issue, if I am reading this all correctly, is that all the new media stuff, producers are getting a cut, but the writers are not. I understand that we are talking about people who have large wages, however, we have to look beyond that a bit and look at what is fair about making a profit off of someone else’s work. Writers are paid to give their works over to the producers and directors and actors to make their story come to life. That is all well and good, until you get something that is only making money through new media, or they are getting cut out of profits because normal means of pay is not being (i.e. DVD release dates held so that more online promoting and hype can be made so that other people get paid more quicker).

    In the end I think this just shows how Hollywood is looking for a larger payout faster. Personally I cannot wait to see all the crap networks start airing once their big title shows have nothing but reruns to show…. maybe people will pick up a book, or newspaper. HA HA HA… look, I just made a funny!

  5. AvatarD-W
    Posted: Nov 6th, 2007 at 8:50 am
    5

    IMHO it seems like they aren’t asking for too much. We are assuming that ever writer on strike is on some show that has a big pay out on a regular basis. I’m willing to bet that, like professional sports, most are getting modest pay rather than the big pay the “superstars” get. Also, one has to consider that not ever script that is written is accepted and paid for. As one writer put it, when her scripts arent’ selling she still needs to be able to fed the kids.

    I’ll wait to see some numbers before I give an opinion on the internet part of their request. I understand the costs to host all that content, but I don’t see them doing it at a big loss. But that’s just my gut feeling.

  6. AvatarHenry
    Posted: Nov 6th, 2007 at 9:04 am
    6

    Writers do not get 4 percent of DVD profits. They get–at most–four CENTS, that’s four PENNIES per DVD sold. The writers are asking for eight cents per DVD.

    If a show gets sold on iTunes or shown on the Internet for free (with sold advertisements), the writers get NOTHING. That’s ZERO pennies, regardless of whether or not the studios are making a profit. Remember that they can make the books look like they are not making money on a venture when they very much are.

    Most screenwriters do not make huge amounts of money. The ones making six figure salaries are a small percentage of the overall WGA membership. Most make a sale once every year or two. Those residuals make it so they can get from one sale to the next.

  7. AvatarJami
    Posted: Nov 6th, 2007 at 9:09 am
    7
    Author Comment

    This is all starting to make sense. I may have to retract my blatant disregard for the screenwriter’s plight.

    However, this convinces me more than ever that comics need a union.

  8. AvatarNelly
    Posted: Nov 6th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
    8

    According to E! the writers currently get 4% of DVD sales.

    I feel for the writers, it’s the producers I’m a little ticked at.

    http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=3b1113ca-7b0f-4aca-bce2-5e044ddaa2d7

  9. AvatarHenry
    Posted: Nov 6th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
    9

    E! is wrong. I’ve heard the 4 cents per DVD figure elsewhere, but here’s where I heard it first, from J. Michael Straczynski:

    http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17690

  10. AvatarKevin
    Posted: Nov 6th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
    10

    Okay first off this is art isn’t it?
    Art is not a stable job, that’s why it is art.
    Art is RISKY, it may have a huge payoff or it may flop.
    I propose a Lucas solution.
    During the production of Star Wars:A New Hope the producers told George Lucas he could have either a directors salary or a percentage of box office receipts and merchandising rights. Notice the or.
    In essence George Lucas was given the choice between steady decent pay or high risk variable pay.
    I think we should give the writers the same choice. If they are worried about paying the bills give them a nice steady pay independent of how well the show does, if they want big pay offs then it is going to involve a little risk.

    As for 4 cents to 8 cents, this jump is more than reasonable. If you look at the cost of a DVD (about 1000 to 1500 cents) for the consumer compared to the cost to produce: 30 cents for DVD (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061007022938AAobDIm) +100cents to burn on a production line (couldn’t find actual cost but it couldn’t be more than a dollar to physically burn a DVD could it?)+200cents for box and art (again another guess)+100cents for transportation (’nother guess) so the cost to physically produce a DVD is $4.30 if my guesses are anywhere close to reality. So 1000-430=570cents to distribute to the creators and whoever was involved with creating what is on the 1 DVD for a box set I bet the profit margin is much higher. An extra 4 cents would not increase it that much. Hell they could just tack the extra four cents onto the price tag and most people wouldn’t even notice.

    As for Internet advertising, I don’t know. I mean the writers make the story but producers are basically advertisements themselves. I have watched more than one show because the producer was Jerry Bruckheimer (CSI) than for the shows actual commercials. But the writers do deserve a cut for their product. I mean most of the members of youtube don’t get money but they aren’t doing this for a living.

  11. AvatarKamenriderjester
    Posted: Nov 6th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
    11

    As a screenwriter who has yet to make a sale, I have to say, “Ouch.” Seriously man, not all of us are out there writing formulaic dance movie scripts. Some of us are really trying to make art. I just want to do what I love and I love to create characters and write. I just want to make a living and not hate my job at the same time.

  12. Avatarsteelcobra
    Posted: Nov 6th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
    12

    Kevin: Where have you been buying new DVD’s? The average price for a movie is $20 or more new at retail, where the majority are sold. And a season of a tv series is usually 30-50 or more.

  13. AvatarKevin
    Posted: Nov 8th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
    13

    I know that is the case for new DVD’s but I went with a low price to show how high the return for cost of physical production compared to paying for whats on the disk(s) and if you want to adjust the price you can add 130 cents per DVD (material+burn) and maybe another 200 cents for the bigger box.

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