The reasons why hollywood writers have gone on strike

published by eric3579

9 months 3 weeks ago • 3426 views

tags: strike, hollywood, writers strike

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A 4 minute video, clearly outlining just why it is that the writers have gone on strike in Hollywood.

Comments

Oh poor babies!!! Welcome to the world of 98% of the rest of america whose products have 80% more blood, sweat and tears put into them but inherently can't be leased or resold. Hell, I'd like a lifetime of paychecks from work I've already done too.

written by Enzoblue | 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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I think if they get paid more, Consumers will be paying more for entertainment. After all I am just as entertained by a 1980's sitcom as I am an 2007 sitcom.... why should they be paid more?

written by marinara

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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From what I read, average salary for writers is only 30K. Dang.

written by ant

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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Tags for this video have been changed from 'strike, hollywood, writers' to 'strike, hollywood, writers strike' - edited by Fedquip

written by siftbot

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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Actually ant it's 30K a script. That's a lot if you only produce 3 scripts a year that's $90,000. And that's minimum wage for a Soap Opera writer.

written by gorgonheap

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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Oh and P.S. associate writers only get $3,000 a week.

written by gorgonheap

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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What a great idea! I'm going to see my boss right away and demand I get paid 2.5% of my company's sales. I'm sure he'll find my request perfectly reasonable and reward me with a 10% stake in the company for such dedication to class equality and social justice.

written by bloodymario | 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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Interesting. I wonder if the strike with TV reruns with force people to do online videos like here.

written by ant

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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enzo - think you're missing the point. you are right that the products and services produced by other sectors cannot be leased or resold. however, if, say, GM got paid every time you drove your car, wouldn't you think that the people that built the car deserves some kind of a cut.

bloodymario - did you have a direct hand in making 100% of your company's sales? Or even a demonstrably influential role in just one sale? and after that sale was made, does the company continue to get paid every time the customer uses the product? thought not, so clearly you wouldn't deserve a raise. have a problem with that? form a friggin' union and get on with it.

the point here is: since studios continue to profit from the intellectual property of the writers long after the work was originally created, then the writers deserve a reward for that. residuals are nothing new, writer's just feel that the current system is unfair to them. they have the leverage b/c studios can't produce without them. so let them strike, and when you can't watch the next episode of lost or prison break or whatever it is you like, i'm sure you'll start becoming a bit more sympathetic.

written by aaronfr

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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They're of course free to do whatever they want - if they can get a better deal, go for it! - but this isn't a scenario unique to them.

For example, software developers are usually paid either salary or via a one-time payment. If anything, software developers may have a stronger moral claim to the fruits of their labor. Writers of a sitcom are a part of a long chain, whereas software can often be attributed completely to a single person or team.

I wonder if we'll ever see a programmer's union... it's not like EA hasn't done their best to motivate one.

written by jmzero | 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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Boo hoo. 99.99% of Hollywood output is dreck (or if you prefer the Marshall McLuhan term: SCHLOCK).

Isn't it amazing that these hucksters pull off having a "union" when there are literally thousands of unpaid writers (and actors) willing to take their place overnight, working for probably half as much money?

Bless youtube and cheap media equipment. Hollywood has maybe 30 years of dominance left, if that.

TV writers? Boo fking hoo. Try digging a ditch or carrying a rifle.

written by quantumushroom

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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"This is why we need your help: so the future doesn't look like the past"

but it already does! how many remakes are there out there?

written by sometimes

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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lol how true!

written by looris

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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I believe in the "right to work" where you negotiate your own terms instead of having a union or guild dictating the minimums. If you want 2.5% of sales, then you should be able to negotiate it in your contract. The competition in this industry is so heavy, that chances are it would be difficult to negotiate - but that's how competition in the workplace works right? If it wasn't lucrative, then no one would want to be a writer.

Either way, I have a lot of good buddies who are feeling the pinch from this strike, and my heart goes out to them.

written by blankfist

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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have talked to, or heard about, a number of people who have developed some part or whole of one or another of innovative technologies, chemicals, processes, etc., who had surrendered their work at sign-up....that it has to do with television, well, no mercy, no quarter, you are creative, make it work or not, "no love lost, television!"

this includes all the ancillary help, out of a paycheck or two, and without backup....

written by choggie

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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Where would the passion and angst be in their work though if these writers were being paid well to live luxurious lives?

They'd be like those emergent grass roots metal bands that lose their drive and start pumping out homogeneous nu-metal garbage to a mainstream following.

written by RedSky

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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^ that's true - great art requires misery. So, by that standard - if we want better TV shows we should pay them less and perhaps torture them every few weeks.

written by dag

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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I sincerely would like to become a writer someday. I already knew that majority of writers out there don't get paid much (except the few and the lucky), but it's something I've always wanted to do.

Anyone have more info about writers and writing career?

written by legacy0100

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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^looks like hollywood has an opening as long as you don't mind being a "scab"

I believe the writers have a valid argument. As they sold their intellectual property, they deserve a portion of the money made off of it. Sounds like the technology of today has allowed a loophole for the corporations that own this intellectual property.

Time to renegotiate and strikes are (unfortunately) one of the few effective ways of getting an industry like this one to listen.

written by rottenseed

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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But then there's this point: The studios own the intellectual property. The writers aren't leasing it to them. They were paid to do a job, and they got a paycheck.
Look at it like this: Say back in 2004, I owned the domain "Videosift.com" - I thought of it, I launched a site. Then I sell it to Dag. Does that mean I should get paid 2.5% of all the money that this site pulls in?

If somebody sells something, it's no longer theirs and they have no control over it unless it was clearly spelled out in a contract.

Just don't fuck with my Heroes.

written by MarineGunrock

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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Problem is very complicated.

Now, if writers - for WHATEVER REASON - gain a percentage on TV, then it's clear that they MUST gain the same with Internet.

With that said, there are many many artists/workers/whateverers on other areas, as someone else pointed out, that gain NO PERCENTAGE AT ALL, think of software developers, scientists, etc.

written by looris

| 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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I think we all agree that people deserve to be payed for the products they produce.

The thing that's unique about mass media, is that it can be reproduced as needed at very little cost in order to meet demand. When you pay $3 to download a TV show it's understood that it's primarily the CONTENT that you're paying for, not the (tiny) expense of copying it.

This puts creative professionals in a unique situation, they're selling an unknown quantity of their product. When a writer sells a movie script, they can't know if they're selling ten thousand copies, or ten million. That uncertainty is what makes it necessary to use residuals rather then a lump sum.

The only other fair way to handle it would be for writers to say "Here, I'll sell you 1 million licenses to use my work. If the show is a hit, come back and buy more from me. If you can't sell that many ... well, there's no refunds". This, of course, would just be stupid.

written by entr0py | 9 months 3 weeks ago | CH

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