No doubt you have heard about the impending (or for sure) "writers' strike". If you like your television regular with new episodes then this is not an issue where you would utter, "who cares?!"I have oodles of respect for these guys, and girls. They are, whether the typical producer would admit it or not, the people who conjure up those story ideas and full scripts; which a film crew later commits to camera. Unfortunately, writers for some reason are not held in high regard by some in the industry.
The WGA (Writers Guild of America) has fought long and hard for what benefits and remunerations they receive today.
This brings me to one of the big issues, if not the biggest: Writers want a percentage of monies accumulated from DVD sales... all those tv boxed sets account for a good chunk of all DVDs sold. And the writers get nothing. When you put down that $40 or $100 or whatever, almost none of those bills make it to the particular show's writing staff. ("Pennies")
You must understand that producers are often the least creative of staff -- this makes this whole issue rather surreal.
This is nothing short of criminal, in my books. It is time to nail this issue down. Personally, I don't care if the strike goes on for months and months as I do not watch the average television program on a regular basis, but this doesn't affect my opinion on the matter.
I read an interesting article in the Globe and Mail today; one titled, "Hollywood writers on the brink of strike"...
Producers say profits from DVDs largely offset the increased cost of production. They also don't want to commit themselves to higher payments for digital distribution at a time when business models are still uncertain.
Well, ya know what? That is not the writers' problem! It is called "the cost of doing business". You pay the writers and others what they are entitled to from the sales, then you calculate the numbers.
If you don't like an equitable arrangement, then get out! Close your doors!
Do something you have a real talent for...
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5 comments:
I am a TV writer, and I not only thank you for your support, but your clear-eyed distillation of the issue at hand. I wish you wrote for the trades!
Thank you, Sam. Like Harlan Ellison, I am not afraid to fire off my opinion... even though it will upset some.
Although I side with the writers as well, the term "producer" ends up being pretty broad. If we are talking about stockholders demanding only sure things get made, fight the power. If the producer is simply an independant financer, I can see he or she demanding to know at the outset exactly what "the cost of doing business" is going to be. It is a notorious money-losing industry for some, and whoever takes the risks may demand to have that risk rewarded. So much of the product out there plays like a make-work project. These issues appear to be a little after the fact. Terms like "existing technology or forms of recording yet to be invented" have been in contracts for almost a decade haven't they? Surely there are and have been individual writers who get more perks than others; with some getting a piece of DVD profits and some not. Not every actor gets first dollar gross. It may come down to a beggers and choosers principle. How many screenplays and teleplays are sitting unproduced by undiscovered writers? Maybe they will take a crummy up front pay-off and finally be produced. Will that make them scabs? I would suggest not, since they would not be filling a specific ongoing service or providing a script that is commissioned; the work has already been done, arguably.
I hope the WGA does win, and that the strike doesn't last long, but even our favourite "nice guy" producers have some pretty nasty, money-grubbing deals as a routine.
If the producers, on the other hand, all stop producing, will writers and directors be considered scabs if they just concentrate on producing lower budget films of their own? And if the distributors have no producer's union to deal with, will they recognize the new producers-by-default or will agents and lawyers put everything together themselves and act as liasons to studios?
Is doing lunch a scab act at any time?
Thanks for the comment, but the bottom line is if the production is "union" then all have to abide by various agreements that have been negotiated. That is that.
Minimums are guaranteed by the WGA for their members when working on these shows. What is not laid out in stone is an equitable arrangement where the writers get what they are worth for sales of TV show DVDs. They wrote the stories and the scripts which ended up on the DVD shelf. Again, DVDs of television programs are selling like Lisa Douglas' hotcakes.
Yes, it is a financial risk. But so is running an airline. There are a lot of other career paths if one does not like these. When the cash does come in from DVD sales, then the writers should get a fair cut... that is all. Whether there be two units sold or 800,000... it is all scheduled in an agreement.
Again, it is all about minimums -- that is what is charted in the agreements -- and anything more is negotiated on an individual basis. But, again, they are guaranteed a certain amount... at least.
Now, I know next to nothing about the industry, but it sounds as if the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) would like to keep these artists down, and their own profits up. Reminds me of what I've heard about the medieval days of the music industry. Research suggests that many talented artists lost out on significant royalties, i.e., were not paid any at all, due to the unscrupulous practices of the ancestors of the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the PRS (Performing Rights Society) in the UK). Van Morrison comes to mind, although there are apparently myriad others.
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