That the middle class writer will be hosed. There is some grumbling among the screen-bloggers of various levels that the strike is being driven by the rich writers who can afford to take some time off work. That may have made sense if a.) it wouldn't have meant even more stockpiling of material, to help blunt the threat of a strike and b.) the AMPTP was negotiating in good faith, which I don't believe it was, as I'll discuss below. There is some grumbling among industry types that we should have waited until SAG went out, or even at least taken a few weeks with the federal mediator. It's show business, people, and anybody who's lasted longer than their first development deal knows and lives the difference. Please assume we're smart enough to know that. (Don't blame us if those crazy directors fuck it up and go over budget. Movie writers negotiate corporate hurdles and deadlines, not to mention shaping their product to budgets acceptable to the Mother Company commissioning the work. And if they're bad at it, they get fired. Every television showrunner is also the project manager overseeing a $30-50 million per year business. There is some grumbling in the press and business humans that this strike is all about artistic types "sticking it to the Man". Just go to his site and scrawl backwards for a few pages, you'll get the whole shebang.įor a perspective from somebody who's been through a few strikes go (1) read (2) Ken Levine.Ī few quick clarifications before we move on: Craig Mazin has all that stuff covered very well, and he's certainly far more knowledgeable than I am. There are certainly other issues in play - separation of rights, etc. According to the AMPTP, residuals are the major stumbling block, however. There are other creative and jurisdictional issues (such as animation and reality television) which are also on the table. That’s why it’s crucial to set a fair rate for them now, and avoid the same trap of “let’s wait and see.” DVD’s are now cheap and hugely profitable, yet the rate remains fixed.ĭownloads will eventually supplant DVD’s. It was set 20 years ago, when DVD was a nascent and expensive technology. There’s widespread belief that the rate paid to writers for DVD’s is too low. These quarterly checks pay the mortgage, particularly between jobs. Residuals are a huge part of how writers are able stay in the business. These are called residuals, and they’re much like the royalties a novelist or a songwriter gets. Writers for film and television are paid a small fee when the things they write (movies and television shows) are shown again on re-runs or DVD. If you know absolutely nothing about the issues - or if you have to explain it to your grandmother, who’s upset that her favorite soap opera is off the air - here’s my very short summary of the situation. For those of you not knee-deep in this - John August explains it best here:
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