Merry Freakin' Christmas -- Being on Strike Sucks

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

*My goal here is not to open a debate about the merits of either side in this battle. It’s not to talk about our current talks with Worldwide Pants or Late Night show decisions to return without writers. You want to debate who is right, writers or AMPTP? Go do it somewhere else. This little scribe does it day in and day out and can’t be arsed to do it here. :stuck_out_tongue: *

No, I’m just fucking tired. We’re going on 8 weeks, now. It looks like we’re probably not even halfway through, either. I’m just not really in the mood for festivities, right now. I’ve been out of work (spare for my theatre artistic direction work) for two months - 85% of my income is gone, if not more seeing as December is a dead month for my private students.

I’m sick of having to explain how residuals work. I’m sick of having to explain that no, we don’t all make megabucks. I’m bloody sick of trying to get idiots to understand that the average WGA writer’s salary is 62K – in LA and NYC – and that the median is actually 5K a year. At any given time, 50% of us are unemployed. We live off residuals. We’re much like actors going from gig to gig, unless we work in television… and if we DO work in television, well, we sure as HELL are not all making millions.

And now, for a moment of thankfulness: thumbs up and heartfelt thanks to our show-runners. Our hyphenates. The guys who write and produce. Those guys who DO make the big bucks. The guys who, on day 5 of the strike, when FOX and other Companies decided to “hit the kids” (fire the assistants to “save money” – WTF?) and say “look what you made me do!” decided to keep them hired, out of their pocket, to make sure they were taken care of.

My house is Strike Central right now – I’m a strike captain – I’m doing what I can. I’ve got crap everywhere. Signs, shirts, caps, buttons, event calendars… the phone’s been ringing off the hook. I’ve been helping people in the industry get assistance if they need it. We’ve set up funds, we’ve helped each other out - writers, make-up artists, teamsters, you name it.

I’m exhausted. I’d like to celebrate the holidays and have fun. Instead, I have this huge weight on my chest. I have rallies to plan. Myths to dispel. A livelihood to fight for.

I hate this.

– God DAMN IT, I meant to put this in MPSIMS. Mods, a little help? –

2

Moved from the Pit to MPSIMS.

3

I certainly understand how awful it is to struggle with this at any time of the year, and for it to hit around the holiday season just crushes a bit more. Yikes.

But I also think that the goal of keeping “who is right” out of any discussion of this type is not realistic. If your cause is a righteous one, it’s easy to sympathize with the struggle you’ve described – and, indeed, having disclaimed any interest in such a discussion in your first paragraph, paragraph three makes a set of arguments for precisely that point: “We’re not greedy; our demands are reasonable.”

If, on the other hand, your demands are greedy and unreasonable, the reaction from the crowd becomes much more of a “Meh. You brought this on yourself with your greedy, grasping ways; don’t whine about a predicament you (jointly) created with your avaricious demands.” Indeed, as a strike captain, you can scarely claim to be simply “going along,” perhaps uncomfortably, with your union. No, you’re obviously an involved and committed advocate for the cause behind the strike.

For these reasons, I think it’s unrealistic to come here now and say, in effect, “Let’s not talk about who’s right and who’s wrong (even though I’m clearly in the right); let’s just sympathize with my plight.”

4

Ah. Well, if this thread happened to get moved to, say, MPSIMS, then perhaps that goal is a bit more realistic. Sorry. My response above was written when this was still in the Pit.

5

No hard feelings there, Bricker. :slight_smile: I had meant to post it to MPSIMS, which is where it has been moved. I am behind my union 200% We’re fighting a just cause here. I just spend my days giving interviews, answering questions and sometimes arguing it out. I run out of steam.

6

My niece-in-law’s sister is in your union. I can’t remember her first name (I want to say Elena) Her last name is Tropp. She just had a baby whom she took with her to the picket lines - the baby was holding a sign that read “I Will Not Be Pacified”.

7

I’m sorry you have to go through this crap, Elly.

8

Been on strike 3 times and I hate it. My union started the propaganda rhetoric 3 months ago and our contract doesn’t expire till September. Be strong and I hope you all get what you want.

9

Hee. Love the baby’s sign. We’ve been chanting - “What do we want? Residuals! When do we want them? Later!” out here at our rallies. Whee. It’s just ridiculous, really.

Racer, I feel the pain. We knew this was coming months and months ago. We knew that the “new media” was going to be THE sticky point. We’re all just hoping we won’t be out here 'til June… the last strike lasted 22 weeks.

This one’s hurtin’. It’s hurtin’ pretty bad. And it’s gonna hurt a long time, even after the strike is over.

10

Give 'em Hell, Elenfair. As you probably could gather from my postings in other threads I think the writers are totally in the right. “New media” is cheaper than other distribution methods, but you’re still being asked to take a pay cut. And if the WGA doesn’t hold the line, the actors and directors will get stiffed as well. Keep fighting the good fight!

11

I thought you trained dogs for a living.

Keep your chin up and remember that the holidays will be over soon, even if the strike isn’t. And I don’t blame you personally that I only have one show on my Tivo schedule in the next week.

StG

12

Good luck **Elenfair ** and have a Merry Christmas in spite of the problems. I am not sure who is right and who is wrong in this strike as I am ignorant of the details of the issues and my only concern is that I hope it is resolved soon.

The little I have read, seems to indicate the Union is mostly on the right. I am not so sure about the internet part of it though. Again, I don’t feel knowledgeable enough about the details to hold much of an opinion, just a vague sense, that it is too soon on that embryonic area of the TV market.

Jim

13

Somehow I’m not surprised that the Writer’s Guild has good slogans.

Sorry this is so tough Elly, but I hope it works out in the end.

14

I say you guys starting cutting the megacorps out of the profits now. Get together with the various folks, and start producing original web content on your own and putting it up on the intarwebs. This would be a win-win situation for everyone but the fatcats. You probably wouldn’t be able to snag the “top-tier” acting talent, but that’s okay, I’m sure there’s plenty of extras and bit players who’re perfectly capable of pulling off a well written role (which they’ll have, since you won’t be dealing with “the suits” anymore) that will be more than happy to step out of the shadows to do this. You can make money with Google ads, or even doing traditional ads within the projects (yeah, you might not get the networks current crop of sponsors, but I’m sure there’s plenty of folks who’d be willing to pay for ads, since you’d be offering them for less than what the networks are), and while it wouldn’t be bazillions, you folks would make something, and you’d have a stronger case at the bargaining table (plus, you could afford to stay out on strike longer). Heck, if things go really well, you could have the networks begging you for a piece of your action! :smiley:

15

The issue with New Media is simple: Right now, when you buy a television episode track from iTunes, or Amazon Unboxed, the network gets money from you, the consumer. In may cases, they get their ~39.95 for a “season pass” and sell you the whole set of episodes for the year. Or, maybe you miss a show and go watch it on NBC, FOX, or say CBS’s website - there, everywhere where there would have been a commercial break, the network has sold a spot to a sponsor who has placed an ad. There’s revenue coming in for that, and for the ads your precious eyeball spots on the website too.

The writers who wrote those episodes see exactly 0$ from anything that is sold for download or streamed online.

Last year, there was a “webisode” written for The Office. Because it was written for the Internet, the writers were never paid for the work. The Network seized the work and claimed it was “for promotional and marketing use”.

We are being told that the Internet is an unproven market and that because of that we cannot be given a slice of the profits. We were offered a flat rate for everything sold online – not even a fraction of a percent. Interestingly, that offer was in improvement… because on top of all of it, they would like us to agree to a clause where the networks would be allowed to air full length features and episodes of television shows, on any platform (you read that right) for promotional purposes, without having to pay residuals. Oh, yes, and by the way, would the writers also please agree to a “window of free reuse” online, where the networks would be allowed to have the episodes/movies for free, 4 to 6 weeks, until they have to start to pay? Because, you know, people really CARE about downloading the show they missed 6 weeks after it aired.

We’re asking for 2.6% of the online share. If the market is unproven, as they claim it is, and proves to suck, then we’re not going to see much and nobody wins. If it proves to be great, then everyone wins, right? I mean, right now, we see 4 cents for every DVD sold (that’s not per writer – that’s by the DVD/set) – we asked for 8 and were told our demands were outrageous.

AMPTP is crying poor. To us, they claim they barely have made profits since the second world war. A week later, to their shareholders, they proudly announce 350 billion dollars in profits.

We’re not backing down from the Internet demands. If I’m going to be writing content that’s going to be streamed online, I’d like to be paid my residuals. Thank you. What’s so hard about that?

16

Elenfair, I don’t have much to say about the strike, except to say that I’m pulling for you and hope the writers come out of this with a fair compensation package. Power in a union, baby!

17

Can you explain a little more please. The 2.6% represents what exactly? Is it a percent of any ad revenue? Who else do they have to pay a percent to? I would imagine the actors and possibly some other members of the production team?

All-in-all, 2.6% sounds pretty minor and DVD issue is just plain silly, an extra 4 cents per DVD is not going to kill them, they could pass that on to the consumers in a blink of the eye. No one would complain. I just bought my sister 11 movies for around $100 for Christmas. I would not have minded an extra 44 cents.

Jim

18

Interestingly, there’s… talk. Lots of it, bubbling up from L.A.

Things will come out of this strike that will force the Networks to rethink how they handle these things from now on.

Also, keep an eye on StrikeTV… coming online in 2008 :wink: We’re having WAY too much fun with this whole Unproven Intarwebz World, let me tell you.

19

I’ve never been a big fan of unions; the hard-working men and women I know who are union members (railroaders, truckers, millwrights, heavy equipment operators) were sold out by their unions years ago. It would be refreshing to see just one union actually force the megabuck-makers to take better care of the workin’ stiffs who make them all that moola.

Speaking of which, is Letterman still getting paid even though he’s not taping new shows? You bet your ass he is.

20

80% of “rerun” money is paid to the studio. The rest gets distributed to performers and the rest of us. Directors get a cut, actors get a sizable cut. We get our 2.6% (ish) Except for the “intarwebs”, where we get nothing at all.

*Profit “sharing” from streamed content (where ads are sold) would work just like any other residual does – residual calculations are a royal pain in the ass, but if you are a brave soul, you can poke the sheets at the WGA’s website and take a gander.

The rest would apply to direct sales to a consumer (you!) for buying, say, a show episode off iTunes. We just want a slice. Something for the work we have done.