If Hollywood writers go on strike, will the studios start to hire non-writers guild writers or will they just try to get by on “inventory”. I seem to remember that writers went on strike before, but don’t remember what happened, and none of the articles I’ve read have discussed it.
Maybe this could be the break I’ve been waiting for! Of course, even if it did work out that way (like me getting really rich by writing films and TV shows), I’d probably be blackballed for the rest of my life because I crossed the line. (Look at the hard time Elizabeth Hurley got for just shooting a commercial in Canada - those Hollywood types can be a surly bunch…).
But, has anyone seen any activity by Hollywood to hire non-union writers? Will they ever do that?
think about what you’d be doing to yourself. You’re right…if the writer’s union found out you worked for the networks during the strike…they’d NEVER LET YOU IN THE UNION, and when the strike was over, you’d be sunk. Unions! Aren’t they great?
When the SAG strike was going for commercials last year, my friend was offered $35,000 to do a commercial, but it was struck work, so he turned it down. It’ll be better for him in the long run.
The only opportunities we’ll see out of the writer’s strike is that shows that were prematurely cancelled (my fave, Big Apple), may get a second chance, since they’ll already have episodes in the can.
A lot of networks have already said that they’ll rely on reality shows to get them through :rolleyes: Great. Another season of Boot Camp. That show would be a lot better with some strategically used floggers.
Seems to me, the networks could also broadcast British shows to fill up the slack. And of course, there is the huge backlog of programs which were commissioned, written, but never aired.
For that matter, what would stop an enterprizing network from airing classic episodes of shows from the 50’s-90’s. Or even, reshooting old sitcoms with new casts. Just imagine, we could watch “Happy Days” again, only with a different cast, but using scripts already in the can…
Of course, this is all moot should the actors strike, but that makes me wonder about something else…
I keep hearing that the networks could rely on shows like “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” to fill the schedules, but isn’t Regis Philbin a member of the actor’s union? Could he still host a show, since that wouldn’t be acting in the same sense as it would be if he were doing a drama? (Of course, he may choose not to, in support of the strike).
And what about those talk shows. Sure, we know they use writers, but is Rosie O’Donnell a member of the Writer’s Union? If not, couldn’t she just go on and chat for an hour, unscripted? Some would say she already does that…
If there is a protracted strike, they will put on more reality shows (screw Boot Camp, Chains of Love is far better)… and our old favorite…NEWS! Dateline Monday-Friday…20/20 until your blind…yeehaw.
Yeah, I remember the last prolonged writer’s strike, I lived in LA at the time. It was a time of great opportunities, especially for apartment hunters, since lots of writers were giving up long-term leases and moving in to shared apartments with roommates to save on rent. Lots of people got into rent-controlled apartments that they could never have gotten through any other means, it was great!
The fact is, scab productions occur every day in LA, the SAG/AFTRA, WG, etc, all scream about it but there’s nothing really they can do about it. Nobody gets work in LA because of their union affiliations, they get work because of cronyism and nepotism, just like in all the other mafia-controlled corrupt industries in the world.
Even if the unions came to agreements today, the effects are already happening, and will become apparent soon. Shooting schedules have been curtailed in case of the strike, and they’ve already started cranking up production on “reality programming” filmed without union actors or writers. And the networks have already moved to a schedule where year-round reruns are the norm and new episodes of a show are a special event. The quality of TV will continue to decline, regardless of whether or not union actors and writers participate.
The real opportunity here is for internet-based entertainment. If Chas is right, and it sounds like he is, people will be ‘staying away in droves’ from TV, especially network TV. The Big Four will be faced with a sink-or-swim proposition: Make a serious go of actual internet content not directly tied to failing TV shows or lose to those who do. I can’t wait to see those old economy dinosaurs try to compete with the open-market bazaar of the internet.
BTW, this is why big, long strikes aren’t always a good idea: If the industry moves, it will move without you, and will probably move to your detriment. After all, how many sitcom and drama writers does a website need?
Yeah, I’ve been having this argument with some of my friends who are trying to implement new-media for the old economy in LA, they just don’t get it. People are ALREADY staying away from network TV in droves. Movie theater chains are all on the verge of bankruptcy.
The best example of this came from Lawrence Lessig, in one of his commentaries on the Microsoft antitrust trial. He said that when an industry like MS, or RIAA & MPAA members accumulate so much money, it is solely due to the overly-broad granting of copyright powers to an exclusive cartel. And the movie and TV industry, facing lowered profits, lobbied the government, and was eventually granted an extension of their copyrights. They can’t make a buck in the fair market, so the only response is to tilt the playing field even further in their direction. They are bound to lose. And the sooner the better.
Here’s the deal with the WGA: they won’t let me join their union until I sell a screenplay (and get production started on it). So, while I support their goals and ambitions 100%, I feel like the opposite of Groucho Marx: I can’t be a member of a club that won’t take me.
During the commercial actor’s strike last year, my brother did a one day job acting in a commercial. Yes, he was a scab. I didn’t feel good about it.
So, do I sit idly by and wait for the strike to end (well, if it ever starts…) and support the WGA, or do I hope and pray that a desparate producer stumbles upon my screenwriting web site with four perfectly-producable scripts and gives me a nice big check?
I like to call my friend who is president of an unrelated Union and bitch to him about how they’re a bunch of freaking bullies, not unlike the mafia.
Montfort, the entertainment industry is a nightmare I think. Impossible to get in, impossible to stay in, but man, when you’re there…easy street.
Actor’s Equity Union is the craziest of all. You work all your life to be an “Equity Actor” and then when you become that, you can’t get work because you’re not ALLOWED to work outside the union, but non union work is the only work that’s hiring! What’s the deal there?
Someone encouraged me to join the fiction writer’s union and I laughed at them. Jesus Crimony, I can’t get a book published NOW…you think a union’s going to make it EASIER?
Derleth, I agree with you about long strikes as an exercise in slitting one’s own throat. However:
“I can’t wait to see those old economy dinosaurs try to compete with the open-market bazaar of the internet.”
[rant]
Oy veh! People cringe when they hear that “old economy dinosaurs” cliche, which is linked in many minds with “profits are irrelevant, everything will be done solely on the Internet, bricks and mortar are dead” flacks for questionable dotcom businesses, and with the dotcom stock market crash (actually, restoration of the common-sense rule of “a for-profit company is expected to eventually turn a profit”) that followed.
I’m not saying that that’s you, but that’s where people have heard that catchphrase before and that’s who and what MANY people associate it with.
Just as the “post-industrial” economy is an exaggeration [there are still plenty of factories, refineries, etc. in the U.S.], and sweeping predictions for earlier technologies didn’t come to pass [the newspaper wasn’t killed by radio, and radio wasn’t killed by television], the idea of an old vs. new economy is an exaggeration. A website isn’t going to cut my hair or pull my abscessed tooth, you can’t eat virtual popcorn or wear virtual trousers, and lots of people still prefer to make many of their purchases in real, physical, stores where they can ask questions and check out the merchandise before buying.
[end rant]
