Why would some random person’s salary be depressing to you? It can’t possibly affect your salary, unless you’re also in the business.
And from what I’ve seen, neither group is waging a campaign for the public to take sides, so I don’t think they expect us to do any hand wringing.
Funny how many people bitch and moan that Hollywood writers make too much…and then they gobble up every piece of drivel they churn out like hotcakes. (Not that it’s the writers’ fault that it’s all such garbage; studios and production houses are only gonna buy stuff that’s already sold before, and I can’t blame the writers one damn bit for giving it to them. I would, too, if I could write saleable episodes.) And then they’re “depressed” about it. If you’re so depressed about Hollywood writers making money, maybe you shouldn’t watch the shows. How much money do you think the actors make, anyway? They’re just playing a role. The writers shoulder the bulk of the creative load.
Hence Cavemen. 
Any hand-wringing I’m doing is over my Colbert-less plight, not theirs.
You also failed to quote the article that says 48 percent of WGA members on the West Coast are unemployed, and many don’t make all that much. Maybe it’s because I also write for a living, but I’m sympathetic and I think they deserve what they’re asking for. Movie studios are notorious for claiming poverty even when they’re making tons of money, and I don’t see why a writer shouldn’t get paid a few cents more on a DVD sale or if something he wrote is aired online.
Hollywood writers. Yeah. Showrunners do. That doesn’t include the peons – the staff writers, the script doctors and all the other non-50% writers out there.
Do you know how many of us there are? We don’t usually get counted in these “averages” because we’re non-credited writers. We’re the poor schmucks who stand to lose a shitload if the unions can’t negotiate a better basic agreement.
Showrunners make over 200K easy. Unfortunately, we’re not all Joss Whedon, Jane Espenson and Carol Mendelssohn.
:dubious: Oh, by the way, don’t be so sure about that. Most showrunners and their staff cut summer hiatus short to make sure you’d have less to whine about – in fact, most shows that had a half season ordered (13 episodes) are wrapped and in the can already. Those with full seasons have about half a season either in the can or close to it. That means your fav’ show can see you through winter hiatus, some can even see you through February sweeps.
Yeah, nobody cares about the shows they slave over. Truly. Nobody cares about other crews, their jobs, our jobs, you know, stuff that actually pays the bills. That’s why union reps didn’t email out emergency financial assistance information, emergency medical insurance information (because some freelance contractors aren’t covered, ya know) so they don’t croak through the strike…
Really - writers don’t give a shit - that’s why they put in doubles and triples since June while crews shot in tandem in some cases, because the studios were on their asses. Yeah.
The writers aren’t being spoiled brats. There’s more at play than people seem to realize.
I know jack about how the writing goes for TV series. The new season usually starts in September or October, so obviously at least one or two months are filmed already so they are ready for broadcast. How far in advance has the writing been done on a season? If a typical season is around 20 episodes, shouldn’t the writers have pretty much figured out how the season will go and have it fleshed out before the halfway point? Otherwise, ISTM, that they would be making crap up on the fly. (I’m talking about a series, not the live shows). I’m sure soaps are worse because they have over 200 episodes a year.
Oh, that’s something to think about. So there will be no new Jeopardys after the batch in the can are aired?
Let’s take, say, your favorite crime procedural. Aired once a week, with a 24 episode per season order from the network. Story breaking might begin, for the sake of example, sometime in July, plotting out basic story arcs for the season (very very loosely). Assignments for the first three episodes might be handed out. The first draft of the season opener will come back maybe 4 days later. The writing team will have a go at it. It will get bounced around with a couple of consultants, if the team uses them, tweaked some to make sure facts are straight. A shooting script will be manipulated out of that by the script editors and script doctors, who make sure that continuity, feel, style and character voicing is a-ok and shots are established. August, casting call is out a week ahead. Shooting takes 8 days for a 1 hour episodic, approximately, assuming it’s not shot in tandem (big ensemble shows shoot in tandem, so they sometimes split casts in two and shoot two episodes at once, doubling the speed at which they write/produce). Meanwhile, writers are breaking and writing the next round(s). Post, ADR, pickups add about a week, give or take.
So – a month is about average.
Plans are laid out in broad lines, but not set. Writers and showrunners make up stuff as they go along. Injuries, illness, pregnancies, actors throwing shitfits – all have to be taken into account at the last minute and can throw spanners in the works. Crime Procedurals tend to write in a lot of current events – amazingly fast, sometimes.
Right now, most shows are about halfway in the can, meaning networks can carry through til about January with what they’ve gotten out of the writers and the actors (and continue shooting for a while). Some sets will shut down anyway because actors decided to stand behind the writers. Some writers are also producers and directors (the so-called “hyphenates”) and they have chosen not to work through the strike. This is also shutting down production on some sets.
Soaps are filmed 3 weeks in advance. Once they hit the end of that, they’ll go to reruns.
Shows that had half-seasons ordered are actually pretty much done shooting, so they should hit the end of their orders as originally planned.
What this will actually hurt a great deal, in the television world, are NEXT SEASON’s pilots, which are being written right now. Well, WERE being written right now…
There you have it, in a rather large nutshell.
Okay, say they all do make $200,000. (I doubt all of them do, but let’s say it’s true for the sake of argument.)
So what? They have a commodity that someone else is willing to pay big bucks for. Not everyone can be a brain surgeon, not everyone can manage an oil company, not everyone can write for a hit TV series.
If everyone could do it, I sure as hell wouldn’t be living in Orlando(ish) right now.
I’ll take the episode after this: the boys get hit with a whammy from one of the Black-Eyed Kids, and must have as much sex as humanly possible. Still no clothes, naturally.
(We’re so shallow, aren’t we? :D)
In all seriousness, Elenfair, I hear you–it’s a sucky situation all around. Out of curiosity, what’s your role in this?
I am but a lowly peon who doesn’t make 200K a year. I’m a freelancer who does a fair amount of doctoring, mainly polishing and uncredited re-writing of dialog (especially specialized technical and exposition dialog). Even though I am a contractor, I have had a steady gig for a very long while, which is rather nice. It pays part of the bills. Otherwise, I teach piano and voice out of my home studio, which also helps pay the bills. The rest of the paying of the bills comes from running a theatre company. Actually, I suppose that ends up costing me money in the end… Ah, art, gotta love it. I work 70 hour weeks, most of the time. If not more.
I’m with the WGA and the AFM. I was once equity, but no longer am in order to be able to run a musical theatre company for children and be able to perform with my students without having to file with the union each and every time.
::: curtsies :::
I heard a report on this on NPR this afternoon. They played audio of some of the union chants. One of them went something like
“Big fat bosses, mean and rude,
we don’t like your attitude.”
I expected more… creativity from professional writers.
As a fellow writer said “We need better chants.” Another pointed out that no writing truly means no writing.
As a side note – most animated shows are not affected by this strike, BUT a lot of your favorite shows may be. Their showrunners are members of the WAGW/E and have said they would not write nor would they ask their writing staffs to write until deals were reached. This includes the FOX staples:
American Dad
Family Guy
King of the Hill
The Simpsons
…but does not include the cable animated series, IIRC. That said, they are seeking protection, in the new agreement. It’s one of the sticky points, in fact. Imagine that.
E.
Those are just the first two lines of a sonnet that also ryhmes “screwed”, “lewd” and “food” (as in “From our tables, they take…”)
Best idea I’ve heard is for the writers to picket with blank white signs.
I think it’s because most people don’t see television writing as being that hard. Granted, we can’t all be Joss Whedon, but I think a small team of Dopers could easily pump out a season of Heroes that would equal anything Tim Kring and company could do.
I imagine that would work for a lot of shows.
Sure. If that small team of Dopers consisted of screenwriters.
Oh wait, I forgot, writers are appointed TV jobs based on a lottery system. No, you’re totally right.
The latest episode of Heroes just revealed a major plot twist that at least a dozen posters guessed at least a month ahead of time based on their prior knowledge of comic book tropes.
Everything is built off of something else now-a-days. I honestly believe we could fire every writer currently working in Hollywood and start over with people who honestly think they can give it their all and not be any worse for the wear.
Just like a small team of dopers could run a school as teachers and administrators. Or a city as politicians. Or an entire newsroom as reporters and journalists. Because anyone can do those jobs without any training – pfft – anyone can teach, anyone can write, and anyone can manage people, right?
Right!
Actors, too! Anyone can act. Easy, peasy!
A small team of dopers could easily pump out a season of Heroes. Sure! We can only afford 3 of you full-time, the rest are editors. Alright, you’ve got 4 days to provide me with a working draft - 60 pages - and once you’re done with that, we’re breaking the next one while your two teammates are also writing episodes. I hope you got our notes on continuity, the stuff we discussed while you were holed up, writing like a madman to make the schedule.
So – you’ve got scripts 1, 4, and 6 due in the span of a month because that’s how the chips fell. Oh, and I expect you to have the plotlines for the general arc to be completed, the material for the website revised, and a couple of interviews done for some entertainment show on the parent network’s primetime gawk-fest thingie. Got it? Good! Oh, and by the way the director for 4 said that a scene you wrote needed a complete rewrite, Actor Alpha didn’t like the sound of the pickups in scene 3 of script 1 and wants a rewrite, and ADR is gonna be needed for a couple of scenes there too, so we need you to rewrite those voiceovers, okay? Thanks… By the way, script 4 is about 5 minutes too long even though the page count is right so it needs to be cut for time, script 6 is three minutes short. Have a nice day!
Now go!
… on behalf of my coworkers and little old moi… go soak your head. 