The Writers Side of the Strike

There is an interesting video that explains the writer's side of the strike:

I wonder why the studios haven't produced a video to explain their side of things (oh, wait -- all of the writers are on strike).

Comments

[Hunter McDaniel]

I have no love for the studios, but was really underwhelmed by the arguments the writers make in this video.

They whine about not getting any money from re-runs of I Love Lucy, but that just points out the absurdity of such long copyright terms; 50 year old TV shows should be in the public domain. Were any of those original ILL writers counting on getting a payout 50-years later? And how many are still alive and working in the WGA to collect it?

Also the kind of terms they want for Internet viewings would be a major barrier to innovation, IMHO. But maybe, if we're lucky, the WGA strike will accelerate transformation of the entertainment business, along the lines described here: http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/11/rebuilding-holl.html

We can only hope.

[WeaselBuddha]

I found the argument compelling.

And, the reason that the studios haven't made a video is quite simple, I think, they come off as unreasonable greedheads if they did make such a video.

Like the MPAA.org home page looks unreasonable, presenting downloaders as just this side of pedophilic clergy.

The studios had a record breaking year at a projected 40 billion, and they are grousing about, what, another 6 to 8 cents on the dollar?

With BSG, a hugely profitable franchise, NBC refused to share penny one for even one of the showings of the webisodes - even though they carried revenue generating advertisements.

As to copyrights, it was an example of historic disequity that writers have experienced - not a desire for residuals on a series that is now in the public domain. Once no one is making money on the show, then nobody is ( except those $5 a disc collections ).

Interestingly, putting I Love Lucy on studio DVDs has had the effect of copyrighting those cleaned up version forever. Encrypted on DVD means that it is forever protected by DMCA enforcement.

There is an old joke, about the oh so dim starlet who slept with a screenwriter, thinking that it would advance her career.

I'd suggest reading William Goldman's _Adventures in the Screen Trade_ written many years ago, if you want to understand what it means to have the creative sweat of your brow discounted as something anyone can do.