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jaunthieI haven't commented much on the Writers Guild of America strike on this blog, simply because a) I've been focused on NaNoWriMo and b) I find the studio's position completely unbelievable.
Apparently some people are confused by the writers strike and the issues around it, or unaware of the issues. This confusion has been aided and abetted by the more or less complete lack of coverage from the major news outlets (coincidentally enough all owned by the studios). If you're one of those aforementioned confused people, here's my quick 30-second take on it:
Of course, it doesn't help the studio's believability that they made the exact same argument of "we don't understand this yet" to the writers back in 1985 about a little thing called DVD. The writers agreed to take a bath on it then to support the medium. More than 20 years later, they're still taking that bath, as the 1985 figure (0.03%) still applies today (the studios have never been willing to renegotiate the figure, big surprise). Not terribly surprising that the writers aren't willing to take another plunge into good-faith-we'll-figure-this-out-later-no-money-for-you-now land for the studios benefit. But I digress.
So one of the currently striking writers decided to do something about the studio's claims that they don't make any money through Internet distribution of content. He or she posted the following video on YouTube (click to follow the link if it doesn't appear for you below):
In this day and age, you'd think major studio execs (who all earn multiple millions of dollars in annual compensation) would be smart enough to understand how "broadcast media" (i.e., good old fashioned television interviews) works well enough not to get caught talking out of the both sides of their mouths. But hey, maybe they don't understand "the Internet" well enough to know how it can be used to expose lies, hypocrisy, and double-talk; they only understand how to use it (now and in the future) for massively boosting their profits (unless they're talking about paying the writers residuals for said profits). ;-)
Seriously, whoever put this together did a killer job doing it. Nicely done.
Apparently some people are confused by the writers strike and the issues around it, or unaware of the issues. This confusion has been aided and abetted by the more or less complete lack of coverage from the major news outlets (coincidentally enough all owned by the studios). If you're one of those aforementioned confused people, here's my quick 30-second take on it:
- TV and movie writers don't have stable incomes. They get paid a lump sum for selling scripts (minus percentages to agents, taxes, etc.), but the majority of their stable income comes from residuals - a tiny fee (usually measured in cents or fraction of cents) they get paid every time someone purchases a copy of their work (like a network running a syndicated version of their show, or someone like you or me buying a DVD). It's similar to the payment an author recieves every time you buy a copy of his or her book, both in scope (a tiny fraction of what the publisher recieves overall) and in intent (a way for them to be able to earn a living doing what they love to do, i.e. write).
- Writers currently get NO residual payments for content sold or distributed across the Internet. The studios claim that they can't pay the writers any residuals from Internet content (including iTunes) "because they don't have any models yet" and "because it's only for promotional use, we don't make any money".
- The studios refused to consider residual payments for content distributed on the Internet in the new contract for the WGA.
- The writers old WGA contract with the studios expired on October 31st. When it became clear that an agreement with the studios on a new contract (which the writers wanted to have include an agreement on residuals payment for Internet use of content) was nowhere near, they went on strike.
Of course, it doesn't help the studio's believability that they made the exact same argument of "we don't understand this yet" to the writers back in 1985 about a little thing called DVD. The writers agreed to take a bath on it then to support the medium. More than 20 years later, they're still taking that bath, as the 1985 figure (0.03%) still applies today (the studios have never been willing to renegotiate the figure, big surprise). Not terribly surprising that the writers aren't willing to take another plunge into good-faith-we'll-figure-this-out-later-no-money-for-you-now land for the studios benefit. But I digress.
So one of the currently striking writers decided to do something about the studio's claims that they don't make any money through Internet distribution of content. He or she posted the following video on YouTube (click to follow the link if it doesn't appear for you below):
In this day and age, you'd think major studio execs (who all earn multiple millions of dollars in annual compensation) would be smart enough to understand how "broadcast media" (i.e., good old fashioned television interviews) works well enough not to get caught talking out of the both sides of their mouths. But hey, maybe they don't understand "the Internet" well enough to know how it can be used to expose lies, hypocrisy, and double-talk; they only understand how to use it (now and in the future) for massively boosting their profits (unless they're talking about paying the writers residuals for said profits). ;-)
Seriously, whoever put this together did a killer job doing it. Nicely done.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-13 11:24 pm (UTC)