Writers Strike

[bryant]

I’m finding the WGA strike really interesting, for reasons above and beyond the obvious fact that it affects a lot of my entertainment. (Equal link doctrine: here’s the AMPTP home page so you can read up on the other side’s viewpoint.) Perhaps predictably, screenwriters like to write, and that means there’re a lot of screenwriters with blogs, and that means this is going to be a heavily blogged strike. This is only appropriate given that the major sticking point is residual income for Internet-distributed television and film.

Worthwhile blogs on the strike include United Hollywood (a strike-specific blog), John August, The Artful Writer, Kung Fu Monkey, Jane Espenson, and I’m sure there are dozens more. Nikki Finke is not a screenwriter but what else is a Hollywood blogger going to be writing about?

It’s not just that they’re being pretty candid and frank about their opinions on the whole thing; it’s the arguments getting underway in various comment sections. The effect of this strike on non-writers will be significant — set dressers, location scouts, etc., etc are all gonna be out of work if this goes on very long. Those people aren’t shy about expressing their opinions by any means.

So what I’m seeing is evolving labor relations in the field of intellectual property, weighted towards the question of Internet rights, with a hefty dose of class consciousness included on the side. And it’s playing out in real time where I can see it. Yeah, interesting.

Originally published at Imaginary Vestibule.

Comments

[bdeakin.livejournal.com]

Marketplace had a spot on this a few weeks ago, maybe 10/25, talking about how there were a lot of new writers who are being forced into the strike shortly after hanging up their barrista aprons, who had to choose between being a scab and paying their rent or living lean and hoping it ends quick. Kind of interesting.

[bryant]

Yeah. It's fairly clear that not all the writers are happy. I am not an expert on labor, but I sort of get the feeling that the WGA doesn't have an infrastructure for supporting members during strikes to the degree that (say) the Teamsters do.

Evanier blogging

[amberley.livejournal.com]

Mark Evanier is blogging the WGA strike in great and well-written detail at http://www.newsfromme.com/ which is available on LJ via RSS feed at newsfromme_com.

He reported the strike vote was 90% in favor of.

[bdeakin.livejournal.com]

I'd be a little worried that the writers that are generating the content requiring such residual considerations (and the WGA's job action) are potentially also the ones that might be getting squeezed by new, cheap entrants to the writing workforce in Tinsel Town...

[bdeakin.livejournal.com]

e.g. We keep profitable by recycling content into new media or we pay lower cost writers for that content, since the dinos probably don't see the value add of, say, net-only content (if there is one; the dinos might be right!)

[death-by-monkey.livejournal.com]

Granted, I've only been looking at the pro-Writers blogs on this, so I'm seeing a biased view, but from what I've seen there appears to be a fair amount of support for the writers not only from the actors, but from other strains of crew as well.

I also enjoyed the story on United Hollywood about the Teamster on vacation who stumbled onto the picket line with his family and told his wife he was going to join the picket line. When the wife asked why he said, "We're Teamsters, that's what we do."

[bryant]

A lot of other crews are supportive, yeah. Not all, though. Check Craig Mazin's blog for a lot of cranky (much of it arising from Craig's decision to keep directing during the strike).