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Will Hollywood Writers Go on Strike? The Tricky Economics of "Peak TV"
Hollywood Reporter ^ | March 21, 2017 | Jonathan Handel

Posted on 03/26/2017 11:58:33 AM PDT by EdnaMode

As the number of scripted series and TV writers surge, shorter orders stall the volume of produced episodes and staff writer earnings, while screenwriters' wages drop 21 percent.

With scripted television booming — 455 series this season, more than double the number six years ago — it ought to be a great time to be a TV writer. And the ongoing Writers Guild negotiations should be a cakewalk, right?

So you'd think, but it's actually not Easy Street at all, because, as previously unpublished data reveals, growth in the labor supply has outstripped growth in demand, while shorter series orders mean writers, who are held under option from season to season, may be working yet making less than before.

That's just one of the issues that WGA and AMPTP studio negotiators are confronting as talks continue into a second week on a new three-year union deal. But it's one of the hardest on the agenda. Yes, screenwriters too are unhappy ­— their inflation-adjusted average wages dropped by 21 percent during the 2010-15 period — but more than twice as many writers now work in TV as in features, leading to a feeling that these negotiations are TV-centric.

(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: hollywood; wga; writers; writersstrike
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To: EdnaMode
Well, go ahead. Strike. The 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike was the last straw for me. I vowed to never again be held up for entertainment extortion by them or any other part of their industry.

Following that strike I built up a large library of DVDs augmented by an older collection of VHS tapes and Laser Discs. I diversified my television entertainment reception to include basic satellite, local over the air broadcast, and streaming video. Plus I maintain a massive collection of CDs. For good measure I shifted to e-books and resumed attendance at local play productions, concerts, and use of the local public library and its electronic extensions.

Basically, I am now immune to the writers or any other part of the entertainment industry's extortion. They no longer control my access to quality entertainment. I do.

The junk the entertainment industry has been shoving down my throat for the last two decades is revolting. And I have revolted!

Multiply me by millions and we are the entrainment industry's worst nightmare. So strike. We don't care.

41 posted on 03/26/2017 1:28:20 PM PDT by DakotaGator (Weep for the lost Republic! And keep your powder dry!!)
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To: nickedknack

42 posted on 03/26/2017 1:48:15 PM PDT by Trillian
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To: EdnaMode

Please go on strike, and NEVER give in to any offer the man might make.

No more WGA. Halleluiah!


43 posted on 03/26/2017 1:50:31 PM PDT by onedoug
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To: EdnaMode

A flip through the cable tv channels shows that most shows are reality shows. Do they even hire writers for those?


44 posted on 03/26/2017 1:51:59 PM PDT by BestPresidentEver
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To: Paladin2

Burn Notice is one of my favorites.


45 posted on 03/26/2017 1:57:47 PM PDT by Trillian
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To: EdnaMode

How many writers can it take to create the crap that’s on TV today?


46 posted on 03/26/2017 2:10:17 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: Paladin2

I haven’t seen those. But Bosch and Better Call Saul and Billions and ray Donovan (with two conservative actors as leads) are well written.


47 posted on 03/26/2017 2:15:39 PM PDT by Yaelle
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To: Ezekiel

What is wrong with all The freepers who think there is no new good
Music or
Tv? This is the platinum age of
Tv. There is so
Much good stuff, from
USA and U.K., that is far better than anything in a movie theater.

Another one I forgot
To mention is the series that billy bob Thornton did. Great acting and writing.

Now of
Course there does have to be a gay couple
In every show. But overlook
That and watch some
Great entertainment.


48 posted on 03/26/2017 2:20:04 PM PDT by Yaelle
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To: dp0622

U do no painting watching?


49 posted on 03/26/2017 2:30:21 PM PDT by Paladin2 (No spellcheck. It's too much work to undo the auto wrong word substitution on mobile devices.)
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To: Paladin2

I love Elementary.


50 posted on 03/26/2017 2:38:40 PM PDT by MEG33 (God Bless Our Troops, ;Our Leaders And Our Nation)
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To: EdnaMode

What if they make 455 TV series and NOBODY WATCHES?


51 posted on 03/26/2017 2:54:46 PM PDT by OrangeHoof (Get used to it - President Donald J. Trump)
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To: Yaelle
What is wrong with all The freepers who think there is no new good Music or Tv?

I am sure that great new music is out there, because many sources are not of Hollyweird.

TV is TV though. It is filled with lies, perversion, depravity and all manner of abomination and propaganda, so it is not worth my time or effort to wade through to find something decent in there.

Besides, I just don't like sitting mindlessly in front of a TV screen. That's what FR is for. ;)

52 posted on 03/26/2017 3:15:17 PM PDT by Ezekiel (All who mourn(ed!) the destruction of America merit the celebration of her rebirth.)
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To: MEG33

I love Elementary.


My wife and I do too.

But no one seems to understand that Elementary is actually a sci-fi show.

It obviously takes place in an alternate universe where Sir Author Conan Doyle never wrote the Sherlock Holmes series.

Otherwise on the show people would always be commenting about there being a real Sherlock and Watson who are detectives.


53 posted on 03/26/2017 3:31:36 PM PDT by chaosagent (Remember, no matter how you slice it, forbidden fruit still tastes the sweetest!)
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To: Ezekiel

Mountain Stage has good new music.


54 posted on 03/26/2017 3:37:07 PM PDT by Paladin2 (No spellcheck. It's too much work to undo the auto wrong word substitution on mobile devices.)
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To: chaosagent

LOL!


55 posted on 03/26/2017 3:55:36 PM PDT by MEG33 (God Bless Our Troops, ;Our Leaders And Our Nation)
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To: Ezekiel

I hear you. But honest, for real, there are great shows with good acting, cinematography, plots. Probably the best in my lifetime. Definitely better than most movies. You have to dig to find them or ask around.


56 posted on 03/26/2017 4:31:32 PM PDT by Yaelle
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To: LYDIAONTARIO

Watched Person of Interest all the way up to the season where the girls were making out. Turned it off and will never turn it back on. Burn Notice was excellent. We also enjoyed the episodes of Chuck.


57 posted on 03/26/2017 4:32:03 PM PDT by MamaDearest
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Bump


58 posted on 03/26/2017 4:32:19 PM PDT by foreverfree
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To: Lorianne

Everything you listed other than the UK is covered by the CBA and using the same unions. Writer’s strike hits everything. That’s the one thing I think Netflix didn’t wrap their head around, all this original programming was to have stuff that wouldn’t be subject to contracts with fickle distributors, but it’s beholden to contracts with fickle unions.


59 posted on 03/26/2017 4:36:44 PM PDT by discostu (There are times when all the world's asleep, the questions run too deep, for such a simple man.)
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To: Yaelle

For me, even if the general content of TV wasn’t so corrupted, I wouldn’t be interested anyway. I’m not a TV person.

It really irked me that the internet + TV bundle was cheaper that internet alone. It had an odor of manipulation. They didn’t entice me to watch anything.

At least I have cable handy if anyone in the media decides to cover the apocalypse. :)


60 posted on 03/26/2017 5:03:38 PM PDT by Ezekiel (All who mourn(ed!) the destruction of America merit the celebration of her rebirth.)
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