Posted on 11/05/2007 1:23:49 AM PST by abb
Hollywood's film and television writers went on strike early this morning after last-ditch efforts to negotiate a deal with the major studios failed Sunday.
Despite the aid of a federal mediator and back-channel talks between top writers and studio executives, the sides were ultimately too far apart to bridge the massive divide between them and avert the first writers strike in nearly two decades.
After three months of contentious negotiations, talks broke down Wednesday night when the writers' three-year contract expired. Although they made minimal headway on some issues Sunday, the parties could not come to terms on such key issues as how much writers are paid when their shows are sold online.
The question now is no longer whether or when they will strike, but how long a walkout will last and how much pain it will inflict.
Both sides are girding for what many believe will be a long and debilitating strike, potentially more disruptive than the 22-week walkout by writers in 1988, which cost the entertainment industry an estimated $500 million.
"Once it starts, it's going to get ugly," said one of the guild's strike captains Sunday.
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"It is unfortunate that they choose to take this irresponsible action," alliance President Nick Counter said.
The guild said that although the union had agreed to withdraw its proposal to double DVD pay, which had been a stumbling block in negotiations, producers refused to make concessions in other key areas. Among other things, producers refused to grant the union jurisdiction for most new-media writing, the guild said. They also insisted on a proposal that would allow them to reuse movies or TV shows on any platform for promotional purposes with no residual payment.
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(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Relax. It’s got nothing to do with principles. Little does these days.
Excellent news. Let them stay on strike.
This is fantastic, particularly for us indie filmmakers.
Charging the line today. We’ll see.
No ones buying these writers crap.
Don’t forget History, Discovery, National Geographic, and all those old foresenic reruns.
Why did you bring up brainwashing in the first place? To nitpick?
Do you feel that 911 conspiracies sprang fully formed from the minds of truthers with little, if any, help from mass media?
Do you object to the idea of brainwashing in general or just that they are not being brainwashed with the right message?
Let me get this right, your saying that a widget I design FOR THE COMPANY I WORK FOR to be sold by that company should send me royalties for the rest of the widgets life?????
Except you didn’t sell them the widget. You only sold them the right to use the widget and/or to rent the widget out. You still own the widget.
So the writers do not work for the shows? (I dont watch tv, just trying to understand)
Sometimes the writers work for the shows and receive a salary, sometimes they are freelance and only get paid per script. In movies they are all freelance.
It really doesn’t relate to any other business, though the business model for movies is nothing short of brilliant: people are hired and come together to make a single product and then disperse when the product is complete. No matter how good a job they do, when the job is over, it’s over.
However, there is enormous money to be made in TV. Law & Order has generated well over a billion dollars in revenue over the years for the network.
It is not unlike any other business in one respect: the writers, actors, producers, directors, etc. etc. sell their product for as much as possible. It helps to think of them as subcontractors manufacturing components rather than employees.
So a carpenter working for a home builder should receive a cut eveytime the house is sold?
I’m trying very hard to come up with who I’ll miss. Thinking...Thinking...Thinking....Hmmmmmm. Nobody?
There really is no analogy. The arts, such as they are, tend to be chaotic and careers tend to be short. Everyone is out to get as much as they can for their work.
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