Posted on 03/04/2008 2:36:38 PM PST by vadum
This winter’s strike by television writers interrupted the TV-watching habits of millions of people worldwide. But why did it happen, and did the writers get what they want or need? With the uncertain direction of the “new media revolution,” no one seems quite sure.....
On Tuesday, February 12, Hollywood’s TV studios and writers averted disaster. With only 12 days to go before the entertainment industry’s biggest TV extravaganza of the year, the Academy Awards, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the member studios of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) reached a tentative three-year agreement, which prompted the union to vote to end the strike. Much of Los Angeles breathed a sigh of relief.
“It’s nail-biting time in L.A.,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, the week before the end of the strike. “This is a huge industry and it’s not just about movies stars; it affects average people from the banquet staff at the hotels to the limo drivers and the door guy.” Indeed, Vanity Fair magazine had already cancelled its over-hyped Oscars party, with more event cancellations to follow—including that of the Oscars show itself—had the strike dragged on much longer. Kyser estimated that cancelling the Oscars would have cost L.A.’s economy about $130 million.
As it happened, the strike, which began on November 5 after the expiration of the WGA’s three-year contract, took a $2.5-billion toll on the Los Angeles economy, according to Kyser’s latest estimate. He estimates that writers lost about $278 million in earnings, while other unionized workers in the TV and film industries, such as stagehands, lost about $471 million.....
(Excerpt) Read more at capitalresearch.org ...
Did the actors with contracts get paid even though they couldn’t work? I’m thinking of Keifer Sutherland, for example, who has a 3-year contract for “24”. Was he paid just as a football player with a guaranteed contract is paid even when he can’t play due to injury?
Can anything that meant more Reality YV be a bad thing?
Think they paid him when he was in jail?
What is television?
And, I heard the networks used it as a broad axe to clean house, and to cancel a lot of contracts with production companies of existing weak, and future shows.
Read this "old" article on the situation Gulp! Force Majeure Letters In The Mail as an example.
If you don't know Nikki Finke, she was on Drudge's radio show frequently, commenting on whatever event or scandal was breaking at the time.
I didn’t notice a strike.
It was written by a friend of a friend, who is both a writer and a producer out in L.A. (He was behind Showtime's "Sleeper Cell" as well as the old Fox show "Brimstone".)
I din’t notice anything. Did something happen?
As with many in this country, programs are received in my household via subscription. In my case the subscription is satellite service. I pay a fair amount of money every month for this service. But the strike forced me to assess whether I was receiving value, i.e. entertainment, for my money.
The answer was “No”. Realizing I was subsidizing cr@p, I have twice reduced my satellite programming. And it’s not over yet.
My goal now is to completely control the entertainment entering my house. I am fed up with being at the mercy of others’ whims and bad taste. I now demand of the entertainment industry complete personal programming control.
One way or another, I will get this control. The industry will receive less of my money while I will receive much better entertainment.
Tonight’s entertainment in my house will consist of TV series, movies, old time radio shows, and reading. Tomorrow I will cut even more satellite programming. And I will not return to the Neilson tyranny.
So thank you WGA. Your strike wasn’t about the consumer. But it sure has woken up this one.
I haven’t had TV since ‘97. It had no impact on me.
Yes - they should strike for much longer next time though.
Nope.
Bad question. The answer would depend on if you got payed by the script or were a contract, staff writer. After that , its Hollywood they will get nothing.
If the studio decides that the strike is a force majeure sufficient to suspend an actor without pay, would that also entitle the actor to regard the it as a force majeure sufficient to justify quitting?
I would think that the fairest policy for both the producers and the crews would be to have the producers pay the crew part of their salary and put part in escrow. If production resumes, any crew who come back are paid full salary (in addition to the partial salary they already received). Any crew who leave forfeit the money in escrow. If production is canceled, the crew receive the money in escrow.
It's the place where 42% of youtube videos are stolen from.
hooah! Valid points, all. If we all had the guts to put our money where our values are, we’d not have to put with what passes for Hollywood’d idea of family entertainment.
I did find the strike amusing, but I'd occasionally listen to Dennis Miller. His sidekick "Sal", and the sidekick's wife, are both WGA members, so "Sal" was out picketing after the Miller's show.
The wife was a writer for Journeyman, iirc, and callers in the know would bring her up.
But yes, it's pretty crappy that a suspension can screw up the careers and trades of everybody involved.
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