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Well, it's finally happened: the Writer's Guild of America declared a strike early this morning after midnight negotiations stalled. Naturally there's been plenty of finger-pointing, with writers claiming that the producers broke off talks while producers say that the writers were the ones who walked out.
Regardless, the strike will have some very immediate effects, which the Trib has handily put in chart form. Daily shows will suffer the most at first, with programs like "The Daily Show," "The Tonight Show" and Letterman going into reruns immediately. "Oprah" too. Soap operas would soon follow suit. Most reality shows will air as planned since, like other fictional recorded series (gasp!), they tend to be shot far in advance of the air date.
The New York Times summarizes the the main reason for the strike nicely: writers want increased residuals from DVD and internet sales. The life of a writer ain't always bread and roses (you can take our word for it). Unlike the Hollywood media conglomerates, whose money is just beginning to come in when a movie ends its theatrical run or a TV series airs for the first time, the only substantial income a writer gets is pretty much upfront. As WGAW President Patric M. Veronne puts it, "The companies are seeking to take advantage of new technology to drastically reduce the residual income that sustains middle class writers and keeps them in the business. Their proposals would destroy the very pool of creative talent that is the basis of their immense revenues and profits."
It's anyone's guess how long the strike will last. The 1988 strike went on for 22 weeks; if this one goes on for that long it could mean $1 billion in economic losses. Umm, ouch.
image via AP
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What the heck does Oprah need writers for? She can't think of her own questions?
Arent' Leno and Stewart and other late nighters comedians? Can't they run a show for a few weeks on their own wit and interviews? I know they all have writers who write jokes at the begining of the show for them, but can't they just interview people and do the other stupid and witty sayings themselves?
Oprah has produced segments that she can't just wing. You don't really think that Leno can be funny on his own, do you?
While I support the unions in their strike, I just have to ask, "who watches television anymore?"
This is the best article I've read about the strike:
http://film.guardian.co.uk/patterson/story/0,,2203146,00.html
I'm lucky if I see more than two hours of TV each week. Take out sports and To Catch A Predator and it goes to zero.
Seriously, who actually prefers to stay home and watch TV? Seems like something old people do because they've got nothing else going on.
I'm proud of the fact that I love TV. Maybe people who are too good for TV have a serious inferiority complex and would rather act like elitist snobs?? (TonyB I'm looking at you.)
If by "best" you mean massively biased towards one side in the strike. (Of course it is the Guardian, so what does one expect?)
It looks to me like the writers expect to both get paid in cash upfront and get a piece of the action down the road. In basically every other industry, you get wages or equity, not both.
The fact that other industries do it differently makes no different. Salary plus points have been the standard in the entertainment industry for decades. The writers deserve their fair share.
And considering virtually every major media outlet in the United States is massively biased toward business, the Guardian provides some much-needed balance. Of course, it had to come from outside the U.S.
According to this article they are reporting that Jon Stewart is paying his writers for the Daily Show and Colbert Report for the next 2 weeks. I'm assuming they're still picketing though as the should if they are a member of the union.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/05/stewart-to-pay-his-writer_n_71164.html
Wait...so when you get married, you start watching more TV? Is it because you spend less time in bars, or because you have less interests outside of the home? Or if you marry someone who puts on their pajamas right after work, do you feel obligated to do so as well? I really am curious.
I watch very little TV, but I probably would if I had more time. I hate those elitist "I don't watch TV people" (a la http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28694). My last bf was that way, so proud of not owning a TV, then I found out he was secretly downloading his favorite shows in iTunes.