Hollywood writers strike as talks fail (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Los Angeles Times ^ | November 5, 2007 | Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller

[Wolfie]

Relax. It’s got nothing to do with principles. Little does these days.

[OKSooner]

Excellent news. Let them stay on strike.

[montag813]

This is fantastic, particularly for us indie filmmakers.

[onedoug]

Charging the line today. We’ll see.

[tobyhill]

No ones buying these writers crap.

[peggybac]

I’m not a union fan but I have to side with the writers on this one. They really are getting screwed out of money they earned and with the advanced technology they do need to fight what is rightly theirs. That being said, yes, there’s a lot of crap on the big and small screen today, but, what we see is not determined by a writer. If a network or studio doesn’t like a script it’s either trashed or rewritten. Believe me, this can cause a lot of headaches when working in episodic TV. Writers do not have the final say on what is made.

[reagan_fanatic]

Didn't you get the news - television programming affects no one.

[MHT]

Don’t forget History, Discovery, National Geographic, and all those old foresenic reruns.

[Milhous]

If you're happy to just agree with a bunch of other, unnamed people, that's fine, but you posted that "without question" there is brainwashing going on, something you have offered zero evidence of.

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?

[durasell]

Do you object to the idea of brainwashing in general or just that they are not being brainwashed with the right message?

[MrPiper]

I’m not a union fan but I have to side with the writers on this one. They really are getting screwed out of money they earned and with the advanced technology they do need to fight what is rightly theirs

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?????

[RayChuang88]

I can pass my time watching stuff on History Channel, Discovery Channel and ESPN/ESPN2. Not to mention a lot of DVD's in my collection I need to see again.

[durasell]

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.

[MrPiper]

So the writers do not work for the shows? (I dont watch tv, just trying to understand)

[durasell]

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.

[durasell]

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.

[MrPiper]

Sometimes the writers work for the shows and receive a salary

So a carpenter working for a home builder should receive a cut eveytime the house is sold?

[Utah Binger]

I’m trying very hard to come up with who I’ll miss. Thinking...Thinking...Thinking....Hmmmmmm. Nobody?

[LynnHam]

“As long as Turner Classic Movies and Fox Movie Channel are on, I’m set.” Me, too! Love those movies from the 30’s! Don’t forget TV Land — The Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy.....!

Also like Hallmark and the Western channel on Stars!

[durasell]

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.