Posted on 01/12/2008 3:31:01 AM PST by abb
The Hollywood writers' strike claimed its biggest casualty this past week when the threat of picket lines forced NBC to pare back the annual Golden Globes awards ceremony.
The network will air an hour-long news conference Sunday night instead of the star-studded, hours-long dinner event that drew 20 million viewers last year.
The upending of the awards season comes as more television shows air their remaining first-run episodes produced before the strike began on Nov. 5. Popular entertainers such as Jay Leno, meanwhile, have faced criticism for crossing picket lines and returning to work earlier this month after showing reruns for weeks.
Here's a closer look:
Why are writers striking? The Writers Guild of America, which represents 12,000 screenwriters, went on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers last fall after their three-year studio contract expired. At stake: how the studios compensate writers for work distributed over the Internet.
Writers are demanding a uniform 2.5% of revenue for recycled or original work that appears online, an increase from current rates that vary depending on viewership. Studio owners want to apply the residual formula currently used for home videos to digital media.
But that doesn't sit well with the writers. Their 1985 contract established the current residual model for then-fledgling home-video sales -- 0.3% of the first $1 million of revenue and 0.36% on each unit sold after that, which amounts to less than five cents for a $20 disc -- shortly before the home-video market exploded. DVDs generated $23.4 billion in sales last year, compared with $9.6 billion in box-office returns.
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(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
you’re welcome!
btw, your “dinosaur media”
helped elect a democrap u.s. congress in 2006.
they’re not dead yet!
I never said they were dead. But they are dying.
Embarassing that 20 million people would watch that crap. Really pathetic.
I have to plead guilty to having watched in the past. But now there are so many other choices (like reading posts on Free Republic) that TV in general is pathetic. If it came down to choosing my computer or my TV, the TV would go in a heartbeat.
What sucks about the strike taking the awards shows off the air is that they’re a huge piece of the starmaking machinery, and people like Nikki Blonksy arent getting that this year because without the shows, there’s none of the PR build-up to the shows that help turn them into bankable stars.
Um, as soon as TV comes back, audiences will too. It dosent matter how long the strike goes on. Americans watch more television with each passing year, not less. The only shift has been in viewing habits, with the proliferation of specialty cable channels splintering audiences. It’s one of the reasons the WGA is now 12,000 members strong, there’s more work than ever for writers now that it isnt just 3 networks needing 30 programs a year, it’s 3 networks and hundreds of cablers needing a few thousand programs a year.
I'm with you on this. Many FReepers aren't. You don't have to look far to find an argument that unions are deleterious to capitalism.
I take the position that opposing forces must balance each other, Laissez-faire vs. regulation. Free trade vs. fair trade. Capital vs. labor. Liberty vs. security. A constant state of dynamic tension. An argument carried out all day, every day.
The bad things come when either side is unopposed. The Nazis united corporations and government The Communists subjugated corporations to government. The capitalists, in the era of child labor in the mills, subjugated government to the corporations.
The only solution is a balance of forces, yin and yang, capital and labor, north and south, east and west. There is no finish line, no utopia where one side wins over the other and everything becomes peaches and cream. Marx was wrong. There is a permanent balance of forces, re-negotiated every day.
I have a deep and abiding distrust for anyone who has a finish line of history; ain't no such a thing. We flawed, crude and clumsy creatures can never reach a state of permanent perfection. The most we can hope for is balance. In our domestic politics, in international affairs, in our own personal lives.
Thank YOU so much!
I watched an interview with Amanda Bynes. She was so disappointed not to be doing the People’s Choice Awards. Yes, she is a kid star in her own right but no one knew she could sing and so here we are.
I feel really bad that the shows are cancelled. The Media will go on, just like you said. Only this year no exposure for those who actually put out a decent product.
Well, at least you’ve changed your wicked ways! :)
That was everything I ever wanted to say about politics in general, in approximately 2 million less words that I’d need to do it.
Thx.
Given the frightening display of non-talent on the part of the “writers” for the past dozen years or so, I’d like to see the studios fire them all. Maybe they could hire a grammar school class, and up the quality of the scripts a little.
Actually, I’d rather see the strike continue on forever.
Boo hoo hoo. The Hollyweird liberal slime balls won’t be able to have their “pat each other on the back and talk bad about how bad America is and hate America celebration” if they cancel the worthless, who gives a rat’s butt, Oscars show. I have not seen that show in 30 plus years. I don’t care, never did care, and will not care in the future. All these award shows, and they just keep creating them, are nothing more than pat themselves on the back and see how great and wonderful I am programs. Nothing more.
“Jay is one of us. He is a right of center republican who openly supports the conservative agenda”
I’d like the see the evidence for that.
“Leno always struck me as someone who was nice to the working guy but only when it was convenient for himself. He tries to come off as just folks, but he’s just as hungry for the fame and money as any of them. I guess he was starving and needed to pay some bills.”
Leno doesn’t owe his workers a damn thing other than to pay them for the hours they have worked. Likewise, they are free to strike if they don’t like their pay. My problem with unions is when they force workers to join. If unions would respect the right of free assembly I would support them in pursuing their best interests the same way business owners do. If I were Leno I would want to turn the cash spigot back on too, ASAFP.
I just stumbled into this thread.
My wife was watching his monolog last night and told me that he said he was glad the golden globes were canceled. He didn’t want to have pin head actresses to interview, who played someone with aids, or who was gay, and was written by people who hate America.
Sounded like he wasn’t towing the FAG (Film Actors Guild) line.
p.s. if you haven’t seen Team America, FAG came from that.
Why do people think arnuld announced on Leno?
Because Leno was a raving moonbat dem like say, Rosie?
Arnuld could have announced on multiple liberal trash programs such as “The View.” - Or any of the alphabet network news.
Can you please post your data that shows this? My data indicates otherwise.
IBM Consumer Survey Shows Decline of TV as Primary Media Device
Nielsen Finds Drop In TV Usage Is Real
If the strike lasts long enough, there will no need to have a ceremony next year either - eh?
Oh, I hope so! The Oscars used to be enjoyable until it turned into a political pukefest. I don’t watch anymore.
It’s all about narcissism and self-worship.
We can only hope this worthless liberal butt kissing show goes down the drain also.
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