“Write” it in your POS Toyota ya back stabbing LA Bastids.

A UAW member sending a big go F your selves and thanks for nothing to CaliforkU.

As for my two cents… I write computer games, not TV shows or movies. There are a lot of similarities, however, and also a fairly important message that should maybe be communicated:

The percentage of overall cost in creating a TV show or movie that is represented by the writer’s salaries is tiny. Really, really tiny. I can’t quote details for TV and film, but in my industry it’s around maybe 1-2%. Perhaps as high as 4% for a really big writer on a really small project.

John and others can comment for Hollywood, but I would be surprised if the numbers differ greatly. Single-digit percentages are the scale of the dispute that is going on here. Relatively speaking, for the producers, it’s small, particularly since the lion’s share of revenue created falls in the producers’ pockets. That’s normal, because they take the financial risk. But currently their upside is unlimited — if something does well, and they can transfer it to other media and keep raking in the cash, they get it all. Somehow, it doesn’t seem to be unfair if the creative people that made that success happen also share in it.

The numbers are even worse for downloads. Currently, the cost of the writing represents 0%. Everything more than 0% that the writers negotiate comes out of the distributors’ margins ; given that the margins are currently probably hovering close to 100% they are loathe to put that on the table. The goose that lays the golden eggs, as it were.

Except that the damn goose has to be fed. Writers are the goose feed (and maybe that analogy isn’t bad as far as cost goes).

And remember that the MPAA (and RIAA) crap bricks — rough, chunky, jagged bricks — when the subject of P2P networks and file sharing comes up. Oh, horror. People are downloading content without paying the folks who made it. That’s evil, that is…

From my point of view, the AMPTP seems to be aiming for a business model that pretty much resembles that of the patent trolls. Get a good idea, stake a claim of ownership, and force everyone to pay that wants to use it. Except, of course, the creator. Ownership of the thing is what is remunerated, not creation of the thing. From my point of view that’s a fairly grotesque corruption of the idea that you should get paid according to the value you create.

Currently, Americans rank last in vacation time taken and the U.S. is one of the very few industrialized countries where the government doesn’t regulate benefits in the private work sector. Americans work two weeks longer than the Japanese, and two months longer than the Germans.

-Vault.com http://www.vault.com/nr/printable.jsp?chid=420&articleid=3810101&print=1

Since the end of the recession of 2001, a lot of the growth in GDP per person — that is, productivity — has gone to profits, not wages. This reflects workers’ lack of bargaining power in the face of high unemployment and companies’ use of cost-cutting technology.

-Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114341649383308604-nD9yJIDaBrnnGoDZYhxAfVf7Sbg_20070326.html

While median household income in 2005 rose by 1.1 percent, the real median earnings of both men and women who worked full-time, year-round declined between 2004 and 2005 (Table 1 and Figure 3). The median earnings of men declined 1.8 percent to $41,386. The median earnings of women declined 1.3 percent to $31,858.23 This is the second consecutive year that men experienced a decline in earnings and the third consecutive year for women.

-U.S. Census, page #12 in book or page #19 in pdf http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p60-231.pdf

And really, I could go on, from Healthcare, to Walmart, to inflation, to even Ultra-Billionaire Warren Buffet saying he’s taxed at a lesser rate than his secretaries and it isn’t right.

Bottom-line is the American worker is getting the short end of the stick in so many ways, a resurgent union presence could go a long way to help address some of these issues. None of it would be easy though and frankly, most Americans need to get more active in their government and at least get off their ass and vote. A long standing pro-business, anti-worker agenda in Washington hasn’t helped either.

And to anyone still seething at the fact that writers have the gall to strike, do you happen to think they would have the bargaining strength and working standards that exist today, without a union?

All I can tell you is this:

1) I do not watch reality tv. I have enough reality in my life. I don’t care about people living on an island, stabbing each other in the back, to try to make some money. When I watch tv, I want to be entertained. Every show I watch is an original hour-long drama.

2) I have purchased 3 tv shows on dvd: Firefly, Roswell, and Harsh Realm. I will someday get around to getting Supernatural, but that hasn’t happened yet. The reason I have bought these shows is because they were VERY well written. Without the scripts, the actors would have nothing to work with. If you want to impress me, write something clever. Sophomoric humor doesn’t work. Dry wit does. There are writers (Aaron Sorkin, Chris Carter, Joss Whedon, for example) that I will tune in to whatever they do because I know it will be great.

3) If I had known before I bought those dvds how little the writers were paid, I probably wouldn’t have done it. I have a vcr, and I can tape everything. I like having dvds because they’re easier to keep up with, and there are no commercials. But I am certainly not opposed to watching tapes over and over.

4) I have never downloaded anything. Not a tv show, not a song. I didn’t even have a computer at home until a year ago. Watching episodes online does nothing for me. I’d prefer to be comfortable on my sofa, under a blanket, perhaps. Just because a lot of people download things does not mean the rest of us will be following suit tomorrow.

5) The networks haven’t been on my good side in a long time. The only thing I watch Fox for anymore is their NFL coverage. I haven’t watched a show on Fox since they canceled Tru Calling (and Firefly and Harsh Realm and Millenium and…). NBC still has some good shows on the air, but they are just as bad about canceling shows because the “ratings” aren’t high enough (Studio 60, Kidnapped, Surface, Heist, etc.). Funny thing about ratings, I’ve NEVER been asked to be a Neilsen viewer. No one has called to ask what I watch. I own a dvr and watch shows when it’s convenient for me to do so, not when the networks tell me I have to watch them. So how come they don’t see that I recorded every episode of their canceled shows (the NBC list, for example; I didn’t have one when Fox canceled their good shows)?

6) I am a firm believer in word-of-mouth. If someone tells me something is good, I’ll check it out. Likewise, I do the same thing. I’ve gotten several friends to watch shows like Heroes and Jericho and Moonlight. I talk about these shows. That is how I show my support.

What it comes down to, for me as a consumer, is that I like to be entertained. And that all starts with the ideas of the writers. Well-written shows are hard to come by. And why the networks have considered the last few seasons failures I do not know. Some of the best shows have been written, aired 3 episodes (Heist, Kidnapped) and were removed. Or they were shown out of order (Firefly). Or they were not advertised at all (Harsh Realm).

For all of the writers on strike, you have my full support. Yes, I know the tv shows I regularly watch will soon be out of original scripts, but that is a sacrifice that has to be made for the protection of intellectual property. Too long have artists in ALL industries (music is another excellent example) been used and not paid as they should have been.

While I hope a reasonable agreement can be reached soon, I understand and support the reasons why a strike has to happen.

Good luck.

I hope you guys get what you’re asking for!

Does that mean that unknown writers can act as scabs to get work that they normally wouldn’t because of obscurity?

I recognize the historical importance of unions. I recognize their value in fighting against things like the 7 day work week and child labor. I think the time of that value has passed. Unions were needed to counteract monopolies, frequently government-ordained, on the means of production. That is hardly the case when it comes to shooting The Office. The closest anyone could come to making a case here is regulation of the broadcast spectrum. This is increasingly inconsequential thanks to cable, the internet, and time-invariant distribution like DVD’s and downloads.

Will C: The same applies to the downtrodden coder, a trade I ply on the side.

“It’s unlikely that large software companies will offer coders residuals unless forced to do so.”

Simple solution: Don’t work for large software companies. The reason this is unheard of in software is because the capital barrier to entry is so preposterously low, anyone can (and will) start their own company and compete.

Much more dangerous than unions and greedy corporations, I think, is the American notion that the highest achievement for the “working class” is to work for someone else. Big corporations get big money because they assume big risk. Assume a smaller risk, and start a small business, and you might be rewarded with smaller returns.

But hey, when you’re the boss, those returns can be a lot smaller than News Corp’s and still seem pretty substantial.

Well coders don’t have a guild or union do they? (If they do, I’ve never heard of it.) It’s unlikely that large software companies will offer coders residuals unless forced to do so. They won’t be forced by one or two people at a time, those people are easily replaced. And consider, could your department be replaced by one in India, or elsewhere? If it can be replaced, even with difficulty, then having a union or strike threat isn’t very effective in any case.

Software designers do have a way to make vast amounts of money. But it requires they become entrepeneurs, take risks and either become a big company, be bought by one, or, more easily, go to work for a successful company that is handing out shares and options. Companies like Microsoft and Google have created literally hundreds, if not thousands, of coder millionaires off stock options. I’d like you to show me a similar opportunity in the writing business.

A working writer in Hollywood is a successful entrepenuer. He or she has taken huge risks, worked with no assurance of compensation and achieved success by having work paid for. But, generally, no writers contract is for long, and often it’s for a single piece of work. The writers’ residuals take the place of a start up software company’s shares or options. They are the ONLY way the writer will see future benefit from their work.

Compare the risk a writer takes with his career to someone who joined a company like Google, got a steady salary with benefits and THEN got stock options that insure a very comfortable retirement. It only takes ONE good decision or break to make your career as a coder, and to secure your future. Most writers who are entirely successful by the standards of their peers can’t say that.

This is why there is a writers guild, and why they sometimes must strike to have their demands met, as painful as it is to them and everyone in the industry.

I am a software developer. We write code. To my knowledge most code writers are offered no residuals. I would like to see this changed. Especially for those who are creating the web sites at which the people are downloading and watching T.V. episodes and movies! After all it is because of them the possibility of residuals in this medium exist.

Regards-

Steve Farris