So the strike is moderately confusing, especially if you haven't been keeping up with it, but that's why we have James Gunn to explain! Today writer-director Gunn (Dawn of the Dead, Slither) updated his MySpace blog where he explains the current situation for the strike, where he stands and what the future holds for his two projects, Pets and The Belcoo Experiment. Read on for the madness!
As a member of the Writers Guild of America, I have been on strike since 12 am last night.
The only reason for the strike – and don't believe anything to the contrary – is that the studios have refused to pay writers (and screen actors, and directors) residuals on new media. When you download a movie from Amazon or a TV show on iTunes, the people who created that content, who devised it, wrote it, acted in it, and directed it, get exactly 0% of the profits. And the studios want it to stay that way.
The WGA was asking for an increase in the residuals made on DVD sales (unlike new media, creators make a small percentage off of DVD and VHS sales, pay-per-view showings, TV sales, etc). For months now the studios have said that this was the reason the contract couldn't be closed. However, at the 11th hour – last night – the WGA took that off the table. It came down to new media and only new media. And the studios refused to budge.
This strike is absolutely not a matter of the rich getting richer. We're not striking because of guys like me who have made numerous feature films, or guys like Greg Daniels who have created popular TV shows. This is for middle-class writers – your regular TV staff writers and people who may have done one or two small feature films. Residuals are a way they can make perhaps a few thousand dollars a year between gigs. This is a way they can put food on the table and pay the rent during downtime – and downtime is something almost all writers (and actors and directors) have.
And the writers guild are striking not only for themselves – they're striking for the actors and directors as well. Most likely, whatever deal we agree to is the same deal the actors and directors will get when their contracts are up later this year.
None of the TV shows or movies you watch would exist without us, the people who created them, who poured our hearts and souls into the making of them. And yet, again, the studios think that only they should be making the money off of them. And new media is exceptionally important – in just a few years that may be the way most of us experience most of our entertainment.
I've gotten a lot of messages from MySpace folks worried about me or my various projects. The truth is, as long as the strike ends in the next thirty to forty years, I should be personally fine. And, to be quite honest, I'm excited about the break. I'm working on some smaller, non-studio, non-guild related projects with my brothers Brian and Sean, and with the LOLLILOVE crew of Pete Alton and Stevie Blackehart. This is stuff that really fires me up.
As for my big projects, PETS is definitely on hold, as I'm in the middle of writing the script, and can't turn anything in until the strike is over. THE BELCOO EXPERIMENT is a different story – the script is completely finished, my deal with the producers is done, and I could direct it if we all chose to do that. But would I want to commit to a movie that I wouldn't have the freedom to rewrite even if I wanted to?
However, although the strike for me is, in some ways, a good thing, I recognize how shitty it is for the rest of the industry, and the city of Los Angeles in general, so I want it to end quickly. I can't help but think of all the crew people who are going to lose jobs because of this, or the Burbank waiters and waitresses whose tips are going to dry up as the work around them does – not to mention the strippers across the LA area whose g-strings rely on writers and actors being flush with cash. Let's end this fucking strike for the strippers, okay?
Not to mention you guys, the audience. You're going to start to feel it right away with the late-night talk shows that are going to disappear or get real crappy real quick. And, if it lasts for a bit, you're going to lose out on the second half of the seasons of your favorite TV shows (already, WGA member Steve Carell didn't show up to set, so this season of THE OFFICE could be kaput after the next few already-shot episodes.) The studios will also rush movies into production with unfinished scripts which means, in a little less than a year from now, you're going to see the shittiest movies of all time.
So for their stinginess, their greed, and their overall bullshit, the studios can go fuck themselves. And not in a nice way either.
Everyone who had a hand in creating movies and television shows should all get the profits that those movies and television shows make.
If anything it's the writers who should get paid the most,not the actors or directors.
It's not right that they don't even make the same amount that the actors and directors get,or even half of what they get.
Writers are treated like those hard workers who pick cotton or grapes out in the hot sun for hours who get paid squat,and if it wasn't for them the farmers and even the people of this country would be screwed big time.
Lets see the studios make anything good without the writers,the studios are the flashlights,but the writers are the batteries to them.
Without the batteries,the flashlight would become a useless piece of crap.
The flashlights only think they are more important because they are bigger,but the batteries are just as important as the flashlight itself.
I agree, though i don't really see the whole residuals as being something compnaies are obligated to provide. Example, Im a freelance designer, I create ads and ideas for comanies to sell products, after I've created an add or company logo, I move on - no one pays me for 'downtime', The logo I make for a company may last a hundred years but I get paid 1 time for creating it. Hollywood is over fed and is now predicatbly down-sizing in a sense. free media, Independants, even the economy could all be blamed as the cause for whats happening to hollywood.
Mr Gunn's got Nards!!! He tells it like it is. Damn... Let's see 30 million dollar picture = 300,000 dollar paycheck to the writer fpr their work. Thats if they are paid scale, most are paid more than this. Film grosses 150 million in ticket sales, then it goes out on dvd and sells 8 million copies that year. Who got fucked? Thats right the writter did.
We ALL know the studios are the ones who ruin the movies that get made. Now their greed ruins films yet to be made. Maybe the CEO's of studios such as Paramount, new Line, Universal etc should all be fucking stripped of their jobs. Get some less greedy people in there who care about making QUALITY films and tv shows, not aholes looking for a quick buck to buy that fucking beverly hills mansion. Hollywood is full of greedy pieces of crap.
It would have been more effective and better if the strike took place when the actor's and director's contracts were up. By striking early and without those other unions in play, the writers are hurting those individuals who rely on their paychecks now. If these writers were creative, they should have used their creativity when the Internet and DVD's first came out to bring up those issues to restructure their contracts instead of playing the wait and see games of watching those other forms of media being used and bring in profits. By the way, James did not mention about major studios paying a minimum $106,000 for an original screenplay and networks paying at least $20,956 for a teleplay for a prime-time comedy and $30,823 for a prime-time drama based on this webaddress, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/business/media/05writers. html?_r=1&oref=slogin, of the NY Times Article that would make you really think.
I forgot to mention that those are payments up front before any other deals are made for residuals and more income to the writers.
Comments Page 1 of 1 | You have to be logged in to comment! If you don't have an account register now for free! Your account allows you to post comments and reviews, upload videos and images, access or our forums, write personal blogs, and maintain your profile.
The only reason for the strike – and don't believe anything to the contrary – is that the studios have refused to pay writers (and screen actors, and directors) residuals on new media. When you download a movie from Amazon or a TV show on iTunes, the people who created that content, who devised it, wrote it, acted in it, and directed it, get exactly 0% of the profits. And the studios want it to stay that way.
Print Story
Send to a Friend
