Reply to PostWriters Strike
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Just a thought but if this writers strike goes on any longer I think that the fans should write the script.
I wouldnt worry about gettting credit, as long as this wonderful show stays on the air.
What do u guys think?
Posted 11/20/2007 8:39:58 AM # -
A nice idea, but a logistic improbability. Even if we could get the disparate fans to reach a consensus on how the series should progress, I understand a lot of the actors are respecting the picket lines and not working in solidarity with the writers. I just want the guild and the damn studios to get back to the freakin' table and resolve their differences.Posted 11/20/2007 10:34:57 AM #
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I think the whole strike is a bit foolish really to my understanding they are asking not for a flat raise in what they are paid but a percentage of residual profits from new media.
My mrs put it wonderfully "If I pay someone paint a mural in my shop window I pay them for the mural to be done and thats that I commisioned the mural thus it is now mine, if I then choose to use the same graphic on the front of a magazine related to my business that generates more revenue the painter cant come back and ask for his SHARE of the profits from the magazine he was paid for his service and thats the end of it"
Posted 11/21/2007 11:24:22 AM # -
I think it's a little different. Networks and people in the business are getting profits from DVD sales and certain downloads, but the writers are getting a very small percentage. If they were to go along with it and not demand a higher percentage, they would be stuck with that amount untill the next contract expired. So, it's important that they get a good and fair profit from these things so they will be prepared and profiting in the future when technology changes.
I'm sure I'm missing a lot of details, but that's kinda how I see it...
Posted 11/21/2007 11:41:27 PM # -
Nice analogy Karl, but I think that your misses has the mindset of a corporation. (No offense) What the strike is doing is allowing the "creators" of the "work" to have control over the "work" as a residual. I am an artist, and if I painted a mural on the side of a building to advertise a company, I would have a contract which allows me to showcase duplications of the work myself as well as be paid a percentage or a flat rate for every time it is used. No contract, no mural. Well your wife might go and find another artist to paint a mural who doesn't want a contract, but if there was a artists union then she would be in the same problem the studios are in "no work." Corporations main goal is to maximize profits. When VHS came out back in the eighties, the same thing happened. The corporations refused to pay residuals, and claimed that the medium was so new that it was uncertain if it was profitable and managable. So the writers where denied a fair percentage in the distrubution of product that they created. It is happening again. Except this time the corporations have little to no arguement because it is over digital distribution which is the cheapest form of distribution. The product already exists and there is no material product that needs to be mass produced. Almost a 100% payback. The corporations will make you think that it is the writers driven by greed that caused this problem, whe n realistically it is the greed and general cutthroat mentality of the studios that is causing this problem. The writers are fighting for what is right, and are using their most powerful weapon. If the corporate industry wants there will be another strike in summer of the actors and filmakers. A unified hollywood strike. Sorry everyone. More and more pressure will be put on the writers to end the strike, and the liberal media outlets such as the Daily show, Colbert Report, Conan Obrien, and SNL will be paralized for the most important presidential election of our time, while the corporations are basically getting what they want one way or another. Biased media during an election year or billions of dollars in digital distribution sales. I am not decided on who I'm voting for, but I would prefer that each side had a balanced freedom of speech. (this is america people...)
Posted 11/22/2007 6:43:13 AM # -
Ok perhaps the analagy didnt achieve its purpose because I used an art example which is largely my issue that 'artists' tend to see their work as special in a way others dont.
My family runs a car suspension business here in Australia we use an red anthropomorphic bull holding a spring and shock absorber crossed over his chest this design is on every one of our stickers, which are on all of our products, and their packaging having to continue to pay the artist to use the design we commissioned is ludicrous and this is my isssue sure you want to take someones existing work and useit then yeah they should be entitled to some compensation but thats not the case we are talking about material that wouldnt have been created if not for the work being commisioned.
Its a false sense of entitlment extremely common in the arts industry paticularly the entertainment industry because of the massive profits made. You dont see this kind of foolishness with tradesmen or is someone who crafts words more 'special' than someone who crafts wood? Oh but wait the wood sculptor artiste would have this attitude but not the guy who puts house frames togethor. but wait there is a difference the carpenter is just using someone elses plans he snt being creative lie the wood sculptor is when he sculpts a wooden Tiger I mean its not like someone else came up with tigers is it.....
Posted 11/22/2007 8:28:12 PM # -
Well put, Keith... I agree
Posted 11/23/2007 1:23:33 PM # -
Sorry, no time to read what everyone wrote.
Great idea to keep the show going. I'd like to see what the writers had intended, and not what the viewers interpreted and want to see. This doesn't allow for surprises or twists.
Posted 11/27/2007 1:41:52 AM #
Forum is closed.
Sylar: I can't bring Nathan back Peter, but I can sure as Hell swing a sledgehammer.
