Studios promise digital golden age, writers demand their share

This new Writers Guild clip explains exactly what the WGA strike is about.

When top studio executives talk to the business media, they brag about the massive profits they expect to make from digital distribution. They fully expect that shows like CSI will one day be available on the network and on the internet, and they have plans to get paid no matter how you watch it. Yet somehow, when it comes time to negotiate with their writers, the executives claim they can't give the writers a fair deal on digital residuals because they have no idea how much digital distribution is going to be worth.

[HT: DJA]

Comments

[Hawise]

Let us just say that the entire industry needs the IRS to devote serious effort in figuring out its accounting practices.

[TheaLogie]

Yet somehow, when it comes time to negotiate with their writers, the executives claim they can't give the writers a fair deal on digital residuals because they have no idea how much digital distribution is going to be worth.

One possible rationale for their point of view: they have no idea how much it'll be worth once everyone else (i.e. directors and profit-sharing movie stars) gets a cut. From that point of view writers are very low monkey.

[Hawise]

Actually those two are the next guilds to go on strike. The conglomerates want the writers nailed down before the two more powerful unions are in strike position. In all three cases we are talking pennies on the dollar with the conglomerates getting the largest share.

[B-Money]

"Actually those two are the next guilds to go on strike."

Let them go on strike. Over paid director and actors will get no sympathy. Writers get some. An actor getting $20M for a film plus residuals on the back end? Fuck them!

[DJA]

An actor getting $20M for a film plus residuals on the back end? Fuck them!

Sumner Redstone, on the other hand, is worth every penny.

[Hawise]

While my sympathy for the lead actors, directors and even some of the writers is limited, I have great sympathy for Guy behind the Counter, Girl on the beach and all the other background actors whose pensions, health insurance and rent are dependant on the Guilds getting a fair deal out of seven billionaires who think that they are the only reason media exists at all. I also have sympathy for all those who are starting out and for whom a residual check is the difference between sharing a 2 room apartment with six other dreamers and sleeping under an overpass.
If it was just Tome Cruise versus Sumner Redstone we could settle it in a cage match on pay-for-view.

[B-Money]

I hear ya Hawise, but because of the Tom Cruises and Julia Roberts and George Clooneys and Brad Pitts and blah blah blah, the studios shaft the smaller actors. I have no sympathy for stuidos or studio execs either. Fuck them as well. The whole entertainment industry is a joke to me. No one is worth that kind of money for pretending to be someone else. yes they entertain me, and yes I am a momo who pays to see the movies, but it sucks. Fuck em all!

[B-Money]

DJA, Fuck Redstone too!

[mudkitty]

I remember years ago, when the Bangles nearly wigged, because CD's weren't part of their contract, and their record company was one of the first companies to phase out the LP.

[DJA]

DJA, Fuck Redstone too!

That's not really an option in these negotiations, you know. It's a binary situation -- either the creators get a slice of the online pie, or Sumner and his cronies take it all.

[B-Money]

Well, DJA, I say fuck him anyway. Along with the rest of his ilk and Hollywood con "artists" who make anything more than $1M a film. Disgusting.

[Hawise]

I say let them return to having the actual producers negotiating with the Guilds. Whoever thought letting the distributors control the whole pie was a good idea should be sandpapered, lacquered and hung in the Museum of Get a Clue.

[Fitz]

Guild
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07066c.htm

[aeroman]

A friend of mine who writes for the Colbert Report sent this.

[DJA]

Well, DJA, I say fuck him anyway. Along with the rest of his ilk and Hollywood con "artists" who make anything more than $1M a film. Disgusting.

Interesting. So, would this $1 million income cap apply to people who work in other fields, or just Hollywood? And what would you do with the excess proceeds? Tax them?

[B-Money]

Don't over analyze it DJA. $1M was an arbitrary # that I picked. My point was only that I have no use for the whole lot of Hollywood, stars or execs. I will not take your bait...