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<p>How will this affect you? Which side should or will win? </p>
<p>[Writers</a>’ Strike Halts Some TV Production](<a href=“http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SOL7LG2&show_article=1]Writers”>http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SOL7LG2&show_article=1)</p>
<p>As long as House isn’t affected, I couldn’t care less.</p>
<p>The writers should win. They’re getting ripped off by Internet 'casts.</p>
<p>Oh I’m watching this one with considerable interest. S is a freshman screenwriting major and is considering working for TV with equal interest to film at the moment. If you look at some of the HBO series, the writing there is as good or better than many full feature films. For comedy, there’s the “comedy central” station (Jon Stewart, Steve Colbert) that employ many young writers. I’d love to see him get a first job out of college starting at something like that. Relative to other professions within the industry, I gather that writers aren’t quite getting the treatment they deserve. It’s a craft, like many others, and deserves nourishment so it can be a lifelong career if one is good at it.</p>
<p>A lot of the contract terms under discussion have longterm implications. I understand the writers don’t benefit now from longterm residuals, while the actors and others are getting a lot more of that gravy.</p>
<p>Also the huge market for all these “boxed sets” of old TV series should benefit the writers more. They want a piece of the pie that is the contemporary media industry.</p>
<p>“It all starts with a great story…”</p>
<p>Like anyone else, I’d like my kid to earn a good wage, go where his talents lead him,
not starve… you know, all that.</p>
<p>So I guess that’s “direct impact.” I don’t care so much what I watch in this coming year.</p>
<p>EDIT: I’m so tired and realize that my writing on this post is TERRIBLE and clunky. G’nite and GOOD LUCK to the writers.</p>
<p>I want my Jay Leno!!! Wha-a-aa-a!</p>
<p>Seriously, I’m on the writers’ side, they deserve better. Good luck to them. I can watch reruns or CNN or the Dow tanking on CNBC.</p>
<p>The strike has no impact on me - I’ve never even seen most of the prime-time shows they’re referring to. More often than not when I have the TV on it’s some old movie on the TCM channel. </p>
<p>I don’t know the details of the dispute so I can’t take sides but they can’t do the shows without writers, whether union or not.</p>
<p>I know I’m going to get bashed for this, but I will post it anyway. I am against the strike, I think that Americans are too greedy and selfish, always asking for more money and more benefits. We learn absolutely nothing from watching these stupid sitcoms, the time should be spent educating ourselves about other issues that are going on in the world. “boohoo our six figure salaries are not enough we want more.” I felt the same way about the recent transit strike, NYC MTA workers make a very good living for people who did not even attend college. This country needs to knockoff this nonsense and start appreciating what we have, as opposed to always complaining.</p>
<p>Working writers on average earn over $200,000 a year. All they have to do is earn $31,000 to qualify for a full year of coverage in the finest health care plan in the country. And they are among the few employees in the world who get an “additional annuity” in the form of residuals beyond their initial compensation.</p>
<p>Instead of working toward solutions that would give the industry the flexibility it needs to meet today’s business challenges, the WGA leadership continues to pursue numerous unreasonable proposals that would result in astronomical and unjustified increases in production costs, further restrict the ability to produce, promote and market TV series and films, and prohibit studios from experimenting with programming and business models in New Media. </p>
<p>Come on folks, let’s be realistic for a minute, there are plenty of people who can not afford the essentials like bread and water, and these writer’s complain that they want even more money. They can take their creative writing degrees and stick where the sun don’t shine. At the end of the day we are all slaves to the media, and writer’s are no different.</p>
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It’d be cool if software developers generally got residuals for their work.</p>
<p>A neighbor of mine had a bit (but singing) role in a popular movie that gets played all the time on TV. One night it was going to be on and she exclaimed “Great, I’ll be getting another check” with a smile on her face.</p>
<p>I agree. I don’t think I’ve ever agreed with a strike. There are so many people out of work or working for so little. If you’re unhappy with your job, quit and find another. We’re not talking about working for minimum wage in a factory. We’re talking about people making very, very good money with excellent benefits.</p>
<p>“It’d be cool if software developers generally got residuals for their work.”</p>
<p>Most do. Stock options and MSFT millionaires?</p>
<p>“If you’re unhappy with your job, quit and find another.”</p>
<p>I bet they are happy with their jobs. It is the pay and fair compensation they are talking about.</p>
<p>The cartoon of the strikers all carrying blank picket signs was funny.</p>
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Unfortunately, I don’t think so, Many companies don’t have stock options, certainly not liberal ones, and even if they do, there’s no guarantee one will make much, if anything from them. And, most Microsoft employees aren’t and will never be multi-millionaires. Some do make it though. I’m not complaining.</p>
<p>Still though, the success of the fruits of the labors of the individual developers and creators usually go to the company - not the individual. This is one reason why they sometimes break away and start their own companies - a good thing for all of us.</p>
<p>As a member of the WGA, I am on the side of the writers. </p>
<p>You should know that TV writers have been on the short end of the stick for years, since “reality” shows came into the forefront, because those are considered “unscripted” so those writers aren’t eligible for the same benefits as other TV writers (news writers are an animal of a different color altogether). </p>
<p>Most TV writers are not wealthy, and the last strike (1988) was a turning point in TV programming. Remember when all TV shows began the same week each September? That all changed due to the 1988 strike. And more. Very much more. This strike will financially impact many individuals. I have another job, but a pilot I’ve been working on is now on hold. Maybe permanently.</p>
<p>"just"aMom - What are the average annual salaries for these writers? I am sure it is not low enough to be coined “the short end of the stick.” Maybe by industry standards, but not according to the majority of the population. I feel it’s safe to say that these writers in the top 5 percentile of U.S. Incomes. Call me crazy but I have never been a fan of greed, not that the networks are any better, they are the silverbacks of the jungle of corruption. I just believe that it is quite silly to strike, and make it seem as though you are treated so poorly when you are making 200k a year, and others don’t have enough to put food on their tables.</p>
<p>I’m on the side of the writers. Why is it that the actual minds that think up the shows get so much less money than the bureaucrats that do far less in adding value to the shows. I don’t see this as being greedy on the writers part. It’s corporate greed that doesn’t want to pay its employees what they are actually worth. It has nothing to do with what the average American salary is, people want to get paid what they are worth. This strike hopefully shows the big media corporations that they are nothing without the writers.</p>
<p>Most of us enjoy getting wage increases so I don’t consider the writers wanting more as greed. If I received an offer from another company with a 50% increase there’s a good chance I’d go. Is that greed or is it good business sense?</p>
<p>If they think they’re worth more money then they should negotiate (which is essentially what the strike is) or go to some other company that’ll pay them more.</p>
<p>I think it’s fine for the writers to strike but I also think it’s fine for the studios to find and employ other writers if they can find them. To the victor will go the spoils.</p>
<p>UriA702: why does it bother you that these writers make $200K (presumably)? I do not make that much, and I think they are doing the right thing. Corporate greed has no boundaries, and someone has to keep it in check.</p>
<p>Maybe ‘justamom’ can enlighten us but I’ve heard that many of the writers are really basically part time (only work on a few shows a year) and consequently don’t earn enormous sums at it. The same is true for actors. I assume certain writers do earn a lot of money if they manage to hit it big but I’m not sure that’s the norm.</p>
<p>I will say that recently while driving on about a mile stretch of road between Beverly Hills and UCLA I spotted 3 Ferraris and a Lamborghini not to mention numerous other expensive cars (I was in a Hyundai) but I don’t know the occupations of the owners. Hopefully some of them were writers.</p>
<p>I don’t make even close to $200k a year, nor do most TV writers I know. Mostly because we’re freelance, and aren’t studio writers. That’s why I hold a “real” job.</p>
<p>Interested in what TV writers earn? Scroll down, and take into consideration the average TV writer sells less than 6 scripts per year. I have never sold a network, prime time script, nor have most freelance writers. Go further into the document and you’ll see staff writers aren’t rolling in dough either. I do not know anyone who is a staff writer nor an episodic (soaps, for example) writer. I do know a few comedy-variety program writers, but again, they’re freelance, not daily or even weekly writers. Most of us hold other jobs. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.wga.org/uploadedFiles/writers_resources/contracts/min2004.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wga.org/uploadedFiles/writers_resources/contracts/min2004.pdf</a></p>