Search results

Most Guild writers I've been reading seem OK (if not jumping for joy) about the deal. Fun post though, Mr. Ellison! :)

You mean like their employers drove them to stop working by trying to devalue their work in perpetuity?

The Oscars themselves may be a minor blip, but don't forget that noms and wins can mean a large bump in revenue for films. No Oscars show = less (or no) bump.

Like Joseph said, your example is SO hypothetical as to not be very useful. :) Remember also that the performers on The Daily Show and Colbert are the writers.

Doing 22 minutes of interviews and chit-chat is one thing. My position was that if they're trying to improvise comedy bits that would've normally been written a few hours ahead of time then that would pretty much amount to scab writing. Comparing the people who write the Daily Show's comedy...

Wow. I hate to say it, but if WGA members Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert cross picket lines to improvise material that they otherwise would have written a few hours earlier. . .then WGA members Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are scabs and I won't be tuning in. :frowning: I wonder if the...

Last I checked, no WGA members had actually fired anyone. It's the multinational corporations with billions of dollars in assets who decided to can their production staffs rather than continue to pay them (it's not like they aren't still selling advertising time for reruns). You know, the same...

One last clarification on that dead horse. . .the negotiations are over *minimums*. Highly paid writers already make more than what's being discussed. It's the little guys who will be affected by this.

Here's one of the deals where a group of top screenwriters is getting first-dollar gross along with a much smaller up-front payment. The story includes a link to the other group, which preceded it by a bit.

Another way to think of it is this: "I'll sell you the right to use this script as the basis of a theatrical film for $X, plus the right to use it in additional profit channels (DVD, VOD, etc.) for a certain percentage of the revenue from each of them." In response to Quentin's comment about...

Not quite true. The IP has not been purchased and owned for additional use independent of residuals -- residuals are part of the purchase itself.

Unfortunately, far too many people (not referring specifically to anyone here; just speaking in general terms) think that since anyone can type, anyone can write.

If it were that easy, a LOT more people would be doing just that! :)

Nobody knows the amount of profit a script could generate before that profit is actually generated. That's why the deal involves a smaller up-front payment and the promise of continued payments for continued use of the IP. A writer is most assuredly assuming part of the risk when he accepts...

I believe it was the '88 strike that kicked off the modern era of reality shows, with Cops and America's Funniest Home Videos. (There were "reality" shows before that, but this was a new wave in direct response to the strike.)

Those statements are only in response to the complaint that writers make a lot of money and thus shouldn't complain at all. The fact is that the work in question has a certain amount of value. An NBA player or a star actor might make $10 million this year because that's a reasonable...

In response to Maria Fernandez' post (and I certainly sympathize -- add me to the list of folks who've lost a home by losing work, in my case due to 9/11), I would remind her that the writers didn't lay off the staff of her show -- the studio did. They're the ones who decided to pay nobody at...

So what are you doing writing posts??? Kidding! :D (PS the answer is "Ron Epstein is not a signatory to the MBA." ;) )

You can, but it involves focusing your wardrobe exclusively on either blue or red. ;)

Note that the average writer is not a *working* writer most of the time. The great majority of WGA members are not pulling in anywhere close to $200K at any given moment. I believe $200K is about what a staff writer on a hit show earns annually -- as long as the show is still running.

I don't think anyone implied that you should stop posting. But if you're tired of arguing, that's OK. Hope you come back and join in the fun again when you're in the mood. . .

The problem is that you are "balancing" the argument for balance's sake. Every time you're asked for your opinion of the facts surrounding the actual negotiations, you respond with philosophical differences with the way the system is set up. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with those...

How do you see the actual difference in positions? Because having read through them, IMO the imbalance you are seeing most assuredly does map to them. What are the demands of each side, as you understand them?

You're the one who claims to be reading opposing viewpoints but refuses to share them. This thread is full of links to evidence supporting the other side.

This has nothing to do with what's "cool." While it's fine to be of the opinion that neither the AMPTP or WGA should exist, the fact remains that they do, and that this is the situation we're discussing. And within those parameters, it is extremely difficult to objectively look at the facts here...

What in the world does any of this have to do with doctors and plumbers?

Do you believe that the studios in question should be allowed to negotiate with the writers' union as a collective group (AKA the AMPTP)? Should they have the right to lock out the union writers? But I see you've already answered that. Since you believe that neither side should have the right...

Arrrrrrrrrrgh. Um. . .it bore repeating? ;)

Nope. No money to be made here:

Do you believe that the AMPTP should be allowed to do what it's allowed to do?