ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE DEPARTMENT
The writers strike is on. Despite being a combination of two of my favorite things, writing and fighting the man, I wish there was no strike. It's going to cause a lot of hardship for current writers and make things even harder for younger ones trying to break in by ways other than scabbing.
There's a lot of long-winded articles out there on the nitty gritty of what is happening. For those who want to cut to the chase, it's simple. The internet is going to be huge business for Hollywood and the writers want a piece of it.
I think it's completely reasonable that that writers get a chunk of internet profits and refuse to participate in the system if they don't. Writers create the stories and characters that propel the entire Hollywood ship of state forward, while at the same time suffer being rewritten, second guessed by over-caffeinated marketing chicks, and generally humiliated by uncreative, crass capitalist, coke addled idiots at each step of the production process.
Writers deserve to be compensated for not only thinking of the clever shit that keeps these moguls and their minions knee deep in drugs and whores, but for coping with their script-skimming bullshit every step of the way.
Here's some information from a WGA friend of mine on how you can help, even if you're not in the Writer's Guild:
There are tons of things you can do to help...
Picket with us at any studio, M-Th, either shift: 9AM - 1PM or 1PM -
5PM.
You can volunteer to answer phones and make calls from WGA
headquarters (same shifts as above, plus a 5 - 9 PM shift if your
evenings are free).
Monday they need volunteers to assemble signs.
6 PM each night at the WGA is van unloading and reloading.
Write letters or make calls to networks, movie studios, and the
companies that own them (ie: Viacom,General Electric, Sony, Disney,
etc.) saying they are losing their business because you do not support
companies that treat the greatest andmost creative minds of their
companies with such utter lack of respect and decency. A current deal
on the table insists the studios should get to dicide when they pay us
for running shows or films in their entirety without paying the
writer, claiming it's only "promotional", even if they are being paid
to air it, surrounded by paid advertising and commercials. It's
ridiculous. They have shown no interest in making a fair deal at all.
Sell any stock you have in said companies... And let it be known why.
...SO much you could do. Thanks for ANYTHING you do. Every little
bit counts!!! Tell all your friends!
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1 comment:
Right on! Writers and other creatives who actually MAKE the content of art and entertainment are always getting patrionized and dissed by half-wit managers and MBA's. Should writers get a fair share? Hell yes! Hell, the artists (writers, directors, actors, cinematographers, etc.) should be the bosses, and the producers and marketing monkeys should be working for THEM!
I'm boycotting television and big studio movies, and I've written letters telling the studios what I'm doing and why.
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