It's all very petty at the moment. The studios aren't wanting to pay the writers now, not because it's not deserved (because they probably know despite all the P.R spin that it is deserved), but because they want to punish the writers for daring to defy them at all with striking in the first place.

Agreed. Meaningless waste of time.

Exactly, it's a power play, not a money problem. If it was just money it would've been over by now.

I don't want the Oscars to be cancelled. Paul Thomas Anderson and the Coens are pretty much the reason why I got into filmmaking. And to see them finally on Hollywood's biggest stage is just great to see.

If this was just another Tom Hanks/Spielberg year then screw it but I want to listen to Coens/Anderson acceptance speech.

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What I find ironically funny with the strike is that everything is hung up over something no one wants to budge on; royalties for online/internet downloads/streaming.

What's funny about it? It just may not be worth all the hullabaloo because no one has really figured out a way to really make money with it. Everyone involved is trying one thing after another without success.

Wal-Mart just shut down their video download biz, and if Wal-Mart can't figure out how to make money at something you know there are serious issues with it.

I don't know any company that's centered on making money with an online/internet downloads/streaming of content business that is, in fact, actually turning a profit. Even Apple (the closest thing to success in that realm) makes their real money selling hardware; iPods, iPhones, etc.

Outside of the cable/satellite companies, I don't think we're going to see a real shakeout about how to practically monetize it for at least 4-6 years.

Not siding with the studios here, but the WGA's attitude strikes me (no pun intended) as wanting to be paid for one's chickens before they're hatched. Maybe everyone would be better off (if all other aspects of contract talks are aceptable) if both sides agreed to a moratorium on this issue for about 5 years. There will probably be a much clearer picture by then.

Yep, exactly. I can't believe some people are actually calling for the show to be canceled. This has been shaping up to be one of the most interesting Oscar races in years, and I've been very much into it.

Wow, that guy is the biggest fucking asshole I have seen in weeks. No wonder the studios can't reach agreements with the WGA if this is representative of the people they have to deal with.

Really? You know darn well that the studio is going to make note of the interview on the packaging - and the only reason for it is to sell DVDs. So, why shouldn't he be compensated for it? If the DVD set was being given away for free, that is one thing, but the studio is going to profit from the sales, so he is entitled if they choose to use his piece on it.

This is the same problem the writers are having. Without their "backbone," there are no DVD sales, no merchandising, no product. The studios should be taking care of the writers, because it is ultimately the writers that are taking care of them in the end.

^Yeah I am sure everyone buying the DVD is buying it to watch the interview segments with that asshole. He should be willing to participate in extras for the fans because that is what the supplements would be for. Not the studio...the people that have watched whatever show he made for years and therefore provided him with the money that he did get paid for the work he actually did. Participating in an interview/featurette/documentary like the one that asshole is describing is not work.

That's just it, the writers already took that attitude in the last major contract with DVD's and look what happened there - the writers lost out big time. No one's saying that online downloads will be huge this year or next, but entertainment is gradually moving away from the set to DVD, OnDemand, streaming, and downloads. To throw away they're fair compensation again would be idiotic and short sighted on the writers part.

I may not totally agree with the way he puts it, but Harlan Ellison speaks the truth.

You don't think people buy DVDs for the supplemental features? Are you new here?

And do you think the studio is putting out the DVD "for the fans"? Why don't they give them away for free then, if no one deserves to be paid for this stuff.

Thanks, but that didn't really answer my question.

How much more do the writers want? It's a pretty simple question.

I honestly don't know what writers make. I mean if they make $17,000 a year and they want a pay increase then fine. However, if, on average, they make $250,000 a year and they want to make $500,000 a year then I'm sorry but I don't have a lick of sympathy for them. Just do your job and shut the f up. If you don't like it then quit and find another job.

This is all about money right? I'm just curious what type of money we're talking about.

What does the average writer make right now and what does the average writer DESIRE to make?

Until John Millius shows up.

it's not about what the writers make or want to make. It's how much the studios make and how little a percentage writers get from that

networks are making more and more money and therefore giving relatively less and less to others outside the network involved in generating that money

It's like when the Friends cast wanted their pay rise. It wasn't because they weren't happy with what they were being paid or needed more money. It was because they knew how much money the show generated for the network and they wanted their fair share of it.


ditto for simpsons voices

It's an election year and they need to have the Oscars so they can say their liberal speeches.

I don't know if that's true or not but I find that absolutely ridiculous.

It doesn't matter what the "higher ups" make. Everybody has their part. That's like saying that the janitor at the Walmart headquarters should strike because the CEO makes more money than he does. Well, the janitor cleans the frickin floors and takes out the garbage while the CEO makes decisions that affects hundreds of thousands of employees and millions of customers.

Boo hoo if the networks make a lot of money. Be it fate or circumstance or hard work but those in that position are there and the writers are in their own position. Like I said before, if they don't like it they can find another job.

The "higher ups" will ALWAYS make money. That's just how it is. If you don't like that move to Cuba. That's how capitalism works.

Again, I honestly don't know how much money the writers make. Like I said before, if they make $17,000 while the network executives make millions then yeah...they're underpaid and probably deseve more money. However, if they make $250,000 writing cliched sitcoms and they feel they deserve $500,000 then screw em. That's why I would love to know exactly how much more money they want. Again, it's irrelevant how much money their superiors make. The issue is how much money they are worth.

It would be so much easier for me to support the WGA if I could see that they make whatever per year and all they want is a 5% increase in pay and an insurance package. However, nobody has been able to tell me what, exactly, they want.

I don't care about the Oscars, and I don't really care about the writers. Putting a lot of people out of work because they aren't getting what they want doesn't elicit much sympathy from me. If the writers were the only ones affected by the strike, then I could agree with them. As it stands, I'd be pissed if I was one of the other few hundred people working on sets.

The Oscars will not be cancelled. Producer Gil Cates has stated that the show will go on. They may not be able to use any film clips, and there might be a lot of no-shows, especially if the writers picket the actual ceremony as they are going to do for the Golden Globes, but there will be an Oscar ceremony.

YES!!!! Fucking classic!

Everyone is asking "What do the writers make? If I made as much as them, I wouldn't be striking." Well, the issue that the studios and writers are fighting over is the the wga wants the writers to get paid for using what they have written over the internet(i.e. streaming shows on websites, etc.). Now, back in the 80's, during the last strike, the writers settled on Home video residuals at .4 per DVD sold, which harkens back to them caving when Home Video first came on the scene and the studios had the same argument that there is no way to predict how successful the medium will be. How did that turn out? And the studios actually offered the writers $250 for a years use of the material during this years negotiations. The WGA wanted to keep the .4 a DVD sale but after a, I believe, 1 million were sold that it would increase to .8 a DVD. Think about that. And in the early days of this strike, the Studios (I say studios but it's actually the producers who are the ones who the strike is against) demanded that the DVD residuals be taken off the table as a good faith gesture. The WGA did do just that but the Studios still did not come back to the negotiating table.

Of course everyone can read about how the writers earn six figures, blah, blah, but in actuality out of the 12600 members of the WGA, maybe 1000 or so are working at any given time. The top tier of writers make the big money while many are staff writers on shows who earn less than 64,000 a year and in LA that equated to about 30000 in the midwest. And many of these writers have to be rehired at the start of every television season and if they aren't, then they depend on residuals to help pay rent, buy food, etc., so they don't have to get a second job, which many do to make ends meet. Writers are the lowest of the low in the creative end of hollywood. The directors and stars of films get huge money, in the millions, but how many writers actually make that? Think of it like this, if you're a star of say, CSI, you get maybe 500000 an episode. If your a staff writer and you come up with an idea that is used, then you get 12500 for that idea and then another 24000 if you actually write the episode (from a tv contract i had read a few years ago on the WGA site). And if you don't write anything else for the season and then are not rehired? You just made 36500 for the year, whereas the star made $11,000,000 for the year, figuring a 22 episode season. And the studio only wants to pay you 250 for a years worth of showing the material on line that you wrote?

Of course you see the Actors and directors out picketing with the writers because they know whatever deal the WGA gets, when their contracts come up in June, they too will get the same deal or better. As for salary scale, you can look at the WGA for information.

^

What Pelenor said. The companies are making money hand over fist on DVD sales, its only fair that everyone involved get compensated for anything they did that appeared on the DVD. Likewise, when NBC streams Heroes, Chuck, ER, or any of their others shows online, I'm forced to sit through advertisements. Advertisements that cost an arm and a leg to put there. NBC is making a ton of basically free money off of that ad (yeah streaming vid is bandwidth intensive, which is why that ad more than makes up for it). They don't have to pay anybody residuals for it. Nobody but the studio makes money off of it. Because virtually everyone on TV has a basic guild contract with the studios.

If the WGA backs off and says that its OK, they won't pursue residuals on internet streaming/downloads, then later in the year, the Actors Guild won't have a leg to stand on when they ask for the same thing (The Director's Guild is set to just roll over, from what I've heard). Once the studios have everyone locked into a long term deal again, they'll start putting up every single piece of copyright they have for streaming and download, fill it all with ads, and nobody but the studio gets paid on it. There's a reason that not a whole lot of shows get put up for streaming/downloading. Its not because they don't know there is a market for it, they do. Just look at the colossal number of folks torrenting shows the minute they finish airing. Its because if they did, the WGA, SAG, and Director's Guilds could all point to the huge influx of advertising cash and say, "Slice off a portion for us, now."

Not at all. I dislike all of the award shows and watch none of them...including the crappy Oscars.

The Oscars rarely get it right with their awards or even their nominees and all it has become is a chance to watch a bunch of preening obnoxious arrogant peacocks strut around.

I love movies but hate the Oscars. Add me in the bunch that say "Fuck 'em."

As far as the writers strike goes, I could care less what happens. If they get what they want, great...if not, great. Their strike isn't affecting me personally.

Not in the least, never have watched, never will.