Yeah, dumb as shit. It provided me a job and career for 26 years & counting and thousands of others behind the scenes. I was able to travel all over the world and buy 3 cars with the income I made over almost 30 years.

If you get $1000 every workday, sure. That’s not how writing jobs work. But you know that since you are an expert on such things.

To be fair it's the writer's responsibility to find enough work at the going rate to live on. $1000 a day is good work, if you can get it. That's never going to change. There's only so many jobs to go around. However this plays out, there's not going to be some dramatic income jump where writers who couldn't make enough before the strike suddenly can. A 10 cent residual check might jump to 20 cents if a 100% increase in residuals can be obtained. The important thing is to get health coverage for those who didn't qualify previously.
Also, to be fair, before the strike writers were not getting screwed over. The union and it's members agreed to a contract in 2020. That's what they've been getting, what they agreed to. It's contract time again, time to address those issues that have arisen since the last contract.

Were you always picked last when choosing sides in P.E.?

They're angling for a change where the writers that have jobs working on a series running multiple seasons won't have to be on food stamps. That's likely dramatic enough.

Just because the union agreed to the terms in 2020 doesn't mean writers didn't get screwed over. Also, gee, what was maybe happening in 2020 that wouldn't make it an ideal time to go on strike and/or demand radical shifts to compensation?

I was in a union, and one time the contract negotiation included a 2-tier system where existing staff got higher pay/compensation, and new staff would start with less. It got approved despite my own objections to it. By the time the next contract negotiation came around, there were enough people on the crappy 2nd tier that enough in the union realized, "wait, this is shitty," and it got removed. So just because the union approved it doesn't mean it can't have shitty deals in it, it can just take a while for the union members to realize what a shitty deal they agreed to.

In regards to sports, I'm personally not interested, but I don't begrudge those that are. I don't want to pay for them though if I'm not going to be watching, and ESPN certainly benefitted a lot from basically being forced into every basic cable plan, regardless of whether the subscriber was going to watch it. It's the same with Regional Sports Networks. They could get away with big price hikes because there wasn't any way to avoid paying them if you wanted the rest of the service.

With sports now increasingly being a separate fee, I suspect ESPN and others are going to see a drop in revenue as a lot of people aren't going to be paying them anymore for content they don't watch. This will hurt them short term, but maybe it will eventually bring sanity back to the prices sports franchises charge for rights, the prices sports networks/services pay for those rights, and the prices they charge their customers.

That was the union screwing you over not the company. As long as there have been unions there has been the 2 tier system in contracts. A union's primary goal is to protect the long timers with seniority, even at the expense of the newer members. Joining a union is a long term investment. But a worthwhile one. You have to stick it out long enough to get into the top tier.

So they chose a profession that does not guarantee a full year long job? How is that anyones fault but their own? For most them it might as well be a hobby for how little they are in demand. Maybe the WGA should limit the amount of people they let in every year vs. shows being produced? But that would eat into their dues....

Let's revisit this comment 1 year after the strike ends and we can see how many shows still do 22 episodes a season. I suspect most of 2022's "22 episode shows" will be trimmed (and not just whatever truncated season we get when this ends, but future seasons). When a show like Big Brother Is grabbing a .6 and probably costs 1/20th of that of a scripted, there won't be much need for these expensive scripted shows with 25 writers.

Most writers know going in the pay is peanuts in Hollywood. The endgoal is almost always somehow moving up into a bigger creative role like producer, who are paid ridiculous sums of money.

It's the same with minor league baseball. You make practically nothing if you play the minors, but the goal are the millions available once you make MLB. For most, it's worth a shot at the lottery but should not be a career destination for more than a few years.

I mean, if you want people other than the writers, actors and creators to get money for shows, I guess that's a take. Not sure why you love executives so much.

What show is asking for 25 writers? You used it as an example - please let us know what show you are talking about.

Also, a reckoning is coming for "reality" TV too. The way they treat contestants on those shows is downright criminal. For example, on "The Bachelor" the initial "meet the Bachelor" episode is shot in one day. All of the women are locked in the house, unable to leave. They are fed very little food but unlimited alcohol. Some of the meetings are taking place at 4 in the morning after they've been there since the previous morning. Want to talk about what happens when executives don't have to listen to unions, just look at those shows. They are trainwrecks and no one in their right mind should celebrate that kind of treatment.

A lot of people in this thread are arguing that “these people know what they’re getting into” like that’s acceptable. Just because shit was one way in the past doesn’t mean we can’t work to improve it.

You people seem like the type to argue back in the day to continue slavery because it’s not fair that the slaveowners will now pass the cost of paying wages onto the consumer.

I don't think anyone is arguing that the writer's situation shouldn't be improved. Rather, the situation can't be solved. The supply of writers exceeds the demand. No matter what kind of deal is struck, there will be writers struggling to make ends meet. Those who have work will benefit from the new deal, but those who can't find work won't benefit. I think it's important to get all union members health insurance regardless of income. That's one thing that can be solved. Regardless of your situation you have your union health coverage. If you can't land a writing gig, do something to keep your dues current.

Except now most writers aren't kept on through production, so they never see production or the showrunning in action, can't assist, etc. and thus either can't move up, or will do a crap job when they do. But mostly the former.

It's actually a real problem: there's a dearth of showrunners available, likely partly why so many are getting insane development deals. It's a problem the studios and streamers created, but they're too shortsighted to agree to the solution.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/epxe...running-crisis
https://variety.com/2021/tv/features...em-1235042207/

It was the company that proposed it. It's a way to mollify the existing union members, because they're not affected by the reduced pay/benefits. It's only when the new members on the lower tier start existing that anyone affected was in the union and could voice their concerns, and existing union members had to confront actual co-workers suffering to change their minds.

There wasn't a way to get to the "top tier," it was literally everyone hired before X date gets one thing, everyone after gets another. The company was hoping to basically eventually have everyone on the lower tier due to attrition. Thankfully, the workers realized this eventually, and corrected it the next contract negotiation time.

The point being, sometimes you don't realize how shitty a deal something is until you've already agreed to it, which is partly why the contracts are only 3 years so they can be renegotiated.

If the WGA does not take the deal offered Friday it’s gonna get real bad with the members. I suspect they will though as they need everyone to get back to work fast.

Don't get into a profession that has more supply than demand?

At the end of this, we will get less content, less episodes and higher streaming fees. It’s a complete loss for everyone but the writers (the ones still
employed, of course).

Young people will not understand how supply and demand works in practice, until they go through several bubbles and crashes.

(ie. They will not understand the 1920s German hyperinflation from reading / studying about it).

I would love to hear your job that has less supply than demand. Let me give you reality. There is always someone to replace you. You’re a cog in a machine. You’re not special.

Tell it to the WGA/SAG who keeps adding new members (due$) when the industry is restricting.

The union adds a member when the studios hire someone new to work. Also, the union dues depend largely on the member getting paid; the base fee of $25/quarter is probably barely enough to cover record keeping for that member.

https://www.wga.org/the-guild/going-...join-the-guild
https://www.wga.org/members/finances...-for-wgaw-dues
Is there anything you're not wrong about?

It’s almost like someone in this thread exists only to troll and be contrarian.

He should get a job with the Pinkertons.

The dues get paid to the Union? The same Union who keeps adding new writers when apparently most of them can’t even get employment?

These people need to find a new gig since writing for many is clearly not a career.

Do you understand you are added to the union when you are HIRED BY A STUDIO TO WRITE?