Support Your Local Writers' Strike

Today's a two-fer, since I'm fired up about the pending strike.

While I've rarely been a fan of unions, I support the WGA decision to strike starting Monday, November 5, 2007.

See, I always felt like the unions killed America's ability to be competitive with world markets. While I saw a reason for the creation of unions 100 years ago--people working for pennies, in some cases dying in sweatshops--I saw how they'd been transformed in more recent years; more focused on short-term gains vs. long-term needs of their employers.

But, in the case of the TV and Film writers involved in the current dispute, it's clear who's in the right.

All modern entertainment begins with the storyteller. From TV to novels to comic books to news to web content to films.

Producers risk money to develop projects, but ONLY once there's a story worth telling (or making money from). In 1988, the last time the writers went on strike, it was for residuals on DVDs, a new technology to deliver the stories. At that time, the writers caved for a .3 percent residual on DVDs sold. It didn't seem like they were giving up much then. Since then, DVDs have become a larger piece of revenue earned for many films than the actual theatrical release. Oops.

Now, they're looking for residuals on content delivered via the web, including things like iTunes downloads, Amazon Unbox sales and Wal-Mart's download sales. Further, the major networks now run advertiser-supported programming on their corporate sites. Almost as good as the DVR, if you miss a show on TV.

Unless you're a writer, in which case you get bupkus.

There may be cases where writers like Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio (Zorro, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek) get a better negotiated deal, but for the larger masses of writers, they get nothing.

Given that Disney had already sold over 23 million TV downloads and 2 million movie downloads via iTunes by May this year, that number will only continue to grow. And it all begins with the story.

So.

The writers seem justified in asking for a few pennies per download (2.5% of $1.99=$.05). The producers seem greedy to fight it.

Further, one of the producers' 'rollback' demands seems foolish: to not have to incude the writer's name in the promotional materials/movie posters. That goes from appearing greedy to appearing contemptuous.

Seriously.