Downloads are a hole because most of the content is never paid for. It doesn't count. Also, the authors were already compensated, and so were the performers. The producer is the one who risked his own money and he deserves to have at least 1 source of income that they aren't privy to.

The ones that aren't paid for directly are paid for in the same way that television broadcasts are paid for- ad revenue.

"Already compensated" is a term that only has meaning in terms of their contract. As the contract is under negotiations, it has no meaning at the moment.

It seems pretty likely that the time isn't far off that downloads will be the primary method of distribution, so your "at least 1 source of income" complaint falls pretty flat.

I have to disagree there. Every time we watch a move or TV show on the 'net, it's the same as watching it on TV, so why shouldn't the writers get paid for that too? Doesn't sound unreasonable too me.

Putting it in capital letters still doesn't make it true.

Those numbers are bullshit. They are not numbers for the writers who write for a television show that is on every week. That is the amount of money averaged for all of the members of the writer's guild. This includes those working and not working. When a writer writes a script for a movie and he gets 250k for it, and he says he spent 5 years writing it (which means he's a useless slug) they say, "He only made 50k per year".

No, it just stresses something that is already true.

No. Clod's right. Also, in netiquette terms, it's considered shouting.

My God you are ignorant. The strike is not about movie screenplay writers, it has nothing to do with them. So putting aside yet another useless analogy of yours--yes, let's talk about "numbers for the writers who write for a television show that is on every week."

In 2006, the average weekly pay for a writing job in television broadcasting in New York was $2,450. Weekly--what an odd way to calculate it, right? Why not yearly? It's because they really are paid by the week. A standard show season is usually 13 weeks, 26 weeks at most. So that translates to $31,850-$63,700 per year. You might get lucky enough to be employed on more than one show, but their seasons must be completely independent and not overlap for even a week, which is difficult with cable and impossible with networks.

63,700 for half a year's work is extremely good. In fact 44k is good for half a year's worth of work too. This reminds me of the idiots who say teacher's aren't paid enough when they get 40-60k per year with a 3 month vacation. I wouldn't make that much money if I didn't work for 3 months each year.

God forbid writers should find another job during the other 6 months and have to work all year like everyone else. There's a lot of people who work much harder and who have a far greater education than most writers who don't make that much money working all year.

A video from a Daily Show writer, with a special guest star:

You of all people should know that how hard a person works or how much education they have purchased has exactly zero bearing on how much that person is worth.

The unique product the writers create is demonstrably worth more than they are being paid for it. Neither side wants the industry to switch to a completely free-market model, but if it did, you may be certain they'd be earning a lot more than they are now.

What's up with your favorite shows?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, production has shut down on NBC's struggling freshman drama "Bionic Woman" on November 9, because they ran out of available scripts. That could be why it wasn't on Wednesday...(edit) or maybe not. I just checked TVG Online. It says a new ep. airs next Wednesday.


Also shut down is Sci-Fi's "Battlestar Galactica", due to the same reason.

"Bionic Woman" had shootings scheduled up until December 12, and "BSG" was supposed to stay in production until mid-March.

...So when's BSG going to air?!
what about the mini-series?!

The BSG movie is tomorrow.

So, I guess the mob writers who script football are not unionized? That is counter-intuitive.

Yep, and it may be the last we see of BSG if the final season isn't being produced.

:lol:

Question: Does this strike affect only shows on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and The CW?

No, it affects shows on Bravo, TNT, TBS, Cartoon netwook, etc.

Except South Park.

Well,, the only original I care anything about is [b]Metalocalypse[/i], and as for TNT, TBS, and Bravo...no watchie.

Ok, I'll get right to it. What about Stargate: Atlantis?

As far as I know (I may be horribly wrong) the BBC authorises its own downloads and writers get paid according to their contracts - which include repeat broadcast fees. Not sure the independents, but it's unlikely they would attract talent if their set-up was vastly different. Will have to ask HM.

Although the BBC has a really odd clause in its contracts that stipulates they are binding within the known universe and any future discoveries or something like that. Will see if I can dig out the email from another friend in the business.

When's it on again? I missed it last night...both times.

Why should I of all people agree with that? I'm very well educated and find that I'm worth a lot more than those who aren't. Although I must admit that there are many who are less educated than I am, making a lot more money than me. In fact I've seen some really wealthy people who seem dumb as a bag of hammers, but they've got good financial people around them. They got a lucky break at some point, took the right risk, and it paid off. Then they were smart enough to know that they were too dumb to make that money grow so they hired someone else to do it.

Looks like you may have to go for the DVD. Or BitTorrent.

Because it's a fundamental principal of libertarianism: you are worth what you can earn in a free market, and not a dollar more. If your education is well-applied and helps you, great for you. But just because an idiot gets a degree or tries really, really hard doesn't mean that idiot deserves a certain amount of money from anyone. And likewise, someone with an inherent talent (say, writing) can also demand the market value for their work, even if they never graduated from high school.

Look at it this way. Right now individual writers are being prevented from charging a fair price from their work because of the presence of union-wide contracts. If your position is that you want to abolish the entire system of unions altogether, fine, but that's unrealistic. Given that the union structure is already in place and pre-determining the writers' contracts for them, it is only reasonable for them to use the options available to them (i.e., striking) to guarantee a contract that is fair for them.

A fair price is not determined by collectivism. It is negotiated between the two parties involved (employer & employee) and nobody else, including unions or the government. A fair price is determined by the marketplace. Clearly the producers do not think this is a fair price, and the writers are trying to disrupt their business in an effort to coerce them into submission.

The producers should just hire more writers. Hollywood writers are a dime a dozen anyway. There are thousands of people waiting for the chance to take their place.

WORKING Hollywood writers make an average of $200,000 PER YEAR. There are plenty of very fantastic writers who would take this money and accept it with a smile and not demand more money.

Yes, clearly. Those shows haven't missed an episode yet.

I'm sorry, I rolled my mouse over your post again and again, but I just can't find the link to your citations on this subject.

A Hollywood studio is just as collective as a union. Studios pool together money, and unions pool together talent.

http://www.fuckinggoogleit.com

Feel free to search for "writers"+"$200,000". The number is obtained by averaging the amount earned by the highest and lowest paid writers who are actually working and does not include those who are not working like those who mention 65k/year.

Sixth item when googling "writers"+"$200,000":

"The $200,000 average is a misleading indicator of most writers. There are 12,000 Writers Guild members (and I'm not one of them), The MEAN income of a guild member is $4,000 a year. Yes, that means there is a very large distribution. There are the A-list writers who make a lot of money, there are writers making the minimum, and there are writers who aren't getting paid at all because they sold nothing in that calendar year."

If somone could update me on that Daily Show video that was posted by Happy Monkey? Who's the special guest? I'm not supposed to stream at work...heavy fines...

I don't find that misleading at all. Of all the writers who actually have jobs, the average among them is 200k per year. Some make a million, and some make 4k. They are paid what they are worth. The average between them is 200k. The guy who makes 4k per year probably worked less than a week in a year.

Mentioning how many writers guild members are in the union is irrelevant. Most of them don't actually work. It's the same in SAG or AFTRA. Something like 3%-5% of the members of that union are actually working actors. It's stupid to factor in those who aren't working. To figure out how much union writers are being paid, you only include those who are actually working.

Working writers guild members earned $264 million which equates to the average working writer making $205,000 in 2006.

It was a daily show writer doing a "non daily show daily show" where he points out the hypocrisy of Viacomm suing youtube because it says internet distribution is worth a billion dollars a year, and then telling the writers it's worthless.

And the special guest was John Oliver.

The strike might be over soon. Click here.

Are you all really missing your tv shows that much? Honestly, I haven't noticed much of a change - guess you can tell I don't watch 'em too much.

`
 

Oh, You think I'm the only TV watching Dweller?`

Most of the change hasn't happened yet, to be noticed. The late-night shows are in reruns, because they need daily writing. The Office hit reruns in the last two weeks, because of the crossover in their writing/acting/producing staff. Most shows have more lead time than this, and haven't gone into reruns yet. The big changes haven't hapened yet. When the rest of the shows run out of already-written episodes, there will be an extended lack of scripted television, even if the strike ends soon.

I miss my shows, and a couple of friends are missing out on jobs. There...I said it. I want my Colbert back.

Drax - Who singled YOU out? Guilty conscience much?
Fuck you very much too by the way

How do you expect me to respond? Your post was right after mine.

Don't take it personal like. Hazing the n00bs is S.O.P. around here. Hey, Jim did it to me...relentlessly.

Read my post - I said ="are you ALL...
plural

Actually we only haze annoying noobs...

My bad. I overlooked that part. :o

:headshake Drax...when will you ever learn?

Slowly, but surely.;)

I feel I need to warn you that if you go any slower you'll be going backwards. ;)

And less time wasted watching TV will afford you more time to be here on the cellar learning all sorts of things!

Ok, but stop calling me Shirley.

Ok, gotta bit a news here from the strike watch blog @ TVGuide.com:

See above link for more.

If'n you want news...

Comedy Central is forcing The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to return as well, on January 7th (with no writers.) The official press quote from the two of them is: “We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence.” — Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert

Meanwhile, David Letterman has made a bold move by attempting to sign an individual deal with the WGA to bring the writers back to his show on the terms they want. He can do this because his production company, Worldwide Pants Inc., completely owns the rights to his show, and the network can't stop him. There haven't been any agreements made yet, but it's an interesting slap in the face to the AMPTP.

Also, here's an excellent Huffington Post writeup of why the AMPTP should in fact be prosecuted as a grossly illegal monopoly.

Well that just makes my day!! BTW that shot is for whom ever needs it. Or who.

why don't these cheat sheets ever include Life? it is the only new show i actually bother to DVR so i can watch each week.

Radar, you're mistaken about the transitive property of rights here. Yes, wages should be determined solely by the two parties making an agreement - employer and employee. Yet, either party has the right to empower someone else to negotiate those terms for them. My authority to negotiate terms is transitive, so I can loan it to someone else who will then act on my behalf, like an athlete would with an agent.

For guild writers, they have decided to collectively cede their right to negotiate to a single agent (the WGA), in order to strengthen their position. There is nothing in this transaction that violates the principle of free enterprise.

Furthermore, the right of any two person to enter an agreement for work has no meaning, unless coupled with a right NOT to work if one of the two parties does not agree with the terms. This has to be a core libertarian principle.

Now, I'd agree with you if you find fault with the restrictions placed on corporations when negotiating with the WGA - they ought to be free to fire and replace whomever they wish, including striking workers. They have to have a free hand in the negotiations, just as the unions do.

But everything up until that point? Collective bargaining, work stoppage, asking for residuals, being free to set conditions under which one is willing to work, that's all free enterprise. That's libertarian bliss, baby.

January 7th is almost here! While I know that a return of shows, even without writers, is not the best thing for resolving the strike, for purely selfish purposes I still must do a little celebration dance.

I heard on the news that "after the holiday break, members of the WGA will resume their strike."

What? They were on break from being on break? What do you do when you're on break from a strike, work for a couple days?

I know I'm going to hear all about the mechanisms of striking, but it struck me as funny.

Yeah, what they really meant was they will resume picketing the studios. Kind of pointless protesting outside an empty building. :)