Hollywood's creative underdogs take on the bigwigs
With changing technology, Hollywood needs to update royalties
OTTAWA (CUP) -- The Writers Guild of America has gone on strike and the shit has hit the fan. Reruns are starting to take over primetime television.
Hollywood is losing money, both in and out of the studios. Through a depressing financial osmosis of sorts, the strike is weakening local L.A. businesses that rely on tourism and the entertainment industry.
Famous actors and the Hollywood elite - most of whom are unaccustomed to being in the spotlight for their opinions on the power struggles of the industry - are coming out of the woodwork. They're mostly taking a stand in support of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, though some have crossed the picket lines.
In a nutshell, the guild, which represents 12,000 television, movie and radio writers, has failed to renegotiate their union contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) because writers are being poorly paid for residuals (similar to royalties) for DVD sales, and not paid at all for low-cost “new media” distribution methods, like Internet and cell-phone downloads.
In the ‘80s, the WGA acquiesced to the AMPTP's demands to take a temporary 80 per-cent cut on residuals, because of the AMPTP's argument that home video was an “unproven” and costly market. Over a span of 20 years, the home-video market skyrocketed, manufacturers decreased costs and the DVD took over VHS. The WGA'S attempts to regain that 80 per cent from the home-video market - which made four times as much money as box office sales in 2004 - have failed.
This brings us to the current strike. It's not difficult to understand that, when compared to other creative industries, there is a lack of fair, proportional residuals paid to entertainment writers so that they can do normal things like pay the bills and survive periods of unemployment - a reality for many WGA members.
If musicians and authors receive royalties when their work is used, these writers should benefit from a similar set-up.
One of the only good things emerging out of this entire spectacle involves the scary, market-changing “series of tubes” - to steal Ted Stevens' apt description of the Internet - which is at the heart of this debate, because it further exemplifies the entertainment industry's struggle with new technology.
The WGA, on the other hand, is all over the Net, using it comprehensively to communicate its concerns and also as a creative outlet.
For example, United Hollywood (unitedhollywood.blogspot.com), a website written by a “group of strike captains,” is live-blogging the picket lines and uploading videos with frustrated sound bites from writers to YouTube. A few of the writers also took it upon themselves to educate the Internet masses via YouTube videos laden with infographics, which eloquently demonstrate their stance.
Meanwhile, Emmy-award-winning writer/director/producer Ken Levine is writing his own “The Simpsons” skits on his blog (kenlevine.blogspot.com).
Who would've thought that Hollywood's writers could be so spontaneously witty, opinionated and imaginative when called into action? Remarkable, indeed.
OTTAWA (CUP) -- The Writers Guild of America has gone on strike and the shit has hit the fan. Reruns are starting to take over primetime television.
Hollywood is losing money, both in and out of the studios. Through a depressing financial osmosis of sorts, the strike is weakening local L.A. businesses that rely on tourism and the entertainment industry.
Famous actors and the Hollywood elite - most of whom are unaccustomed to being in the spotlight for their opinions on the power struggles of the industry - are coming out of the woodwork. They're mostly taking a stand in support of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, though some have crossed the picket lines.
In a nutshell, the guild, which represents 12,000 television, movie and radio writers, has failed to renegotiate their union contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) because writers are being poorly paid for residuals (similar to royalties) for DVD sales, and not paid at all for low-cost “new media” distribution methods, like Internet and cell-phone downloads.
In the ‘80s, the WGA acquiesced to the AMPTP's demands to take a temporary 80 per-cent cut on residuals, because of the AMPTP's argument that home video was an “unproven” and costly market. Over a span of 20 years, the home-video market skyrocketed, manufacturers decreased costs and the DVD took over VHS. The WGA'S attempts to regain that 80 per cent from the home-video market - which made four times as much money as box office sales in 2004 - have failed.
This brings us to the current strike. It's not difficult to understand that, when compared to other creative industries, there is a lack of fair, proportional residuals paid to entertainment writers so that they can do normal things like pay the bills and survive periods of unemployment - a reality for many WGA members.
If musicians and authors receive royalties when their work is used, these writers should benefit from a similar set-up.
One of the only good things emerging out of this entire spectacle involves the scary, market-changing “series of tubes” - to steal Ted Stevens' apt description of the Internet - which is at the heart of this debate, because it further exemplifies the entertainment industry's struggle with new technology.
The WGA, on the other hand, is all over the Net, using it comprehensively to communicate its concerns and also as a creative outlet.
For example, United Hollywood (unitedhollywood.blogspot.com), a website written by a “group of strike captains,” is live-blogging the picket lines and uploading videos with frustrated sound bites from writers to YouTube. A few of the writers also took it upon themselves to educate the Internet masses via YouTube videos laden with infographics, which eloquently demonstrate their stance.
Meanwhile, Emmy-award-winning writer/director/producer Ken Levine is writing his own “The Simpsons” skits on his blog (kenlevine.blogspot.com).
Who would've thought that Hollywood's writers could be so spontaneously witty, opinionated and imaginative when called into action? Remarkable, indeed.
