Being the TVoholic that I ma I really do not like this strike, as you can imagine, and I urge every other TV fan or viewer to strike as well, in the common hope for this issue to be resolved sooner than later.
The strike is now entering its second week, and yet a couple of days back it still wasn’t big enough of a news for the Los Angeles Times to mention it. Just look at their front page, there are literally no mention of it whatsoever. And that after the WGA strike rally was a huge success with over 4 000 person showing up, making it the biggest in the guild’s history !!
Worst than that, the WGA march on Fox was reduced to a very brief story on page 2, in the Business section. And the paper used an unofficial estimate of 3 500 that one may wonder where they got it, because WGA’s estimate was of 4 000 while LAPD’s estimate was of no less than 5 000.
With the huge financial power the studios have thank to the incredible benefit they make off of DVD sales & on-line content, along with such misinformation, it’s hard to expect massive support for the writers by those who aren’t looking it up in the Internet, to get their facts right.
Whether you’re a TVoholic, a TV addict, obsessed with TV or only a (regular) TV viewer, whether there are dozens of series you watch every week and couldn’t live for, or you only follow a couple, as long as you do watch (and love) TV, I can only assume that you are supporting the writers.
Some people are trying to portray them as overly rich people demanding even more money, but the facts are very different. What they basically want is to be able to survive in the years to come, what this is about is all the writers who need residuals in order to make a living. A residual isn’t a handout or an allowance, it’s not a lottery or an annuity from a slip and fall accident at a casino.
A residual is a deferred payment against the lifetime value of a script. A residual is what allow writers to earn money for their work as long as the given work does generate money, a residual is what allow writers to earn money while unemployed at times, and at any given time many writers are unemployed, that’s how the job works.
Somehow studios seems to consider writers as close to nothing, but we viewers know they are of high importance, we know that Lost would be nowhere without his amazing writing staff, with know that the brilliance of Hugh Laurie’s acting on House couldn’t exists without writers, because acting a blank page doesn’t get you nowhere. We do know that The Office is not a documentary, and that it wouldn’t work or make us laugh as much without its writers, we do know that McDreamy would mean nothing without a writers.
Because we do watch TV, we do like it, and we do know better.
Here’s a open letter sent to the governor from the creator and executive producer of ABC’s Brothers & Sisters, Jon Robin “Robbie” Baitz, :
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Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
I am writing to you on the fourth day of a strike by The Writers Guild of America, of which I am a member. I am also, as you know, the creator and one of the executive producers of the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters, a show you commended for its contributions to the economy of California during a memorable set visit some months back. I am reaching out to you to ask that you step into this very ugly minefield and do everything in your power to bring the two parties together. Before it becomes a quagmire. Without a quick resolution that nominally satisfies both parties, production will shut down, which is already starting to happen. The actors, the crews and the staff on TV shows are even now laid off. (I am especially agonized by the effect of this strike on the crews, who keep the entire business functioning and who work much harder than anyone else, period — which I am sure you know, given the fact that you’re an old hand.) And beyond the crews, the ill effects will seep into an entire economy at the mercy of this faulty, ugly, and unproductive negotiation.
Here’s just another little video from the picket lines, with Lost’s Damon Lindelof and Desperate Housewives‘ Marc Cherry explaining again what they’re asking for, why they’re asking for it, and I still find it so unbelievable that the studios would deny such a simple, easy and logical thing.
- Hey, can we get paid for our work ?
- No! Shut up & write some more, I need more billions I want to buy a new country for my wife!
Creator of Buffy amongst other things, Joss Whedon is outside on the picket line, with all of his writer friends, as well as other friends like Alyson Hannigan or Cobie Smulders from How I Met Your Mother.
And during a little break, Whedon sent a little something from the front lines to all his fans, and others, about the strike and why it is so important :
If you still are unsure about what the strike is all about and what writers are asking for, here’s a nice little video where it’s all very well explained. Worth a look, but I should warn you : there’s a little background music, and it’s too loud, and it gets pretty annoying real fast. Other than that, it’s all good!
Many people are commenting today on some difficult choice many people will have to make, being both writers and as such members of the WGA, but also either a producer, show-runner or actor.
Echoing to an article in Variety, many wonder what someone like B.J. Novak will do. Of course, you might know him as the douchebag from The Office, Ryan, but he is also a writer. So what will he do ? Obviously the writer part of the guy will be on strike, but what about his actor side, and more importantly what will he actually do, where will he go : outside, protesting, or inside, working.
Of course The Office is an effective example of such a dilemma, as B.J. Novak but also Mindy Kaling (Kelly) or Paul Lieberstein (Toby) are in such position. But in reality, many other shows are facing the same issue. Because of pretty much every show, you have writers who are also show-runners and producers, so what will they do ?
Obviously for the network, that’s a no-brainer : they have to show up for work. As said one senior network executive, “The official line on all of our shows is we expect you to show up. We’ve told them that it’s required under their contracts, and they’ll be in breach if they don’t show up.”
On the other hand, and while it might be heartbreaking, I think most of them stand the other way around. Some executive producers/show-runners are already predicting that most of them will not show up on Monday, or any other day.
I have already talked about the strike, and what it was about. Well, here’s an even shorter sumup of the whole thing, what writers want and what the networks reply, and how it all comes to. In a pure Daily Show tradition, this is right on & dead funny.
By the way, the strike is here, and obviously all those comedy talk shows who rely on their writers for their content every day, based on daily news & events and that, as such, can’ be written in advance, well all those shows we go into repeats starting Monday : Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, as well as SNL.
It seems inevitable now that the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is going on strike as early as Monday. More info on the whole thing and how it will affect us, TV viewers, will keep flooding in over the next few days, but it’s apparently going to happen.
As you probably heard for a while now, there is a major risk that writers will go on strike starting as soon a November first if writers and producers do not come to an agreement on a new contract by the end of the month. As the risk grows every day, what could it mean for us viewers ?
Well, expect a lot more of reruns and reality shows.
But really, how about how favorite TV series ? Well… if depends. For example, while Family Guy fans are fine, because animated series such as this one or The Simpsons are completed up to a year in advance, and therefore are unaffected by any strike regardless of its length (well, for this season at least), fans of shows like 24 or Lost might very well be screwed!
By fred | November 12, 2007 
Being the TVoholic that I ma I really do not like this strike, as you can imagine, and I urge every other TV fan or viewer to strike as well, in the common hope for this issue to be resolved sooner than later.
Whether you’re a TVoholic, a TV addict, obsessed with TV or only a (regular) TV viewer, whether there are dozens of series you watch every week and couldn’t live for, or you only follow a couple, as long as you do watch (and love) TV, I can only assume that you are supporting the writers.
Many people are commenting today on some difficult choice many people will have to make, being both writers and as such members of the WGA, but also either a producer, show-runner or actor.