tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post6029486999368165637..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: The WGA strikeBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-6784408137084759592019-07-09T13:09:41.694-07:002019-07-09T13:09:41.694-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.David Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16358598675453533475noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-12018286646373639442007-11-04T23:58:00.000-08:002007-11-04T23:58:00.000-08:00To the student who posted. I'm an aspiring writer...To the student who posted. I'm an aspiring writer as well and what I've been told by many WGA members is avoid any writing work, including sending any writing to studios, during the strike. If you want to be in the WGA, honor the strike. I'm sure a lot of aspiring writers will rush to send specs and scripts to studios hoping that they're in need to writers, and I'm sure none of them will ever work again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-54634646028164400252007-11-04T18:59:00.000-08:002007-11-04T18:59:00.000-08:00First of all, I love this blog. As a Film/English ...First of all, I love this blog. As a Film/English student (who will hopefully join the WGA someday!), it's been a great read.<BR/><BR/>That said, I'm new to the nature of strikes. How will this affect the 20-something writers who are looking for jobs, or will be after graduation? Should they not pursue agents at all until the strike is over, since any jobs they get will break the picket line? I've been advised by trusted friends and professors to respect the picket line (which I planned on doing anyway for moral reasons), but I'm curious as to what other union members think students should do.<BR/><BR/>And let's face it... If anyone knows how to picket, it's a college student.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-79788317918215002362007-11-04T07:15:00.000-08:002007-11-04T07:15:00.000-08:00To support the writers strike, ask your friends to...To support the writers strike, ask your friends to stop renting DVD's or watching Reality Shows or Reruns. My mom plans to cancel NETFLIX, which is a huge sacrifice for her. (If that doesn't work, we mobilize the kids - and have them stop doing their homework. Unless it involves e-mail, it should be easy to get kids to stop writing.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-29695232044532882042007-11-02T22:46:00.000-07:002007-11-02T22:46:00.000-07:00I'm not worried about Vince Vaughn, I'm worried ab...I'm not worried about Vince Vaughn, I'm worried about my "friends"...<BR/><BR/>Word today is that the teamsters "support" may be less than predicted. Heard from one producer on a TV show that their teamsters had agreed to drive "up to" the studio, at which point the IA guys on the lot would take the materials across the lines and then the rest of the distance.<BR/><BR/>Also heard that more than a few of the show runners who penned or signed the "Pencils Down" ad in the trades were planning to shoot and cut multiple episodes of their shows -- some were having edit bays set up at their homes so they didn't have to "cross lines" to work. Others were slated to direct their episodes so that any changes they pitched were in their roles as DGA. <BR/><BR/>And I'm striking for....?<BR/><BR/>It was sounding like we were better prepared than in 88 -- not so sure now... hope I'm wrong.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-82772432278852325882007-11-02T15:45:00.000-07:002007-11-02T15:45:00.000-07:00Damn you, Vince Vaughn, for stealing my scab gig! ...Damn you, Vince Vaughn, for stealing my scab gig! Back to panhandling for me again. Cripes.Richard Cooperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04094016831874148306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-52351984836851908852007-11-02T13:00:00.000-07:002007-11-02T13:00:00.000-07:00Ken, well said.Writers: good luck and godspeed. As...Ken, well said.<BR/><BR/>Writers: good luck and godspeed. As an aspiring writer, I sympathize with the Guild. As a news writer in Middle America, I'll follow the prgress and push the information to my viewers. It's important for the writer's collective voice to be heard.<BR/><BR/>Good luck.Dan Moylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11891108375132399358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-65308544281433246312007-11-02T08:59:00.000-07:002007-11-02T08:59:00.000-07:00Good luck to all. May it bring a quick and satisfa...Good luck to all. May it bring a quick and satisfactory resolution, sooner rather than later.<BR/><BR/>Reading both sides, it's also a concern that the multi-nationals could prop up some writers overseas, give them the internets and room and board and just carry on. I've only read portions of the Guild contract, so I don't know if studios are prohibited from working outside the system.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-62750589797081160552007-11-02T05:44:00.000-07:002007-11-02T05:44:00.000-07:00Hope the sitcom isn't dead after this. Good luck W...Hope the sitcom isn't dead after this. Good luck WGAAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-3042157622968030202007-11-02T05:29:00.000-07:002007-11-02T05:29:00.000-07:00Well, now that's it's official (as of Friday morni...Well, now that's it's official (as of Friday morning, Nov.2) 1000 percent surpport to you and your fellow scribes, Ken.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-82193518330294315202007-11-01T19:23:00.000-07:002007-11-01T19:23:00.000-07:00Best of luck to the writers and their families. I...Best of luck to the writers and their families. I hope this strike is settled soon, and while I'm at it, I hope that the game show/reality TV sickness passes soon too.Tom Doughertyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04957278460932227241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-58352438470436532422007-11-01T19:17:00.000-07:002007-11-01T19:17:00.000-07:00I'm driving a V-Dub. And this strike comes at a h...I'm driving a V-Dub. And this strike comes at a horrible time for me. But is there a good time?Dwaconhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07544514023626682777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-27592943751069127372007-11-01T19:14:00.000-07:002007-11-01T19:14:00.000-07:00The Crutnacker said..."Networks rarely own a piece...<B>The Crutnacker said...<I>"Networks rarely own a piece of the shows? On what planet? ... Desperate Housewives -- owned by ABC. CSI Miami -- CBS Brothers and Sisters -- ABC. Let's not forget about the number of shows owned by the networks parent companies."</I></B><BR/>I stand corrected, after persusing a development database I can see they do have their hands in a lot more shows than I thought. (Although reality shows, sports and news are not among them.)<BR/><BR/>I'm not sure how much their sibling companies production arms motivate the network side, in my experience the network people are pretty focused on generating ratings and don't really care who the content comes from. No doubt the studio side feels differently.<BR/><BR/><I><B>"I would argue that revenue streams aren't necessarily drying up. Network shows still reach more people than cable by far on any given night, so they're still the biggest advertising bang for the buck."</I></B><BR/>No question, but the problem is the audience is shrinking. So even though broadcast television still reaches by far the biggest audience, it is diminishing in historical terms and that effects the bottom line.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-53436952834733811262007-11-01T18:30:00.000-07:002007-11-01T18:30:00.000-07:00Networks rarely own a piece of the shows? On wha...Networks rarely own a piece of the shows? On what planet? Ever since the FCC took away the regulations that limited their ownership, they have their hands in many. I just did a quick IMDB and scanned some stuff on TIVO.<BR/><BR/>Desperate Housewives -- owned by ABC. CSI Miami -- CBS Brothers and Sisters -- ABC. Let's not forget about the number of shows owned by the networks parent companies. <BR/><BR/>I would argue that revenue streams aren't necessarily drying up. Network shows still reach more people than cable by far on any given night, so they're still the biggest advertising bang for the buck. <BR/><BR/>If you think about DVD sales, the production costs for a DVD are virtually nil. You dump last season on some discs, put them into some cheap cases and BOOM, you have probably $35 to $40 of pure profit on each set. Attach an advertisement to the discs and maybe add a few bucks more.Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08923161793979910495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-91158618793303613932007-11-01T16:27:00.000-07:002007-11-01T16:27:00.000-07:00The Crutnacker said..."I disagree with the comment...<B>The Crutnacker said...<I><BR/>"I disagree with the comment that scripted shows will disappear completely from networks. Reality is cheap to produce, but it's not an ongoing revenue machine."</I></B><BR/>Networks don't make their money from syndication (unless they own a piece of the show, which is rare) so they don't care about that. All they care about is attracting eye balls using the least expensive means possible and collecting advertising dollars. Whether that's by way of sports, news, reality or episodic shows doesn't matter to them.<BR/><BR/><I><B>"I think the networks and producers of shows are in a better position now than they have been in some time. They have numerous outlets to distribute a show (original broadcast, internet, on demand, DVD)."</I></B><BR/>There's no question there are more avenues of distribution, but there profitability is an entirely different matter. The challenge is that while there are more ways to distribute content, the aggregate number of viewers is diminishing as television and movies compete with the internet and video games for peoples attention.<BR/><BR/>To the degree those viewers are captured on-line and not in front of their tv's, the revenue streams start to drop off precipitously. Google is cannibalizing traditional advertising dollars and charging less for impressions. My understanding is that even if the same number of viewers were watching on-line, at least so far, it would not generate the same amount of advertising revenue.<BR/><BR/>I think we're looking at studios and guilds fighting over a bigger piece of a shrinking pie.<BR/><BR/><B><I>"Streaming and downloading means the cost to distribute trends towards zero."</I></B><BR/>I'm not sure that's true. It's certainly more efficient to broadcast content than to transmit it bit by bit to millions of users. If the internet were to deliver anything remotely like the quality of HD television on a massive scale it would crush the infrastructure. Bandwidth is getting cheaper, but no where near free.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-42083130487609344442007-11-01T15:04:00.000-07:002007-11-01T15:04:00.000-07:00Good luck. If it doesn't work out move up here to ...Good luck. If it doesn't work out move up here to Canada and work with Cronenberg.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-48519191700561918862007-11-01T11:42:00.000-07:002007-11-01T11:42:00.000-07:00LA Guy, great responses - both of them. Crutnacker...LA Guy, great responses - both of them. Crutnacker, too (and Alaska ray). <BR/><BR/>Sigh. What a mess it is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-68451310875463410292007-11-01T11:36:00.000-07:002007-11-01T11:36:00.000-07:00"dollars to cents" is off by at least one order of..."dollars to cents" is off by at least one order of magnitude. iTunes sells an episode for 199 cents; I doubt you'll find many suckers willing to pay 199 dollars. Even if he's just talking about their profit, I don't see the price structure that will allow them to increase their profit ten- or a hundred-fold. And don't forget, you can make it up in volume. So it's a nice phrase, but a lie.<BR/><BR/>As far as the financial risks of funding Hollywood: boo hoo. If your million-dollar investment pays off, the guilds are asking that instead of making very many millions, you make slightly fewer millions. If you don't like the risk, buy bonds. But of course, that doesn't give you a reason to schmooze with the beautiful people.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11101205956353455647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-90164573630323268902007-11-01T10:55:00.000-07:002007-11-01T10:55:00.000-07:00Ken, excellent piece. I'll see you on the picket ...Ken, excellent piece. I'll see you on the picket line.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-67600778545051865532007-11-01T10:34:00.000-07:002007-11-01T10:34:00.000-07:00I'm Chair of the TV Committee of the Writers' Grea...I'm Chair of the TV Committee of the Writers' Great Of Great Britain, and I just wanted you all to know that our union supports you and we wish you all good luck. We'll be warning our own members on the dangers of strike-breaking. At times like this, family sticks together. Actually my family doesn't, but that's another story.Gail Renardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09388455755408650770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-54146946547673720032007-11-01T09:50:00.000-07:002007-11-01T09:50:00.000-07:00l.a. guy,Your argument about turning dollars into ...l.a. guy,<BR/><BR/>Your argument about turning dollars into cents would make more sense if the iTunes audience was, at this point, more than the tiny fraction of the television audience that it currently is. I'd love to see some sort of financial breakdown for per person earnings from television viewers as compared to iTunes viewers. Episode downloads is still in it's experimental stages, and there's little doubt that that is where the future is. And my initial point was that if selling episodes over the internet is promotional, and considering how few people download as compared to watch live or recorded broadcast episodes, then $15 million is a pretty damn good amount of profit. <BR/><BR/>VP81955,<BR/><BR/>Yes, typo. It was Jeff Zucker that said that. You might also note that I said that the NBA has only made $15 million. The NBA, as far as I know, has made nothing from iTunes.Tim W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16860726607106078491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-8165688590217298122007-11-01T09:49:00.000-07:002007-11-01T09:49:00.000-07:00I disagree with the comment that scripted shows wi...I disagree with the comment that scripted shows will disappear completely from networks. Reality is cheap to produce, but it's not an ongoing revenue machine. Cable has a bit more latitude in content, but nobody cares how much profanity, blood, sex, and violence is in a show if the show sucks. <BR/><BR/>I think the networks and producers of shows are in a better position now than they have been in some time. They have numerous outlets to distribute a show (original broadcast, internet, on demand, DVD). They have ways of getting a return on an investment if a show fails with DVD and internet streaming. <BR/><BR/>There is no reason why writers, actors, and other talent SHOULDN'T have a fair contract to address these other revenue generators. <BR/><BR/>As for Paul Haggis getting that script done before the strike. Don't blame him, he's got lots of e-meter sessions he's got to pay for with $cientology.Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08923161793979910495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-8754421357919705262007-11-01T09:16:00.001-07:002007-11-01T09:16:00.001-07:00Should the WGA go out on strike, I plan to offer m...Should the WGA go out on strike, I plan to offer my writing skills and services to all the studies. I figure after completing my first few scripts, they'll be begging you guys to come back and would pay anything.<BR/><BR/>AlaskarayAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-68765419345152631332007-11-01T09:16:00.000-07:002007-11-01T09:16:00.000-07:00Ken,Is there anything we non-WGA member writers ca...Ken,<BR/><BR/>Is there anything we non-WGA member writers can do to help the cause?Cathy Fieldinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13938684179454515074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-63415787101927830832007-11-01T09:11:00.000-07:002007-11-01T09:11:00.000-07:00Ken,At least one writer you know in fact drives a ...Ken,<BR/><BR/>At least one writer you know in fact drives a Bentley. <BR/><BR/>At the end of Sitcom Room, Sam Simon drove away from the hotel in his Bentley Continental GT. And to my ear, that sounded like a twin-turbocharged 12-cylinder engine under its hood, not a Prius drivetrain.<BR/><BR/>I had a nice conversation with Mr. Simon about the electric car he also owns and the electric Tesla roadster he has on order, but the car he was driving that day was a honest-to-God Bentley.<BR/><BR/>For the record, I did not see him light his cigar with a hundred dollar bill. It was a twenty.<BR/><BR/>Okay, he didn't even have a cigar that day. And Eisele's comment is utterly dopey. But at least some of the WGA membership does drive Bentleys.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com