Writers say they will go on strike - Media Biz - MSNBC.com Hollywood writers union WGA may go on strike. TV and Film scripts might actually be written by people who aren't total hacks, shills, and dickheads! I would like to offer my complete and vocal support to the WGA and urge them to consider making their strike action as close to permanent as they possibly can. I would also like to encourage the people responsible for the scripts of Buffy, Sex in the City, and Full House to take up high speed late night motorcycle racing without the benefit of headlamps.
Hey, I used to like watching Full House every now and then! And then, there were always old pearls like "Married... with Children". One of these days I'll check Amazon for DVDs of that series.
I used to love Full House!!!!!!!!! It was one of the shows you didn't need much English to enjoy (that and "Tom & Jerry"). I mean, as long as you understood that "you got it, dude!" is hillarious when spoken by a 3-year-old, you're pretty much set for the rest of the episode, if not season!
Hmm. I must disagree with assisted suicide for Buffy's writers. Josh Whedon is one of the best writers out there. This is the guy that brought us Firefly... It makes up for 'Angel'... I do agree we might actually see some decent scripts, although I feel the blame lies more with the producers then the writers. Constant rewrites to appeal to the lowest common denominator will destroy any writers will to live.
Nah don't you know reality tv is staged and therefore obviously scripted. These hacks have turned TV into their oyster and now want better pay for a crap job... What other profession would make such a demand... oh yeah... politicians.
From reading the article, I think the strike is because the writers want a bigger share from the Internet and DVD sales, from which they're not getting much at the moment. And apparently DVD sales bring in the biggest profit, and Internet sales are expected to be the next big moneymaker over the next few years.
Yeah, I'd like to see who cooked up that business model, and the coroner's toxicology report. It's currently estimated that between 50-90% of the total web traffic in the UK is bit torrent activity. up to ninety percent!! now, i'm impressed that DVD sales are actually more profitible than selling commercials (but then again, last time i was watching TV in the states I seem to recall there only being four minutes of program between commercial breaks - i definately would rather wait for the DVDs than watch that many adverts), but I don't figure out how they're going to start selling ad space through a bit torrent client.
OK, most American television seems to follow Sturgeon's Law "Ninety percent of everything is crap" - but remember - American television came up with "Cheers", which gave the Marthter "Biers - where everyone knows your shape!" - sometimes, there is that little glint of gold in the mud!
I think some people actually *buy* DVDs rather than just download them. Fairly often people belong to both groups (heck, I have Star Wars on DVDs I bought, and the first two Godfather movies... I also plan to buy all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies soon). And DVD rentals are doing rather well these days, even for TV series. Clay, one thing that *some* people in the various media entertainment industries have realized, is that if you make it affordable and easily available, people won't bother stealing it. Buying media (games, movies) directly via the Internet for download is the next logical step. Sure, a lot more people will still download it rather than buy it, but the thing is... there's still enough people paying.
To cut a long story short, man, I think people have started to realize that selling shows people will watch on a per-individual basis is better than selling commercial space to everyone when the ratings just keep going down. People hate commercials, man, they just want to watch their shows. If you can get the shows they like to them with minimum hassle, and if you can give them *just* the shows they like, then they will pay you for them rather than for 4000 satellite channels with nothing on them. Being in a fairly related industry, I can tell you from the articles and journals I'm reading that a lot of people are leaning towards this model. Welcome to the future, Clay. ;-)
What I heard on the radio the other day was they are getting 4 cents per DVD and they want 8 cents, I guess that doesn't seem that unreasonable. it would make a huge difference to the writer's and not all that much to the consumer's. Here's hopingthe strike doesn't last long.
