A tribute to the heroes of big media, who soldier on in the face of almost unimaginable financial confusion.
Tag writer
Support the Writers!
| 
Post this image as your default on Livejournal, or Myspace, or Friendster, or Facebook, or whatever. Support broke writers like me.
Why There’s a Strike (Put Simply)
Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica): “At Battlestar, we had a very specific situation last year, dealing with webisodes, which opened my eyes to the problems. When we were approached to do Galactica webisodes, the studio’s position was they didn’t want to pay anyone to do it—they considered it promotional material. They weren’t going to pay any of the writers or the actors or the directors to do it, which we thought was crazy. We refused to do it, and eventually came to an accommodation where they said they would pay us, but then when we were almost done, they decided they weren’t going to credit anybody. They weren’t going to acknowledge anybody who wrote it. And then I refused to deliver the webisodes, and they came and took them anyway, which is their right since they own the show…but it really made me aware of these issues. I mean, my staff writer, who is the lowest man on the totem pole, they want him to do all this work for another media, not pay him for it, and then make money off of his work. Ultimately, that’s why we’re here, because that’s just wrong.”
Wilder’s On Strike
So, on Monday I was supposed to go with a producer to the American Film Market to pitch my feature screenplay to a few production companies, studios, and distributors, seeking funding. I was ready to actually kick off my career at long last — my first real industry meetings.
But turns out there’s a writer’s strike, and I couldn’t cross the picketline to become a scab. I couldn’t negotiate or pitch or discuss or write — or else I’d be blacklisted and banned by the union.
Ah, the birthday curse strikes again.
But, all the same, I met with him on Sunday, before the midnight deadline. I prepared him as best I could, and he went around Monday without me. Word is, if he can push the right parties hard enough to get a domestic distribution promise, there are a few parties that might be interested in putting up the money to produce it. Of course, I can’t turn the option into a sale until this is all over… but none of this means anything out here. Still, it’s nice to be talking about disappointments on the multi-million dollar budget level, instead of the internet competition level.
So, even though it sucks for me, I hope you all support the writers. Don’t believe the media claims that writers are millionaires marching for additional pennies. In particular, TV writers are facing an impossible future if they are robbed of income from internet downloads — we all know that television and the internet are converging. If they aren’t given pay for internet showings, which is what this is about, many writers will be unable to survive. Plus, we also know that the media corporations aren’t struggling to pay their executives. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that the creator of something get at least 2% of 40% of the profits generated by something they created, now is it?
The internet — it’s too new!!
Anyway, if you’re interested in following the strike, this is a really fascinating website with regular updates. It’ll make you feel all in-the-know:
Enjoy, and be sure to voice your support for the scribes. Comment if you can — many of them will be checking this site when they aren’t out marching. Remember, most of us are broke, and fighting to keep less than a school teacher makes. We’re fighting for a living wage as much as any American, even while 2/5ths of us are unemployed. Don’t forget that.
J Wilder Konschak 