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Thoughts on the WGA strike

  • So this whole thing is about what cut of the profits should be directed to the writers – both generally from sales, and specifically from online sales. Does that strike anyone else as odd? What ever happened to the idea that the entrepreneur takes the risk and therefore reaps the rewards? What other union has that same sense of entitlement to a share of the proceeds? The writers get their fees, right? What’s with this contingency-based profit sharing, anyway? If a show flops, do the writers have to give back their paycheques? Didn’t think so.
  • What’s more, where does this stop? Does every single person who works on a TV show or a movie get a piece of the profits? Will the set designers and the casting agents start working on salary-plus-percentage arrangements? How about the caterer? The dolly grip? The guy who stands in for Tom Hanks while the lighting crew works?
  • And what’s with some shows making side deals in order to get back on the air? Why can Letterman have writers but Leno can’t? And how does the WGA give a free pass to the shows it likes? That’s not a strike. That’s a kid refusing to come out of his room… except for pizza.
  • If a WGA member writes his own material on a paper napkin, and nobody’s around to see it… did it really happen?
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