Come the day after Halloween, there’s going to be a lot of kids with tummy aches, a lot of grown ups with hangovers, and possibly some mixture between the two. Out in Hollywood, however, the pain is likely to be centered in hearts, heads, and groins. It just might be contagious.
The Writers Guild of America has authorized a strike when their current contract with production studios ends at midnight on October 31st. This contract began after their last strike in 1998, when the world introduced to us such wonderful reality television that was less real than the current crop of hour-long drama shows featuring Keifer Sutherland saving the country in a single day, an Emo kid saving a cheerleader, and a guy who can make corpses wake up at will. Why? Because when writers strike, television studios just put anyone they can in front of the camera.
Lots of people are against unions, but a guild is not the same thing. In a guild, not everyone gets paid equally. Not every member gets a share of an overall lump sum. A guild is about the big guys fighting for the little guys against the thirty ton behemoths. There are television and movie writers who make big bucks, but there are a lot of people in the industry who have steady jobs and are bringing home less than your average car mechanic. Compound that with the fact that they live in Los Angeles (a requirement), and you’ll understand why they have three roommates in a studio apartment and want a little more money.
Who’s making the big bucks off of television? Disney, General Electric (owner of NBC), Viacomm (CBS), and Rupert Murdoch. Think any of those guys have roommates? Dozens of kids with a handful of wives don’t count.
What television and movie writers are asking for is pretty simple. They want a higher base rate, something the studio isn’t really fighting, as they do understand inflation. The big contention is over residuals. When Season Six of 24 goes on sale for $49.95, four cents per episode is given to the writer. If you think that the retail outlet you got this from is making any of that money, think again. That’s a loss-leader, which means that they’re likely loosing a bit on it just to get you in the store. In mass production, those five DVD discs and packaging might total two bucks. Another two bucks goes to the actors, two bucks to the directors, and probably another two bucks is split between all the other people involved in making that show. Who gets the other $40? FOX.
That’s right. You just paid $50 for something that was free in the first place, fully funded by advertising, just so one of the richest men in the world could get another pair of Andrew Jacksons to drop on his latest trophy bride.
What’s more is that television studios whine about Apple not charging enough for shows on the iTunes Music Store, yet to them, that’s pure profit. Digital distribution isn’t covered by contracts with the people who make the shows, so the studios reap all the rewards. When you get to watch Heroes for free on NBC.com, in turn for just looking at (and maybe clicking on) some advertisements, which cover the cost for the network, it’s the same deal. GE/Universal/NBC is making money, hand over fist, but the people who sweated, bled, and cried to make something you’d find entertaining get nothing.
So yeah, sooner or later, we’re going to be in the toilet when it comes to television again. In the next year or two, we’ll be watching yet another Summer of Remakes at the theater. Look for some Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson comedies, expect Simons Fuller and Cowell to create a few more spin-offs of American Idol, and prepare to see what the latest is with Trista and Ryan. Just don’t get angry at the creative talent. They only want to get their bills paid. The problem is with the fat cats whose wallets can just never be thick enough.