Originally Posted By peeaanuut writers are not being paid based on distribution and duplication. They are being paid to write one script. What is being done after that is not part of the contract THEY agreed to. Their story is like working for a company that makes flour and wanting a bigger percentage because Marie Calendars pies are selling better this year. The guy at the flour company doesnt make any more money. I hope they strike forever and are replaced quickly.
Originally Posted By debtee I must admit, from the outside looking in that these writers are not being realistic. They took these very highly paid writing jobs, knowing they don't get profit sharing, so to strike is just causing the people at the bottom of the chain to lose their jobs, which is very selfish. I have no problem with the writers trying to negotiate a pay increase but I'm against striking, as it holds everyone to ransome! Ellen continued to do her show and was criticized for it, however she pointed out that people had traveled interstate to watch her show and had their tickets for months in advance. Good on her for thinking of her audience.
Originally Posted By sunNrainfall I hadn't heard that about Ellen, that's pretty good of her. Hopefully, someone comes to their senses soon and ends this whole thing, it's pretty ridiculous. I've heard that some crew type people are giong to lose their homes!
Originally Posted By hopemax >writers are not being paid based on distribution and duplication. They are being paid to write one script. What is being done after that is not part of the contract THEY agreed to. < Huh? Writers are paid per script AND with residuals. They've been paid each time something airs on TV since the 60s, and for video since the 80s. They agreed to that in the contract that EXPIRED on Wed at midnight. >Their story is like working for a company that makes flour and wanting a bigger percentage because Marie Calendars pies are selling better this year. The guy at the flour company doesnt make any more money.< I think it's a bit more like a flour company having a contract with Marie Calendar for use in their pies. Since the contract was signed, Marie started using the flour in products that didn't exist when the flour company signed the contract. Eventually, the contract ends and now the flour guy says, "if you are going to use the flour in all these other ways, we want to renegotiate the price that we sell it to you." And now Marie is whining that the flour company doesn't want to sell them the flour anymore so they can't make their food even though they don't have a contract with the flour company. If it's not appropriate to renegotiate when a contract has expired, when is it?
Originally Posted By mawnck It's never a good time to negotiate a contract, ever, ever, ever, didn't you know that, hopemax? You just have to take what the employers are offering you, and if it's not good enough then uh . . . . you don't . . . uh . . . accept their . . . offer . . . . . Hmmmmm . . . I'll get back to you on this. (/sarcasm)
Originally Posted By peeaanuut renegotiations should have been done months ago. Not last minute. these writers make tons of money for a little bit of work. They are overpaid and should either find a new profession or go back to work.
Originally Posted By cstephens Negotiations have been going on for months. They just haven't been able to come to a compromise. /cs
Originally Posted By peeaanuut There is no excuse for that. Not caring about the actors or producers because they are overpaid as well, the people that are going to suffer are set builders and equipment operators. They need to get off their butts and get back to work. They of course meaning the overpaid writers.
Originally Posted By smeeeko ^but they work on their butts.. I can't see not sitting down to a computer.. that's bad posture.. ;P (just trying to bring it down a notch) I have friends that work in the industry and the writers strike is affecting a lot more people than just the writers.. shows no in production lose extras who need to make as many hours as they can not just for the exposure but they make a living off working as extras, not to mention everyone else on the sets.. I support the writers though, I think they need to get a fresh look at their contract whenever something new comes on the table.. stuff like royalties from downloads and dvds, and videogames and other stuff like that.. You know Disney would be all over it if thought someone was making 5cents off something that has their copyright on it, so why can't the writers get the 1/10 of a percent of whatever they created from all these new mediums?? It's the same if you were a book author or a famous painter.. do you want people making postcards of your art and not giving you credit or what little bit of $$ your owed for that creation.. They really don't make very much money in residuals anyway, it's all the corporations that get it.
Originally Posted By hopemax And let's talk about those "overpaid" writers. The average salary is $200,000. Yes, that is a lot. However, some writers are being paid millions of dollars per script. The median salary (50% make more/50% make less) for writer's working West of the Mississippi is $84,000. The median salary for writers in LA County is about $55,000.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut 55 grand a year to type a few words is quite a bit. How many of them put in a true 40 hour work week and actually earn it?
Originally Posted By mawnck >>55 grand a year to type a few words is quite a bit.<< Not in Southern California it isn't. >>Not caring about the actors or producers because they are overpaid as well<< Holy cow! Generalize much? Not all the actors are Tom Hanks. Most need second jobs to make ends meet.
Originally Posted By ni_teach Peeaanuut said: "55 grand a year to type a few words is quite a bit. How many of them put in a true 40 hour work week and actually earn it?" I look forward to reading your script Peeaanuut. If it's so easy you should have no problem having a outstanding script done in a few weeks.
Originally Posted By smeeeko ^thank you.. I know people that have trouble pay their rent and have to figure out what to do about car payments, gas and utility bills and the like. Only the top tier people are making that sort of money..
Originally Posted By peeaanuut I should have clarified and said Main actors. I know extras dont get paid much, but the main actors get paid waaay too much. <<Not in Southern California it isn't.>> that has nothing to do with it. 55k for some words is alot of money for any location. <<I look forward to reading your script Peeaanuut. If it's so easy you should have no problem having a outstanding script done in a few weeks.>> I have never tried but I guarantee it will be 10x better than cavemen and that made it on the air. Im not guaranteeing Heroes here but I sure can beat half the crap on the air now. Plus I would work with a team of 20+ just like these guys due, just to make it fair. Your not going to make me think they are the victim here. The simply are not the victim. They are in a luxury job and take it for granted. Plain and simple.
Originally Posted By DAR This video here does a great job explaining what the WGA wants. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ55Ir2jCxk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =oJ55Ir2jCxk</a>
Originally Posted By peeaanuut ok what dvds are 19.99? None. New movies on sale are 14.99 at target or best buy. Movies on iTunes also dont cost 19.99. That video was quite skewed. A very good piece of propaganda. Quite a number of false statements made of course, but what is propaganda but a bunch of lies.
