What is Digg?211 Comments
- Ssj6Kirby, on 11/13/2007, -2/+41Plumbers get residuals. Just not the kind you normally think of.
- jerbaker, on 11/13/2007, -4/+42Because a script is an original invention, a personal creation of the writer(s). If a plumber invented a new device to ***** in and take it away from your house then she should get residuals, just as most inventors do. A spreadsheet could be said to be a creation, but it's not a new original product.
- ZenMojo, on 11/13/2007, -0/+31Trickle down economics.
- noisey, on 11/13/2007, -2/+27Ummm... because they're illegal aliens?
- jonnyeuchre, on 11/13/2007, -5/+29
Why do actors and directors get them and writers don't? Really, it's just marketing. Directors and actors are marketed as the 'stars'; but writers are the brains behind the whole operation. - Klak, on 11/13/2007, -1/+23people that make spreadsheets and plumbers are paid for their time not their "product"
- DutchGuilder, on 11/13/2007, -3/+23Hotels make money after they are built, why don't construction workers get royalties?
- Malcx, on 11/13/2007, -2/+21>>Because a script is an original invention
Not been to the movies lately then huh? - jacko7, on 11/13/2007, -5/+21So we'll march day and night by the big corporate towers, they have the shows but we have the power.
- Lewisham, on 11/13/2007, -5/+20This guy did a really great job of convincing me that actually plenty of other people are perfectly entitled to royalties as well.
I write code for a living. People come back to that code, and they're pleased it still works. I should get royalties for that. The typographer for a book made sure the book looked nice, so it sold more, so he should get royalties too. The plumber who fixes a pipe well and lasting should be paid royalties for the fact it still works and still provides excellent service to the owner of the pipes.
All this article says is that good people deserve to be paid for work that lasts. What he doesn't do is justify why writers are any different to anyone else, except that they have weird laws surrounding copyright, which forms the basis of their work's protection. - bsolidgold, on 11/13/2007, -5/+17Students make money from the education they're provided, why don't teachers get a cut?
- inactive, on 11/13/2007, -3/+14because a plumber does not create intellectual property.
- nullcodes, on 11/13/2007, -6/+17You aren't supposed to get paid based on what other people get/negotiate. You arent even supposed to get paid according to how much a person you sold something to earns by utilizing it. You are supposed to get paid based on a contract you agree to. If you don't like the terms don't do the job.
If a plumber or a doctor wanted residuals I wouldn't hire them unless I REALLY wanted their service (ie, their service was of such great value and importance to me and there was nobody else I could hire on more favorable terms). - crimson117, on 11/13/2007, -1/+10He never actually explained why "screenplay authors" deserve residuals but "spreadsheet authors" do not. His explanation for why screenplay writers get residuals was because novelists get royalties, and if you don't understand that he's done.
- footodors, on 11/14/2007, -0/+9yea........stupid pizza delivery guys and their big ol' fancy hummers driving around like they own the joint!!
- WhoDoneIt, on 11/13/2007, -0/+8Because pizza delivery people usually are on contract and don't actually work for the pizza company.
1. They use their own car to deliver pizzas and wear and tear aren't cheap. Insurance isn't cheap either when the insurance company realizes you are driving so much.
2. The don't get paid by the hour, they get paid by the delivery. It used to be $2 when I worked at a pizza joint in college.
3. They pay for their own gas
4. If they don't get tips, they don't earn hardly anything
5. Because they are delivering your pizzas to your fat ass when it would be just as easy for you to drive to the pizza joint in the dead of winter. - bitt3n, on 11/13/2007, -1/+9actually this doesn't seem to be a good explanation to me. the author says the spreadsheet writer doesn't get residuals because he's an employee creating a work for hire, while the script writer trades his authorship for residuals. yet someone who sells a spreadsheet to a company but who does not work for them could potentially receive royalties rather than upfront payment. the reason this doesn't happen is the fact that it's usually not easy to pinpoint how much money the spreadsheet brings in for the company. in the same way, a studio could conceivably fairly compensate a script writer without residuals. who would say that, for example, $100 M compensation with no residuals isn't fair for a given script? what the author should have said is that residuals are a useful way to motivate script writers to write scripts that will make a lot of money. residuals do not work for spreadsheets because it's not easy to determine how much money the spreadsheet's existence made for the company.
- teadrinker, on 11/13/2007, -1/+9You can, all you need to do is to put that into the contract. So start your own consulting company, make software, and sell it with a per use/ per year fee. Nothing restricts you from that.
These writers sold their copyrights on the contract that they would be paid per use. They are striking to get those contracts renegotiated. Perhaps if they kept the copyrights, they would be able to renegotiate the contracts without striking, by simply preventing distribution. - trogdor282, on 11/13/2007, -0/+8Apparently you aren't an engineer for a large company. All your patents are belong to them.
- dkm201, on 11/13/2007, -0/+7I think it's shortsighted to blame the largely middle-class writers for the fact that there's a strike, and not the 'richest-people-on-earth' studios. Writers might be making money off residuals during the strike, but it's nothing compared to what the STUDIOS are making from that same work during the strike.
- coldkodiak, on 11/13/2007, -2/+9I work in games, and I know that the only person who gets royalties on characters or ideas designed by the studio is the guy who owns the company. Why should writers, who didn't even for the most part have any part in creating the intellectual property they are working on in the first place, get paid for contributions they made years ago?
If the writer created the IP, let them have the royalties. If not, too bad.
- maxwhirl, on 11/13/2007, -0/+7A very simple way to understand residuals/royalties is that the producer/publisher pays the author LESS THAN what they both agree the work is worth. The writer gives the producer a "bargain" with the hope that she will make more in the long run by participating in the profits. If the producers want to stiff the writers on residuals, they simply need to pay more up front. This makes sense for work that can have such varied value. A plumber's work has a constant value.
- 3Den, on 11/13/2007, -2/+9Which is exactly what is happening.
They feel they have enough leverage to negotiate higher residuals.... that the studios ultimately REALLY need their services... and so they are taking action. - HanSolo69, on 11/13/2007, -0/+7Hence the reason that the WGA has decided it's time for a new contract.
- inactive, on 11/13/2007, -0/+7People that write code don't get residuals, do they?
- JFetch, on 11/13/2007, -3/+9Buildings get resold all the time.
- samiringo, on 11/13/2007, -0/+6Ack, I'm sorry that didn't quite work out...
- sugarazor, on 11/13/2007, -1/+7The writers aren't getting the same perks that the actors are. If it were the other way around and the actors were striking, then the writers would be out of work too. Unfortunately in situations like this, innocent people get caught in the crossfire, so to speak. Yeah, the actors are out of work, and that really sucks for them but they really have no one to blame but the studio execs.
- Robbothehood, on 11/13/2007, -0/+6Actually, they all contribute.
- daizaru, on 11/13/2007, -4/+10I got nothing against them making residuals, but it's the fact that even while they strike they'll make money off reruns while everyone else working on the show isn't.
The problem is, this is the dozenth time a writer has written to justify why they are doing it... and nobody really has an issue with the fact they think they deserve more money. Most people will agree, but it's still the method and who else gets hurt by a really long strike.
They need to justify why it's worth other people suffering over it to me.
I just hope the strike is short, and it has nothing to do with the TV I'll miss. - inactive, on 11/13/2007, -3/+8Exactly. Actors and studios get residuals, but writers don't? Hm...
- bratpack8, on 11/13/2007, -1/+6"Because residuals are royalties paid to an author. They’re not a bonus. They’re a guaranteed payment to the writer in exchange for giving up copyright and authorship claims."
Okay, if that is what is negotiated between the two parties. But just because someone signs over copyright and authorship doesn't guarantee them squat. And I'm a writer, unfortunately one who understands basic economics and apparently, when things are mutually exclusive. - Pake, on 11/13/2007, -0/+5To pay for the gas plus wear and tear on the vehicle. He could ride a bike, but I doubt you order a pizza for it to be cold in 1hr late.
- MrDave2176, on 11/13/2007, -0/+5The WGA agrees that a strike is the least effective way to make their point, but what other alternatives do they have? The studios are stonewalling and putting their heads in the sand when it comes to the real concerns that the WGA is voicing. NO residuals for internet content? What kind of BS is that? The strike is a wake-up call to the studios. It forces them to deal with the WGA's issues. They've played the "not now" tune too long.
- inactive, on 11/13/2007, -0/+5Hire a lawyer and get royalties put in your contract next time.
- AllYourBase3, on 11/13/2007, -0/+5does the word salary mean nothing to you? They got paid for the script already
- bratpack8, on 11/13/2007, -0/+5what about computer programmers? game programmers? IP laws are yet another form of government intervention in what should be a simple trade between two parties.
- garugaga, on 11/13/2007, -2/+6Site is getting slow. Here is a mirror:
http://johnaugust.com.nyud.net:8090/archives/2007/ ... - londubh, on 11/13/2007, -0/+4and writers should get residuals. in fact they should get more.
- Firehed, on 11/13/2007, -1/+5Sure, if all deliveries are within 2.5 minutes of the store, there's no traffic, and no waiting at either end of things. Chances are you're looking at closer to 2 or 3 deliveries an hour, and they're not reimbursed for gas.
- eclectro, on 11/13/2007, -0/+4Some actors get residuals, others don't. It depends on how well you can get your contract negotiated. Actors share one thing with writers though, they both do not have steady employment (usually).
- chad78, on 11/13/2007, -0/+4Writers *DO* get residuals - the strike is that they don'tget *enough* residuals, and they don't get residuals for Internet "broadcasts" which the studios classify as marketing, and not sales. Even though they embed marketing in the free webcasts, and get cash money from sales on iTunes/etc.
- Berkana, on 11/13/2007, -1/+5Making a comparison to plumbers is short sighted, and not fair to the writers. Plumbing is material work, but writers produce intelectual property that keeps making money. If someone keeps selling their work and making money off of it long after their work was completed, ask yourself: is it fair that the distributor reap all the wealth for their hard work? Of course not. The writers who produce work that keeps earning money deserve a cut brought in by their hard work.
It shouldn't be a comparison between plumbers and writers; it should be between writers and producers. If money keeps getting made off the sale and distribution of their hard work, they deserve residuals. - spriggig, on 11/13/2007, -0/+4Stop tipping him and you'll know why.
- jonnyeuchre, on 11/13/2007, -1/+5the same reason the song writer does
- AxeSwinger, on 11/13/2007, -1/+4The tech sector has never been able to organize to form a union.
- jonnyeuchre, on 11/13/2007, -2/+5Right. Like my girlfriend contributes to sex. If laying there thinking of the next handbag she's going to buy is 'contributing' then, by all means, give her the same credit
- hifiDesign, on 11/13/2007, -2/+5Why do actors get residuals for that matter? The writers' craft is at the core of what the actors, director, etc. put out and the writers should be paid thusly for the content.
- rushiku, on 11/13/2007, -4/+7Because construction workers don't have their hand out expecting free money after they've been paid?
Because construction workers don't assume much risk when they show up for work and get paid a regular wage at regular intervals?
Because the Unions haven't figured out a way to further ***** the companies and people they're supposed to be helping?
Because every link and archive of this article seems to be down and I'm just writing a bunch of crap to mess with you because I have no idea what was said in said article? - ZenMojo, on 11/13/2007, -0/+3Even engineers can demand their patents if it's negotiated.
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