unitedhollywood.blogspot.com— The Writers Guild of America is on strike because they aren't getting paid for the work that they are producing. This site is following the strike.
Nov 7, 2007View in Crawl 4
People are forced to work by the need to eat and support their families. The impulse to survive is a very primal thing. Bosses have veto power over employment/income. It's also in their short term interest to gut wages and benefits, too.
Why aren't they asking for TWENTY cents? According to the "Why We Fight" video they have linked on their site they took an 80% pay cut in the 1980s to allow the video market to flourish and never gave it back to them. So instead of 8 cents they should really be asking for 20 cents. Why the hell aren't they?!
Troll -- can't even bother to type a new comment for each blog. I've seen this on 2 other blogs -- verbatim -- Unitedhollywood and Deadline Hollywood Daily.
The writes have forgotten one thing and so have the networks. We the public are paying your salary. depending on how long this last, how well your saving account etc. You may have to get a job making 6 to 8 dollars an hour.Will that pay for everything you have now?With cable and channels like Discovery, Discovery Health, The Military Channel, etc. I for one do not care if you stay on strike till Hell freezes over. I say go for it.. if you have money to stay on strike.. :)
Because the guild drives freelancers out of the market, it keeps us from discovering interesting new talent, and forces us to consume the same tired schlock year after year.
On the other hand, if they weren't collectively bargaining, you'd probably be a writer already. Guilds notoriously squeeze out outside competition.Of course, that's the tradeoff unions play with in any industry: do you want a higher wage, or a higher chance of actually landing a job?
I'm a strong advocate of unions, but it's a Catch 22 for new talent trying to break into the industry. The unions are going to protect their membership's interest -- i.e., employment -- much the way the agents protect their clients' interests, and the end result is that it is virtually impossible for new writers to break into the business. There's no incentive to consider a new writer's work when you're protecting the interest of your union members, many of whom already earn little or no money a year, or your own clients. It becomes a numbers game. And I think that by and large -- there are some exceptions -- what you are getting is a kind of incestuous, self-perpetuating mediocrity as a result.
There is not a shred of doubt in this blogger's mind that the quality of the writing, acting and art direction in the old days, by and large, was vastly superior to what is being produced today. Vulgarity and violence and superficiality have supplanted craft and substance, and it's tragic.
bugsy187Nov 9, 2007
People are forced to work by the need to eat and support their families. The impulse to survive is a very primal thing. Bosses have veto power over employment/income. It's also in their short term interest to gut wages and benefits, too.
the13thzenNov 10, 2007
Why aren't they asking for TWENTY cents? According to the "Why We Fight" video they have linked on their site they took an 80% pay cut in the 1980s to allow the video market to flourish and never gave it back to them. So instead of 8 cents they should really be asking for 20 cents. Why the hell aren't they?!
allnclrkNov 15, 2007
Troll -- can't even bother to type a new comment for each blog. I've seen this on 2 other blogs -- verbatim -- Unitedhollywood and Deadline Hollywood Daily.
auxfoxNov 18, 2007
The writes have forgotten one thing and so have the networks. We the public are paying your salary. depending on how long this last, how well your saving account etc. You may have to get a job making 6 to 8 dollars an hour.Will that pay for everything you have now?With cable and channels like Discovery, Discovery Health, The Military Channel, etc. I for one do not care if you stay on strike till Hell freezes over. I say go for it.. if you have money to stay on strike.. :)
errandboyofdoomDec 11, 2007
Because the guild drives freelancers out of the market, it keeps us from discovering interesting new talent, and forces us to consume the same tired schlock year after year.
errandboyofdoomDec 11, 2007
On the other hand, if they weren't collectively bargaining, you'd probably be a writer already. Guilds notoriously squeeze out outside competition.Of course, that's the tradeoff unions play with in any industry: do you want a higher wage, or a higher chance of actually landing a job?
rosscavinsDec 26, 2007
go writers. bottom line, everybody deserves to be paid for their work. argue with that.
biffbangJan 17, 2008
I'm wouldn't be so sure he is in the minority.
biffbangJan 17, 2008
I'm a strong advocate of unions, but it's a Catch 22 for new talent trying to break into the industry. The unions are going to protect their membership's interest -- i.e., employment -- much the way the agents protect their clients' interests, and the end result is that it is virtually impossible for new writers to break into the business. There's no incentive to consider a new writer's work when you're protecting the interest of your union members, many of whom already earn little or no money a year, or your own clients. It becomes a numbers game. And I think that by and large -- there are some exceptions -- what you are getting is a kind of incestuous, self-perpetuating mediocrity as a result.
biffbangJan 17, 2008
There is not a shred of doubt in this blogger's mind that the quality of the writing, acting and art direction in the old days, by and large, was vastly superior to what is being produced today. Vulgarity and violence and superficiality have supplanted craft and substance, and it's tragic.
biffbangJan 17, 2008
Let me see if I understand this -- their drivel is superior to your drivel?
vdovaultMar 5, 2008
UH version 2.0 is now live at<a class="user" href="http://www.unitedhollywood.com">http://www.unitedhollywood.com</a>