Why are they on strike? Because people are falling into the baler? Oh because people that sell their time for money also want passive income. Yes let me worry about that while the foreclosed homes in America equal the size of Indianapolis. If you think the Internet is the future of entertainment why do you need so much money to live in LA? You can work on the Internet from anywhere. A lot of land in the West End of Louisville costs $1 if you build a house on it.
sharelouisville.com
You try selling a screenplay palette of corrugated display cases from the West End of Louisville and let me know how it turns out.
Ever think that maybe the reason it costs so much to live in centers of businnes is because they're centers of business? Also ever think that maybe the market for something isn't the place where that thing needs to be made/written/produced? Also, did you ever realize that you can't actually LIVE in the internet, even though that's where the future of entertainment is? ...And that Louisville is a lousy subsitute for living in cyberspace? Also, did you realize that Tom and Consolidated Cardboard are both based out of New Jersey? Also, shut up.
Hear, hear, Mister Junk!
I imagine that a lot of the people on this board know WGA members personally, so I might just be repeating what you guys've already heard, but here is what I know:
In previous contracts for cable, VHS, DVD, etc., the studios have gone to the WGA and said "we'll give you what you want for the current medium, but we haven't quite figured this new one out yet, and it's marginal anyway, so why don't you take a hit on this." And the WGA has conceded, and every single time the new medium has come to predominate. Today, the studios are saying that they don't have a working revenue model for the internet, and they're telling the truth - they don't. But sooner or later, everything's going to go over broadband, and the real agenda of the studios is to do away with residuals altogether. To give you an idea of where this is likely to go if the WGA loses this, I give you the example of myself:
I am a freelance contributor to Comedy Central's Indecision 2008 blog. I pitch pieces, and if they're approved, I get a measly $25 for each entry I write, plus an extra $25 if they post it. I get no credit or byline, and Viacom owns these pieces lock, stock and barrel: if they want to publish them in a book, say, I get nothing. But I do it anyway, because I want the clips, and it's relatively low on my list of priorities, and while I have no intention of leaving the theatah, there are basically three ways playwrights make money: musicals, Hollywood, and academia, and I would eventually like to move into some kind of comedy writing because (while I like the actual teaching part) academia is tiring and really no more secure than entertainment.
Now, there are probably dozens of schmucks like me who are willing to basically work for free. If the studios managed to break the WGA, which is what a loss here would pretty much do, it would be the end of writers being able to make a decent living from TV and film work - and, anxieties about piracy and internet revenue models aside, it would only be a matter of time until someone in NY, LA, or Silicon Valley would figure out a way to make a fortune from the new status quo, and artists would get screwed, and we'd wind up back in 1920 or whenever it was writers decided to unionize.
