This cameraman was already on the street across from Warner Brothers when I drove by Wednesday morning at about 6:15 a.m. The picket line's not due to start up till 9:00.
He's watching a television that's sitting on the sidewalk.
Okay, more of my fascinating opinions about the strike.
I think the writers have a right and a good reason to strike. We are starting to see more "new media" scripts (for various types of Internet content) where I work. If companies are going to make money, the writers should have a cut.
MamaLisa at work says her little brother, who's in his early twenties, never watches television shows on TV. He downloads them to his computer or his iPod. More and more, shows are available online. The writers who were paid to write them get residuals on broadcast shows, but not when they are downloaded.
Fact: Every time I have watched an episode of a television series online, I have been shown an advertisement--or two or three--that I cannot fast forward through. So they know they are delivering their commercial message every time it's downloaded. Although I might open another browser for a few seconds, I usually still listen to the ad because I want to see the beginning of the clip or show. It's as much or more than they get from me when I'm playing TiVo-jockey. And I TiVo everything.
Some executives (the term "producer" is a little confusing: listen to this NPR story if you have a chance) have complained that there isn't much money being made on online content right now.
Right....
Now.
But it seems obvious that it's going to take off like wildfire in the next 5 years or so, and the writers are--reasonably--asking for a percentage of revenues.
I'm sort of along for the ride on this strike, like I said yesterday. But I'm okay with that because I honestly believe that I wouldn't have a decent salary, or vacation pay, or health benefits or a 401K program if it weren't for labor unions setting the standards. Check your history. People were killed on strike lines in the early 20th century, and we're still feeling the positive ripple effect of what they were able to achieve.
No, I'm not naive. I know that there have been excesses and corruption in some unions. But we have an amazing standard of living in the U.S. partly due to labor struggles that help ensure that we all have enough money to buy the products and services our neighbors are being paid to provide.
Cool Thing: another NPR story from All Things Considered, about the show runners' involvement in the strike.
5 comments:
I am in total support of the strike even if I've never watched a webisode. The networks are clearly making money off of new media, so I don't see why the writers would be denied a cut.
Unions are a good thing although membership has declined significantly. I wonder if there's any correlation in the decline in union membership and the rise in executive pay.
Liz- I think some unions have done some questionable things in the past, and gaining membership to the ones in the entertainment industry is apparently very difficult and fraut with nepotism (especially the technical ones.) It doesn't help their image when they are run like old boys' clubs.
And yet. I am definetely pro-union.
Corporate greed always confounds me. Don't the guys at the top realize that the economy has to work for everybody!?
He's watching his camera monitor, not a tv.
I absolutely and absolutely unsurprisingly agree.
When I was in management, HR talked to us once about what we could legally do to discourage employees from organizing. I thought it was very funny. It was like they assumed if my staff wanted to form a union I would try to stop them! Why would they think I would do that?
Stace-- No kidding! Good for you. I'm glad to know this about you. When I worked at UCLA the clerical workers were trying to switch from one union to another and just about the time I started to get involved, there was an opportunity and I moved up to management. But I encouraged my staff--who weren't much interested--to get involved. Sigh.
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