I disagree with his phrasing, but Eisner makes a good point. Digital distribution is a very small piece of the distribution pie and currently not profitable. Going after a bigger chunk of the profit from digital distribution when there is no profit from digital distribution is not worth striking. I agree the WGA should fight for a bigger piece since it will eventually be worth it, but going on strike now, especially without the other guilds and unions, seems tactically unwise though I wouldn't go so far as to call it "stupid".

Michael Eisner is full of it. If the studios weren't making money they wouldn't be doing it. Besides it the writers get a percentage of the profits and the profits are zero they get nothing.

Of course the studios and any first year accountant could turn 'Titanic' into an unprofitable film.

Remember when big stars would work for less money up front and a cut of the net profits? They learned the hard was that you can't trust the studio bosses. Charging all the overhead to one particular film means the profits have mysteriously disappeared. Now when the actors work for this deal, they take a cut of the box office gross.

The studios have been cooking the books for years. This is a perfect example of that. Coming to America was based on an idea and screenplay of Art Buchwald. At the time it was something like the third highest grossing film in Hollywood. Yet according to the studio they lost money on this film. They had outragious charges, such as transportation of the finished rels to the theaters that were in the thousands of dollars per movie. They were charging as much or more then the theater was making. If you and I tried to pull the accounting flim-flam that the studios were getting away with we would be in prison. Art Buchwald sued and I believe won. All the "creative accounting" that the studio had done was exposed for what it was. A way to cheat the people who created the film. Art had been promised a percentage of the net profits in addition to his fee for writing the screen play. The studio then claimed that there were no net profits, in fact they lost money on the project. What a bunch of lying crooks. Michael Eisner was being paid millions while Disney was slowly sinking in the West. If it were not for PIXAR they would be out as a movie production company. Yeash!!! Steve Jobs is the problem and not your greed.

Wow!
I wonder how much BETTER Disney would have done if someone a little less delusional had been running it all those years. The fact that he thinks of the thousands of people working at Pixar as "Steve Jobs" shows a lack of appreciation for the people whose CREATIVE LABOR makes the end product possible.
If CEOs, who are so willing to demand bonuses for doing little more than keeping seats warm, would gave MONEY BACK when they screwed up there would be more money left for everyone else.

Eisener is one of the highest paid CEOs in the world, and he says "Screw the people who are doing the actual work".

He will pay his tax lawyer and barber top dollar
but not the workers who provide his paycheck.

What is the crap about Steve Jobs. Because Jobs wanted Disney to pay Pixar? Jobs actually pays his people.

The people at Disney work for a rat.

All wealth is created by exploiting someone else's labor. The film studios exploit their creative writers. And the CEOs credo is: I've got mine fuck you Jack.

The answer for the writers is maybe to sidestep the studios and market their own stuff on the internet.

When most commercial media is delivered on-line onto platforms intended for just that purpose and not via tape or DVD, folks like Eisner will be completely irrelevant.

Executives of Eisner's ilk ride on the shoulders of truly creative people. Their days are numbered and soon to be forgotten.

Mr. Job's is a true man of vision and will go down in history with Edison, Eastman and Pake.

God what a blowhard. Someone should interview Eisner on how to be a crook-that he knows a lot about. This guy was one of the first crony C.E.O.'s I think its halarious that he supposedly knows who creats value. This worthless ass is one of the biggest bloodsuckers around.

I love it -- I see stupid assholes -- I see less stupid assholes -- and then i see this particular example.
When will the excessively paid executives get the message? Eisner and your ilk are riding on the backs of creative people. In this world today - when will someone's true worth be compensated for. Creative peple should not be grovelling to the likes of the Eisners of the world -- here or any where.

Is Michael Eisner capable of separating out his wants, versus the higher good? Doesn't sound like it, in this case.

In 2002 Forbes estimated his net worth at $570 million. He could pay his writers triple what they get now, and it wouldn't make a dent.

http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/54/2002/LIR.jhtml?passListId=54&passYear=2002&passListType=Person&uniqueId=C3YW&datatype=Person
If anything, the strikers in this case, seem to be more than justified in their walk-out, otherwise they wouldn't have so much support from the "show runners", the folks who are responsible for the day-to-day operation of TV shows?

Having given a lot of concessions last time, and having lost a lot of money because of it, why would the writers believe the studios, when they say there's no money in on line distribution?

Michael Eisner has no taste and no class. All of those God-awful, direct-to-video sequels (i.e. Cinderella III - A Twist in Time) and the crappy animated television shows were Eisner's doing, and they badly diluted the Disney brand. That's why Steve Jobs got him kicked out at Disney as a condition of merging with PIXAR. Now Eisner's stamping his feet and calling Steve Jobs a big meanie (which I guess he is, if you happen to be a lame hack). He's as transparent as a Saran Wrap prom dress.

What a pathetic man-child Michael Eisner has become.

Does the glaring logic flaw in the studios' position even need to be stated? They don't want to give writers any profits from internet downloads, and their reason is given as, "there aren't any profits". So... if there aren't any profits, why are they afraid to give the writers a cut? A percentage of nothing is nothing, right?

Of COURSE there are profits, or this wouldn't be an issue for them.

Let's see, how can I put this delicately: Fuck you Eisner!

Buh....buh....buh....but Steve Jobs!

I had no idea Eisner was a HuffPo troll.

My guess is Eisner can't see the forest because his golden parachute has fallen over his eyes