Let's Hope the Writers Get a Good Contract
I remember the last WGA strike. It was sad. I had been in LA for a couple of years, just getting my feet wet in the movie business after working in TV for five years. The trickle down was incredible. Restaurants, limousine companies, real estate brokers, clothing retailers, travel agencies. The list went on and on. Not to mention all of the direct impact on actors, directors, crews, office staff and accounting, the studios and networks themselves, talent agencies and managers, publicists and business managers. It was a disaster and it was painful to witness.
However, as an actor who has worked in film and television since 1980, I have always been pretty clear about the fact that we are nowhere without the writers in our industry. And that goes beyond the scary concept of a world of unscripted reality TV. Television and film writers are responsible for some of the greatest literature in the history of our society. Go to one of my favorite websites, the Internet Movie Script Database (IMSDb). You can pull up CITIZEN KANE, ALL ABOUT EVE and SUNSET BOULEVARD. You can read, online, hundreds of the greatest movie screenplays of all time. Members of the WGA wrote those scripts.
The studios and networks claim that their profits are eroding and blame the cost of stars' salaries and expensive marketing campaigns. One more thing the studios and networks ought to consider is how overstaffed they are themselves. You've never seen a business where more people are required to do the same job until you have worked at a TV network or film studio. Actors don't put a gun to the studio executive's head. They negotiate a price and the studio agrees, or disagrees, to pay it. Sometimes, as an actor, the price you pay is a pretty big number that you arrive at before you even open your mouth.
The not-so-secret truth is that everyone in show business, of those who live "above-the-line," are overpaid. The only ones above-the-line who usually are not are the writers. Let's hope there is no strike and let's hope the writers get a good contract. Read more thoughts about the strike on Huffington Post's writers' strike opinion page
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Writers are everything. Without a good script, where would we be?
As an independent producer living in Jordan and working with talent in the region, I worship the few talented writers around me who I'm blessed to know and be working with. And as we just get started in growing our production industry, it is interesting to witness the pitfalls developed markets are facing. It's a good time for us in this part of the world I suppose, we can start from scratch, learn from the mistakes and challenges those before us have been facing, and hopefully solve it and move forward from there.
But in the final analysis - it's all about the script. We are nothing without the writers!
some of the top actors are overpaid (how many indie films could you make on $20 M?!), but those ancillary markets (PPV, DVD, etc.) can be pretty lucrative for producers.
Alec,
Thanks for noticing those who work behind the scenes. As a proud member of the American Federation of Musicians, I know that it is all too easy for the creators who work 'behind the scenes' to be dismissed, because although their work is vital, it is not as glamorous as being a "star."
We all work together to create art, to enlighten our fellow humans, to touch hearts, and hopefully to leave the world a little brighter than we found it.
No man, or woman either, is an island after all. We depend on each other. I hope the wisdom to see this will win the day on both sides, and that the writers will get the recognition of their efforts they are due.
Amen peacekitten!
How fair is this: Writers spend months and often years researching and writing a screenplay, receiving in most cases unremarkable compensation and very little respect. Actors read these words, get the money and acclaim, then immediately go on to another project. If writers could ever muster the courage, the will and the selflessness to stick together and refuse to be exploited any longer, they could truly shut down the industry and get what they have so long deserved.
Screenwriters--and I'm one of them--will never have any power in Hollywood. We're simply too hungry, for the most part, to put up any kind of a fight with the producers. It's our TV brethren, and most especially the showrunners, who are in a position to strike fear in the hearts of the companies on the other side of the bargaining table. But showrunners are producers as well as writers, and if they see themselves as producers first, and bargain accordingly, writers have no hope of getting a good contract. We will continue to go begging--and to be treated like the beggars most of us are. Keep your eyes on the showrunners. They are running this show, too.
Good point. Some showrunners are, unfortunately, on the producers' side. But most are not. Gregg Daniels of The Office said he could not separate his job as writer and producer and that the show would shut down in the case of a strike. Good for him. One problem is, as you said, writers are too hungry. Writers live in constant fear of rejection, and will do pretty much anything for that brass ring. And the producers seem to be okay with that, since it means they will always have the power.
Most showrunners are writers, and writers first. I would hope they see themselves that way. Some I've heard recently expressed as much in radio interviews, etc.
I agree that actors in show business are over-paid.
When I read that George Clooney reveived 20 million for a 2005 film, but only filmed for six weeks, I thought wow that's equal to $173 million per year... and we get angry at oil company CEO's that make 20 million? (they are all in the same boat). The price for a consumer to enjoy anything is going up, up, up.
I hope the writers get the good money they deserve. Maybe more money will be available if we pay the actors less.
Consider that Michael Eisner took nearly $700 million a year in compensation from Disney while he was its CEO. Oil company CEOs get a shitload more than 20 mil a year, too. If you really want to do something about the cost, start in the executive suite. Or get the suits to star in a film, or write one, or any of the hands-on creative stuff and see what you come up with. You'll be begging for good writers and talented actors, I guarantee it.
You're talking about 1 actor in several thousands. To use Clooney as an example for the obscene income of "actors" is silly.
The vast majority of actors like the vast majority of writers out there are merely hoping to make a living year after year.
Have you ever heard of the right people getting the right pay? Usually the ones who are responsible for getting the real work done are seldom those in charge, but that kind of people always steal the credit for a success and blame everybody else when it is a failure.
I am really tired of that kind of riff-raff and company scumbags. For instance the latest news about children in India being locked up to manufacture clothes for the market outside their home country. How much pay do they get? Any vacation? A daily free lunch? They get shares of the profits, of course. No, I am just kidding.
Getting back to your topic, Alec, I totally agree that the writers must be appreciated for their work. As an example right now, at last!, we are enjoying the first series of “30 Rock” and how fun and intelligent would it be if there was no script? It would also be nice to see all those series that must be totally scriptless, “Big brother” and other, vanish from television and other media. I do believe that kind of shows are devastating for mankind.
Let the people who really create things whatever it might be (scripts, clothes, teaching, medical care; whatever) get what they are worth, why not decrease the pay that their bosses get and give the creators instead?
I really wonder about those eroding profits they studios claim. My daughter has been a member of SAG for several years. Prior to joining, she was able to work almost every day as non-union, lower paid actor. Now that she is union, she is rarely called. I've heard that something like 95% of SAG members are unemployed, yet it has some of the highest rates to join. Something is seriously screwy in the Hollywood film & TV industry.
But, then it isn't unlike the U.S. in general ... the FOB's (Friends of Boooshie)are well paid and as for the rest "let them eat cake." No wonder so many SAG members assume new identities and go back to work as non-union.
In the writer's autobiography, Arthur Miller recounts the stage of his then latest play being set with goodies, drinks and such.
He was told it was an 'afterglow'- but no one invited him - the author of the play. He found he had been snubbed.
The play was 'Death of a Salesman'.
Writers to this date get no respect. At least they could get paid.
People, what is so hard about this?
If the writers do not feel that they are getting enough money....T
The pay is what it is. A strike will not change that simple truth.
Indeed. What is so hard about the concept of being paid appropriately and FAIRLY for the work they do? It makes no sense that those who CAN'T write, who DON'T create, make more money off the fruits of the creator's talent than the creators do themselves. This is ridiculous. The suits should remember that THEY are the ones who will be unemployed without the writers, NOT the other way around.
The whole thing comes down to what a person is willing to accept as payment for their services and what the buyer of the service is willing to pay.
What other people are getting paid for what they do has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Yes bladernr1001. "Don't work for that employer" That is what is known as a "Strike". Writers will not work for the corporations until the corporations give them a fair deal... "What is so hard about that"? Really not much.
the only reason the writers have what they have is because they've fought for it tooth and nail for decades.
Treatment that prompts writers to strike is symptomatic of this cruel, WeCanGetAwayWithIt, bankrupt culture that we once called the United States.
For ENTERTAINMENT writing, in my humble opinion, one will seek in vain for writing superior to that of Casablanca's Julius J. & Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch.
See: http://www
At the Writers Guild Theatre in Beverly Hills to honor the writers of "The 101 Greatest Screenplays, Robert Towne (#3 Chinatown) said that just that day he had begun a new screenplay and "I was reminded that I didn't know anything about how to do it. But I try to stay focused on the vision of what I want the film to be. That's the way a lot of films were written in the '70s, with writers asking themselves what they wanted to see. I'm afraid that with today's corporate studio culture writers are asking themselves what they want to see that they think can get made. I hope more and more writers will go back to writing what they want to see period. I believe it's the difference between retaining your vision and slowly going blind."
This sentiment is the source of some of THE BEST that has been produced in America!
Why hire writers when you can spend next to nothing to make a trashy "reality show" that the sheep will watch anyways? Hollywood seems to have figured out that they can get higher or just as high ratings without writers on TV and high explosives teams in their place for movies.
With the crap Hollywood produces they don't deserve 50 cents an hour!!!!
And if I see one more so called reality show I'm going to puke.
Reality shows aren't scripted.
What? Are you blaming writers for the crap that's out there?
Who picks which projects get financed, developed, produced, and distributed? The producers!
Who ruins well-written stories with hackneyed comments and suggestions that writers are forced to incoroporate to satisfy stupendous egos or get fired? The producers!
Who often ruins a good script while shooting due to lack of talent? Directors.
The public is also to blame for their taste. Producers and directors are simply trying to please the public.
Granted, they also add to the quality of films and TV, but my point is: Don't blame writers if you don't like what's out there; it's rarely the writer's fault.
This just in. According to an article published in today's "NY Times", Teamsters local 399 has given individual members the freedom to honor any picket line established by the WGA. The threat alone should embolden the WGA to stick to their guns. "Slate" notes that producers are trying to set up alternate drop off and pick up sites for the union drivers. Do they think the drivers are stupid? Of course they do. That news will just piss everyone off even more, so if a strike does occur, you can bet Hollywood will be shut down so fast the producers will have to move THEIR sites to Mexico. Fat chance. Looks like TV addicts will be subject to more reality shows. Why don't they just film the picket line? Now that would be some REALITY TV, no cierto?
Economically it is in the best interests of the studios to hire the best writers and pay them well. How many movies / TV shows tank with famous actors but poor scripts? Pretty soon sponsors give up and won't advertise. By then the studio network boss is likely in the process of being terminated.
Wise contribution. Yet, in my opinion, 90% of the stuff coming out of Hollywood is crap, and it starts with the writers, then the producers. That crap comes from interminable violence, shoot 'em ups, the chase, crass and vacuous language, worst of all the writer's political and social point of view (in the guise of "reality'). Ah, but that other 10%, art at it's best. When the writers get it right you have entertainm
It actually starts with the audience. If the audience didn't go see crap, crap wouldn't get made. And Casey, the only way it starts with the writer is if the writer makes a spec sale. And even then, that script is put into development for years and frequently never made. Feature writers make a living by accepting assignments from producers and studios. They don't get to tell whatever story they want to tell. Do you really think somebody's lifelong dream is to write Boat Trip? Remember that entertainment is a business, not an art.
And, if a writer is lucky enough to actually sell a script and then get it into production, chances are it is torn apart and reassembled into something the producer (or the executive VPs nephew) thinks will sell. I wouldn't be too quick to place any blame on writers for the crap that comes out of Hollywood. Blame the MBAs who turn good scripts into swill.
Couldn't agree with you more, Alec. As a member of the IWW, we stand in solidarity with any and all unions engaged in legitimate workplace struggles against the bosses, whoever the bosses may be. We also encourage dual carders to engage in direct action on the job as much as possible. I would encourage members of the screenwriters union to get in touch with Eric Lee at Labourstart and mount an online solidarity campaign, worldwide. Just google Labourstart.
p.s. All the workers at CR want to thank you for the cash tips the other week, Alec. I see you got the message.
Solidarity Forever,
sabocat
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
