WGA Strike: How Things Have Changed

Speculation about the WGA strike, when it will end and how, seems like such a waste. An understandable one, but a waste nonetheless. What's important is understanding how things have changed.

Corporations that once controlled so much of the movie, television and record industries could afford to lavish their talent, craftspeople and themselves with generous, if not mind-boggling, compensation. When three networks called all of the shots, when movies were made with more of an eye toward content than marketing, when popular music uplifted the soul rather than deadened it, it seemed that everyone was paid a lot of money, from the grips to the drivers to the stars to the studio heads.

However, when Bruce Willis was paid $5 million for a movie, things began to change. We entered a period wherein everyone wanted, and got, more. You knew that things were distorted when agents started getting rich. Not the owners of the agencies, not the Norman Brokaws on the scene. Regular Ten Percenters began making seven figures. That was a big change. Once agents saw salaries rise and their own income potential with it, the old school practices of developing clients began to die. If you want to get repped by a good agency today, you have to walk in the door printing money.

Willis' salary seems modest by today's Hollywood standards, and that may be the problem. The writers deserve a piece of the digital pie, but how much? How much do any of the elements who work in the industry deserve, management included? There will always be bidding for services of stars, great directors and gifted writers. But does the suit who follows the fashion and signs the $20 million star also deserve $20 million?

Pressures to maintain high salaries, industry-wide, in such diverse sectors as commercial aviation, entertainment and automobiles are taking their toll. I predict that in the next ten years, a major auto manufacturer or a major airline or a major television network will fold. Perhaps, one of each. In the meantime, the Writer's Guild needs to replace their negotiators and now. The AMPTA does not give a damn about what is on the screen or what happens off of it. The men who run Hollywood now do not call the shots. The Jeff Zuckers and Brad Greys of the world ultimately answer to men who do not even live in Los Angeles. They live on yachts or in the clouds. They don't know how painters and costumers are suffering, because they've never met one. Get rid of Verrone. And try to have a Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday/Happy New Year.

Read more about the strike on the Huffington Post's writers' strike page.

Comments

[FogBelter]

Alec , was it Bruce Willis or Marlon Brando that started things down this path? ... I'm a bit foggy on the timeline.

I recall a lot of eyebrows being raised when Brando received 3.7 million dollars for two weeks of work in "Superman: The Movie" in 1978. Seems that was the start of an ugly trend.

Bottom line, the system in Hollywood is broken and needs to be fixed, because American Film and Television could be so much richer more incredible if the mediocrity of the businessmen and their heavy handed influence could be excised.

Leave art to the artists and the profits will follow.

Merry Christmas to you and your family, Alec. Thanks for spending some of your Holiday with us.

[LindaZimmerman]

It's not only the painters and costumers who are suffering from the WGA strike. There is a trickle down effect in the city resulting from this strike. I sell real estate in LA ... or should I say I used to sell real estate in LA. Since there are very few people who are buying or selling these days anyway, the WGA strike just added fuel to that less than stellar fire. I have clients who have called to say, "we can't buy now." Living on savings which was meant to be a down payment is not only affecting today's real estate market, but also the one in the future. Or what about the nanny who had to be let go because she worked for a member of the crew that was laid off and now both families are out of work. There are so many people who have nothing to do with the entertainment business who are also suffering a loss of income because of the strike. I support the writers and truly believe that without them, there is no entertainment industry. But it's time for this strike to be settled. I for one, would be happy to help negotiate. If I can deal with irate buyers and sellers and negotiate a happy ending for both, this would be piece of cake for me.

[JBL70]

I remember when movies would stay in the theaters for weeks and you would see them over and over agian if they were good. Today they are all flash and noise and very little substance.

Once in a while you see a gem but it is getting harder to find those movies.

PS: The writers deserve the money more then
anybody else. I hate lawyers and agents and the stars today aren't all that talented. Except for you Alec!

[jadez]

Kinda lame, dont you think?

[frankp37]

The difference now since the last strike is all the writers today have graduate degrees, mostly from schools like Harvard. They don't really need the job but had some desire to work in entertainment that they probably don't even have now. Since they rarely work most of them move on to other occupations, which likely pay more. At any rate they can see this profession is doomed. A neverending strike allows them to exit with dignity. This is the writer's equivilent of a suicide bomb.