What the Strike is Costing Us
But any film, stage play or television show provides the opportunity for the cast and crew to bond into a remarkably fun and cordial unit. On the set of our show, we are blessed to have the best shooting crew of any in New York. However, across the board, everyone seems to recognize that the writers have a valid reason for striking.
We finished our last pre-strike approved script on Friday. The atmosphere the last couple of days was thoughtful and a little sad, as some crew members, and eventually many more, are expected to scatter in search of work. There is other work, no doubt, but maybe not the kind like we have had up until now, with a good group of collegial and talented people working on a show that seemed to be growing, in many ways.
Strikes, and the lack of forward-thinking negotiating that results in them, costs more than money. Sometimes, they cost you friends and family, as well.
Read more about the strike on the Huffington Post's writers' strike page.
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For gosh sakes, give the writerw what they deserve.
THEIR work by the producers, let alone the roughly 90 percent who have a hard time making it, and the producers would love to pay even less, and who's health and pensions they would LOVE to find a way to reduce or entirely de-fund if they possibly could. this is a hugely important strike, not only for those in the industry, but because of its high profile in the media, for every single other american union trying to get fair wages and benefits for its hard working members. it affects, in the long run, if it succeeds in setting a well publicized precedent, everyone who WORKS for a living and is in a union, if it fails, then, once again, it boils down to the big guy robbing the little guy blind.
The exact same is true of the other creative unions, the screen actors guild and the dga, the directors guild. this is unlike most unions, say the nurses union, which is also under threat from management, as most unions are in this conservative republican, union breaking environment that exists in this country. but the difference is, NOBODY in the nurses union is getting rich, they are all basically fighting for the same wages and benefits in that union. most unions are like this. NOT the creative unions in show business. management would love to break them too, and despite being taken advantage of for, basically, ever, and the huge inequities between rich (3 to 5 percent) middle class Ooh, roughly 80 percent, and the rest of the creative unions membership that basically don't work at all, there is a basic issue of fairness that has not been addressed for way too long. this in a multi, multi, BILLION dollar industry where the producers have the gaul to plead POVERTY! the other issue of great importance is the producers refusal to come up with an acceptable model to compensate writers (and actors and directors) for THEIR work when it is broadcast or rebroadcast on the internet. this, as you know, is not even "the future" as producers claim, is is NOW. what do creative artists who MAKE that product get right now? zero. nothing. that is unacceptable. this strike is a long overdue effort to push back at out of control corporate greed and get fair pay and fair benefits from the huge pie the producers enjoy. is it a high risk business, as the producers always complain. yes, it is. that does not however, remove their obligation to find a fair way to compensate writers, actors and director who don't have the good fortune to be the 3 to 5 percent that become multi-millionaires from the exploitation of
We are all saddened by your loss, Alec Baldwin. Tragically, the rest of us have to be a bit more intense than allowing as how the writer's strike is valid. But, thank you for that.
The WGA strike and the Broadway strike are seminal events. If we don't turn around the slave labor anti-union ethos that is pervasive in this country in every sector of the economy, workers will continue to be underpaid crap, grateful for a job, under any conditions.
And, the whole fat cat, corporate trough-slurping world is watching.
Heh heh .... your show is sooo funny, and yet our local network (TV3 - down here in New Zealand) cancelled it after 3 episodes because it wasn't rating well enough!!?
That's the silver lining to your writers strike ... if no new shows are being made then maybe my local network will have to fill their schedule with unplayed episodes of 30 Rock??
The studios' level of denying what's staring them in the face is worse that fundamentalists denying evolution. Guys, you're going to have to sit down and negotiate an equitable arrangement, so do it sooner rather than later.
I really don't get it. A company hires a person to help produce a product. They say, I'll pay you x amount of dollars to do your job. The company then tries to sell the product. It just happens to be a great product and the company makes a good profit from it. Does the worker have a right to then say, "Hey, this did so well, I want more than I agreed to."? Or if the product did poorly, should the worker agree to a cut in his salary because the company wasn't able to profit well from it? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure he would say, "I did my job, now give me what we agreed on."
Do the writers have stock in the studios for which they work? Do they work on commission? If so then they should certainly get a bigger slice of that profit pie. But if not, then they should get what they agreed to and the next time they go to find a job, they'll have more clout to get a higher salary because they were part of something really successful.
P.S. I'll miss new 30 Rocks more than ninety percent of you and I think their writers are the absolute best. But I'm looking at this as a person that works for a living for a big company that makes lots of profit, of which I see very little. But that's what I signed up for.
I've only recently become a 30 Rock viewer but I like it so much that I Netfixed the first season. I hope that all the writers and crew members will return to work soon and without too much upheaval in their personal and professional lives. Peace & Blessings.
I hope this strike ends quicker than I anticipate--and that the writers get what they deserve, a.k.a. royalties from new media outlets. Hopefully, this mess will end faster than the Iraq thing.
Beautifully said, Alec. The repercussions of something like this often have more of a far-reaching effect than people realize. I hope the strike is resolved soon, and that the 30 Rock family is back together, intact, before too long.
Huh? Is that the end of the editorial? Did the writers go on strike before you could finish it?
I don't think you're putting a fine enough point on it, Alec. As television viewers, we are all annoyed by the strike. But if there's a group at whom we should be annoyed, on whom we should be putting pressure, it's the television executives that won't compensate writers for internet downloads.
The media appear to be dancing around a veiled contempt for the writers for complicating our tv-viewing schedules. They're getting it ass-backwards.
"However, across the board, everyone seems to recognize that the writers have a valid reason for striking."
That should be the storyline, not picketing celebrities and reruns of "30 Rock."
I like your show. But a few reruns for fair compensation is worth it to me. And when it isn't, I'll know whom to blame: the executives.
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