I Am for the Writers -- and for Better Slogans
What do we want?... Better strike slogans!
When do we want them?... NOW!
I am for the writers. They are the starting point for any movie or TV project so without a writer, there is no content. My beef is that the slogans that they are chanting are so poorly written.
"What do we want?... INTERNET!... When do we want it?... NOW!"
That's the best these writers can come up with?
If they, rightly so, think that they are so invaluable why aren't we hearing something like:
"What we have here is a failure to communicate."
"The truth? You can't handle the truth."
"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more"
Or how about adopting Norma Rae's simple, silent message of solidarity by having the strikers carry signs over their heads that say "UNION" and stop all the chanting.
The Writers Guild of America can't complain about this, can they? Will writing a better slogan constitute scabbing? I hope not.
The best way to get the message across is to write a better message. Good luck writers.
"May the force be with you".
Read more on the strike on the Huffington Post's writers' strike page.
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most writers are middle class, and in GWBush's America that's not saying much. many live paycheck to paycheck.
Seven-And-A-Half Cents!
Ms. Curtis, the average screenwriter lives inside the Thirty-Mile Zone and consequently has no idea how anyone outside of it speaks. Also, catchphrases are very, very hard to create.
The future is negotiable!
May I humbly suggest "..."
Though I am not sure how one would chant it.
The real significance of the Writer's Strike can never be fitted into a slogan. Back in the days when my mother's cousin-in-law, Sid Buckman, was President of the Writer's Guild (can't ever pass up an opportunity to plug my mother's cousin-in-law), the U.S. was at war with the Nazis, and the voice of America found much opportunity for important expression through its movie writers. A strike then would clearly have had historical implications, and that's what discussion of the strike would likely have revolved around. Is the strike we are now looking at so simple, are these times so cut and dry, that a single slogan can say it all? Let's loosen the rules on sign slogans - I want to see the writers carrying signs with webpage addresses where one can find the strike defended in more complex terms. Oh, who am I kidding, these guys only write strung-together slogans anyway.
As a striking member of the WGA, I, too, have been disappointed by the protests against the studios. I saw a WGA-produced satirical short, showing WGA writers reduced to menial labor, and the first thing that struck me was the poor quality of the writing. The message was indistinct, the insights were shallow, the jokes were lazy, the characterizations were obvious. Now that none of us are working on the big studio pitch, our writing should be getting better, not worse.
Maybe the pro reality television studios and producers need to hear this:
"All we are saying, is give words a chance."
Or:
"Hey, Ho, DVD sales have got to flow."
Maybe more of a slogan than chant:
"Writers: The media part of new media"
A penny for our thoughts!
We're in the write!
What we have here is a failure to remunerate!
Love ya Jamie.
You were listening to Howard today weren't you? :)
Well, maybe if somebody was to pony up some CASH, they might have an incentive to write better slogans. Competition, ya know....
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