How does everyone here feel about the writers strike that's going on right now? Do you think that they deserve the money? Do you think it will improve the quality of the writing for our movies and TV shows, or do you think that the writing is good at present?

Do you think Hollywood will cave in to their demands, and if so how long do you think it will take?

trevoramueller
How does everyone here feel about the writers strike that's going on right now? Do you think that they deserve the money? Do you think it will improve the quality of the writing for our movies and TV shows, or do you think that the writing is good at present?

Do you think Hollywood will cave in to their demands, and if so how long do you think it will take?

I have family in hollywood in the business, writers mostly, and they say it looks grim. The studios can wait this out for a long time and eventually scabs and union mebers working under the table will bust their resolve.

The issue is with royalties and ownership, it seems to me that the best way to combat this, which some are doing, is to produce your own work and retain your ownership. The studio system is a dinosaur and independant productions will eventually overcome it, but for now if you want to work within that system, it seems you have little choice but to grin and bear it.

Improve the quality? No. Do they deserve better? Hell yes.
Hollywood started to feel the pinch right away. Movie release dates are being pushed back, and TV shows are reverting to re-runs when they should be making new episodes. I'm surprised the strike has lasted this long. Really the writers deserve more credit as it is their work that america is enjoying.

Though writers are very poor typically (part of the reason they're striking) so who knows how long they can hold out.

How does everyone here feel about the writers strike that's going on right now?
More power to their collective elbow. As I understand it, this has a lot to do with creators' rights and the unethical way writers are treated under Hollywood contracts. If the writers can give the big movie studios a bit of a bloody nose, maybe other industries which are strong enough to make creators sign away their rights (*cough!* comics *cough!*) will start to revise their unethical practices too.

Do you think that they deserve the money?
I don't think it's entirely about money. Think about it logically, however, the writer of a script for a movie or TV series may make as big a contribution to its success as the director or the main star and yet will receive only a fraction of the remuneration or recognition.

Do you think it will improve the quality of the writing for our movies and TV shows, or do you think that the writing is good at present?
I don't think these two questions are linked. There have been some great shows over the last few years and, no, I doubt if success would make any difference to the quality of the studios output.

Do you think Hollywood will cave in to their demands, and if so how long do you think it will take?
Absolutely not. If it drags on, a token gesture may be made but the studios have the resources to sit this out and, the longer it goes on, the greater the number of writers who will start to cave in. It's a shame but the trouble with an oligopoly like movie/TV production (or *cough!* comics *cough!*) is that there are no rival businesses to which the creators can take their services.

trevoramueller
How does everyone here feel about the writers strike that's going on right now?

The writers are striking? How would we notice, the quality of TV and movies is so low already it certainly can't get much worse...

Mister Mxyzptlk

trevoramueller
How does everyone here feel about the writers strike that's going on right now?

The writers are striking? How would we notice, the quality of TV and movies is so low already it certainly can't get much worse...

What's scary is that it can. The last writer's strike was 22 weeks. Basically, its my understanding the old contract doesn't cover the intertubes, which while the studios say makes no money, the studios are fighting tooth and nail to protect their property there, as people who post to YouTube can attest.

Writers just want a piece of the action the corps are getting. I'd like to see them get it.

But I'd like to see everyone get paid what they're worth, and certainly don't begrudge those fighting for it.

Unions *are* a market force. I guess that makes lobbying a market force as well :D

mapaghimagsik
What's scary is that it can.

I'll believe it when I see it... Or more to the point when I don't see it. I don't watch network TV. Mostly I watch Food TV and Discovery. So far I haven't seen an effect.

DAJB pretty much summed it up for me (I am a writer). I just wish it would be done here in Greece as well. It doesn't look easy as it is a pretty closed circuit and you watch the same yarns cranked out by the same couple of writers with just different settings. It's tedious and nobody can watch TV anymore. :/ Ah well.

More power to those in Hollywood!!!

Even though I miss watching new episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, I definitely support the writers. I'm not very knowledgeable about Hollywood or anything, but from what I can tell, writers pretty much get the short end of the stick. It seems to me that creativity is sorely undervalued, unfortunately.

I don't know exactly how much the strike will accomplish, but I hope it means that writers get at least a bit more of the respect (and money) they deserve.

i say yay!
Hollywood needs a cleansing

ideas have been rehashed too much and it's all about making money and not pushing the boundaries anymore. stories are crap. i hope it lasts for 5 years.

subcultured
i say yay!
Hollywood needs a cleansing

ideas have been rehashed too much and it's all about making money and not pushing the boundaries anymore. stories are crap. i hope it lasts for 5 years.

I agree, but that cleansing should be market wide. If people watch it, the creators should get paid fairly for it. If no one watches it, no one should get a dime.

subcultured
i say yay!
Hollywood needs a cleansing

ideas have been rehashed too much and it's all about making money and not pushing the boundaries anymore. stories are crap. i hope it lasts for 5 years.

No not really. There are a bazillion writers, many with creative ideas that never see the light of day. If you want to up the quality, then you need to sack the green light people who order up most of this dreck.

It wasn't a writer who thought up the Dukes of Hazzard movie.

bobhhh

subcultured
i say yay!
Hollywood needs a cleansing

ideas have been rehashed too much and it's all about making money and not pushing the boundaries anymore. stories are crap. i hope it lasts for 5 years.

No not really. There are a bazillion writers, many with creative ideas that never see the light of day. If you want to up the quality, then you need to sack the green light people who order up most of this dreck.

It wasn't a writer who thought up the Dukes of Hazzard movie.

That's a good point. There's lots of scripts that never see the light of day -- and yet the producers don't seem to want to take chances.

I think Indie is where its at, though I'd like to see more midrange. Movies and shows made on 6K just suck, and its not from the writing. You can play reasonable actors reasonable pay -- with residuals or royalties -- and pop out stuff with 1M to 2M budgets and still come out with good stuff.

I was amazed to talk to a film company that spent close to 500K on their movie, with 250K of that going to distribution fees.

sometimes guilds make it hard for people to get creative..that's why robert rodriguez quit the guild.

maybe more should follow suite. screw the SGA

subcultured
sometimes guilds make it hard for people to get creative..that's why robert rodriguez quit the guild.

maybe more should follow suite. screw the SGA

LINK

Since the DGA (Director's Guild of America) was creating problems for Rodriguez and Miller co-directing this movie, Rodriguez just went ahead and quit the union, so that he could make the picture as he wanted it.

There's more of the discussion here but again, that's the DGA, not the SGA.

You could at least get the union right. And no, not all unions are created equal. And do you really think that the bad decision by one union is the reason to make sure no one gets paid a fair wage?

i know rodriguez was in the director's guild.

Someone
sometimes guilds make it hard for people

i just feel bad for all those writers that can't make any money while the guild is on strike. some people would prefer to work than worry about more money.

I feel for the writers.

Its not easy to write. You need a decent INSPIRATION to produce something of quality. If you are pressured, expect to see a crappy movie with a plot that sucks. I've seen too many a movie/cartoon where I can say I can write a better story than that (though I no way consider myself a good writer lol).

Anyway I can relate to the pressure these writers feel. If there's a deadline and such... and things arent always going A-OK, expect that to take a toll on the writer's quality of work.

Its their bread and butter. Their source of livelihood.

While for majority of us here at drunkduck, its just our leisure time.

Well what you said about leisure time, maybe thats the point. If somehow the tv writers could tap the resources of the 'doing it cause i enjoy it' crowd, they could add a whole new burst of creativity to what they do (and inconsistency?).

subcultured
i know rodriguez was in the director's guild.

Someone
sometimes guilds make it hard for people

So you want to punish the SGA for what the DGA did? Wow, that's punk.

subcultured
i just feel bad for all those writers that can't make any money while the guild is on strike. some people would prefer to work than worry about more money.

And kids in sweatshops shouldn't think about organizing for better pay, they should just shut up and make designer clothes, too. That's the view of a true scion of the Gilded Age.

I get it. You make the point without making the distinction. If no one would have called you on it, I'm sure you'd have stepped right up and said there's a difference between one union that makes a bad administrative decision based on complex reasons vs another union that's trying to make sure its members get a decent wage in an emerging market.

You tried to paint two separate organizations with the same brush. You tried to make a cheap point, and get all colorful about someone who calls you on that. Why not take a *real* look at what the Writer's Guild are fighting for? Another couple of pennies of a DVD sale? Actual residuals off of internet profits (currently they get none. And while the execs say they make no money off of internet profits, they sure fight to keep those rights -- so which is it? Why fight so hard for worthless rights?)

i said guilds

Mythbusters is already back into reruns before the strike. That and (which is already just a bunch of reruns) is all I watch on TV usually. The whole entertainment industry needs an over haul to bring it into the 21st century. Yes, starting with producers.


But yeah, I wish the writers well, they are getting screwed, and let's face it, if the industry wasn't making money off of it, they wouldn't be doing it.

OMG...that was fkn hysterical.

subcultured
i say yay!
Hollywood needs a cleansing

Damn. Something about this just gave me a mental image of Jack Nicholson's Joker sitting on top of the Hollywood sign as he shouts "This town needs an enema!"

DAJB

subcultured
i say yay!
Hollywood needs a cleansing

Damn. Something about this just gave me a mental image of Jack Nicholson's Joker sitting on top of the Hollywood sign as he shouts "This town needs an enema!"

Amen to that.

My problem with Holywood and the quality of shows and movies coming out of there is that they're running it like a business (trying to cater to a mass and almost undefinable audience), so they'll take established franchises (Die Hard, Alien and Predator, etc) and turn them into pop corn movies rated PG-13 (because more people can go see a PG-13 movie, and therefore you can fit more butts in seats), and then released an "unrated" version of the flick on DVD - all because it sells better.

Day Watch was a good example for me. Russian flick and sequel to Night Watch. The Russian version has more footage, and kick ass subtitles (example: Subtitles might bleed onto the screen if a vampire is talking, and then blow away like dust). The DVD, however, lacks the Russian version, so it only has regular subtitles and it cuts out about 10-15 minutes from the movie...but, you know, the DVD is "unrated," so more people should buy it.

Things like this tend to tick me off. Granted, that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the writers strike, but it has to do with how Hollywood tends to run things.

Yum! Night Watch and Day Watch. I agree the Russian version rules!

trevoramueller
How does everyone here feel about the writers strike that's going on right now? Do you think that they deserve the money? Do you think it will improve the quality of the writing for our movies and TV shows, or do you think that the writing is good at present?

Do you think Hollywood will cave in to their demands, and if so how long do you think it will take?

I think the writers of Lost, Heroes, Daily Show, etc. deserve so much more than what they're getting now. I don't know anything about details, but I don't understand why millionaires in management won't share the earnings to those who create such wonderful stories. Ok, yeah, there's a lot of crap on TV and movies, I know. But if a show is making money, why do the management folks get to keep it all instead of the writers?

This video is a great synopsis of the writer's viewpoint, as told by one of the writers of the Daily Show.

How does everyone here feel about the writers strike that's going on right now?
Its annoying. Sketch comedy and late night talk shows are shitty, but I do stop by on occasion to watch some of them. Hopefully stuff I really like like what they have on FX won't be put off. Its just annoying, ya know? Movies I'd like to see like The Watchmen or Wolverine might get put off, even longer. Stuff probably won't get bad until the middle of next year, but by then the drought will be on. Its just annoying.


Do you think that they deserve the money?
I deserve that money.


Do you think it will improve the quality of the writing for our movies and TV shows, or do you think that the writing is good at present?
The writing is sub par and always will be. Some things are brilliant, but no one watches it. Stuff like The Wire. People would rather watch shitty sitcoms or those dramas that take themselves too seriously and are all up their own ass. I want sensationalism to the nth degree. Law & Order SVU and Nip/Tuck deliver that, with tongue in cheek style at times. Maybe a handfull of shows on right now are great. I just wish they hadn't canceled Masters of Horror. Whoever decided to cancel that should get fired, from a canon.


Do you think Hollywood will cave in to their demands, and if so how long do you think it will take?

They'll come up with some kind of agreement and it will take too long. Its already annoying the shit out of me.

I tell you what though, this goes on a few more months I'm totally heading to new york and work around the unions.

marine
How does everyone here feel about the writers strike that's going on right now?
Its annoying. Sketch comedy and late night talk shows are shitty, but I do stop by on occasion to watch some of them. Hopefully stuff I really like like what they have on FX won't be put off. Its just annoying, ya know? Movies I'd like to see like The Watchmen or Wolverine might get put off, even longer. Stuff probably won't get bad until the middle of next year, but by then the drought will be on. Its just annoying.


Do you think that they deserve the money?
I deserve that money.


Do you think it will improve the quality of the writing for our movies and TV shows, or do you think that the writing is good at present?
The writing is sub par and always will be. Some things are brilliant, but no one watches it. Stuff like The Wire. People would rather watch shitty sitcoms or those dramas that take themselves too seriously and are all up their own ass. I want sensationalism to the nth degree. Law & Order SVU and Nip/Tuck deliver that, with tongue in cheek style at times. Maybe a handfull of shows on right now are great. I just wish they hadn't canceled Masters of Horror. Whoever decided to cancel that should get fired, from a canon.


Do you think Hollywood will cave in to their demands, and if so how long do you think it will take?

They'll come up with some kind of agreement and it will take too long. Its already annoying the shit out of me.

I tell you what though, this goes on a few more months I'm totally heading to new york and work around the unions.

If its annoying the shit out of you then why do you claim you deserve the money more than the writers? Or is it just annoying you because you have to hear about it?

bobhhh

marine
How does everyone here feel about the writers strike that's going on right now?
Its annoying. Sketch comedy and late night talk shows are shitty, but I do stop by on occasion to watch some of them. Hopefully stuff I really like like what they have on FX won't be put off. Its just annoying, ya know? Movies I'd like to see like The Watchmen or Wolverine might get put off, even longer. Stuff probably won't get bad until the middle of next year, but by then the drought will be on. Its just annoying.


Do you think that they deserve the money?
I deserve that money.


Do you think it will improve the quality of the writing for our movies and TV shows, or do you think that the writing is good at present?
The writing is sub par and always will be. Some things are brilliant, but no one watches it. Stuff like The Wire. People would rather watch shitty sitcoms or those dramas that take themselves too seriously and are all up their own ass. I want sensationalism to the nth degree. Law & Order SVU and Nip/Tuck deliver that, with tongue in cheek style at times. Maybe a handfull of shows on right now are great. I just wish they hadn't canceled Masters of Horror. Whoever decided to cancel that should get fired, from a canon.


Do you think Hollywood will cave in to their demands, and if so how long do you think it will take?

They'll come up with some kind of agreement and it will take too long. Its already annoying the shit out of me.

I tell you what though, this goes on a few more months I'm totally heading to new york and work around the unions.

If its annoying the shit out of you then why do you claim you deserve the money more than the writers? Or is it just annoying you because you have to hear about it?

I deserve that money because I was trying to do a comedy bit on the internet. Apparently the subtleties of sarcasm go over your head. I just said it was annoying me. I hate hearing about their crap every ten minutes.

I've tried to get in the WGA a couple of times, they didn't seem to want to support me, so why should I support them? I say who cares. They've been writing pretty crappy TV shows and movies for the most part anyway. Just take a look at a movie like Must Love Dogs or Gigli or the niegh endless stream of piss poor sitcoms. Most of which are on NBC, ABC, and CBS.

marine
I deserve that money because I was trying to do a comedy bit on the internet. Apparently the subtleties of sarcasm go over your head. I just said it was annoying me. I hate hearing about their crap every ten minutes.

I've tried to get in the WGA a couple of times, they didn't seem to want to support me, so why should I support them? I say who cares. They've been writing pretty crappy TV shows and movies for the most part anyway. Just take a look at a movie like Must Love Dogs or Gigli or the niegh endless stream of piss poor sitcoms. Most of which are on NBC, ABC, and CBS.

If that's your idea of comedy, then perhaps thats why you didn't get into the WGA. You know sour grapes makes a poor argument.

And Gigli?? Give me fkn break, if you think a writer circulated that script and Jlo and ben just happened to find it, you're delusional as well as bitter.

Producers come up with ideas like Gigli and sell them without scripts in hand, and then foist that crap on writers to sort out.