WGA Strike

Well, in general I think strikes today are overused. Granted, managers and executives are monstrously overpaid. Granted, they almost invariably think short term while unions tend to think long term. Still, a strike isn't good for anyone.

But... sometimes it is still the right thing to do.

I'm a big fan of Grey's Anatomy, and with creator/producer/writer Shonda on the picket line, it is going to be a miserable season unless the strike ends quickly (not likely).

The WGA isn't really asking for much - they want 8 cents a DVD instead of 4 (the studio's profit? About $10 per DVD.). They want some residuals for internet distribution instead of what they currently get: nothing. That's right, all those podcasts and internet broadcasts put no money into the pockets of the people who's creativity gave birth to them in the first place.

This seems like a reasonable demand to me; if your TV show is caulously and stupidly cancelled after one season, but is a hit on re-runs and is still being showed 10 years later, you're entitled to more than just one season's paycheck. Most writers spend more time out of work than working; residuals, royalties in any other trade, keep them going to write again.

OK, I'm prejudiced. My sister's a writer and I'm in the intellectual property business myself (engineer, remember?).

The internet, however, seems to me like it is only going to grow. Personal media players are becoming as common as cell phones - in some cases they ARE cell phones. Digital storage of movies and TV shows has already begun, and as data storage continues to become more dense and cheap at some point the DVD is going to fade, just like VHS tapes have. Sure, you can still buy VHS tapes, and VCRs. However, the DVD standard is now over a decade old. In the computer world, that's the same as saying obsolete. I can store a movie on a thumb drive already, which is easier to carry around and MUCH easier to play a movie off of. I don't need to watch Grey's Anatomy on TV; it is simulcast over the web - and Shonda doesn't get any money if I watch it that way. How long before that becomes the standard, not the exception?

No, the writers have a legitimate demand, and they are fighting for the economic survival of their trade, not just themselves as individuals.

Go WGA!