Writers of Hollywood Unite (and go on strike)

[Shrain]

Well, this is lousy news, especially for those fall shows that may not have begun taping or haven't taped much. I don't blame the writers for wanting their share of profits made from online downloads of their shows and movies. In fact, I thought they did get a cut.

One of the more disconcerting aspects of this development is that this strike "is the first walkout by writers since 1988. That work stoppage lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry more than $500 million." Sheesh.

Link:
http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=282448&GT1=7703

[Spriggan]

They do get a cut, but it's at the same scale as DVDs.

They want a higher % of online sales since there's less overhead, and thus more profit, for digital distribution.

[Shrain]

Ah. Well that makes sense to me. Thanks for the clarification, Sprigg.

[Fellfrosch]

If they do get a cut, its a perversely small and insignificant cut. The industry at large has considered that the writer's guild got a horrible deal on DVD sales, and people have been expecting this strike as inevitable for a long, long time. I completely sympathize with them.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I heard writers currently get something like 4 cents per DVD sold, and that they were negotiating to get this raised to 8 cents.

[Sigyn]

What I read said that they currently get five cents per dvd sale and nothing for downloads (and that five cents is split between all the writers).  They want 2.5 percent of both.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

2.5 percent sounds entirely reasonable. C'mon, Hollywood!

[Spriggan]

So NBC has threatened to fire all staff for the Tonight Show if Leno doesn't go back to work next week.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20071109/en_tv_eo/6a0b1ab633fa_43f6_8e4c_2a5bd96f9ac0;_ylt=Ai9shC_yRXyGIQNfGYMs5dis0NUE

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

Wow, this is really getting ridiculous. They've already fired some of the smaller bit-part players behind the scenes of some shows and are threatening to fire more and more people.

Why won't they just give them the compensation they want and just take the hit to their own paycheck? I mean they already make millions of dollars, bunch of bloated pigs.