As I said in my comment above, I think both sides of this argument are acting shamefully. Your article and John’s have changed nothing about that opinion. Though I admit that hearing two sides of an issue is often helpful, since the truth is always somewhere in the middle.

http://www.mediapundit.net/2007/12/john-campea-still-doesnt-get-it.html

visit for truth.

The team in charge of the WGA lead a small group of writers on a strike last year, and those men and women ended up without jobs, abandoned by everybody. Exactly why does everybody assume their ideas are so much more noble this time around?

No matter what their motivation was, both sides here have hurt people who have done nothing to them. To that, I say that I don’t care what their aim was. I don’t care how perfect they think they are. I can’t support somebody who sends a craft services worker home without a paycheck for weeks, with no money to feed their family, because they can’t negotiate. I say that to the writers AND the producers.

Both sides should know better, and shame on the producers for trying to make it seem less like it’s their fault too. But shame on the writers for acting like they’re blameless.

I’ll give you the Reality shows (as I said, they have editors, not writers), but animation should definitely fall under writers. Now, as for sympathy strikes, seeing as how the WGA is the guild that consistently gets shafted by the AMPTP (when was the last SAG or DAG strike?) then they ability to consolidate power with other guilds make them that much more of a bargaining opponent. For everyone out there complaining about the quality of film and television keep in mind that the writer is the least respected talent on a production. Hell, you can sell a script and end up with only Story By credits once a Producer, Director, and Actor has made so many freaking changes to your script. Now, you don’t see writers getting this kind of treatment when it comes to novels.
Stop thinking short term, think long term. More power for the WGA is a good thing.

I have to agree with Stewart and Oliver who seem to get it. It has nothing to do with “whiny bitches” and simply “wanting more money”. It has EVERYTHING to do with making sure that writers (who help make up the backbone of this industry) get paid in the future for the work they do when new media becomes the way we all consume entertainment.

I guess it’s too much to ask when the people who create the stories for the movies and TV shows we all get to sit on our collective asses and enjoy want to get their fair share of the financial pie. Sheesh!

To use your own words: “Don’t you understand anything”? For the Union Leaders this isn’t about residuals. That’s obvious now. It’s about the Union leaders trying to gain as much industry political power and influence as possible by gaining control over every writer in the industry making it MANDITORY that all writers join the WGA if they want to work in Hollywood at all, and trying to gain control over Reality TV, Animation and Sympathy strikes.

They say it’s about the residuals… they tell their union members it’s about residuals… but it’s really about power. That’s why the AMPTP walked away from the table.

Caving to the AMPTP = DEATH

Period.

The writer’s strike is likely going to cause several popular TV series to end up with shorter seasons.

When DVD releases are put out, shorter seasons tend ot cost less than longer ones.

This suggests that in a year or so if/when things are fixed, there will STILL be residual profit losses on both sides.