I’ve said for some time that I believe the value of actors is overrated (not that they’re not very important… obviously they are) and the role of the writer is VASTLY underrated when considering what makes a movie good or not. I have a lot of empathy for writers in that sense. They’re the ones who create the stories, write the dialog the actors speak, conjure the characters that the actors portray and weave worlds that we inhabit for 2 hours. But what credit does the average film fan give the writers? Next to zero. We’d rather rush to credit the actors.
Well, the movie industry in general has undervalued these artists, these creators of worlds and myths, and it’s all coming to a head with a writers strike looming in the distance… and honestly, I don’t blame them.
You see, the current deal between Hollywood and the WGA (Writer’s Guild of America) has very little provisions in it for material streamed or downloaded. The writers want a share in that new revenue source as well (since it is taking away from the revenue they get from the more traditional media formats). The good folks over at Cinematical give us this:
While studios would like negotiations to begin between the two parties this January, the WGA doesn’t like that idea and would rather postpone talks till September, leaving only two months before the end of the world as we know it. Wait, writers aren’t that important, right? I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? It’s not like the entire industry will fumble about before being brought to its knees. Right?
This stalling technique is nothing new for the WGA; their current contract wasn’t finalized until five months after the previous one expired — and, with online streaming and movie downloading bombarding the industry, serving as yet another medium for which studios can use to screw writers, expect this one to go right down to the wire … as per usual.
I still do not like the idea of residual contracts. I think someone should be fairly paid for their work, and then not be owed more money later… but… it the film industry is going to do it for actors (which they shouldn’t) then they sure as hell better do it for the writers too. And if you’re going to do it for the writers, then it should definitely include revenue the studios make from streaming and downloading (since that also takes away from the writers in the other mediums).
Interesting times could be lying ahead… we’ll keep an eye on how this turns out.
