Hello students,
Here is the weekly discussion question. Your answer is due before class on Tuesday, Feb. 19.
The writers' strike ended this week, when the writers' union voted to ratify the contract negotiated between union leaders and the movie and television industry. Who "won" the strike – the writers or the industry? Whom does the new deal benefit the most? You will need to do a little research to answer these questions effectively.
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An end to Hollywood's long and bitter writer's strike lasted 5 months and cost the entertainment industry an estimated $500 million. The strike centered on writers demands for a large increase in pay for movies and television shows released on DVD, and for a bigger share of the revenue from such work delivered on the Internet. The Writers Guild of America, ended the strike by claiming that the writers won, winning a piece of digital revenues. But the remaining question; will the piece of the digital revenue be worth it in the future? No, because advertisement is less valuable on the web and the real money remains in the so called legacy media. Yet, the new contract falls short of what writers are initially seeking. It would still turn out that writer-producers who on average take home 5 million, will only continue to make more money out of this deal. Ultimately, the union bosses still end up on top!
This strike has gone on long enough. The writer's made it very clear that they wanted a fair percentage of dvd and online sales. With that being said, I believe that the writer's ended up on top. In addition to a percentage of all online and dvd sales, there were also many complaints that the writer's did not earn enough money. According to the New York Times, the average Hollywood writer earns approximately $200,000 per year. We can expect that number to increase as well. Also, the industry is going to have a tough time catching up on all these scripts that have been piling up. There is no doubt that both parties benefited from this but I would have to give the edge to the writer's.
To say that either side came away with a clear-cut victory is debatable at best, but for the most part, I think the writers bit off more than they were initially able to chew. Despite the fact that the writers were able to attain rights to (future) digital revenues, they will be hard-pressed to find work as easily as they did before the strike went into effect. Also, the so-called "industry" learned to adapt to the strike with a plethora of reality programming that showed the "industry" could prevail. Further more, despite the fact that many regular season programs will be returning to their initial on-air time slots, the quality of such programming will be taking a major hit. In other words, the studios that finance these programs will not look to salvage the remainder of the current television season and therefore, viewers will have to wait until next season to get what they really want. For now, the studios have control while the writers will have to stand the test of time in order to gauge whether or not the strike was truly worth it. Either way though, I personally think the fans of these shows were hurt the most and that, in and of itself, is the type of betrayal that the both the writers and the producers must rectify immediately.
It is to early to determine who won the strike. Both sides benefited from the new 3 year deal, but only after the 3 year deal expires we would know who was the clear cut winner. In the short term producers made out well because it allowed them to get dozens of contracts with individual writers. In addition producers put in place numerous reality tv shows to cover thmeselves.
Long term the writers benefited by getting a piece of the online revenues. Right now it is unclear how much revenue can the internet generate and that is why I beleive that in 3 years we would have a better idea of who benefited the most.
It is tuff to say that the idustry won on this contract we all want to say the writers won because they got their contract but they really didn't. The writers got basically what they wanted and even though the strike was short it still amounted in the writers making no money while they were out of work. But if you look at in a different perspective the industry was struggling too because they had no writers and had to make low cost shows and even more reality shows too. But in the long run the industry won because they didn't give up too much to get the writers back to doing what they needed to do and the industry can get back to making money and doing what they need to do. So in conclusion the I think the writers could have held out a little bit longer to get exactly what they wanted. But it's ok doesn't the industry always win?
I think what the writers won. Not necessarily the war but the battle was theirs. Out of principle they got what they wanted but in the long haul they may have hurt themselves more. They won in the sense they now get a small portion of the digital sales. This entire process has changed the way studios and networks will film and write. They’ve realized that they can now use less established writers for a smaller cost to kick start new shows.
I agree with what the writers did. They needed to get more recognition and more money for their work. The big corporate guys are they ones getting the most money while they are left doing the work.
While it seems both the writers an the industry each get something. The industry seems to have the upper hand with the strike ,which freed them from numerous individual contracts with different writers. The industry plans to compensate the writers by giving them a share of internet revenues. This will only benefit the writers if internet revenue is successful, if not then the industry has clearly won.
I would say the writers were the ones that won out here. They took the long 14 weeks to get what they absolutely wanted. They were'nt the ones hurting in the long run. The shows were hurting and the industry was hurting. Nothing was being watched becuase nothing new was coming on.
One website added all the money that the Lost Angeles economy lost alone and that was a whopping $1.5 Billion dollars. The industry lost fans, revenue, and put to much time in playing the cards towards the writers that took their sweet time when it meant getting what they wanted no matter what the cost was.
I think it's safe to say that there was no "winner" in this deal. The writer's got a long overdue revamp of their contract, but they didn't get everything they wanted. Though the studios had to give a little more than they're used to, they didn't get raped too bad. However, if I had to choose a victor, I would say the writer's. From movies and TV shows sold online alone, they're getting double what they were getting. They're only getting a max flat rate for the first two years but after that it becomes percentage based, which is fair. Ratifications are still gonna happen in the upcoming weeks, so we'll see how much changes from the initial proposal. In the grand scheme of things though, anyone who's sick of reality TV is the real winner
Now that the strike has ended I think it is safe to say we all won, the union, the industry, and us the customers. A strike is never a good thing, look what it did to hockey. Everyone lost revenue in this incident, the writers weren't getting paid for 5 months, and the industry struggled to make ends meet. Movie sales declined and all that was on tv was reality tv shows. Many popular television shows had to end their season on a low note and lose fans. The ultimate winners are us the fans that can now go back to the theaters to see our favorite actors and actresses, or watch our favorite compelling tv shows again. If gives us something to talk about with our friends or at the workplace. A strike always hurts those who are indirectly involved, like the fans or society. When teachers strike, it is always the students and the town that suffer the most.
I think everyone involved won. Far too many people were put out over this strike. From the producers to the writers to the make up artists were all out of work. Now the writers pay is doubled for movies and tv shows sold online. The companies are now bringing money back in. Also, the viewers win because we finally get our favorite shows back. Granted the new agreement is only lasting three years, it is still three years no one has to worry about being out of work or out of their evening television.
The strike was good in the long term because the writers guild was able to wrest a major concession from management, winning a piece of digital revenues.
The strike was bad for writers in the short term. The delays caused by the strike made the studios ask themselves the question about the need to finance all manner of TV pilots for a traditional upfront extravaganza followed by a traditional introduction in the fall. This system, unchanged through the years, has been horrible for writers. Also the studios canceled existing contracts of writers and went from prime time shows to reality programming.
The writers were the winners because they got their feet in the door, a much better outcome than many people believed possible. They benefit the most from the deal because they are now joined at the hip with the producers in finding out just what the future holds. They were doing all the dirty work while the top dogs were making all of the money, now it is equal. The industry did not give up that much, but still the writers stood strong and stood their ground for want they wanted. Without writers, no scripts, without scripts, no shows.
To me it seems that both the industry and the writers won in the new three year deal. It seems like a fair deal that the companies can live with and it also recognizes the large contributions that the writers have made to the industry. The deal gives the writers a flat fee of about $1,200 for programs streamed on the Internet in the deals first two years and then a two percent distributors gross in year three, which has been a key union demand. Time will tell whether the deal worked out for both the industry and the writers.
I definitely feel as though the writers won out big time on this issue. I felt as though they were being undercompensated for their work by not receiving any money for work sold through outlets such as iTunes and other digital downloading media. I also agree that the consumers won as well. After being deprived of some of our favorite shows, we are finally able to see new episodes of the shows we love.
The not so drawn out writers strike of 2007-08 was extremely necessary, but in the end didn’t really give a clear cut winner. In my opinion I would have to say that the producers won in the long run. The writers set out for a piece of the digital profits, and pulled away with an undecided slice of the pie for the next three years, but that’s really all they got. Not only that but they’ve all been living off of residuals for the past few months and now are in dire need of work. Many writers’ contracts have been severed as a result of the strike, and highly profitable development deals for pilots are being reworked. The industry was able to organize and produce filler shows while the strike took place. They were also prepared for this strike, having stockpiled scripts just before it started. The industry had complete control of this situation from the beginning and got their workers to go back to their jobs in the end.
The industry won because they were still able to produce assorted shows (mostly reality) to keep the audience attracted to their networks. Also some late night talk shows like Conan O'Brien, Daily Show, Colbert Report, Jay Leno, etc. were able to come up with their own material while the writer's strike was going on. So even though the writer's were able to get something out of the strike, the industry was still able to produce shows when everybody thought that they would collapse.
I think that they both won. The writers got what they wanted, a percentage of dvd online sales and other digital revenues. It may seem that the industry will now lose money because of this, but they still will be making a LOT of money, more than I'll probably ever make. Reality tv is getting old, and the industry loves it because it's cheap to make and lots of people will still watch it. If the writers continued their strike, people like myself would probably stop watching tv because good television is what I'm interested, shows such as LOST and Niptuck and so on...The writers won because they got what they wanted, and the industry didn't lose because they are all still rich! Fans are the ones that would lose.
I am glad the writer's strike is over (I was missing my Desperate Housewives) but technically the writers did not get what they wanted. They initially wanted to get paid more for television and movies that are released on DVD and a larger cut of the revenue from such work distributed over the internet (according to New York Times). They ended up getting more revenue from work distributed over the internet as well as television and movies but their pay is still not close to what the actors and producers are making. The industry lost millions of dollars the past 5 months the writers were on strike and the reality shows that they quickly threw in to try to cover the cost could not cover it. I think the industry just threw whatever they could at the writers to get them back to work and the writers too the bait.
I think the writers won, because now they are seeing from internet sales whice is what they wanted.
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