FYI, I put a link to Joss Whedon’s take on the strike (in UPDATE). It’s pretty good.

Ugh… misinformation. Sometimes I hate blogs. :)

I guess the problem is in convincing one of them to do it.

What happened to good old fashioned competition?

Writers get a big fat ZERO of all money a producer or network earns by streaming their content online. You know those free shows you can see on ABC, the ones rebroadcast from the night before that you have to click on an ad to get through? The network makes all the money from those ads. NONE of it goes to the creators and writers.

The WGA, which was asking for more money on DVD sales (a business that has changed dramatically since the 80s with the advent of TV on DVD and Netflix), pulled DVDs off the table as a sticking point in favor of trying to get their writers 1.2% of license fees on shows that are streamed online. But AMPTAS won’t budge.

As for a hostile climate and fewer jobs and making the networks more ruthless… they’re pretty ruthless as it is. There’s a reason for the shark-like reputation.

So the company hires 5 workers, at $5 an hour. $25 – meeting the budget.

Now let’s say a union comes and says, “No, you must pay all workers at least $10 an hour.” Let’s pretend the company actually agrees to this. They’re now paying $50/hour for the 5 employees, which is twice their alotted budget. They can’t do that, and remain profitable indefinitely. What’s the obvious answer?

If the employees now make $10/hour, then the company can only afford 2.5 employees. Obviously you can’t have a half employee, so round it down to two.

You now have 2 employees instead of 5, because the 2 employees are making $10/hour for a total of $20/hour. Maybe the company could hire an intern, or part timer for the extra $5 because technically they’re under budget. 2.5 people instead of 5 = half the jobs.

Those two employees may be happy to be getting double their wage, but what if that also means double the work? Now working conditions may actually be worse, rather than better. But reality is actually more ridiculous than this simple example. I doubt the union would even allow the company to scale back to just two workers. It wouldn’t allow two unionized workers to be let go in order to meet a budget. Unions don’t operate by economics. Unfortunately, business does.

If the union forced the company to retain the additional 3 employees, then the company is forced to pay $50/hour for employees whether they can afford it or not. This means they’ll try to cut costs on the product itself, reducing budgets for materials or resources needed to create the product. This means the employees would have less to work with in order to make a good product. And if they can’t make a product that sells, then the company will go out of business. Or… the company will just shut down that particular product line and stick with only the ones that are the absolutely most profitable as to support very high wages and extra workers.

Not only does it mean less jobs, but less quality products, and fewer of them.

It’s all just simple economics.

I know if networks get backed into a corner, and have to pay, they’re just going to sign fewer shows, cancel more shows, and be more strict about the projects and people they take on. Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on, it’s crucial for you to ask yourself; Is it worth it?

If yes, be prepared to face the inevitable consequences; Higher paid writers, but fewer projects, smaller writing teams, and more cancelled shows.

I was looking at the terms that were put up by the WG… they want 40% of all DVD sales. That’s huge.

I hope this doesn’t have a roundabout effect of just inspiring the networks to be more ruthless. I think it will. They’ll just cancel more shows that don’t meet expectations, which will mean less jobs for writers in general.

I expect a lot of pain to come from this, even if the writers get everything they want. It’s going to hurt the industry really bad either way.

I hope 40% is worth a hostile climate and fewer jobs. Be careful what you wish for!

I know in games, the person who owns the I.P. gets the most money. I’d assume the same is true for TV – with the showrunner getting the lion’s share — if they’re smart and don’t give the thing away to a network for free.

The lesson being, if you want money, go create I.P..