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Deal Reportedly Reached In Writers' Strike

Posted by kdawson on from the gonna-be-a-backlog dept.

BlueshiftVFX writes to let us know that the writers' strike may be over. CNBC and other media are quoting former Disney CEO Michael Eisner: "It's over. They made the deal, they shook hands on the deal. It's going on Saturday to the writers in general... A deal has been made, and they'll be back to work very soon."

10 of 333 comments (clear)

  1. Re:This is news for nerds... by rainmayun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... because many nerds watch tv.

  2. Sooooo.... by nickj6282 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We're just not going to get an article with this one? Are we supposed to take Kdawson's word for it? Way to go!

  3. Darn by hansamurai · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Part of me was hoping this would never be resolved and that this would eventually cause a media revolution. Whether it was the rise of local access channels or simultaneous live airing and official torrent release, I thought there was a small chance it might have really changed things from top to bottom.

    Ah well, at least The Office will be back.

    --
    Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
  4. Re:Was that still going on? by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Personally, I thought Conan, Colbert and Stewart were a lot funnier WITHOUT the writers. It forced them to get creative for the first time in years. Now that the writers are coming back, looks like it's back to the 10-millionth reiteration of "Masturbating Bear" and other tired old skits.

    Could they have just STAYED on strike?

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  5. Re:Seems like noone won by dkleinsc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    'As a result of studio cutbacks, however, many of the writers who went on strike are unlikely to return to the same big-money contracts they'd had as individuals with the studios.'

    That sounds a lot to me like "We fired these guys for supporting the union, but we can't say that because that would get us in trouble with the NLRB."

    --
    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  6. Re:So... by OG · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's thinking a bit short term. If their terms are met like they were hoping, it means that they're not cut out of emerging media outlets. That's going to be an important point in the next couple of decades as people shift their content viewing to legitimate online venues and away from traditional television.

  7. Re:I need only three words to explain this by howdoesth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Joss Whedon, Dollhouse. I was really expecting Dollhouse to get killed during the strike before it ever even had a chance to get off the ground, but it looks like Fox is fully committed to letting me see it, fall in love, and then break my heart after 14 episodes. Thanks, guys.
  8. Writers' incomes by jacobw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah. As it is, those folks only make $75000 to $100000 a year. That's not much to live on.
    Actually, writers' incomes are all over the place. According to the WGA's annual report, 45% of its members had no income at all in 2006. (Or, at least, no writing-related income; they may have been waiting on tables or doing something else to pay the bills.) Of those who DID work, 25% earned less than $38,740, while 5% earned more than $685,000! With such a wide disparity, you can juggle the statistics to suggest pretty much anything you want. The studios said something like "Working writers earn an average of $200,000 a year" while some writers said things like "the median income of a writer is below $5,000." I suspect both those statistics are, technically, true--notice that one is about an average while the other is about a median.

    Personally, I think the most useful way of looking at a writer's salary is this: 55% of WGA members are employed in a given year, and among those who are employed in a year, the median income is about $107,000. So, with a 55% chance of earning $107,000, your expected annual income is $58,850. This is an excellent income if you are young and single. If you have kids and a mortgage, and you live in LA or NYC (two of the most expensive cities in America), then it's still a good wage, but it's not mansion-and-a-yacht level. This confirms my own experience--the WGA is basically a middle-class union, negotiating with multibillion dollar global companies.

    (I know--I'm making a number of assumptions in my analysis, but I'm not a statistician and I have to simplify things a little. I'd welcome corrections from any of the numerous Slashdot readers who must be better at statistics than I am!)
    --
    Arr! Read The Government Manual for New Pirates!
  9. Re:I guess... by zenkonami · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Actually, I think this past decade has been one of the most creative decades for Television since the medium began. Anywhere from BSG, The Sopranos and 30 Rock to Lost, The Office and Heroes. And let's not forget Firefly.

    Now are the geeks happy?

    --

    Do You Experiment?
  10. Re:I guess... by moosesocks · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've actually been rather impressed with some of the new TV programming over the past few years. Also remember that 99% of anything is crap (and that includes reality shows)

    Lost is far from formulaic and repetitive, although the writers have been taking it a bit too far, and need to start winding down the series (ideally in one or two seasons, rather than the proposed three). I lost track halfway through the second season, so I can't comment on how it's been recently.

    Heroes is one of the most popular shows today, and has terrific nerd-appeal. The current season has been somewhat subpar, but the original series was engaging and enjoyable.

    Battlestar Galactica is easily the best-written and produced Sci-Fi series to air in years. It's also quite a bit more palatable for normal audiences.

    24 is the best 80s action movie ever made. Although I don't particularly agree with its politics, it's quite an engaging storyline.

    House is quite good. Perhaps becoming a bit repetitive, but definitely the best of the "medical" shows.

    Mythbusters? How can you read slashdot and not love mythbusters, even in spite of their disregard for the scientific method?

    The Daily Show and Colbert Report singlehandedly got an apathetic generation interested in politics. That's no small feat.

    Over in the UK, they've got Top Gear, The Mighty Boosh, the current incarnation of Dr Who, along with a fantastic array of other programming that doesn't make it to the US -- Thanks to advances in filmmaking technology, their documentaries and nature series are also absolutely captivating to watch.

    (After writing this post, I feel the need to assert that I'm not a couch potato! The magic of TiVo lets me save the good stuff for saturday nights.)

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    -- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose