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Writers Strike Officially Over
CNN is reporting that the 100-day Hollywood writers walkout is now officially over. The new contract managed to snag two of the three major points the Writers Guild was looking for. The writers will now have "jurisdiction" for content created especially for new media (Internet, cell phones, etc) and will get paid for the reuse of content on new media when the studios get paid. "Leslie Moonves, chief executive officer of CBS Corp., told The Associated Press, 'At the end of the day, everybody won. It was a fair deal and one that the companies can live with, and it recognizes the large contribution that writers have made to the industry. [...] It's unclear how soon new episodes of scripted programs will start appearing, because production won't begin until scripts are completed, the AP reported. It will take at least four weeks for producers to get the first post-strike episodes of comedies back on the air; dramas will take six to eight weeks, the AP said.'"
Everyone talking about the strike is talking about the terms for Internet streaming/new media.
I'm curious as to why nobody's mentioning the writers' other big demand, for an increased royalty on DVD sales. Did they drop that demand as part of a compromise?
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
I could tolerate the first 5-6 instances of terrible writing on Heroes, but then it just started to get on my damned nerves. Screw the brain-eating and telekinesis, Sylar's only real superpower is that nobody ever kills him when they have the chance. I especially enjoyed how half of Hiro's story was filler for half the first season... they might as well have just flashed "FILLER" on the screen instead of giving us pointless subplots that went nowhere. Also make sure you never explain how Mohinder got back to New York, because that wasn't confusing or anything.
Anyway, I don't think a writer's strike could hurt Heroes... I'm kind of surprised to learn it was written at all.
Comment of the year
Well, in general, a high skill job, is one that requires skills that most people do not have, and therefore is rare and in demand more, and commands a higher rate of pay. (I don't like to use the word salary, being a direct employee to me is like being a slave, but, that's another soapbox).
"In fact, the union benefits are determined by a free-market"
I'd argue that they are NOT determined by a free market. Without unions, someone that was willing to take a bit less could get the job. Union areas...well, I've heard that in some places and some jobs...you can NOT even be considered for a job, unless you are a union member. That is hardly 'free market'.
"Why should "full benefits" (assuming that, since you remove pensions, all that is left is health/dental benefits) be dependendent on having a job at all? Seems like a human right."
I agree...health benefits should not be a part of having a job. It wasn't always that way...I don't remember the particulars, but, I think it was some time after WW1 or 2...where employers for some reason, in lieu of raises or increased wages, offered insurance to workers...and it basically started from there. Frankly, as an indie contractor....I'd much prefer to be paid my bill rate, which I require to be high enough to allow me to make my own benefits. I like to be able to set up my own IRA's and sock money away pre-tax. I like that I can set up a high deductible insurance (for catastrophic cases)...and then set up a HSA (Health Savings Account) that builds year after year, and can also be invested into the market to make money...all pre-tax, and tax free in most cases. In the long run, I can come out far ahead of most people that 'pay' insurance premiums and co-pays all their working life.
If they'd just let us more easily work this way....work in a contract manner, we'd be more protected (contractual obligations spelled out), we'd get paid for what we work (no more 80 hour weeks on a salary based on 40 hour weeks), and we could be in more charge of our own destiny.
I agree...but, slightly differently...I think we could all be ENABLED as a right, to provide for our own health care. If we didn't have the govt. and insurance corps and HMO's all so ingrained in the medical industry as we do now...and doctors could compete with each other as they did in the older times (30 years ago or so)...we would have affordable health care, and people could save and pay for it.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Your first paragraph pretty much sums up what this was all about. The writers guild was coerced into striking by the studios. They didn't want to and worked without contract for months, but the studios refused to negotiate. So they felt a need to flex their muscles and went out on strike.
The studios felt they were saddled with dead weight in the form of long-term development deals that were going no where. Sure you get a good show or two out of them, but there were too many for the product that was being produced. There were some that were three years into their deals and had no product yet. All of those deals have "act of god" or "force majeur" clauses in them and most were 90-days (from what i was told by the Universal Studios folks).
After 90-days those deals were killed, the people had all been laid off earlier and now, amazingly, 10-days later the strike is settled. The WGA was a puppet used to smack down the small production companies.
The tiny concessions given to the writers have been estimated to amount to about $3,000 per year for a constantly working writer of average pay. And even in those concessions there are loopholes for the studios - like they get to wait a month after releasing a show for the web before they have to pay anything to the writer. Look for lots of "pay for it on iTunes or get it free after a month" deals from now on. So basically the writers sold out tens of thousands of actual hard-working people (grips, food workers, etc.) for hollow concession to feed their damaged egos.