View Full Version : The end is nigh! the reality TV apocalypse cometh!
As you may or may not know the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has gone on strike over their claims for better profit distribution.
Basically they claim they are not getting their fair share of revenue generated through new television and cinema distribution methods like DVDs and webcasts.
LA times article (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-channel15oct15,0,3210455.story?coll=la-home-entertainment)
Defamer website....quite funny coverage (http://defamer.com/)
when I read this 2 thought crossed my mind...
the first is....."ohh noes....my favorite shows are gonna go off the air due to the writers strike and all we will be left with is reality tv garbage like american idle and it´s ilk"... :help: thinking about that I´m not sure what would be more entertaining...watching tv or removing my own spleen with a rusty spoon.
the second is...."uhmm...I wonder if that italian chick from accounting is wearing that blue dress today that let´s you see her.."...errr.....got distracted for a minute there!
what really surprised me here is the apparent power this union has in the states....apparently from what I have read if a member of the guild were to oppose the strike and keep on working they would be expelled from the guild and this would make it illegal for any production studio to hire them....is this correct? if so nobody can really realistically oppose the guild without risking unemployment.
I would like to hear our American friends here on their opinions on this...specially on the amount of power the guild seems to hold....over here in europe this "pinko-commy-socialist heaven/nightmare" that I live in a union can´t actually force you to strike....sure they can have picket lines and the such but if you decide you want to go to work they can do no more than give you dirty looks.....
so what do you think of this?
are the studios greedy bastards and should they just pay the writers what they want?
are the writers greedy bastards and should they just shut up and write the season finale of desperate housewives already!
does the guild hold to much power?
can I score with the Italian girl from accounting?
GAH!
discuss! :book:
P.S.1 - is it just me or does the word 'guild' lend itself to the image of a bunch of pimply geeks playing D&D in their mothers basement?....it´s just hard to take it seriously...grow a pair and call yourself´s a union already....like big boys!
P.S.2 - share tips on going through withdrawal symptoms should our favorite shows go off the air... like Supernatural or Scrubs
P.S.3 - Good news at least...the 'Dexter' season is already fully filmed! :2thumbsup: so no danger on that front
P.S.4 - the fact that I am acknowledging that I watch TV shows that are not being broadcasted on Europe right now are in no way a confession of any sort of untoward viewing behavior on my part....:sweatdrop: ..further more I will deny ever posting this entry if so asked!
P.S.5 - on my next topic of debate.....is 'post scriptum' over used?:beam:
macsen rufus
11-06-2007, 12:49
I think the only issue is when are you going to sell the TV and spend some serious time chasing the Italian chick :clown:
Mikeus Caesar
11-06-2007, 13:12
Well, if American TV really is going to go down the pan as a result, you could always *gasp* go outside. There's more to life than TV. Go to the bar. Try and score with the ladies. Or as was suggested, that Italian girl from accounting.
This coincides with a letter I just got.
I basically have to pay money for public TV, told them my TV card doesn't work anymore, they say as long as I have it and it might be repairable I can technically receive TV. :dizzy2:
Now I'm not sure whether I should make an "angry" phonecall or just remove their allowance to take the money from my bank account and then wait until they come. Choices... :juggle2:
Well, as you might have noticed, I'm not really dependant on a TV, otherwise I would have bought a new card, so I'm not that interested in what happens to American TV series.
I fully support the WGA strike. On average, writers are paid very poorly for the work they do and they often have to accept little job-security, due to the nature of success and failure in television and cinema. It is abhorrent that they are not being compensate for their work from digital formats. Movies and TV shows are increasingly being watched via internet downloads and other new-media methods of viewing. As it stands, the writers are totally excluded from profits in these areas, which is absurd. They should be paid royalties for their work, no matter what format it is distributed in.
I will miss my shows, but it is a worthy sarifice to help the creative minds who bring us so much entertainment.
What was this thread about again?
Say... do you have a digital camera handy Ronin? Let's have a picture of this italian vixen of yours. If not, tell us more about her. :beam:
Crazed Rabbit
11-06-2007, 17:04
Hmm. I confess I don't know about the legalities of the writer's union and all that, but I wouldn't be surprised if the union had forced some agreement barring any scab workers from their own membership. It's a liberal industry in a liberal state, and we know how much they like being able to work freely.
CR
From what I've gathered, there is almost unanimous support amongst the writers for the strike. Even SAG (Screen Actor's Guild - the actor's union) is in full support of the move and there have been a large number of producers who have come out in support of the move. I am surprised to see so many knee-jerk reactions assuming that the WGA is the guilty party in this dispute.
Well he's not wrong, Hollywood is a "closed shop". I heard tell that a certian Canadian perfomrer had to "get unionized" to be able to work in California.
Crazed Rabbit
11-06-2007, 18:22
From what I've gathered, there is almost unanimous support amongst the writers for the strike. Even SAG (Screen Actor's Guild - the actor's union) is in full support of the move and there have been a large number of producers who have come out in support of the move. I am surprised to see so many knee-jerk reactions assuming that the WGA is the guilty party in this dispute.
And where did I say they are guilty? Bully for them for striking; I just don't like how that means noone can write.
CR
And where did I say they are guilty? Bully for them for striking; I just don't like how that means noone can write.
CR
They're trying to leverage themselves a better deal. So what? Doesn't affect me one way or the other. :shrug:
Now onto unions like SAG and WGA, in general... I think they're terrible and stifle innovation in the entertainment industry. Independent filmakers can't hire SAG actors without first agreeing to pay them outrageous SAG wages- even if the actor themself would willingly work on a project for less. They're not allowed to. Similarly, other positions in a production will follow suit creating an all or nothing scenario that basically prohibits any up and coming actors/writers/directors/whatever from being able to do any work for with well-established peers.
Oh, and I have to chime in and mention that the Colbert Report and the Daily Show will likely have to go into reruns because of the strike as well. Turns out that the brilliant and amazing hosts of those shows don't write their own stuff. :beam:
In a sense, the writers have a valid point wanting more recognition. The talking heads on all these comedy shows get the credit for being so witty when it's the writers that produce their lines for them.
Blodrast
11-06-2007, 20:58
the second is...."uhmm...I wonder if that italian chick from accounting is wearing that blue dress today that let´s you see her.."...errr.....got distracted for a minute there!
Well, IS SHE ?!!
Oh, and I have to chime in and mention that the Colbert Report and the Daily Show will likely have to go into reruns because of the strike as well. Turns out that the brilliant and amazing hosts of those shows don't write their own stuff. :beam:
you were under the impression that Colbert, Stewart, Leno, Conan or Letterman wrote all those jokes them selfs? :laugh4:
it´s one thing to develop a stand up routine that you perfect over a bunch of months... but no one can come up with 20/30 minutes of jokes everyday....nobody´s that funny.
Well, IS SHE ?!!
unfortunately she wasn´t :shame:
I take it she wasn't wearing it the bad way, pity.
HoreTore
11-07-2007, 10:17
OK, now I'm confused. At first I thought he was talking about nipples and that fragony was a flithy perv, but after thinking it over....
MUHA I am a pervert never forget that.
EDIT: Removed link that doesn't toe the forum line. BG
Ja'chyra
11-07-2007, 17:58
cameltoe>tv
Sig :laugh4:
Screenwriters Dig In for an Extended Brawl
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 9 — Eight months ago, in a contemplative moment, Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America West, sketched out what could have been a script for the collision that wrecked talks between Hollywood’s producers and striking writers on Friday.
During an interview in his office here, Mr. Verrone described the looming negotiations with employers as a confrontation much grander than a simple fight over pay formulas. This battle would be about respect.
Writers, he said, were looking to restore a sense of leverage and status that had been lost as ever-larger corporations took control of the entertainment business. He described Hollywood as teetering on the brink of a dark age, as far as creative types were concerned. “I think if they could do this business without us, they would, and so making our task as mechanical and simple and low-paying and unartistic as possible,” Mr. Verrone said.
The solution, he added, was to squeeze the corporations that own the studios, in an effort to represent the legion of writers on reality and animated shows that the guild had not organized through sign-up drives.
“There are things we can ask for in bargaining that will allow you to reach up to the mother ship and then back down into the nonunion company,” he said.
On Friday night, five weeks into a strike that now promises to drag on well into the new year, seriously complicating plans for this television season and the next, and opening the door to a tube filled with reality shows and other substitutes, it suddenly became clear to all involved that Mr. Verrone and the other guild leaders were serious about their writers’ revolution.
After days of haggling over complicated formulas for Internet pay, the latest round of talks blew up over the deeper issues that had been buried inside the writers’ contract proposals.
Accusing guild leaders of pursuing “an ideological mission far removed from the interests of their members,” representatives of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers expressed outrage over continuing demands of the writers that were not strictly related to pay.
These include requests for jurisdiction over those who write for reality TV shows and animated movies; for oversight of the fair-market value of intracompany transactions that might affect writer pay; and the elimination of a no-strike clause that prevents guild members from honoring the picket lines of other unions once a contract is reached.
The tone of shock in the producers’ statement seemed a bit artificial, as Mr. Verrone has for months laid out his plan to elevate the writers’ industry status. Yet their anger is genuine. Executives know that to concede the writers’ noneconomic demands would lead to a radical shift in industry power. Only a death wish, for instance, would prod companies to let one union walk out in support of another, particularly on the eve of negotiations with both the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild, whose contracts expire in June. “It’s kind of like saying ‘Oh, while we’re in the middle of this knife fight, I demand the right to have a gun next time,’ a comment on a screenwriters’ blog, The Artful Writer, said.
Similarly, company negotiators know that to grant jurisdiction over workers not currently represented by the guild would bring up against legal questions — can they impose union membership on a unit whose members have not signed up? And it would lead to a collision with other unions.
That matter provoked a blast on Friday night. Thomas C. Short, president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which already represents some reality and animation writers, compared the writers’ guild leadership to “a huge clown car that’s only missing the hats and horns.”
As the strike drags on, it appears increasingly likely that the television business, which is more sensitive than the movie industry to short-term dislocations, may be in for some deep changes. One possibility is that networks will use the walkout as an opportunity to end their costly practice of presenting new programs to prospective advertisers in an elaborate spring road show known as the upfronts. Instead, they might opt for simple visits to the main advertising agencies.
Networks could also use the strike to end a television development cycle that has them all chasing the same stars at the same time for fall programs that make their debuts en masse. Instead, they might develop new offerings throughout the year.
More narrowly, Friday night’s breakdown marked the failure of an effort by the companies to reboot the talks as a more tightly focused negotiation, despite earlier bad blood. The companies’ strategy, more or less, had tried to close a gap on issues related to electronic delivery of movies and television shows, holding back a sweetened offer for Internet downloads as a closer that would be added at the last minute, giving Mr. Verrone something on which to claim victory.
For that to work, however, Mr. Verrone and his colleagues would have had to abandon the quest for not just a bigger share, but a bigger place in the business.
In a Sunday interview, Mr. Verrone said nothing was nonnegotiable. Union leaders, he said, were thinking “we were in a negotiation, where they would talk about these things.”
And anyone who thought that they would simply surrender just was not listening.
well...it seems we´re in for the long haul.....time to bust out the DVD collections....anything has got to be better than american gladiators.
I'm already sick of reality shows. The wife and I had a bit of a fight about it just last night. Looks like I'm gonna be reading a lot more books ...
vBulletin® v3.7.1, Copyright ©2000-2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.