Labor Unrest
The Writers Guild of America has put out a nice youtube clip making their case for the strike.
Go them.
Go them.
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I'm fully supportive of the right of the writers to strike, but I'm not at the point where I can say I'm upset at the studios/producers. Each side has the right to do what they're doing now. Further, I think at least a few weeks of striking is necessary and possibly even healthy. If we get too far into 2008 with no progress being made, I'm going to try to figure out who is holding up the deal and side against that group.
I think what surprises me most is that I have little idea what these writers really make. All of the numbers each side is relying on are really suspect due to them being based on little more than self reporting and seat of the pants estimates. I think the same goes for the 48% unemployment rate. If half the union isn't working at any given time, that leads me to question what they're doing with the rest of that time. Cocaine? Working on a book or some other side project? Enjoying the good life working a 1000 hour year? I'd really like to see some good journalism come about to answer a lot of these questions on my mind.
Why insane, specifically? 2.5% of the profits ain't beans, but it ain't exactly blackmail either.
The studios/producers also have a point that at the moment, the new media component is largely promotional. I think that should not mean zero, but I don't think they should have to pay full residual rate for promotional material.