It turns out, the way the revenue-sharing for online TV works, it would be more equitable if I just stole.*
I’ll say upfront that I don’t know why the hell The Internet is represented here by a charming floral arrangement of brightly colored iMacs, which haven’t been available since, god, I don’t know, my sophomore year of college? People just like Macs because they look like spaceships.** Anyway.
The take-home point here is that writers get paid 4¢ of residuals for a $19.99 DVD (yeah, I haven’t paid that much for a DVD since I was feeling despondent about relationships and Mr. & Mrs. Smith was a new release, but you know, whatever). They get the same percentage on online downloads despite the fact that, as a reasonably bright chimp could probably work out, online downloads cost the production company VIRTUALLY NOTHING (DVDs cost them, like, a quarter).
Writers get no residuals at all for screenings of their work that are streamed online–which happens to cover about half of the television I consume, now that I do not own a TV at all.*** The networks argue that streaming online content is “promotional,” but if you’ve ever watched any of it, you know that it is full of stupid-ass ads for Visa. One assumes that the networks are not screening Visa’s “promotional” material for free; in fact, we’re talking about over $4.5 billion in projected ad revenue in the next few years, which I can assure you I would not be screening here at home for fun. I watch those stupid-ass ads for Visa because they’re embedded in television programming that I actually want to see, which was written by writers who would like, you know, something more than 0¢ for their role in generating that avalanche of ad revenue.
I’ve seen some responses on YouTube that entirely miss the fucking point here. Mainly, people are upset that writers get paid a salary for writing things and then–madness!–get paid MORE MONEY when their product does well. Well, gee, do we also rage against the practice of commission sales? Who benefits most when the product does well? The writer with his/her 4¢ per DVD sale and a big box of air for all those online streams? Gee, could it be the production companies, the heads of which already get to swim around in vaults of doubloons like Scrooge McDuck?
Residuals/royalties are normal compensation for artistic endeavors. They account for the fact that you don’t KNOW how much “Happy Birthday” is going to end up being worth when you pay some schmo to write it–or, say, Pirates of the Caribbean. I know I wasn’t expecting THAT to turn into a freaking trilogy.
My friend Nick from high school has been helping out with the strike even though he’s not yet union. I got the above video link from him; you can also see photos and video from the strike on his MySpace blog.
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*Not that I’m saying this is what I DO. Although the primary reason that I don’t is laziness, followed by impatience. Which reminds me, the latest episode of Chuck should now be up on NBC.com… For which its writers will see exactly 0¢.
**Mac users: I do not want to hear it.
***I “sold” it to my sister. I think she still owes me $30. On the bright side, I didn’t have to move it again.
November 13th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Todd Alcott gives an entertaining explanation of what it’s like to be a hollywood writer. You spend a lot of time writing pitch material for projects that string you along for months but never get greenlighted, and the studios are experts at skirting union rules so that they never have to pay you for any of that work. So it’s not like writers take home a steady paycheck and then buy champagne and lube with their royalties; a lot of the time the royalties are paying the bills while you hope for one of your projects to pan out.
Also, macs don’t look like spaceships. Macs look like sexy androids.* The space shuttle is total steampunk next to the deign on a macbook.
* I have a hard time saying “sexy android” now that I know that “android” means “man-like.”
November 13th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
A side point: if I could, I would wear a hat that says, “Mac users: No one give a rat’s ass. Shut it.”
November 13th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
You know I have a friend who is a writer (an non-union unemployed writer) but she was very much in the business out there in LA for awhile so I understand more than the average joe about the writing strike. Your post however, and Michael’s comment are exactly what people do NOT understand about the writing. They are just pissed their shows are going to go into reruns and wonder why the writers are being so “selfish”. I should direct those people to your blog…
November 13th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
I also think the I Love Lucy example was a little weak given that all the writers for that show have been dead for years.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
So should there also be sexy gynoids?
November 14th, 2007 at 5:01 am
Allen - that’s exactly what I was thinking!
Travis: can’t you assign copyrights to your heirs under US law? I have to say, I’m a little foggy on the US side of things, but you can definitely do that under EU law. The famous example being James Barrie’s assignation of the copyrights in his “Peter Pan” books to Great Ormond Street children’s hospital.
Which brings its own disadvantages… but not to the copyright-holders, obviously.
I think the writer’s strike is a good idea… it’s not as though they’re withholding VITAL services, is it? Can’t the moaners, like, read a book meanwhile?
Mind you, I can say this because the only US thing I watch is Heroes, and we’re still on the first series in the UK…
November 14th, 2007 at 8:06 am
I think the most troublesome thing about this strike (that I have heard) is that nobody is looking out for the tradies. The set builders, the set dressers, the camera men, the caterers, etc. When actors and whomever else are out protesting along with writers and shows are shut down the production crews are being fired. And unlike the writers, who get residuals when a show goes into syndication (so most television writers will get something, especially on those shows picked up by cable) these people who work on set get nothing. They’re even being used by the big companies as bargaining chips. And unless the strike ends soon, the people with the most to lose will be the ones getting screwed.