Snippets on the WGA Strike
By Kathleen Bolton | November 12, 2007 |
Tempers are starting to fray in Hollywood, and it’s only Week 2 of the Writer’s Guild Association strike.
Showrunners, the creative directors of most televisions shows who simultaneously wear both hats of writer and producer, are under pressure as they are squeezed by both sides. CBS/Paramount has sent “breach of contract” letters; WGA members vow solidarity with the union.
Ellen DeGeneres, WGA member, crosses the picket line after one day and goes back to work.
Obituaries for television shows are hitting the op-ed pages.
And the fallout continues. Theatre stagehands on Broadway have gone on strike, putting pressure on NYC entertainment industry. Novelist associations are weighing in. SFWA has pledged support to WGA members. Late night shows like Conan and Leno are in hiatus because their writing is topical and to-the-minute.
The pressure is mounting. And I repeat, it’s only Week 2 of this thing.
Stay tuned. Or maybe instead of watching reruns,support the WGA and read a good book. At least the author was paid a royalty for it.
Kathleen Bolton is co-founder of Writer Unboxed. She writes under a variety of pseudonyms, including Ani Bolton.
She has written two novels as Cassidy Calloway: Confessions of a First Daughter, and Secrets of a First Daughter–both books in a YA series about the misadventures of the U.S. President’s teen-aged daughter, published by HarperCollins, and Tamara Blake, for the novel Slumber.
“Stay tuned. Or maybe instead of watching reruns,support the WGA and read a good book. At least the author was paid a royalty for it.”
Hear hear! Unbelievable to me that writers – the very life of the entertainment industry because without material, you have, what, people standing around? – are not getting paid what they deserve.
I don’t watch t.v. at all – all we watch are movies at my house because we don’t have the cable hooked up. I prefer it that way. I get lots and lots done without that darn t.v. on!
Agreed, Melissa. I hardly watch any t.v. anymore. I might watch a You Tube snippet of Top Chef or Project Runway, but other than that, I’m t.v. free. Who has time when you’re trying to write a novel?
My 20-something daughter wondered why SNL was a repeat this weekend…if we (the parent generation, for want of a better word) quit watching TV, and the under-thirty-somethings just watch reality programming (I Love New York??? Are you kidding me?), and sports programming is not affected, how will the writers get enough support to get what they financially deserve?
I’m a little worried. And I miss my Saturday Night Live.
Even so wretched a reality show as A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila has writers. They call them ‘producers’ instead of showrunners so they could get away with not paying them guild wages. This sparked a revolt at more successful reality shows like America’s Next Top Model.
The industry cannot survive without writers. Period.