Screw The Writers!!!

That's right, I'm on the side of management in the current work outage (big surprise?).

First of all, residuals are dumb, and probably should be dumped all together. Get paid more up front, the studios assume a lot of risk in funding projects, they should reap the majority of the rewards.

Secondly, the idea of a union or guild for writers is antiquated and doesn't benefit writers to begin with. The guild functions to service the needs of the guild, not rank and file writers. Past work actions have resulted in concessions that benefitted the big earners more than the little guys, and to top it off, because they are unionized it artificially inhibits the entry of many talented people into the industry. If hiring and firing was free of union interference, writers could be judged on their individual talent, and not on the strength of a union contract. All writers should be independent contractors and negotiate the best individual deal they can, screw solidarity, this ain't a shipyard in Poland, this is the Westside, people.

Thirdly, this crap about the internet being this huge future cash cow for studios may be true, but so what? What's preventing writers and talent from getting together and putting up stuff on their own, free of the studios. Seems like that's the model that has propelled Funny or Die, and if they wanted to sell a DVD compilation of their best bits, or offer HD downloads of their better produced clips, the infrastructure is relatively cheap, and the bar for entry very low. If you really feel the studios are screwing you, then circumvent them completely, if you have the chops. Also, if you are making smaller character driven pieces, then a studio (and the various unions that represent "talent") is a hindrance rather than a help. At some point, folks will realize this. When it comes to the internet, there's no such thing as an economy of scale, if anything, scale=inertia which equals an inability to react nimbly, and in the terms of the internet, a lack of nimbleness=death.

Fourthly, I can buy stock in the big evil media corporations, but I can't buy stock directly in JJ Abrams, or Joss Whedon, or any of the writers going on strike. So as a consumer, my vested interest (or at least my potential interest) is more with the studios rather than the talent. This strike could be a huge boon for smart traders. Most likely, it will drag on between 10-20 weeks (the last major writers strike lasted 22 weeks), with the WGA folding like a cheap tent, and SAG and the Directors following suit in short order. The conglomerates are diversified and can survive this much better than individual union members. Nevertheless, their shares will get beaten down artificially, the longer this strike lasts. Companies like Disney and News Corp could see their stocks drop by as much as 10-15% just based on irrational speculation regarding an exaggerated sense of the effect of this strike (fueled by a media sympathetic to the strikers). Buy on the dip, and watch that stock rebound like crazy once the unions cave in to the studios demands. Smart traders will probably be able to get themselves a 20-25% return over a six month period if they time the dip and the bounce correctly. Plus even if they are buying to hold the stock, the artificial dip created by the negative press surrounding this strike will create a great bargain.

Fifthly, freakin' red shirts, stupid slogans, and chants, these assholes are living their hippie-dippy Woodie Guthrie-lite, Eugene V. Debs, populist fantasies all the while sipping on their Starbucks lattes. It's enough to make me puke, and I don't vomit easily.

Three Things . . .

. . . to note about this incident as reported by Defamer.

First, the local TV news, and the local newsrag with its heavily declining readership, are decidedly pro-union and anti-producers, which is unsurprising, given that media is a heavily unionized industry in of itself (plus they hate their corporate paymasters, sort of like rebellious teenagers, sulking around spending their parent's money).

Second, don't mess with Element drivers, we don't take crap from nobody.

Third, it's funny because it's true:

BY CATHERINETRAMMELL AT 02:29 PM
I drove past that lot this morning and what's sad is there were only eight writers picketing at that gate at 9:30.
I assume the writers for Heroes are still in hiding.

(Heroes has been awful, yet I haven't given up on it yet, hope springs eternal...)

I hope the person hit wasn't seriously injured, and I hope the person doing the hitting didn't do it on purpose as one of the eyewitnesses is proclaiming loudly to anybody with a camera and a microphone. Picketers who block access to workplaces are assuming a risk, and should act accordingly, doesn't mean they have a right to be assaulted, but they also don't have the right to prevent people from exercising their right to ignore their work action.

It's On Like Donkey Kong . . .

. . . the Writer's Guild of America strike, that is.

Seems like a stupid thing to do, both sides are being greedy, but the entire local economy is going to feel it if this drags on.

The local coffeehouses are going to be unusually packed during the daylight hours next week, I bet . . .