But I'm seeing quite a lot of "quit your complaining" and "awww, too bad" posts out there.
Here's why that attitude is both wrong and misguided:
1) Below The Line Crew Members are far more likely to be living paycheck to paycheck than are Writers.
Much has been made about the WGA factoid that the average annual income for it's members is $62,000 over the past 5 years. The average for 2006, though, is $105,000 (source: Wall Street Journal, Dec 4, 2007). I don't know the number for the average IA worker, but I'm pretty sure it's less than that...
2) Writers continue to get paid during a strike, we don't. All those reruns that are going to start airing everywhere? That's money in your pockets. $20,000 per episode, I believe.
3) Writers continue to work during a Strike, we don't. There will be a flood of spec scripts on the market when this is over. I know many of you are tirelessly walking the picket lines, but many of you are also writing in your newfound free time. The work you do now will be paid for later.
But Boom Operators can't boom, Camera Operators can't operate, Scripty can't check continuity, etc.
Some of us are probably writing too (ask any random person exiting a supermarket in L.A. how their script is going), but let's face it -- you get paid to write, we don't. For the most part, there's probably a good reason for this.
4) When you deride those who are upset, you only drive the wedge deeper. Look, I'm running a site called "Divided Hollywood." I get that I'm not the ideal voice for unity. But the truth is that I, like so many of us, want to see the writers get a fair deal.
We're not on the side of the studios. We want to see negotiations move forward quickly and fairly.
But most of all, we just want to get back to work.
2 comments:
For the common good, I call for a series of “Dark Days” (i.e. turn the lights off at all the studios, stop work in all the offices, stop equipment from being delivered, stop props from being returned).
The only way to break the resolve of the AMPTP is to act as a collective, to deliver a swift deft blow that knocks them to their knees, and then follow up with a blow to the head. The WGA says that they have struck, but without the support of all guilds, unions, non-union labor, vendors, and the viewing public the WGA’s action isn’t even a slap on the AMPTP’s fat overfed chubby face.
Some have asked the DGA to stand down from negotiating until the WGA has completed their talks. I say enough with talk. The AMPTP’s plays by the rules set down by Machiavelli and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. They don’t negotiate. They go into battle to decimate their foe. Even archangels are fierce in battle. You can’t talk a bully out of beating the shit out of you. Sometime the smallest have to band together to defeat the giants in their path. To win a war you must cut then off the enemy off at their knees, crush them, do not allow them to retreat and reform to attack again.
SAG, the DGA, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 80, Local 600, etc, have to act as one. Without solidarity the WGA will fail and everyone will suffer through their hopeless fight.
It’s not a coincidence that this strike comes at a time when our country faces great economic strife. People are already losing their homes. Months ago an article in The Wall Street Journal foretold of foreclosures, 4.4 million foreclosures due to the sub prime loan market. Banks are writing off billions of dollars. People are already financially overextended. People are already losing their jobs. The dollar is plunging. America is on the brink of a recession.
Of course, Big Business knows that the best way to leverage themselves against their workforce is to keep them just above starvation levels, to keep them so concerned about feeding their family, keeping a roof over their heads. When the workers have to struggle to survive then they don’t care about anything else.
So a protracted strike is not in the best interest of anyone. Reality TV will be used to fill the gaps, carpet baggers will become robber land barons, the film industry will see a surge in theaters goers, DVD rentals will increase. This will all lend aid to the AMPTP’s conifers and cause. If the community of artist and workers in the entertainment industry do not pull together as one, they can not expect to accomplish their goals. I say to everyone, stop being so self-centered and self-serving. We all want to work and take care of our families. We all want the good life.
The police call it the blue flu. I say sacrifice one day a week of your pay, which after taxes for the average BTL worker is only a few hundred dollars less a week. But if the strike is a protracted one, who gets hurt most, the BTL worker. Who loses their home, the BTL worker, who doesn’t have massive savings, the BTL worker, that’s who.
As a BTL worker, I say that we all should in unison turn off the lights once a week. Every week until this matter is settled, everyone in the industry should call in sick, take the day off, not go to work, not deliver the services or products. If we turn off the lights once a week and knock the wind out of the AMPTP’s inflated sails, if we all look at the reality of this situation and the long term devastation that this WGA strike will deliver, we should all see the logic in deft, decisive, unified action.
I call for rotating “Dark Days”. I call for the collective to act and be heard. Otherwise, it’s ever man, woman, or child for themselves, then chaos will rule and the AMPTP will prosper.
I don’t call for anyone person to sacrifice alone. I call for unified, organized actions, before the BTL worker, the people who really make the movies and televisions shows are devastated by the pride and principles of the AMPTP and the WGA.
St Michael,
Now that you've posted this everywhere, perhaps it's time to shorten it up, rephrase it, or tweak it in some way.
I've posted my disagreement with this proposal elsewhere, and I'll save readers from the cut and paste of my original response. You are, however, welcome to continue your quest for a solution on this site.
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