Oddly enough, even though I've been watching a lot of news in the last couple of weeks, I really haven't seen a clear and concise explanation of the Writers' Guild's side of the strike. I mean, sure, I've heard that they want more money, but there really hasn't been a good explanation of what they want and why they feel entitled to it. Well, I should say "oddly enough" in that most television news is broadcast in places where the content producers own the airwaves... surprisingly, the motivations of those with whom they're at odds aren't being well-portrayed.
But, in any event, this article published in Newsweek does an excellent job of explaining what the writers want. In simple terms, they want a percentage of the profits that studios make from online video distribution, from which they currently enjoy no revenue at all. Also, they'd kind of like to make more than $.04 per DVD sale. Yes, that's right... FOUR CENTS. Seriously? What kind of chutzpah does it take to tell someone that they don't deserve money off of online distribution and that they're lucky they get four cents for every DVD they sell? Personally, it makes me want to boycott going and seeing movies period until the strike is over, except that I'm pretty sure that the writers are getting a cut (albeit a very small one) from the sales, and right now they need every penny they can get.
Posted by Vengeful Cynic at November 13, 2007 11:45 PM | TrackBack