Which Side Am I On?

Oh labor strikes, how I adore and detest you? While I support the unions and the worker I hate when their disputes inconvenience my life. Take the recent Writers Guild of America strike as an example.

The writers are fighting for a piece of the new media pie which is something they deserve without question. Downloads, streaming videos, DVR recordings, are all new revenue streams for the networks/studios and as of now they’re frolicking in those streams all by themselves. There is no doubt in my mind that the writers, actors and directors all deserve some kind of residual pay from these new broadcast alternatives much the same way DVD and VHS sales are handled. The company heads are preaching a policy of ignorance with such lines as, “We’ve yet to figure out an economic model on these new media and are unable to determine if they are profit making ventures.” When was the last time a multi-million dollar corporation sunk money into a new enterprise without having some idea if it was going to be profitable? That would be like a pro sports owner saying he’s building a new stadium for the fans and not for profit (sorry Vikings fans). The common argument against the strike by the general public seems to be that the rich are just trying to get richer. Sure there are writers that have bucket loads of money like Paul Haggis, M. Night Shama-Lama-Ding-Dong, and JJ Abrams but for each of those there’s some kid straight out of school trying to milk laughter out of Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer every week. Writing in entertainment is a 9am-3am job for many and unless you’re able to hit it big and head up your own show or film, you’re pretty much doomed to working on other peoples crap for the entirety of your career…hopefully its good crap. I know we’re not talking the tough life of a steel worker here but these men and women have families and not all of them are signing million dollar development deals.

Of course when we talk about strikes there is always the effect they have on the public at large. When the transit union strikes our buses are late, when the coal workers strike our energy prices go up, but when our entertainers go on strike, that’s when we truly suffer. Take a look at the effects the strike has already had:
*The Daily Show, Colbert Report and Saturday Night Live all shut down immediately and for those of you over 50, Letterman and Leno went into reruns as well.

*New shows in development have come to a screeching halt which normally wouldn’t be a big deal but with a new Joss Whedon show on the horizon that’s about the worst thing ever.

*Many shows have ceased production immediately, most notably The Office where over half the cast are also WGA members in good standing.

*The two most anticipated premieres of mid-season have been put in an unwinable situation. While 24 and Lost both have about 8 episodes in the can and a few more scripts, neither show has the entire season scripted. Fox has decided Jack will not be back when he can only tease the audience for only half a day so Evil Soul Patch will have to bide his time. Meanwhile, ABC desperate for anything to grab ratings during the strike is preparing to air all the episodes that Lost has finished even though it could result in a season momentum killer like last year’s “air 6 then wait 3 months” plan.

*Every horrible reality pitch is now being green lighted so the networks have fresh programming. From Farmer Needs a Wife to Celebrity Big Brother we could soon be awash in a swamp of terrible reality shows we haven’t seen since the days of Temptation Island and Celebrity Mole.

*Worst of all what the hell am I going to blog about? 80% of this blog is dedicated to my love/hate relationship with TV yet even I have my limits when it comes to reality TV. Thank god the movie studios stockpiled scripts and for Netflix and for my Wii but I’m warning you people, it’s just not the same.

At the end of the day though I’ll stick with the union until every battle’s won. This strike is important not only because of the principals involved but also because the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America have contracts that expire this summer and essentially the WGA will be setting the precedent for those negotiations. For the sake of all of us let’s hope they succeed and fast.