Writers Provide The Feast For The Banquet

[Me.]

I saw a movie a few years back where writers were having trouble with the studios and so were going to form a union. The organizer essentially said as they provide the feast for the banquet, they should be invited to sit at the table.

In a time when CEOs and others at the top are reeling in huge profits I wish the writers good luck and hope the strike is settled soon.

[annabanana]

1. ditto.. the excuse the studios are giving is pretty damn silly. .

"the situation is too complicated"

Phooey.. If Itunes charges $1.99 for an episode of a TV show, can collect it, can send part of it to the studio, the studio sure as hell can send some on to the writers..

[Me.]

2. The Reason It's Complicated

Is because, the formula they use, the methodology, is so last century and hasn't changed since revenue sharing began, and the formula that revenue sharing is based on is the original one record companies used when they began to pay royalties. I can see why producers don't want to change a system that, though antiquated, has been so good to them.

[DCKit]

3. So they need to fix the formula....

It's just like how every top-grossing movie of the last twenty years actually made no money for the studios. Are we really supposed to believe that?

The studios, et. al., spend more on lawyers and accountants than staff and talent. Perhaps if they spent less trying to rip everyone else off, they'd actually make more money. Just a thought.

[Me.]

4. Yep

A friend who worked at Disney once told me that if a writer takes Disney to court because Disney ripped them off, Disney figures out which will cost them less paying the owed monies or paying lawyers to run the clock out on the writer's ability to pay for lawyers.