The writers' strike is OVER!

[Lou]

Yes, I DID forget the Amazing Race!

The networks know that Reality Shows are not where their bread is buttered though. They could put out 55 seasons of Dancing With The Stars on DVD, but the line will still be a LOT longer for the Lost box set. They NEED the writers so much more than they seem to be willing to admit!

 

[Kean]

To say that I am conflicted on this would be an understatement.

On one hand I am all for th Joss styled gung ho approach...Lets Strike...CHARGE!!! His passion is neverending and inspiring. Unions need people like him, this strike NEEDED him. He is undoubtedly one of the driving forces, but here's the thing, all the empassioned mussings of our Dear Mr. Whedon will be hollow to the everyday strikers who are struggling to survive, who have families to feed, mortgages to pay, kids to put through college etc etc etc. You get where I am going with this. While I BELIEVE in what Joss is saying I don't think it's right to make people feel like traitors by wanting, or if well truth be told, needing it to end. Once apon a time he was a struggling writer but that aint the story anymore. It's too easy for him to sit atop his ever-growing mountains of cash and wax lyrical about the honour of continuing the strike. This isn't ANGEL, he can't bring down Evil Incorporated himself just so he can maintain his sense of morality,even though it is that sense of morality that makes me love him so.

Joss taught us all that their is no such thing as Happily Ever After, I find it strange that somehow he thinks that this time good can prevail over evil.

 

[white avenger]

Most people who go out on strike have either prepared in advance by saving back some extra money or making arrangements with their creditors to allow extensions on loans and considerations for late payments. Also, most unions put aside a portion of the union dues they collect into a strike fund to help with expenses of their members during an actual strike. If worse comes to worst, there's nothing stopping the people on strike from getting temporary jobs to make ends meet.

 

[Kean]

Most people who go out on strike have either prepared in advance by saving back some extra money or making arrangements with their creditors to allow extensions on loans and considerations for late payments. Also, most unions put aside a portion of the union dues they collect into a strike fund to help with expenses of their members during an actual strike. If worse comes to worst, there's nothing stopping the people on strike from getting temporary jobs to make ends meet.

How big a percentage is this 'most' you speak of? and what the unions give out ain't much to comment on either. I don't know about America but here, if you are on strike you are on strike! Getting a 'Temporoary Job' is just as good as crossing the picket.

 

[palabravampiress]

If worse comes to worst, there's nothing stopping the people on strike from getting temporary jobs to make ends meet.

Except for the recent influx of below-the-line workers shoved out onto the job market and the fact that employers all know they'll lose that help as soon as the strike ends. Oh - and the 4 hours of daily picketing, which sort of eat into a work schedule.

I don't know. Like I said before, I'm torn. I think it's worth it, yes. I think the writers needed a cut of DVD sales and New Media. I get that sometimes a show of force is the only way to get what you need. I'm just not sure I agree with Joss' gung-ho, it's not over 'til the fat lady sings, take no prisoners attitude. From where I stand, reaching a compromise seems like a good thing. It gets people back to work. It makes opportunities start to open back up. It starts to even out the job market. I guess I see the strike as more of a necessary evil than as something that's good and right by default. So with that in mind, I think continuing with the righteous rage and bluster is sort of counter-productive.

 

[white avenger]

How big a percentage is this 'most' you speak of? and what the unions give out ain't much to comment on either. I don't know about America but here, if you are on strike you are on strike! Getting a 'Temporoary Job' is just as good as crossing the picket.

By temporary job, I'm not implying that the writers get writing jobs, but surely they must have SOME other marketable skills that don't conflict with writing. If it comes down to that, quite a few, if not the majority of writers, just like actors, work only part time at their preferred trade. Full time writers, just like full time actors, are only a very small portion of the whole.

 

[Lou]

By temporary job, I'm not implying that the writers get writing jobs, but surely they must have SOME other marketable skills that don't conflict with writing. If it comes down to that, quite a few, if not the majority of writers, just like actors, work only part time at their preferred trade. Full time writers, just like full time actors, are only a very small portion of the whole.

Ah heck, just about anyone who sells their "talent" has to find another source of income at some point. Even people who make computer games!

And, the upside is, it's known it's not a permanent thing. Even lasting a YEAR is almost impossible. The networks have been stalling because they felt they had plenty of "Mid-Season" shows to carry them. But, even those are running dry.
For writer's THIS time of hardship shouldn't be nearly as scary as when Reality TV FLOODED the airwaves a few years back. At least now they know it WILL end and when it does, the networks are gonna need stuff BAD and need it NOW. And, when the writer's succeed, the income from those projects will be far more lucrative for the struggling writers when they DO make it big!

Besides, writers DO have other outlets. The great American novel! Children's books, plays, comics, rummaging around their brain for ideas to go nuts with in a few months.

 

[Blondie Bear]

Believe me, writing for TV and writing novels are two VERY different things. It would take a very talented writer to cross over like that. There's a whole different mindset between the two, not to mention specialized training and formatting for screenplays.

 

[white avenger]

Ah heck, just about anyone who sells their "talent" has to find another source of income at some point. Even people who make computer games!

And, the upside is, it's known it's not a permanent thing. Even lasting a YEAR is almost impossible. The networks have been stalling because they felt they had plenty of "Mid-Season" shows to carry them. But, even those are running dry.
For writer's THIS time of hardship shouldn't be nearly as scary as when Reality TV FLOODED the airwaves a few years back. At least now they know it WILL end and when it does, the networks are gonna need stuff BAD and need it NOW. And, when the writer's succeed, the income from those projects will be far more lucrative for the struggling writers when they DO make it big!

Besides, writers DO have other outlets. The great American novel! Children's books, plays, comics, rummaging around their brain for ideas to go nuts with in a few months.

You're exactly right. Somehow, the public has gotten the idea that writers work at an 8 hour a day, 40 hour a week job where they work for a single employer, turning out whatever material that may be required of them. In fact, the vast majority of the writers in Hollywood are more or less independent contractors, taking jobs wherever they are available. A writer may be working on a screenplay for Joss for his new spectacular "Spike" movie, while at the same time writing one or more books, as well as any number of magazine articles, writing children's' stories, writing comic books... the possibilities are limited only by the imagination of the individual writer. My sympathies are completely with the writers, because their talent and product is being exploited without their getting any compensation for it, but there is no reason for ANY writer on strike to starve.

 

[GATEGOD]

Writers vote to end 3-month strike - Yahoo! News

Yay.