Now, I'm all for writers getting paid their due, and if TV writers aren't getting royalties on DVD's and internet broadcasts that others involved in the production are getting, (or whatever the exact dispute is), then I'm behind them.
My support for the strike has been pretty strong in theory and it's not like the it's been affecting me, anyway. I mean, so far the TV schedule hasn't been affected much and when the new shows stop coming, well, I've got DVD's and movies to catch up on and maybe a big break in new programming this winter will mean some interesting TV over the normal summer good TV dearth. Or maybe, just maybe, I'll find something other than TV to do with a few of my evenings. ;-)
But why oh why did they have to mess with award shows???? I mean, how much writing is there anyway? A few bad jokes in the introductions. Some silly monologues for the hosts we could all live without. Why not just let the presenters wing it the way the award winners do in their acceptance speeches? Sure, the show wouldn't be as slick without the writers, but really we just want to see what dresses the women are wearing and how hot the guys look and, with the Golden Globes, to see how drunk everyone gets.
But no Golden Globes this year. Egads. This strike better be over before the Oscars. Oh, the humanity!
(Thanks Wylie for the topic suggestion.)
9 comments:
Amen.
They can't touch the Oscars, can they?
I just heard that the Oscars will go on as scheduled with or without writers. The weird thing is there is no host for the Globes - not much writing to do either. And now we won't be able to see Jack Nickelson be hammered on tv. I love that.
Thank you, Maureen!
I, too, am behind the writers, but throw us a freaking bone already...
Men in tuxes, ladies with fancy hair, drunk Jack, tv & movie stars combined - getting giddy in one big room - FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, I'm going to miss it!
It's tragic, Wylie, tragic.
I know. I love awards shows! I'm kinda sick that way...the clothes, the anticipation of somebody flubbing their lines! yee haw it's good fun!
It's okay though because I just made my own awards show on my blog, hee hee hee!
What the strike is about goes a little deeper than royalties. Currently WGA members get 4 cents for every dvd sold. They want 8. Yup, we are talking pennies the studio heads won't let go of.
As for the internet or "new media" the only people making money off programs downloaded or streamed off the internet is the studios. No one else. Why? Because the studios claim they are promotional items they make no money off of. Think about that the next time you pay 1.99 for an iTunes download. What the guild is asking for is equality in pay, whether it's dvds or internet or whatever comes next.
Oh and about the loss of the Golden Globes. It wasn't the lack of writers for those silly monologues. It was about the picket line the WGA promised and SGA annoucing they wouldn't cross it. If the actors had been willing to cross the picket line, there would have been a ceremony.
I am sorry the award season is being tarnished this year, but it's not the writers being unfair here, it's AMPTP.
I didn't mean to diminish the strike with my feeble attempt at humor, Cynthia, and thanks for the deets on the strike. I really haven't been paying as much attention as I should. **Maureen hangs her head in shame** I'm just bummed that there's no Golden Globe ceremony this year and really hope they figure out a way to have the Oscars. I'm selfish. I know this. I'm coming to grips with this character flaw.
Didn't mean to shame you. I just felt the need to explain the strike points a little. I guess I've always been a fan of the screenwriters and proud that the strike this time around hit at a point when the general public would actually notice. Summer of 1988 how many people really noticed the writers were out for a couple months? Oh well, there was that part about the new tv season starting a month later, but who would notice that these days?
I do miss the awards, I enjoy the pre-show stuff very much. The ceremony itself drives me nuts - my favs rarely win. And I am praying this gets settled before the Oscars for everyone's sake.
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