« Writers' strike: Mr. Burns speaks | Main | Russert: I'll go on Imus' show ... if NBC doesn't say no »

November 07, 2007

Comments

Jesse Jackson

Everything I've read so far pants a picture that the writers are not being unreasonable in their requests. I'm biased because I've become a big fan of certain writers. I follow TV shows based on who's writting it as much as I watch because of who's in front of the camera. I hope for the best but I do think that changes need to happen and I support the WGA.

Keep Hope Alive!

Pat G

I want to ditto the previous poster. Writers are the people who make the shows; they are the ones who produce their own ideas now. And the fans of those shows quickly find out who the exec. prods. are and *will* follow them around. I've done this for decades -- find out who wrote my favorite episodes and check out where they are working next. I think that the company suits underestimate the intelligence and comprehension of viewers, particularly those of us in flyover-land.

Aaron,
your quote;
"Carlton Cuse was telling me "Lost" does not run a second network rerun. So writers on that show are not getting the typical nice check you usually get when working on a successful series."

..is one of the problems I have with some of the WGA positions and rhetoric. Sitcoms were the "cash cow"of the WGA. They killed it - not the networks.
The reason there aren't more sitcoms is simply they have been destroyed by *bad writing* - look at the difficulty NBC - as an example - had filling space behind such successful shows as FRIENDS and SEINFELD. To blame the lack of rebroadcasts on dramas is silly. People would watch sitcoms- and they'd watch reruns of them - but only*if* they were well done.

Scott

Huh? So, you're telling me the Networks were forced to put sub-standard sitcoms on the air after Friends because the mean ol' writers made them do it? The networks had no choice in the matter, and never, ever gave any kind of notes to make shows like "The Single Guy" "better"? Wow, if these corporations blindly put on crap because the WGA makes them do it, they must be the worst businessmen in history.

Oh, and the point about the Lost writers is that the shows ARE being re-run. Millions of people are watching the re-runs. They are just being re-run over the internet, where writers are not paid for the re-run.

Aaron,
Do you know - ?
When a TV program is purchased - say on ITunes for 1.99 - do writers get a cut?
I realize they do not - today - when a show is viewed for free - say n ABC.COM.

Scott

The Lost writers do get a small cut of an itunes sale, but ABC unilaterally decided to pay them at the old home video rate established in the early 80's. The writers get much, much less than if it were re-run on network TV, and ABC gets to pay them at a rate established for VHS, but without having to pay for all that pesky and bottom-line eroding manufacturing and distribution.

Aaron

Sitcoms are doing fine. Most of them are now single-camera and don't have audience laughter, and some of them run an hour long. Multi-cam sitcoms could be in better shape, I suppose, though if you have a 14-year-old girl I'm guessing she's wild about a couple of them right now. And those pay pretty well, I'm told.

Besides, that's a pretty weird leap from Carlton Cuse's statement about "Lost" residuals to be dredging up old sitcoms (that, ahem, 20 million people watched and made money for everybody).

Then in the quote -here repeated -Carlton Cuse was telling me "Lost" does not run a second network rerun. So writers on that show are not getting the typical nice check you usually get when working on a successful series. That goes right to the Internet. They're making money on it. We're not making money on those.
----
Carlton Cuse is lying?

Aaron

That's a real winning form of argumentation you have there, Mr. Anonymous Poster Guy. He said "on that show," which refers not to a 10-year-old NBC sitcom but to "Lost."

For your argument to be plausible, all other factors would have to be thrown out, including changing viewer tastes. You're hingeing the demise of an entire industry on a single factor, and even there you have a single culprit: the writers of NBC sitcoms. It's a joke of an argument and doesn't take into effect the DVD revolution, the creative growth of one-hour shows, the emergence of dramedies and of course, the Internet -- all of which made boatloads of money, just not in exactly the same way as sitcoms did.

Aaaron,
Another question.
Does Writer's pay get effected when a show which is filmed is not shown?
The reason I'm asking is;
There was show I liked which was called Jake In Progress. (John Stamos, Wendie Mallick). Since we have different taste in sitcom (I don't like 2 1/2 Men for ex.) I'm going to guess you may have hated it (grin).
If I recall correctly, Jake had not great, but serviceable ratings. Becuase it was a 1/2 hr. show, they (ABC in this case) had to find something to fill the "other" 1/2 hour.
The show they dredged up was soooo bad that it got cancelled after only 1 airing and that took "Jake" with it.
Would "The Class" had had a full season run last year in CBS if they - basically - could *not* cancel it?
Bad sitcoms are the problem. I don't think the industry has changed much at all. Look atthe popularity of Entourage and Weeds on cable. Look at the *garbage* which failed - like "Lucky Louie".
Also,my point about Lost was - sitcoms can be repeated in no necessary order. And, they will get viewers. A net can't really repeat hour 8 of "24" for example on a "filler week".


Guyot

Aaron,
Thanks for posting the link to Howard's comments. It's so frustrating that the media (owned by the AMPTP) is feeding such false information to the public about what this strike is truly about.

I'm flying from St. Louis to LA next week to walk the line with my union brothers and sisters. We need the public's support on this if we want any chance of creating change.

Adrienne

Seems to me that the obvious solution is to cut in half the salaries of major actors, who after all wouldn't be stars without writers. The money saved could be paid to active writers.

The comments to this entry are closed.

TV Barn on Twitter:








Site design by A.B. with help from Julio Garcia | About KansasCity.com | Terms of Use/Privacy | Copyright | RSS | Contact