sticking it to the man
"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."
E.L. Doctorow
"Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators."
Olin Miller
~
I haven't written about the writer's strike yet because it seems like too big an issue to tackle. So, just for the record, even though not having my shows on the air and facing the possibility that they might not come back for as long as a year is horribly horrible, I am all for it. Even though Lost might not come back until February 2009, because Lindelof and Cuse refuse to air only eight episodes (which is all they have scripts for); even though Battlestar Galactica has wrapped production after filming only thirteen episodes of season four and all its cast and crew have been suspended without pay; even though The Office will be in repeats starting next week and they are changing the storyline of Heroes in order to accommodate the halt of production, I support it.
Why? Because I am sick and tired of rich and powerful men wanting to be even more rich and even more powerful. Companies don't have hearts, they have bottom lines, and any company that tries to tell you differently is lying. The CEO's of these companies and the people who are refusing to renegotiate with the WGA so that writers may profit in the future from the things that they have written, are completely ridiculous. It's not even about those few writers who make bajillions of dollars. It's about the ones that don't, and it's about the future. I firmly believe that it is impossible for somebody to hold a position filled with so much wealth and power and remain a quality human being; the only responsibility these people hold is to their own pocketbooks. It's time to make them accountable, and it's time to let them know that the little guy isn't just going to sit around any more and let himself be taken advantage of. Sometime in the near future when TV shows aren't being watched on TV anymore, writers will lose their incomes, but it's not even really about that. It's about shaking up the system and banging it around, and if that means I have to sacrifice new TV so that in the future I can be assured that more quality (and not so quality, let's face it) TV and movies can be aired, then so be it.
And it's not even that I'm saying these are bad people; what I'm saying is that it's unnatural for a person to hold so much power and not be held accountable for it. Not even George Bush has that much power; the average daily citizen has no clue about what multi-billion dollar CEO's of any company (not just media moguls) get up to.
Which is why I find this such a deliciously amusing idea. Send them pencils, let them know we're here and we're real and we're not letting them get away with it anymore. Who knows, I might be one of those writers some day; I have no idea where the future is taking me. But I sure as hell don't want it taking me to a place where rich men profit from my blood, sweat, and tears. It cheapens things.
Click Here to bombard them with truckloads of pencils; one dollar isn't so much when they provide all of us with hours of stress relieving entertainment. You know what I'm talking about.
E.L. Doctorow
"Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators."
Olin Miller
~
I haven't written about the writer's strike yet because it seems like too big an issue to tackle. So, just for the record, even though not having my shows on the air and facing the possibility that they might not come back for as long as a year is horribly horrible, I am all for it. Even though Lost might not come back until February 2009, because Lindelof and Cuse refuse to air only eight episodes (which is all they have scripts for); even though Battlestar Galactica has wrapped production after filming only thirteen episodes of season four and all its cast and crew have been suspended without pay; even though The Office will be in repeats starting next week and they are changing the storyline of Heroes in order to accommodate the halt of production, I support it.
Why? Because I am sick and tired of rich and powerful men wanting to be even more rich and even more powerful. Companies don't have hearts, they have bottom lines, and any company that tries to tell you differently is lying. The CEO's of these companies and the people who are refusing to renegotiate with the WGA so that writers may profit in the future from the things that they have written, are completely ridiculous. It's not even about those few writers who make bajillions of dollars. It's about the ones that don't, and it's about the future. I firmly believe that it is impossible for somebody to hold a position filled with so much wealth and power and remain a quality human being; the only responsibility these people hold is to their own pocketbooks. It's time to make them accountable, and it's time to let them know that the little guy isn't just going to sit around any more and let himself be taken advantage of. Sometime in the near future when TV shows aren't being watched on TV anymore, writers will lose their incomes, but it's not even really about that. It's about shaking up the system and banging it around, and if that means I have to sacrifice new TV so that in the future I can be assured that more quality (and not so quality, let's face it) TV and movies can be aired, then so be it.
And it's not even that I'm saying these are bad people; what I'm saying is that it's unnatural for a person to hold so much power and not be held accountable for it. Not even George Bush has that much power; the average daily citizen has no clue about what multi-billion dollar CEO's of any company (not just media moguls) get up to.
Which is why I find this such a deliciously amusing idea. Send them pencils, let them know we're here and we're real and we're not letting them get away with it anymore. Who knows, I might be one of those writers some day; I have no idea where the future is taking me. But I sure as hell don't want it taking me to a place where rich men profit from my blood, sweat, and tears. It cheapens things.
Click Here to bombard them with truckloads of pencils; one dollar isn't so much when they provide all of us with hours of stress relieving entertainment. You know what I'm talking about.