Mark_Ockerbloom's Blog

these people are brilliant and deserve the pay raise they are asking for!..the studios are just greedy and would prefer to keep as much profit for themselves as possible...I hope this is resolved soon..but it won't interfere with my TV watching as I don't tend to watch most of the highly effected shows.

I had the privilege of meeting one of the writers for the 'Simpsons'. While working on a job in Wellesley. My customers friend was visiting. They introduced me and told me he was a writer for the show. Apparently the majority of writers for the Simpons are Harvard graduates. I found out that day why they made Monty Burns a Yale grad. LOL.
I was then given a script of one of the shows that had not been aired yet and solemnly promised to have it back the next day. My wife and children were thrilled we were able to have the inside story on the Simpsons 2 months before air time.
As far as a strike. I figure it must be tough for them and living expenses are getting higher and higher. They wouldn't strike if it wasn't totally necessary.

They just need to get this resolved. The last thing reality TV shows, and shows like TMZ need is to give viewers a reason to watch. These writers are the heart and soul of the show, and the main reason some of these uneducated, "beautiful," ego filled, future gas station attendee, flavor of the month tv/movie stars get their 15 minutes of fame, and (temporarily) big bucks. I'm not surprised that 99% of the comedians who have their own show, can't write their own material. Let's see someone multitask for a minute or two.

This is why people like George Carlin and Louis Black need their own show. Because writers or no writers, it's going to be prevalent and (most likely) funny.

tlgifford,

You bring up an interesting point regarding the union and what kind of deal they last brokered for the writers. But one has to wonder if the rapid advances in technology were fully taken into consideration and if not, is there a need for a re-do here?

I have problems with unions. I always have.They can be very good for people and they can be very bad for society. If they get greedy there are price increases or thousands of workers laid off. An honest balance needs to be achieved, fairness etc. In early american industry, unions saved lives and got the exploitation of children eliminated. Today they play a very complicated and convoluted role in society sometimes. Anyway I'm off topic. I'll stop now.

I am completely with the WGA on this one. For the overwhelming number of writers, they don't make the big bucks. All they are asking for is 10 cents of every dvd sold, plus a tiny share of all the revenue coming in from new media services. In many instances, the role unions play in our country can be complex and convoluted, but I am firmly behind the WGA on this strike.

Don't songwriters get royalties from any new media forms the music gets published in/on? Then why not screen writers? I could be mistaken but I don't think so. I'm behind the writers all the way.

I don't think the writers should get anything, take a look at all of the lousy movies and TV shows they write. I say if they want to strike they better get a second job at Mickie D's Tv is not intresting its boring its all run by marketing depts saying whats hot and whats not and the writiers write garbage how many remakes of old tv shows can we watch, or how many rocky movies do we have to suffer through and Prequils and sequils do we have to take befor someone in Hollywood notices that the public does not care. I hope the actors union goes on strike because to many lousy actors are out there too.