‘Snide Remarks’ addresses TV strike, coffee
New “Snide Remarks” today! It’s kind of brief, which is a good thing, because you can only drag out a joke for so long. It pertains to the ongoing Hollywood writers strike, so that means it’s timely, too! Torn from today’s headlines! The audio version is available on the just-linked page, as well as here.
Speaking of which, WGA member Mark Evanier addresses in his blog a question that several people have brought up, namely: Why should TV writers be entitled to residuals when if I, a software engineer (for example), devise something that makes my company millions of dollars, I don’t get any piece of it? Weren’t the writers already compensated when they received their salaries? Evanier’s explanation is sound and logical, and you should read it. (Thanks to Sean for pointing it out to me.)
November 12th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Evanier’s post is a good answer to a good question.
November 12th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Evanier’s comments are good at addressing the very peculiar situation of American writers in the tiny part of the global entertainment world that behaves the way he describes. In countries with national television companies (and film boards) where products are NOT produced “on spec” but are actually commissioned in advance, writers are as likely as not to be paid a flat fee and do not get any more money if the show becomes an oft-repeated favorite than if it gets cancelled in mid-run. (Of course the people who commissioned the work might well remember in the case of a cancellation!)
Evanier writes as if he is unaware of any other business model than the one that Hollywood employs. I suppose he will next tell us that it is “obvious” that waiters & waitresses should receive part of their wages in tips rather than getting a regular salary like most other employees.
November 13th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
It doesn’t matter whether Evanier is aware of other business models or not. What he’s saying is that the residual system is the system currently in use and the WGA thinks its writers deserve a bigger share.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:03 am
It doesn’t matter whether Evanier is aware of other business models or not.
This is the type of attitude which has stopped America from improving its health care system because a European model “wouldn’t work here,” its transportation system because a Japanese model “wouldn’t work here,” etc. I’ve never understood this principle of “American exceptionalism” that claims that no system employed outside US borders can have any relevance to anything occurring within our borders.