Today I went down to Fox Studios in Century City and joined the picket line of the WGA strike. While there I talked to quite a few people just to get some information and just to pass the time. I also did a couple of more interviews.
Later I hope to post the transcript of my interview with Kal Penn,(Left) star of House, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, and latter's upcoming sequel. (I'm hoping tonight, but as I've got to work on a paper and I'm super tired from my 4 hours of walking it may be this weekend)
Among those picketing were The Simpsons' creator Matt Groening, The Simpsons' Producer Al Jean, The Office's Mindy Kaling, and many others I recognized, but whose names I can't think of right now.
Updated: Some of you are probably wondering why I'm so supportive of the writers and this strike. Simply Put: I may be one of them one day. My best friend and I have been slowly working on a script (We'll we were before the strike), and I've got about 10 other ideas floating around my head at any one time. So if one day I were to sell any of these scripts, chances are I'd become a guild member. And if I become a member of the WGA, I'd like to know that I'm making money off the fruits of my labor and not just handing more money to the studios.
If you need clarification as to what's going on watch the video below, it clears it up pretty good.
Personally I won't be watching any more streaming videos, or downloading any tv shows or movies from iTunes until the strike is over and the writers are getting a portion of the profits. But that choice is yours. If you want to know more about the Strike or what you can do to support it, you can head over Here, Here, or Here. Or you can read about it in the media, in publications which are mostly owned by the same companies that own the studios, and might be a little bias. You can also sign an online petition to support the WGA here and here.
Tomorrow Morning I'll be heading back to Fox, where all of the WGA members and supporters will be converging from 10am to noon. I'm sure I'll have some more interesting videos for you.
For now I'm going to do some work on one of my papers.
Stageworthy - Best of Stage 2023
10 months ago
5 comments:
Thanks Travis!
The interviews and perspective have been interesting.
As a big proponent of streaming (free) online shows like ABC does, I'm curious why the ad revenue would be different than for actual TV. It seems all the ad revenue would be placed in a big pile, and then the proper % go to each entity (writers, producers, etc.). Why would the networks see online revenue as different?
Oh, and tell them to keep working on Lost. We need the whole season to be done by February.
Thanks.
Oh, and I can't think of the last time I watched Fox (besides Fox Sports and Fox Soccer Channel). I want a show on there to be good (sorry, I don't watch the Simpsons), but it just seems I haven't watched Fox shows since X-Files or Hercules... yes, that long ago!
Zach, I personally love the free streaming video, but the Studios/Networks are saying that these are not bringing in revenue (regardless of the fact that they have advertisements on those streaming videos) and that these videos are just "Promotions" and not rebroadcasts.
The main reason they are saying it's different (I think they know it's not though) is that they don't want to share the money. The last contracts came before the internet and they've been enjoying this without sharing and their trying to keep it to themselves.
And unless the strike ends soon I'm afraid all your getting is 8 episodes of Lost next Spring
And as far as Fox goes, 24 was good for awhile, but it sucks now. House is also an amazing show. Other than that I think I watch American Idol, which started to suck last year as well.
But a lot of shows are created by Fox, but air on other networks.
Kind of like Scubs is made by ABC's production side, and aired on NBC. (Same with Medium)
Hey Travis,
Can I have writing credits on the sit-com about our family? I won't download anything from i-tunes, I promise!
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