Just call me Norma Rae

I really, really want the writers to get a fair deal out of this. The residuals they get from DVDs are already grossly unfair - $0.04 per $20 DVD - and they've been stuck with that rate since the days of VHS. (And as I understand it, even that VHS rate was based on a formula the studios adapted from the days of audio recordings.) Part of the reason the WGA's cut is so small is because of estimated manufacturing/overhead costs for sales of home videos back in the 80s, which was when the guild agreed to the formula. Given that these costs have dropped dramatically over the years and are practically nonexistent for iTunes downloads and other "electronic sell-through", it's just patently absurd to think that the WGA shouldn't be compensated much more generously than that. And some of the other "new media" scenarios are mindblowing, too. That the AMPTP says an entire show, streamed on the internet without any advertising, can be considered "promotional" and thus not subject to a writer's demand for residual pay, or compensation at all in the case of webisodes, is bald-faced greed, IMO.

Residuals are how writers stay afloat during the times when they’re out of work. Writing, like acting, is a very volatile industry. You might make a decent amount of money off of each job, but there’s not always another job after that. There’s a lot of uncertainty. Besides that, it’s simply the way the pay structure has been structured. A lot of people criticize the pay structure (since most people don’t get residuals from their jobs), but that’s kind of irrelevant, since the studios aren’t talking about overhauling the pay structure to provide greater upfront payments. They’re trying to CIRCUMVENT the pay structure with new media. That’s the rip-off. It’d be like if you worked on commission and one day your boss decided you didn’t get commissions on “certain” sales, and those “certain” sales were becoming increasingly more common and might same day be the norm.

Strike on Strikers!