Writers Strike Officially Over 499
CNN is reporting that the 100-day Hollywood writers walkout is now officially over. The new contract managed to snag two of the three major points the Writers Guild was looking for. The writers will now have "jurisdiction" for content created especially for new media (Internet, cell phones, etc) and will get paid for the reuse of content on new media when the studios get paid. "Leslie Moonves, chief executive officer of CBS Corp., told The Associated Press, 'At the end of the day, everybody won. It was a fair deal and one that the companies can live with, and it recognizes the large contribution that writers have made to the industry. [...] It's unclear how soon new episodes of scripted programs will start appearing, because production won't begin until scripts are completed, the AP reported. It will take at least four weeks for producers to get the first post-strike episodes of comedies back on the air; dramas will take six to eight weeks, the AP said.'"
First post (Score:2, Funny)
I really don't care what happens as long as my shows keep coming and nobody gets hurt.
Thanks to scuttlemonkey for posting my submission.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Yay Numb3rs. It's cool to see that other geeks like it -- I'm a college freshman in CS, and I'm so tired of hearing that my classmates either haven't heard of it or think it's crap and not worth watching. Personally, I'm willing to suspend enough disbelief to enjoy the show despite the far-fetched uses of math.
Re:First post (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
That little speech he does repeatedly "everything can be represented with numbers, if you plot the numbers, patterns emerge, etc...". And when he starts again "evidence: The rise and fall of the Nile, sunspots cycles, etc..." it gives me goosebumps.
The thing is... if people can't relate to that I feel sorry for them. But that movie made mathematical beauty almost understandable to a general public. The movie paints a picture of mathematics that is exc
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
dy/dx (Movie)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Way to screw up a joke eh.
Re:First post (Score:5, Insightful)
The scenario was a guy robs a gas station. He holds a gun over his head and fires up into the sky. There is no video of it, just stories from the witnesses. The math guy rambles off a bunch of math terms, says algorithm a lot, then draws on a map, marking off a couple of places that the bullet was most likely to land.
The explanation of what he was doing was just random words strung together that didn't make any sense. "A guy fired a bullet into the sky" is no where near enough info to find a bullet.
After that, he went off into another "derivative algorithm sine cosine algorithm mean median algorithm integral algorithm" rant, so I changed the channel and never looked back.
For true satisfaction, reality is better. (Score:4, Interesting)
However, I got tired of seeing fiction that tried to make me believe things that could not be true due to the laws of physics, or due to other aspects of reality. So, now I only watch or read non-fiction. Defending myself from the deceptions and errors of fiction takes brain processing time, and I'd rather use my brainpower to work on something else besides the ideas of a writer who had little interest in reality when he was in school.
It bothers me that comedians can't operate without writers, that they present their jokes as their own, but the jokes are actually written by someone else.
Far worse, however, is the media writing that George W. Bush said something when he was obviously only reading something someone else wrote. In class you get disciplined if you present someone else's work as your own. If you are president of the United States, that is considered acceptable.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
There's quite a lot of space between Documentary and fiction that break
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Riiight. At least until the plot requires otherwise.
Crisis Averted! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Crisis Averted! (Score:5, Insightful)
It sent a goddamned message to the public. The fact that this was such a big deal for so many people was absurd; less of life needs to be focused around what happens on TV. My only regret is that it's over in time for the Academy Awards. I think not having that ceremony would've sent a strong message to people about silly and over-hyped this whole culture is.
Re:Crisis Averted! (Score:5, Insightful)
This should give organized labor across the country a little bit of confidence.
So it represents something big even if it is just the television and film writers.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Rather, it's an admission of the changing environment the arts operate in. It's indicative of a realization of executives that the current technological climate is radically different than it was even a decade ago, and the
Re: (Score:2)
You may see it as ransom, but didn't the downtime during the strike make you think twice (or once) about what they're paid (or whatever else they were asking for before striking...)?
Re:Crisis Averted! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Crisis Averted! (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh God, I hope not. While I'll admit in this case, it was a good thing....in general, I think unions are killing us in the US while trying to compete with business on a global scale.
Look at the recent postings of losses by GM. The outrageous fees they have to pay for retirements and other union perks, is killing them. They cannot sell a car at a decent price with a decent profit any longer....and they're more shoddily made, due to unions having people in there that cannot be fired without an act of God. It is almost like a govt. job.
Seriously....while I know the unions at their start helped make things right that were wrong, they have proved to go far beyond their useful place in labor relations, and have now been strangling US businesses. I'm sorry, but, a manual laborer should not expect $30/hour, and lifetime benefits...it isn't a special job, anyone could do it without formal education, but, due to job lock-ins, there isn't competition for that job.
Re:Crisis Averted! (Score:5, Insightful)
It's only when you can treat your serfs as the disposable Kleenex they are that the cost savings of the manufacturing offsets the increased costs of logistics.
Re:Crisis Averted! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Crisis Averted! (Score:5, Insightful)
Why does someone in a high-skill job? They are both people, after all... Before you say "well, the market set the prices at..." let me remind you that most "high-skilled jobs" do not have market forces set their compensation. In fact, the union benefits are determined by a free-market, whereas the medical, legal and political fields are not. Executive compensation has other aspects that imply the executive's labor is not the sole reason for the high salary.
Why should "full benefits" (assuming that, since you remove pensions, all that is left is health/dental benefits) be dependendent on having a job at all? Seems like a human right.
Re:Crisis Averted! (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, in general, a high skill job, is one that requires skills that most people do not have, and therefore is rare and in demand more, and commands a higher rate of pay. (I don't like to use the word salary, being a direct employee to me is like being a slave, but, that's another soapbox).
"In fact, the union benefits are determined by a free-market"
I'd argue that they are NOT determined by a free market. Without unions, someone that was willing to take a bit less could get the job. Union areas...well, I've heard that in some places and some jobs...you can NOT even be considered for a job, unless you are a union member. That is hardly 'free market'.
"Why should "full benefits" (assuming that, since you remove pensions, all that is left is health/dental benefits) be dependendent on having a job at all? Seems like a human right."
I agree...health benefits should not be a part of having a job. It wasn't always that way...I don't remember the particulars, but, I think it was some time after WW1 or 2...where employers for some reason, in lieu of raises or increased wages, offered insurance to workers...and it basically started from there. Frankly, as an indie contractor....I'd much prefer to be paid my bill rate, which I require to be high enough to allow me to make my own benefits. I like to be able to set up my own IRA's and sock money away pre-tax. I like that I can set up a high deductible insurance (for catastrophic cases)...and then set up a HSA (Health Savings Account) that builds year after year, and can also be invested into the market to make money...all pre-tax, and tax free in most cases. In the long run, I can come out far ahead of most people that 'pay' insurance premiums and co-pays all their working life.
If they'd just let us more easily work this way....work in a contract manner, we'd be more protected (contractual obligations spelled out), we'd get paid for what we work (no more 80 hour weeks on a salary based on 40 hour weeks), and we could be in more charge of our own destiny.
I agree...but, slightly differently...I think we could all be ENABLED as a right, to provide for our own health care. If we didn't have the govt. and insurance corps and HMO's all so ingrained in the medical industry as we do now...and doctors could compete with each other as they did in the older times (30 years ago or so)...we would have affordable health care, and people could save and pay for it.
Re:Crisis Averted! (Score:5, Insightful)
What is with the superiority complex of Slashdotters? Who are you to say that labor jobs are low skill? Can you assemble an automobile? Can you construct a high rise, or even something "easy" like a house? Can you repair mass transit vehicles, weld steel dangling a few hundred feet in the air, or ensure that a jet engine will operate safely?
Just because you can operate a computer doesn't mean you're any better than "low-skilled" people.
Re:Crisis Averted! (Score:5, Insightful)
If you don't pay people a wage that will allow them to live with some measure of decency, you get unrest. Unrest is a bad thing. (Strikes are just about the most positive way unrest manifests.)
Furthermore, "deserve" is an interesting word. What does anyone "deserve?" The only reason most of us in the United States (and Europe, etc.) can have the standard of living that we do is because we had the incredibly good luck to discover that you can use "rock oil" for a lot of things. Weirdly enough, that rock oil mostly occurs underneath populations that maybe aren't so fortunate.
Think about it like this: you might not think garbage men and other low-skill workers "deserve" a living wage or a pension if you are an Objectivist or a person of like persuasion, but you also deserve nothing. You don't deserve to not starve to death. "Deserts" are a human conceit. It's a silly argument to say that "you could have been born in Sudan" or something similar, because you couldn't have (you wouldn't be yourself), but note that the majority of people are born in vastly less comfortable positions than people in the West.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Your goddamned message was completely lost on me -- I watched just as much television during the strike as I did before, and had completely forgotten the strike was happening. Just last night, I happily watched the last period of the Bruins-Hurricanes game and the new episode of Anthony Bourdain Crawls Back To The Food Network. That ther
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed! In fact, to make sure the message gets across, we should close down musical writing next. Society would be better off if there wasn't any new music being made, since we all know it's not important. And then we could get authors to stop writing, video game makers to stop making video games, sculptors to stop sculpting. Before long we'd DEFINITELY have a clear idea of what's really important.
OK, maybe you don't like this particula
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Crisis Averted! (Score:5, Insightful)
That isn't to say we should worship the new, but to denigrate it as you have done isn't useful, in my opinion.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
To quote my good friend, "I've been bored lately, so I started law school, built my own first computer and learned how to use Ubuntu. The writer's strike is the best thing that's ever happened to me!"
Really, didn't this strike seem kind of like a bad move. This is how I see it.
Writers want revenue from "new media" sources (the internet, namely). The writers strike, forcing "old media" sources to stagnate - but "new media" sources continue to flourish. Individuals find more entertainment online tha
Re: (Score:2)
That must be quite a selective law school your friend attends, where you can walk into the admissions office and say "There's nothing new on TV tonight. Can I enroll as an L1 in the middle of the year?"
Is he going to stay enrolled, or drop out when the new episodes start airing?
Re: (Score:2)
It would have been interesting if some writers had started a joint venture with actors and produce something without studios, though.
Re: (Score:2)
YAY! (Score:5, Funny)
What? What do you mean "cancelled?"
OK Battlestar Galactica. No? How about Babylon...
Oh hell. Somebody please point to a nerd show I can watch tonight?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Just wait for Heroes to come back. Only major show I still watch.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Coming in season 3...
The pensioner heroes like Reginald has the power to kill just by talking. He starts about the war then mentions how things aren't how they used to be back in the day.
Eastern European minority hero Svetlana who has the ability to setup a soft-porn website in just 22 seconds and can scam your credit card details by knowing your name.
CGI heroes like Jar-Jar Binks who has the ability to make all viewer
Re:YAY! (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyway, I don't think a writer's strike could hurt Heroes... I'm kind of surprised to learn it was written at all.
Re: (Score:2)
While it is sitcom level tripe, the geek facts in this show are pretty accurate.....my non-geek wife enjoys it and so do I.
You can catch all of the prior episodes on CBS.com, too.
Layne
Re: (Score:2)
It was on Monday night at 8:30, right after 'How I Met Your Mother' but a recent rerun was on a Wednesday night at 8:30.
That said, new episodes will be coming out March 17 according to this article [msn.com].
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Few TV shows have anything BUT surface; no depth at all.
Re:YAY! (Score:5, Informative)
Oh, and you all should be watching Lost. It's one of the closest things we've got to Sci-Fi on a mainstream channel right now.
Bonus: The end of the series has been plotted out and sealed with the studio, so no inconclusive endings a la X-Files, no cancellations before the show ends a la Serenity. Just an interesting story, from beginning to end. When was the last time you had a guarantee like that from a network show?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Or Mythbusters 2 even. Better known as Smash Labs. It appears that a lot of people hate it because it copies the idea of Mythbusters, but it has been okay so far. I certainly would want to see some credentials on their people. Just what sort of credential is "idea guy"? Can I put that on my resume? But then, the credentials of the Mythbusters aren't so hot either. They are hollywood special effects artists. What makes us think they have any clue on science?
Re:YAY! (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't. I hate it because it ditches the interesting parts of Mythbusters (quirky, real people; lots of tinkering and failure, a ridiculously wide variety of subjects and techniques) and keeps the boring parts (unnecessary time dilation to pad out the 44 minute format; forced expositional banter).
What really bugs me about the show is that they appear to be actually looking for alternative solutions to big problems with the aim of saving more lives/making it cheaper and easier to save more lives, but you never get a sense of that beyond the voiceover intro. Whether they succeed or not, no mention is made of the current methods they're trying to supplant or whether any of the potential insight they've gained will be used/passed on to relevant people who might then use it to save lives.
Also, the presentation of the show is still very rough around the edges. In Mythbusters, they'll happily divulge details step-by-step. In Smash Lab, there's a lot of "and thens" that can be quite jarring.
Journeyman (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Too bad. I really liked that show too.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If I'm feeling geeky, I pull out the computer, pull out some hardware, my Fischertechnik set, etc. I use my 2-5 hours a week of TV (more during fo
Re:YAY! (Score:5, Informative)
I know you're trying to be funny but BSG returns April 4 with first half of 20-episode final season. Production on second half could start as early as March. Airdate for those TBD.
B5 The Lost Tales (DVD #2) - no idea.
Eureka! The ultimate nerd show. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Impressively enough the networks have gotten about 3 shows that I'll watch regularly (24, Heroes, Terminator), and I know of a few others I'm missing (BSG, The Office, some other cable shows) I'd probably watch more, but without a DVR I generally forget to watch most of them. At some point I'll probably pony up the money for a few DVD box sets, preferably in a year or two when HD is t
writers read... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm still not going to rush back to my television set over this.
Re:writers read... (Score:5, Funny)
Layne
Re:writers read... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:writers read... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
No summer reruns? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
It could mean between and and fall (or later) it's nothing but reruns. Apparently 24 (not that it affects me) will be delayed until next January so they don't have to split it up.
I'm sure there will be multiple shows that don't get new episodes until the fall/winter season.
Expect the summer to be re-run gr
Re: (Score:2)
24, namely, could probably show some stuff this summer, but has been pushed all to way to 2009.
earth-friendly programming (Score:3, Funny)
Now we can get back to rehashed stories with slapdash writing as usual.
will get paid for the reuse ... (Score:2)
Finally... (Score:5, Funny)
TV? (Score:5, Insightful)
Im sorry, but its too late.
I took the plunge and got rid of 'pay-tv' once and for all right before this strike, and its amazing how little I actually miss it. And amazing how I was spending over $70/month for just regular ad-laced channels. Yes, paying to watch advertisements is not how I want to spend my money anymore. That INCLUDES the 'ads' that get thrown right into the shows, soap opera style(thats how they got their name after all).
The internet is now my primary tool of information sourcing and entertainment. The TV industry missed the boat, the same way the music industry did. The only thing that made it take as long as it did was the bandwidth difference between audio and video.
The TV is dead, long live TV!
Re: (Score:2)
Love to do that myself, but I'm not the only one in the house.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Just Wait Till You Have Kids! (Score:2)
Once you have your first child, suddenly, UNCLE TELEVISION will become your best friend.
Re:Just Wait Till You Have Kids! (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazing how many people share that same assumption. You may want to spend some time and take a hard look at the lifestyle you are providing to your children.
Maybe you missed what I said in stating the importance of the INTERNET over the importance of TV in providing the same services. Perhaps you should be more concerned that the rest of the kids in your childs age group are comfortably using the internet as a replacement for TV, while your children are starting blankly at a screen.
Im sorry to hear about the parenting your children received, but that was your choice.
Did they ditch the DVD demand? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm curious as to why nobody's mentioning the writers' other big demand, for an increased royalty on DVD sales. Did they drop that demand as part of a compromise?
Re: (Score:2)
The other "major" demand that was dropped was jurisdiction over "reality TV" and animation.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
From The Economist [economist.com]'s coverage:
HTH. HAND.
the battle is over (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:the battle is over (Score:5, Insightful)
The audiences. The studios will try to gouge us to recoup any concessions they made, and the pipeline for new stuff has run dry.
We'll have a drought of work over the next little while. Eventually, they'll go back to writing the same old tired sitcoms. The content won't magically get any better, in fact, the studio system will fall back more on formulas to try to get greater return on investment.
On the plus side, the studios will have resurrected the Oscars before their entire awards season is a bust.
Cheers
/cry (Score:2)
Hot damn! (Score:2)
I for one welcome our intellectually-insulting, professional garbage producing overlords.
Maybe too late. Already weened. (Score:5, Insightful)
Unrelated to the writers strike, I got rid of my television and cable. I use the internet for news and watch movies with a digital projector. After a couple of months, I not only didn't miss it, but realized a big quality of life increase. More time with the kids, actually eating at the dinner table, etc.
I wonder how many people turned to other entertainment venues due to the strike. If there is NOTHING good on, I am sure some people cut back on their tv watching. Now that viewers have so many options (ie netflix, internet downloads, itunes tv, youtube, dvd kiosks, etc) this could not have come at a worse time. I am curious if this writers strike was the tipping point for a lot of people to ween themselves from their tvs. Not from shows all together, but the old standard of scheduling your life around when your show comes on and sitting through commercials.
Re: (Score:2)
We don't have cable, either, but we certainly use our TV a fair amount. Projectors require a very dark room, usually a dedicated room, which we don't have the luxury of owning, so a large LCD TV works much
Re:Maybe too late. Already weened. (Score:5, Insightful)
Television is awful, and it continually spirals farther downward. And honestly, I never saw much of a difference between having writers and not having writers around.
Re:Maybe too late. Already weened. (Score:5, Insightful)
What is my secret?
I have hobbies. Too many of them. TV shows are each a hobby and I am drawn to the interesting ones like a moth to a flame. But the boring ones interest me not at all, and channel flipping less so. I've always got something else I've rather do.
The problem is not that 'television is awful', the problem is that you have nothing else you'd rather be doing. Games, playing guitar, making model planes... Anything is better for you than mindlessly channel-flipping.
I seem like I'm preaching, but I'm not. It's simply the answer to your problem.
Re:Maybe too late. Already weened. (Score:5, Funny)
Great! (Score:2)
There hasn't been any new TV programming? (Score:2)
RS
Writers are too greedy. FAIL! (Score:3, Interesting)
Why should the writers get any of the profits? They get paid for a job...done. They're not taking the risk on a show that will flop like the networks do. It's just like owning a business. You take a high risk because you're responsible for your company succeeding, but you could also make more as the owner. The employees get paid for doing there work...and can go home to their families.
The writers and the networks get a big fat FAIL!
http://wwwfail.com/?url=slashdot.org%2Farticle.pl%3Fsid%3D08%2F02%2F13%2F1724211 [wwwfail.com]Terrible News! (Score:2)
Nothing will change (Score:4, Insightful)
Very disappointed.... (Score:2)
If only.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Welcome back writers. Congrats on your win. We need you, more than ever.
Was happy for the strike (Score:2)
The Fallout (Score:5, Insightful)
It may be a win for some people, but for others they are now out of a job. I don't have a pony in this race, but the strength of the writer's guild is in serious question. One Presidential candidate after another crossed the picket line in favor of publicity. They did not protect the jobs of those who they sought to protect. Actor/Writers crossed the picket line for fear of losing their jobs. And most importantly - many high value shows seemed to be airing new episodes in the middle of the strike.
I'm all for TV coming back, but make no mistake - this strike did not end well for the union. It seems that every labor union in the last several years that has gone on strike (save the port workers who affect the global economy when on strike) has yielded either poor results (eventual acceptance of offers barely different than what was available pre-strike) and in a loss of jobs for unionized workers.
I hate to turn this into a political thing, but the strength of unionized labor vs. corporate dollars has shifted dramatically in favor of corporate dollars.
the dirty truth (Score:5, Interesting)
The studios felt they were saddled with dead weight in the form of long-term development deals that were going no where. Sure you get a good show or two out of them, but there were too many for the product that was being produced. There were some that were three years into their deals and had no product yet. All of those deals have "act of god" or "force majeur" clauses in them and most were 90-days (from what i was told by the Universal Studios folks).
After 90-days those deals were killed, the people had all been laid off earlier and now, amazingly, 10-days later the strike is settled. The WGA was a puppet used to smack down the small production companies.
The tiny concessions given to the writers have been estimated to amount to about $3,000 per year for a constantly working writer of average pay. And even in those concessions there are loopholes for the studios - like they get to wait a month after releasing a show for the web before they have to pay anything to the writer. Look for lots of "pay for it on iTunes or get it free after a month" deals from now on. So basically the writers sold out tens of thousands of actual hard-working people (grips, food workers, etc.) for hollow concession to feed their damaged egos.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)