Let's See if We Can Squeeze This into a Nutshell.

I said before that I was reflexively in sympathy with the writers in this strike, and that’s true, but that’s not the entirety of the reason I feel the strike was necessary. I’ll try to detail my thinking here.

I’ve had at least one person treat me as if I was hopelessly naive for even taking a side. The fact that this person didn’t have a much more than a lot of snotty questions with no answers didn’t really endear them to me; but the real issue is that I feel this strike is necessary for the health of the film and television industry as a whole. I understand that studios have both an obligation to their share holders to make money and feel no moral obligation to compensate writers in any way other than they already do -- in fact, they feel that the current compensation structure is more than fair. That much is obvious from the AMPTP website. The industry line is that it will collapse on itself if forced to pay writers, actors and directors residuals on internet views and downloads.

To which I say, bullshit. They claim to make no money off that stuff; if that’s true, then any percentage of zero dollars is zero dollars -- so they’re not really paying anybody anything. But the fact of the matter is that, despite the fact that the way we watch television is changing, there is still an incredible amount of money in the industry; not paying residuals on internet accesses amounts to a pay cut, and no union outside of a seriously struggling industry (like the American automobile or airline industries) is going to accept that.

To some people, it seems to be about process, and from what I’ve read -- particularly from this Reuters article -- it’s fair to say that everyone’s to blame for that one. AMPTP took a radical stance at the start as a bargaining ploy, hoping to give a little ground and still come out golden. It seems like the WGA decided to strike the moment that happened, or at least their lead negotiators did, and between July and 5 November, negotiators met less than two dozen times. That seems to be the WGA’s fault, largely; they used guild elections as an excuse not to meet with negotiators several times in September and October. Everyone’s acting outraged, and I think that may be because everybody negotiated in something less than good faith.

I’ve gotten off track. The reason I support this strike is because it is in the interest of any industry to compensate its employees well. If residuals dry up, a great number of writers and actors and directors will not be able to afford to be writers and actors and directors. They’ll have to go back to Muncie, Indiana and take jobs as accountants and receptionists and clerks at the VA hospital. That pleothora of choice you and I, the viewer, have come to enjoy, 200 television channels, thousands of movies released each year for our edification, all those things? That would probably dry up. If you don’t compensate your workers fairly, they don’t work. It’s as simple as that.

Some would argue that television gets along fine without scripted shows. “American Idol” is consistently the highest-rated show in the land. I suspect that it is such results that embolden studio executives as they march forward into this strike, and I don’t blame them: If television can be made, and made profitably, without having to pay writers or actors, they ought to do it. I also don’t think it’s going to work. I say this not just because the only reality show I’ve ever had any use for is “Newlyweds” (shut up), but because I genuinely believe that variety, the spice of life, is what keeps television going. With no scripted television -- which runs the gamut from soapy weepers like “Grey’s Anatomy” to farcical laffers like “30 Rock” to morally challenging science fiction like “Battlestar Galactica” -- a lot of television going to start looking the same. News, reality fluff, and a few cartoons. It’s not a pretty picture, and it’s not a picture that’s going to attract a lot of viewers after a while. The last strike torpedoed viewership. It seems like studios are betting on that not happening nearly as much this time around. I think they’re betting hard and betting wrong.

It has always been my belief that people are best motivated by three things, in this order: fear, money, and sex. The allure of fame is the promise of the last two; take money out of that equasion, and writing for television becomes just another gig. Quality suffers, and ultimately, quantity suffers. Right now, it’s received wisdom that Americans want to be famous, that our children have learned to want to be famous. We all want to be in television. I wouldn’t count on that allure holding if it turns out the living to be made is irregular.