David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place. Strike, out
As the Writers Guild of America has been negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on their new contract – their old one expires at the end of this month – talks have been going something like this:
WGA: We’d like more residuals from the sales of the DVDs we wrote for. And a couple of pennies or so for every dollar you make off of content we wrote that appears online.
AMPTP: Hmm, let me think; no. But tell you what we will do for you: We’ll strip away the royalties you’re already making. Deal?
WGA: No. (Both sides exit to address media.)
WGA/AMPTP (to sundry reporters): The fact that the other side is unwilling to budge on their ridiculous demands only proves they want to destroy Hollywood and are therefore utterly untrustworthy and don’t deserve to be in this great industry in the first place.
Well, at least they agree on one thing. So that’s a start.
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If you think the networks are in a world of worry now, wait a few months into the impending conflagration that could be a Writers Guild strike, which everyone sort of seems resigned to at this point. One writer told me, “Every time you approach negotiations, you beat the war drums to a certain extent. You never say all is rosy or that a strike is off the table.”
But, he adds, “If it comes to a strike, it may be necessary. Damage to the industry may necessary.”
Asked about the WGA’s demands, he said, “Do I think that’s worth striking for even if it does profound damage to industry? Yes, I do.” Putting it mildly, he adds, “This is not going to be a cakewalk.”
In other words, get ready to bid adieu to Jon Stewart really soon, your favorite shows by the end of the year and settle in for a lot more bad reality TV.
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The writer has always been subjected to an inferiority complex in Hollywood, both internally and externally. And part of the impending strike is to help make the writers feel good about themselves – to make them feel like partners in the creative process rather than worker drones.
Writers did prove their importance last time they struck, in 1988, but at a grave cost. Viewers abandoned the networks and discovered what cable had to offer, and once the networks were back up and running, nearly 10% of those viewers simply never returned to the networks. Viewer attrition has persisted over the years and, should a strike have a similar effect this time around – and it no doubt would, as cable TV has gotten much better and now there’s plenty of online content for people to immerse themselves in – the broadcast networks could find themselves serving audiences too small for them to remain financially viable.
So no one really won in that ’88 strike: The formula for residuals for video – then VHS – was established. People weren’t buying entire seasons of TV shows on VHS as they do with DVDs, and DVDs have become a major chunk of the money studios make off of movies. DVD residuals have become a major sticking point this time around, as has what to do about content consumed online, not least of which is, what portion of the $1.99 you paid for an episode of “The Office” should go to the writers?
AMPTP says, give us a few years to mull this one over. WGA says, we may not have a few years.
So this clash of civilizations has all sorts of repercussions.
“TV is truly at a watershed moment,” I was told. “Digital delivery has usurped broadcast. There’s a new form of entertainment threatening Hollywood from outside. Studios are struggling with how to confront that. In the next decade, we’ll look back at what happens over the next six to 12 months as a watershed moment. We’re potentially looking at a perfect storm.”
In my next missive, I’ll explain why none of this may actually matter.