“It’s all about power. Their delight is about screwing somebody,” said Charles Pogue referring to the major studios and production companies in Hollywood and New York. Pogue is a screenwriter, current member of the Writers Guild of America, and former member of the Board of Directors for the WGA.
Pogue’s opinion of, as he calls it, the big six conglomerates is very obvious, he sides with his fellow WGA members.
The writer’s strike, no not the one back in 1988 but the one that started on November 5th, 2007 continues to draw national attention. Even big name actors joined in this week to bring more attention to the strike.
So if you’ve happened to be stuck in a hole for the past two weeks, here is what’s going on in California and New York. The Writers Guild of America decided to strike against the production companies and studios until negotiations are made between them.
What negotiations? The writers want a percentage of the profits made from the Internet, as well as a higher residual percentage of DVD’s sold. They now receive .04% and are asking for .08%. Yet that’s not all the writers’ want. They are asking to receive some kind of compensation from Internet sales and downloads.
“Our side is right. People are really invested in television, despite declining ratings, and they are pissed off. They’re f***in pissed off and I think they should be,” said writer and blogger of plaintivewail.com, Stephen Falk.
When I interviewed Falk, he was actually walking the picketing lines. I had a hard time hearing him, but I could definitely hear all of the cars honking in the background in support of the WGA.
Besides his obvious anger towards the “big six,” Falk and Pogue urged television watchers to stop doing just that. They asked for the viewers to stop viewing and downloading shows on the Internet.
We also talked with the press representative for the WGA East, Sherry Goldman of the Goldman Communications Group in New York City. She told us basically what every other writer is saying. She wasn’t sure when the strike would end, but hoped that the major companies would see the wrong in their doing and agree to meet again for negotiations.
So when will the two sides meet to talk things over? That is left up to the heads of both sides, and according to the majority of people we talked with; it could be quite awhile before that happens.
Until the WGA and the “Big 6” meet again, you can say goodbye to new episodes of your favorite shows, including 24, and the shows related to current events like “The Late Show with David Letterman” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”
So until reality shows start bombing and there is a huge outcry to get “Grey’s Anatomy” back, you can kiss your shows goodbye for now.
For more details of the strike and for the exclusive interview with Charles Pogue, Sherry Goldman, and Stephen Falk, you can watch the video right here on Murdok.
