WGA Strike 3

I’m not going to put my two cents into the strike because that’s been done a million times before. Everyone has something to say that is going to cure it and/or keep it going. The strike is old news, and we really don’t care about it anymore. I’ll tell you this…without writers Hollywood is nothing. Writers are the architects of the system and without them the house is going to fall constantly.

I’m a member of the WGA and have been for over fifteen years. Where does that leave me? I’m a studio head who occasionally needs to put a script out to the public. Do I need the WGA to advocate for me in a confrontation? No. I’ve got an in house legal team to do that sort of thing for me. I’m licensed by the California Bar. I pay my dues every year. So why am I a member of the WGA? To show support.

Do I buy into the whole don’t prolong this strike by not going around the system? No I don’t. Studio X keeps going because we will it to keep going. We’ve got rooms in the studio filled with scripts that are just waiting to get made. Do you not think that every underling assistant in the building wants to be a writer? You’re damn straight they do, and I’ll bet that if we put ten of them together they can probably come up with an idea to make the script work if we shoot in Vegas instead of Columbia.

I know what it’s like to be a starving writer, and I know what it’s like to be a rich producer. And I know what it’s like to be a mega-rich studio head. At the end of the day we all work together for a common goal. They have to get what they want, and I’ll lend my full support but the show must go on. I’m not going to shut down our television wing just because writers want royalties on dvd sales. Should they get them? Absolutely.

To be honest with you, I have no idea why I’m even writing this now. I have to write eight new television shows right after I revoke my WGA membership. I’ll join back up after the fray if they’ll have me. Don’t worry. They’ll take me back because they want their writers to have jobs when the strike is over.