A suggestion for the Writers Guild of America
Given the amount of entertainment export the US does, even international readers are probably aware of the current strike by the Writers Guild of America. Basically, WGA is asking the studios for larger royalty percentages on VHS/DVD sales (from something like 0.2% of sales to 0.4% of sales) and to have the same amount applied to internet distribution revenues (for which they currently get nothing.)
Personally, I think both sides of this argument are behaving pretty poorly. The writers complain that without these royalties, they would have to *gasp!* have day jobs! I can't muster a lot of sympathy for someone who complains that they have to work for a living while pursuing their artistic expression as a hobby. There are plenty of people around the world that can't pay the bills with their artistic outlets, and still generate positive externalities as a labor of love. Music, painting, open source software and the bulk of the content of the internet is just that.
On the other side, you've got the studios, who are basically run by some of the worst people on earth. Media studio heads of any kind, whether film, television or music (I don't know about publishing, but probably there, too) are generally heartless demons of the first order. It's no wonder that movies and TV so often vilify corporate leaders, given that studio execs are the types that writers and performers most often deal with. I've read some of the contracts that these people shove down the artists' throats -- they're pretty much indentured servitude agreements.
The interesting thing is that the television studios themselves exist only at the legislative whim of the government. Consider...
1) They are all artificial legal entities in the form of corporations, granted rights only by the respective states.
2) They are all granted broadcast rights at the discretion of the FCC
3) They all release product sales (VHS/DVD/internet downloads) that are protected by copyright granted at the discretion of the US Congress.
Now, attacking item 1 might unravel a good portion of the US economy, so that's probably not a very effective tactic. But, if I were in the WGA, I would start chasing congressional representation and the American public to mandate the following...
A) that exclusive frequency broadcast over video channels by for-profit corporate entities covering X percentage of the US must have Y percentage of new content broadcast per week. Basically, you lose your broadcast license if you show too many reruns.
B) that any redistribution of content in which the content creators (ie: writers, performers & crew) are not compensated (by some standard -- maybe match the ASCAP consent decree) is not protected by US copyright. In other words, if you don't pay the creators a percentage, the content is automatically creative commons.
Simple, easy and fair. It reduces the general exploitative power (a term I never use, by the way) of the studios dramatically, and it reminds them that they exist by the grant of rules of the federal government, which don't necessarily have to be enforced.
And I know the perfect guy to draft and lobby the bill on behalf of the WGA: Creator of The West Wing and former White House staffer Aaron Sorkin.
Of course, there's probably no one from the WGA that reads my blog, so unless this turns up in a Google bomb, it'll probably never happen. But ya never know. Maybe some reader here knows a guy who knows a guy who has a cousin that got his SAG card a few years back and met Dick Wolf at a party or something. There's always the guy behind the guy behind guy.
Comments
That being said, I love your ideas. I don't personally know Joss Whedon (I wish), but I do hang out online at some places he frequents (and posts). I may see if I can get his attention, because I haven't heard anyone suggest that particular approach before.
Posted by Rob McDonagh At 11:30:32 AM On 02/09/2008 | - Website - |
I did post a link to this article on Joss' United Hollywood blog. Who the hell knows if he'll read it.
I also sent it to a friend who lives in Hollywood, and very likely knows at least one person in the WGA. There's only six degrees of separation between me and the WGA negotiators, so maybe it'll happen.
Also, it's worth pointing out that even getting such a bill introduced on the floor would likely have the studios falling over themselves to get a contract signed.
Posted by Nathan T. Freeman At 11:41:27 AM On 02/09/2008 | - Website - |
"The union representing writers on both coasts announces tentative agreement in a strike that began late last year. "
Posted by Rob McDonagh At 11:51:45 AM On 02/09/2008 | - Website - |