Top Ten Reasons For Writers To Strike
Over the weekend, writers for LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, having nothing better to do, started a blog about the strike. In some cases, it illustrates that Late Show writers may suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder:
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN TELL YOU’RE READING TOO MUCH STRIKE COVERAGE.
• IF YOU NO LONGER CRINGE WHEN YOU SEE AGENTS REFERRED TO AS “TEN PERCENTERS,” YOU’RE READING TOO MUCH STRIKE COVERAGE
• IF YOU DON’T MAKE ANY DECISIONS WITHOUT FIRST CHECKING WITH NIKKI FINKE, YOU’RE READING TOO MUCH STRIKE COVERAGE
• IF YOUR FAMILY TREE IS A STRAIGHT LINE, YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK
But I think the simplest, best explanation for why these guys aren’t turning out WILL IT FLOAT segments comes from Bill Scheft, writer and union rep. Why can’t the signs be this eloquent?
…Quickly, lest you think we are a bunch of spoiled brats just looking for a raise, the big issue, money from original content shown on the Internet and other new media, is our way of replacing the money we are losing over the disappearing residuals. Residuals are not a bonus. They are the way writers live when they are between jobs. The standard writers contact is up for renewal every 13 weeks. You can have a five- year contract, but they can let you go every 13 weeks without paying you any more as long as they give you a month’s notice. That is the deal we all enter into. There are 12,000 writers in the guild. You need to make $30,000 a year in guild earnings to keep your health insurance. Last year, 6000 didn’t reach that figure. Half.
I have been lucky enough to have a job for 16 years. That simply does not happen. So this is what we are fighting for. Believe me, we would love to be in the office, writing fun facts, actives with Rupert, illegally doctoring footage or downloading porn, but this is the frontline fight for all the other union contracts that come after us. The late night writers are the first ones affected by a strike, and the ONLY ones who will never recoup the money we lose because we do 10 times as many new shows per year as any drama or sitcom. But we go out in support of our fellow union members and pray this thing ends soon.
One more thing. To a man, all of the writers are deeply concerned about the collateral damage if we stay out too long. We think of the 150 people who work at the Late Show whose fight this is not and believe they will be taken care of. They are all embarrassingly supportive of us. No one any more so than Dave. It is quite humbling.
Sorry to be so serious, but this is serious business… I felt you were owed as much of an explanation as anyone outside the negotiation room can give.
-daniel k.