Photo: IATSE, Local #728
Something about this strike seems as if it is going to be one of those historical watershed moments, both politically and economically, for both Los Angeles and the entertainment industry.
The big money and power is with the conglomerates, but the tide of change is sensed more by the creatives than the executives. Who knows what format future TV shows will exhibit on? Ten years ago it was TV, now it’s the iPod and the PC.
I have been a big fan of “Mad Men” on AMC. I missed several of the episodes, so I downloaded them from iTunes for $1.99 each. Did the writers for this show earn residuals on my purchases from Apple?
I don’t work on lucrative union projects. I’m a non-union writer who sometimes works for documentary or reality production companies.
All I know is how people in the entertainment industry, the ones who aren’t important, get treated. I see the production companies that demand 12-14 hour (and more) days from their uninsured, transient workforce. I see how they pay LESS than they paid 10 or 15 years ago. I witness the brutal cruelty of stupid men and women in charge as they find ways to fire workers who have no recourse to fight back. I see the enormous expansion of non-union reality television, and the shrinking of union jobs for writers.
Hollywood is just a microcosm of the trend across the world to concentrate power in the hands of government subsidized, multi-national conglomerates. The ones who produce the nightly news also produce the weapons (both military and propaganda) that are constantly looking for new wars to fight. Yes, there is a weird and valid connection between “Fear Factor” and Iraq, and those who strike against the studios are also taking a political stand that may change how America thinks and governs.
Here in Van Nuys 
I understand the grievances that the writers have in this situation..but i have to say that to many of us in the trenches (camera assistants, grips, electricians, etc.) looking at months of possible unemployment this whole thing looks like a pissing contest between two factions of well-paid fatcats. There is a lot of griping about the tactics and timing of this thing. There’s a feeling that the more militant and well-heeled members of the WGA have taken this course without any thought of the effecct this will have on members of the other guilds…not to mention the fact that we don’t often see much support from the above-the-line guilds when we have issues of our own..
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