Frankbeaton.com

My opinion on the WGA writers strike

Well, in short, I support it. (Come on, politically I’m just to the left of Lenin — what did you expect me to say?)

I’m not a guild member myself, as you may have guessed by my astonishing lack of film and TV credits. But as someone who can certainly see himself working in Hollywood at some point during his career, I do have a stake in the outcome of this action. Also, working in digital content distribution — as I have been, off and on, for the last five years — I can tell you right now that this strike is absolutely, 100% necessary. And now is the perfect time.

This is apparently the fourth time the WGA has had to resort to a strike, and those strikes are the reason writers are now fairly compensated for reruns (1957), feature films broadcast on television (1965), and home video sales (1988). This one is about Internet broadcasting and purchased downloads. Right now there are no residual payment models in place for digital sales (iTunes), ad-supported streaming (NBC’s HEROES), or video-on-demand (Vongo). These distribution methods unquestionably represent the future of home entertainment — industry pundits are already heralding the death of physical media in favor of online delivery systems in as little as 10 years — and if the studios (or, more accurately, the corporations who run them) have their way, the men and women who created that entertainment will get nothing. Which is exactly what they’re getting right now.

So, yes. I support the strike wholeheartedly and without reservation. Consider this me honking my horn and raising my fist in support. Or, what the hell, me picking up a sign and joining in.

You tell ‘em, Sally.

[For comprehensive, up-to-the-minute information on the strike, go to UnitedHollywood.com. Also, check out these awesome strike-related essays by Joss Whedon and Brian K Vaughan.]