[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: HP & DH Movie

[Heidi Tandy]

Carol:
>
> Anyone besides me think that the writers' strike has  gotten out of
>
> hand, hurting more people than it's helping and that it's  time to 
> settle?
>
> Carol, who would resent being unable to work just  because others were
>
> demanding higher wages (surely there's a better way  to negotiate)
>

The thing is, here, that Hollywood is a "union town" and everyone who's 
gone into theindustry in the last 5-6 decades knows it. The Director's 
Guild's contract with the producers expires later this spring, and 
they're negotiating with the AMPTP - who refused to sit down with the 
writers - using pretty much the same terms and economic arguments as the 
WGA. And the Screen Actors Guild's contract is up this summer, so 
they're next on the list.

The WGA has the support of the SAG and the DGA *because* the producers 
don't want to give writers, actors or directors a piece of the internet 
pie at all. If you buy a dvd of  a film, the director, certain actors 
and the writers get a portion of that sale; if you download it they get 
nothing and the producer and studio get it all.

Why?

Last I checked, the internet had been around longer than dvds, so the 
producers' argument that the internet is "experimental" seems like 
dragon dung to me - and to their shareholders, as they've been bragging 
about internet revenue in stockholder reports for years.


- heidi