Courtesy of cyranocyrano:

[missroserose]

Possibly one of the most eye-opening essays I've ever read. If you are at all fuzzy on why the writers' strike is going on right now, give it a read. And then think, very hard, about where we as a culture would be without someone to write stories for us.

http://tightropegirl.livejournal.com/16033.html

Comments

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yay. Thank you.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Well, of course - it's a well-written essay about an important subject. I'd only heard about the WGA strike in general terms, and while I was certainly in favor of it (I at least know enough about "the business" to know that most writers get paid piddling sums), I didn't know any of the details. So I'm glad to spread the word.

The particularly eye-opening part for me, though, was the connection between crappy pay for writers and the attitude of "writing isn't real work" that's so pervasive in our society. Certainly, writing is something that many people do as a hobby, but as anyone who has tried writing something (especially something of saleable quality) can attest, it's also a hell of a lot of work - composing, researching, editing, and of course fighting off desperation when you're staring at a blank screen and nothing's coming. (Brian's pointing out that this might not be true if you're someone like Ann Coulter and can sell books simply by putting down whatever mouth-frothing idiotic drivel is in your head that day, but I like to think such cases are exceptions.) And considering how very entertainment-centric Western culture is, I think it'd be a good thing if more people realized where the entertainment comes from. (Again, this may not be true with "reality television" and such, but considering the quality of entertainment derived from Fear Factor as opposed to, say, House, I think everyone can agree that writers are far more important than they seem to give themselves credit for.)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Oh no. Much reality television is extremely well scripted. (:
Admittedly, they're called 'editors' rather than 'writers' in most cases. But still.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Heh. Good point. I seem to remember reading an article on how it was common practice to edit sound bites and such to create conflict where none existed ("I don't really like Jennifer's hair" vs. "I really don't like Jennifer's hair", for example), all in the name of creating interest and therefore ratings. Rather like modern news media, come to think of it.

Anyone who believes "the camera doesn't lie" has never seen post-processing in action...

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Here we are. "How Reality TV Fakes It" (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1154194,00.html), from Time. They've even got a catchy name for the process - "Frankenbiting." =D

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Excellent. I don't watch much reality TV, but I'd like to read this.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Me neither, but I caught the article on the cover of Time and read the first bit a while back while in a waiting room, and kept meaning to come back to it. And it seems to be taking us full circle, since part of the subject is that the editors who do things like Frankenbiting say that their work amounts to writing and they deserve to be covered by the WGA. How hilarious. =D

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd totally agree with that.
Of course, I already did, a few comments back. (:

[joyfulleigh.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. I added her as a friend so I can keep track of her viewpoints. :)

They should give the writers everything they're asking for and more. It's been a long time coming for them.

I've been pleased how the fans are totally on the side of the writers. I haven't heard *anyone* say that the writers don't have a legitimate, strike-worthy argument here.

L.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Are they? That's nifty. I don't really participate in various fandoms much, and therefore I haven't seen much in the way of fan reactions. So it's good to hear that they're backing the writers and not just going "OMG WHERE'S MY SHOW?"

On a funny side note - I don't know if you saw tightropegirl's profile, but apparently she's currently writing for House, and therefore gets a lot of House fans friending her journal. Which she seems to not mind, but her whole disclaimer about "This journal is not solely about House, please don't interpret it as such - if I'm writing about the character of Shane as an archetype, it's not indicative of our secret plans to make everyone in House wear cowboy hats" cracked me up. People can be so strange.

I really hope she's wrong and that the writers do hold out for everything. Eight cents a DVD? Double the original crumb-sized amount that they never even received despite it being in their contract? Sheesh. As Jayne put it in Firefly, "Ten percent of nuthin' is...let me do the math here...nuthin'...then nuthin'...carry the nuthin'..."

[joyfulleigh.livejournal.com]

Well keep in mind my sample is completely non-scientific. By "the fans" I really mean myself, my friends (with whom I do talk about entertainment on a regular basis), and the few entertainment magazines and websites I frequent (Entertainment Weekly being the primary one). I'm sure there are rabid fans of particular shows who are freaking out. But since I also find a way to tune out idiots, I'm sure I have purposefully overlooked them in my sample. :)

At any rate, I did read her userinfo. I watch House on occasion, but not every week. In a future life I hope to be a screenwriter, so I added her in the hopes of glimpsing what that life will be like.

L.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Hee. Fair enough. I try to tune out idiots, myself - I've gotten a lot better since high school, but I still don't tolerate fools gladly. =)

That's nifty about wanting to be a screenwriter - I can see how you'd have a bit of a personal stake invested in this whole brouhaha, then. Good luck with that.