Below the Line – Who Hurts When Writers Strike

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 15, 2007

I feel I’m in a unique place to comment on the Writer’s Strike. On one hand, I aspire to be a writer, so obviously I have to support them so that my own paychecks will be that much nicer in the future. On the other hand, I work far below the line in Hollywood, and the Writer’s Guild has put my job, and the jobs of all my coworkers, in danger.

Let me say this – the writers deserve a fair deal. I feel they often don’t get enough credit. How many writers can you name? They lay the framework, do the research, establish the characters, the moods, this, that, and the other thing. The writer is an essential part of any process and often he’s given a check and then not-so-politely kicked to the curb. A writer will be paid anywhere from 30,000 to about 800,000 in normal conditions, depending on the budget. Very few writers can command the millions, but it does happen. Compare that to directors and actors who regularly rake in multiples of that and can often negotiate more after-market benefits. And the main issue – writers aren’t getting paid for internet use of their work. They also feel they were somewhat hoodwinked on the DVD sales, where they get 4 cents per sale. They want 8 cents. Now that I’ve defended them, I’ll switch gears.

I currently work in post production. I’ve worked on all sides of the show, in the office, on the set, during production, after production, before production. I know a lot of people from these ventures and not all of them are happy. An editor on a show I’ve worked with is especially taking exception to the strike, an editor who will obviously remain nameless. On Day Seven, he vented a little. He seemed a bit upset that the writers had taken it upon themselves to wrench the system like this. Last he checked, he said, no script ever worked as written and required the directors to give it… direction… the actors to give it life, the cinematographer to give it a look, and the editor to correct the pacing and all the mistakes everyone else made. Clearly he gives the editor a lot of credit, but what editor wouldn’t? And you know what? They deserve more credit too. I’ve sat behind the decks and tried to assemble something beautiful and its hard work. He closed simply with the immortal words of the working class “Fuck it.” Just kidding, but it would have been appropriate. He simple said “And let the rest of us get back to work.”
The points he raised are valid, one must think. Hollywood is like a boat. Not a slick sailboat. One of those slave ships with 50 people rowing. It takes a lot of people doing a lot of rowing to make that boat move. Now imagine if some of the guys in the back just stopped rowing. The rest of the guys don’t want to get whipped, so they keep rowing and now the boat is going in circles. Can’t we just row the damn boat?

On Day Eight the editor posts a notice on his door. I don’t have access to it anymore, so I will try to paraphrase the story.

We’re in the car. Dad is driving and mom is sitting next to him. They’re angry. They don’t know where we’re going. Dad yells at Mom. Mom yells at Dad. They both glare at me. They’re fighting again. I don’t know why. Why do they hate each other? I hate them both.

Now, for you non-literature majors allow me to read into that for you. Mom and Dad are the Producers/Studios and the Writers. The child in the backseat is everyone else in this industry at the moment. Like I said I work in the business. My job is in jeopardy. So are the editors. Work slows and stops. Literally, no more scripts can be written. So most people in TV are screwed. Film people will survive a little longer.

I’m not sure if everyone knows how TV works, but I’ll explain quickly. We’ll start with a show getting picked up. The studio orders 12 episodes. But the writer’s only have one episode done. Production starts in two months. Studios won’t wait much longer to get going and writers don’t write that fast unless there is a real deadline. So the writers start working and by the time shooting starts, if they’re lucky, they’ve got 4 episodes done. The shows start shooting, the writers start writing, and the editors start editing almost immediately. After a day of filming, the film is given right over to the post department and they start before the episode is even finished. It takes about 4 days to shoot an episode and it can be turned around to be aired in 10 days or less. So things move quickly as long as new scripts come in. But then the scripts stop. No more writing. No more fixing of pages. The scripts that are done are good to go. The rest won’t come until after the strike.

Now, you don’t notice the hurt right away. Episodes are in the can. Episodes are edited and on TV. Everyone is still working on the scripts that are done. If a TV show is really on its game and really linear, like 24, they may have 18 or 19 scripts done by now. But your episodic shows, like Carpoolers or House may only have a handful. No joke, some shows I know, for a fact, only had 1 script in waiting when the strike hit. Add that to the maybe 4 that are filming and being edited and soon that show is off the air. And everyone there is out of work that much sooner. If only 1 episode is ready, that is 1 more week of work for most of the crew, then a few days of wrap up, and about 10-14 days for the post people. Then it stops. The normal shows will last a bit longer, depending on their well of scripts. Production on the show I work will likely stop within the first two weeks of December. I’ll continue working post for the rest of that month. Then who knows? Unemployment? There won’t be any new jobs opening up. Many jobs around town will be closing down. The government is going to have to pick up the tab on this one as editors, production assistants, drivers, office coordinators, gaffers, grips, and best boys all line up to get that check. And then the question becomes when will our jobs come back? It’s up the writers and producers to hammer this out. Sometimes, I hate them both.

So what will the writers gain? More credit? Doubtful, no one seems to care about writers. Only directors and actors. More money? Maybe. The studios say internet viewings of their shows are for promotional purposes, meaning writers don’t need to be paid. If they have to pay the writers, will they still offer the shows for free on the internet? The cost to the studio to put it on the web is in server hosting. They still put in advertisements, so who knows if they’re making money directly off that. As for DVDs, there is a lack of sympathy from many within the business. Surely 4cents doesn’t seem that great a sum, but is it? The Spider-Man 3 Blu-Ray disc sold 130,000 copies in its first week of release. That’s $5,200 to the Writer. 300 moved 250,000 units in its first week for a solid $10,000 check. This doesn’t include rentals and TV show DVD sales numbers are harder to find. I’ve heard talk that popular shows and movies can easily move over a million units world wide for revenues of up to and exceeding $40,000. Now double that as the writers want and we can see earnings of $10-20,000 in opening weeks and well over $80,000 depending on the show or movie. So it’s no small chunk of change. Do they deserve? Personally, I think yes. But tell everyone else in the business that and a lot of them don’t care. The post people aren’t getting paid more. The grips and gaffers aren’t. To a lot of people who -work- in the business, all they see is whining and dollar signs. Even within the Guild there was a pretty strong, but overpowered, minority who didn’t want to strike. But rules are rules and the masses have spoken.

So where does that leave us? Much the same place as the writers and producers. We’ve circled around, argued, jabbed fingers, and laid sob stories. But where do even I stand? I think the writers deserve more. But I’m going to lose my job if they hold out more than 2 months. Many of my friends will lose their jobs too. Hollywood will slow to a crawl – at least on TV. And to take the place of your favorite shows? Reality TV. Writer-Free and easy to make. The only thing hard about it is watching it. (Except anything with Gordon Ramsey, who is awesome.)

Everyday on my way to work I drive past the studios. I live near Paramount, I drive past Warner Bros, I swing by Disney and I see them lining the streets. Cell phones and Blackberries in one hand, picket signs in the other. A variety of clever slogans and colorful t-shirts. Signs pleading for me to honk my support. Some days, I’m a writer and I honk. Other days, I work below the line and I don’t. And I see my job security disappearing day by day to the clamor of so many honking horns.

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