Good Will, Good Faith, Honor, and Integrity, that’s what’s needed.
….those are the things we make the movies and television about!!!!

Good Will, Good Faith, Honor, and Integrity, that's what's needed.
….those are the things we make the movies and television about!!!!

From where I stand, the WGA negotiations have been way too much over short-term gains and respect and not enough about the long-term health of the industry.

To give you one example, the WGA is making a huge point out of getting a fair share of internet revenue that hasn’t materialized anywhere outside of studio Pr releases, but they are not even talking at all about the fact Saturday Night have been de-programmed on the major networks.

Not having Saturday Night (and Jeff Zucker would like to de-program 8-9 every day!) was a major loss of well-paid jobs for the WGA, but somehow the WGA leadership is more concerned about the internet.

It makes one very pessimistic about the future financial health of all involved in the film industry.

From where I stand, the WGA negotiations have been way too much over short-term gains and respect and not enough about the long-term health of the industry.

To give you one example, the WGA is making a huge point out of getting a fair share of internet revenue that hasn't materialized anywhere outside of studio Pr releases, but they are not even talking at all about the fact Saturday Night have been de-programmed on the major networks.

Not having Saturday Night (and Jeff Zucker would like to de-program 8-9 every day!) was a major loss of well-paid jobs for the WGA, but somehow the WGA leadership is more concerned about the internet.

It makes one very pessimistic about the future financial health of all involved in the film industry.

Please don’t get me wrong. I love this business. It is my passion to create. In my part of the world, I’ve been involved for 21 years, and loved most of it. There are people on both sides of the strike I admire.
I will make an appointment to watch a show written by certain writers, or a director, producer, or in the case of this interrupted season, a certain “consultant.”

I know about the false statements of loss that are perpetrated, It is a really foul part of the industry and everyone knows it. That kind of thing also has to stop. It is quite simply, despicable.

In my opinion, I would like us all to get serious about reforming our business models. And keep the industry sound for the future generations of Film and Television Professionals and Creatives.

But most of all for the audience who pays for our products. It is time for a little less greed, a better approach, and a lot more wisdom.

With Respect.

Please don't get me wrong. I love this business. It is my passion to create. In my part of the world, I've been involved for 21 years, and loved most of it. There are people on both sides of the strike I admire.
I will make an appointment to watch a show written by certain writers, or a director, producer, or in the case of this interrupted season, a certain “consultant.”

I know about the false statements of loss that are perpetrated, It is a really foul part of the industry and everyone knows it. That kind of thing also has to stop. It is quite simply, despicable.

In my opinion, I would like us all to get serious about reforming our business models. And keep the industry sound for the future generations of Film and Television Professionals and Creatives.

But most of all for the audience who pays for our products. It is time for a little less greed, a better approach, and a lot more wisdom.

With Respect.

You write: “In film, DVD, The Internet, Satellite, Cable, and DVR, actual numbers can be obtained. But broadcast is a bit of a guess.”

The reverse is actually true. There are no reliable numbers for film. Box Office numbers are self-reported by the studios and can be (and are in my opinion) manipulated for effect (remember The Omen grossing 6,666,666 dollars?!)

The Nielsen ratings are the only thing that comes close to reliable numbers because they are gathered directly from a sample of the public. The only unreliability comes from the smallness of the sample (the error rate exceed what many shows, particularly on cable average in viewers) and the fact that it’s extremely difficult to assemble a reliable sample of human beings (if only for the fact that many people don’t want to be bothered).

That being said, the Nielsen ratings are immeasurably more reliable than DVD numbers where reporting is left entirely to the studios and the numbers they mention are essentially completely arbitrary and pulled out of a hat (again as far as I can tell).

The lack of reliable accounting is a big part of the problem between the studios and the unions as they lead to absurd situations like residuals being paid on projects that are still losing money (but then again the studios essentially claim every project loses money!!)

As long as a system can’t be devised to account honestly for film and TV profits, the residual system will always be under attack.

You write: “In film, DVD, The Internet, Satellite, Cable, and DVR, actual numbers can be obtained. But broadcast is a bit of a guess.”

The reverse is actually true. There are no reliable numbers for film. Box Office numbers are self-reported by the studios and can be (and are in my opinion) manipulated for effect (remember The Omen grossing 6,666,666 dollars?!)

The Nielsen ratings are the only thing that comes close to reliable numbers because they are gathered directly from a sample of the public. The only unreliability comes from the smallness of the sample (the error rate exceed what many shows, particularly on cable average in viewers) and the fact that it's extremely difficult to assemble a reliable sample of human beings (if only for the fact that many people don't want to be bothered).

That being said, the Nielsen ratings are immeasurably more reliable than DVD numbers where reporting is left entirely to the studios and the numbers they mention are essentially completely arbitrary and pulled out of a hat (again as far as I can tell).

The lack of reliable accounting is a big part of the problem between the studios and the unions as they lead to absurd situations like residuals being paid on projects that are still losing money (but then again the studios essentially claim every project loses money!!)

As long as a system can't be devised to account honestly for film and TV profits, the residual system will always be under attack.

As a TV viewer, I’d hate to see that happen. A truly well-written show stays in my memory for years to come while reality TV feels like time wasted and is gone from my mind within a few days. As Dom points out, no one is going to buy DVDs of reality TV from years past. Who cares? But we’re still purchasing DVDs of old favorites among scripted programs long after the shows have ended. Perhaps the network execs should think about that.

Frankly, I want to see the writers get more money. They make a better wage already than most of us who earn by writing, but I agree that residuals need to be more than the current miniscule amount. I simply would prefer WGA to consider what a lengthy strike means down the road. I’m all for an increase in writers’ benefits–just not at the expense of scripted programming.

Kudos!!

As a TV viewer, I'd hate to see that happen. A truly well-written show stays in my memory for years to come while reality TV feels like time wasted and is gone from my mind within a few days. As Dom points out, no one is going to buy DVDs of reality TV from years past. Who cares? But we're still purchasing DVDs of old favorites among scripted programs long after the shows have ended. Perhaps the network execs should think about that.

Frankly, I want to see the writers get more money. They make a better wage already than most of us who earn by writing, but I agree that residuals need to be more than the current miniscule amount. I simply would prefer WGA to consider what a lengthy strike means down the road. I'm all for an increase in writers' benefits–just not at the expense of scripted programming.

It’s possible Criminal Minds is going to keep all its viewers once Idol returns, but I doubt it.

NCIS also gets its best ratings before Idol returns.

I’m doing this from memory, but I think I’m right on that.

Shows age, and usually they don’t age well (NCIS is a good, but rare, counter-example of that).

To give another example, the fact that ER is attracting fewer than half the audience it did at its height, has a lot to do with the fact most of their beloved performers have left and that there are only so many compelling medical stories to tell in that context.

CSI suffered from the “brain drain” of CSI Miami and CSI:NY.

I guess the point I am making is that quality counts for a lot and that the networks do their best to spin every rating drop to some societal trend they have no control over.

They do have control over quality, but this year have failed to launch any real hit (I’m still holding out hope for Life and WMC if they are nurtured properly).

Kudos!!

It's possible Criminal Minds is going to keep all its viewers once Idol returns, but I doubt it.

NCIS also gets its best ratings before Idol returns.

I'm doing this from memory, but I think I'm right on that.

Shows age, and usually they don't age well (NCIS is a good, but rare, counter-example of that).

To give another example, the fact that ER is attracting fewer than half the audience it did at its height, has a lot to do with the fact most of their beloved performers have left and that there are only so many compelling medical stories to tell in that context.

CSI suffered from the “brain drain” of CSI Miami and CSI:NY.

I guess the point I am making is that quality counts for a lot and that the networks do their best to spin every rating drop to some societal trend they have no control over.

They do have control over quality, but this year have failed to launch any real hit (I'm still holding out hope for Life and WMC if they are nurtured properly).

I can find weeks where CSI is down more than 4 million, and I can find stuff like that for just about any show, from any network. While I wouldn’t attribute it (at least not completely) to the causes you suggest, it appears to be a trend and not a good one.

I can find weeks where CSI is down more than 4 million, and I can find stuff like that for just about any show, from any network. While I wouldn't attribute it (at least not completely) to the causes you suggest, it appears to be a trend and not a good one.

One more point: the networks are always trying to pin their declining fortunes on changing tastes of the public and competition.

While competition does matter, one thing the networks (and the WGA for that matter) never talk about is quality.

This year’s declining ratings for the networks can be pinned 100% on bad quality. They hired bad producers to make bad shows. They got bad ratings. Simple as that.

I’ll give you two examples:

When you hire a David Eick and let him do to Bionic woman what he did to Battlestar Galactica, a low-rated show even for cable that audiences have sampled and soundly rejected, the low ratings were a given.

Criminal Minds has lost 4-6 million viewers this year. It was caused by Mandy Patinkin leaving and the quality of the show collapsing at the same time. It wasn’t caused by the internet or by competition from cable. It was caused by shoddy writing and directing (ie. producing) and by the bad luck of losing a great actor to still unknown reasons.

In other words, declines are not inevitable, and if they were, the scale of those declines are a function of the quality of the networks’ offerings.

When you don’t program Saturday Night, you’re not giving yourself the chance to find that diamond in the rough.

Remember that writers do get a fee for their scripts. It’s not like they work for free and have to wait for royalty checks to make money.

Now I really like the idea that creators should participate in the success of their creation. I think it’s a good thing and a fair thing.

But they shouldn’t act like it’s a common practice.

It’s very uncommon for people to be paid past their salary. Just like it’s uncommon for people to be fed on the job the way movie production people are.

People DO need to get paid, but writers are already getting paid extremely well. For every working writer, there are dozens who’d take their place for 1990 wages.

They want more and they have every right to do so. They’ve also been misled by the studios about DVD residuals. Were they striking for that, I’d understand a lot more.

But the long and short of it is they are well-off people who want more, not “little guys” and they should stop the pretense.

Hopefully you won’t mind if I try to dig deeper.

You said that advertisers may end up paying more for people watching live in the future. Maybe double.

It made me think of how the networks have supposedly gotten more and more money for the same viewers, even though there is no reason for advertisers to pay more.

Now, I realize that the relationship between Madison Avenue ad buyers and the networks is symbiotic and that ad buyers may not be trying really hard to save money for their clients, but two thoughts come to mind:

1) Is this even true? After all, the only source we have for ad rates are the networks, and we all know how unreliable networks and studios are about how well they are really doing. This is actually one of the problems making the strike worse. The WGA has chosen to believe all the rosy PR releases of the studios and wants its “fair share” based on that, not on reality.

2) If this is true, is it a bubble? How long will ad buyers overpay for ad time. Already the networks have been forced to hand out cash because they ran out of make goods (and who knows in reality how many ads we see are make goods anyway?)

In a world where network ratings have declined, where the networks have de-programmed Saturdays and are talking openly of de-programming 8-9 (sorry programming with reality shows!) how can the WGA think that ever increasing salaries can work?

The trend is clearly towards lower-cost programming.

It would behoove everyone involved to realize lower-cost programming was all programming until recently. Dramatic TV shows have seen huge increases in their budgets. Recently I have read pilots cost up to $10 million now (for one hour!!) when you can easily produce a good TV movie for $2 million.

But nobody wants to talk about that.

The WGA is locked into ever increasing demands and the studios are too chicken to lay their real cards on the table.

Even if the strike were to end, the underlying problems of the film and TV industry will remain unaddressed.

That’s the situation Detroit Auto Manufacturers were in until they went bankrupt and everyone lost big.

There is no sign anyone at the bargaining table is willing to even bring this up.

One more point: the networks are always trying to pin their declining fortunes on changing tastes of the public and competition.

While competition does matter, one thing the networks (and the WGA for that matter) never talk about is quality.

This year's declining ratings for the networks can be pinned 100% on bad quality. They hired bad producers to make bad shows. They got bad ratings. Simple as that.

I'll give you two examples:

When you hire a David Eick and let him do to Bionic woman what he did to Battlestar Galactica, a low-rated show even for cable that audiences have sampled and soundly rejected, the low ratings were a given.

Criminal Minds has lost 4-6 million viewers this year. It was caused by Mandy Patinkin leaving and the quality of the show collapsing at the same time. It wasn't caused by the internet or by competition from cable. It was caused by shoddy writing and directing (ie. producing) and by the bad luck of losing a great actor to still unknown reasons.

In other words, declines are not inevitable, and if they were, the scale of those declines are a function of the quality of the networks' offerings.

When you don't program Saturday Night, you're not giving yourself the chance to find that diamond in the rough.

Remember that writers do get a fee for their scripts. It's not like they work for free and have to wait for royalty checks to make money.

Now I really like the idea that creators should participate in the success of their creation. I think it's a good thing and a fair thing.

But they shouldn't act like it's a common practice.

It's very uncommon for people to be paid past their salary. Just like it's uncommon for people to be fed on the job the way movie production people are.

People DO need to get paid, but writers are already getting paid extremely well. For every working writer, there are dozens who'd take their place for 1990 wages.

They want more and they have every right to do so. They've also been misled by the studios about DVD residuals. Were they striking for that, I'd understand a lot more.

But the long and short of it is they are well-off people who want more, not “little guys” and they should stop the pretense.