I hope the strike ends soon, Mr. Gordon, for your sake and the sake of all writers in the industry. And I hope that you get the contract you deserve regarding aftermarkets.

It's insultingly disingenuous of the producers to claim that they can't agree to pay the writers for online content because they "don't know" what the potential revenue will be. Give me a break! Whatever money even super-successful TV and film writers make pales in comparison to the money the producers are raking in. Trouble is, all those entertainment conglomerates are publicly owned corporations that are under pressure to return their profits to their shareholders--not their content creators.

I hate to quibble, but Lance Armstrong won seven (seven!) Tours de France.

Also, while I generally support the writers on this issue, I have to point out that the WGA are real douchebags about letting new talent break into the business. I mean, wouldn't we really be better off if Peter Tolan never wrote a script again? Can't they host an open house now and then to give folks who never wrote for "According to Jim" a first look? I mean, all the studios are scared shitless to read anything that didn't come from the Guild, and you can't get into the Guild until you have a studio buy your script. I don't want to get all Catch-22 on you, but wtf?

You write a decent spec script, you get an agent. There have always been agencies that will look at material from new writers. The agent gets you a meeting, if you sell a pitch -- to a film producer or TV showrunner -- you then write the assignment and join the Guild.

It's not exactly a closed shop.

Writing a spec script that will get you attention is much more of a challenge than anything the WGA could put in your way.

I am a writer, though not in a dramatic field. I love the shows I love because of the writing, and I know it. For me, the writer's strike is something I cheer because it seeks raise the profileof all writing, of what a difference good writing can make in the life of a media product.

And before I run out of things to watch, I have many dvds and downloads to get through. ;-)

"Take the number of episodes streamed or downloaded online, add the amount of money generated by advertising, and then multiply that number by zero."

I have been warned about doing math in public, but wouldn't that number equal zero? I'm with the writers on this issue and everything, but is it just me or does that math not add up?

great piece. i'm another rank & file wgaeast member w/a similar story, cobra & all.

anonymous--

that's the point. they've offered us zero.

annie young frisbie

Go get 'em, writers! And ignore all the idiots who make snide remarks like "they get PAID for that?" Anyone who is paying attention knows that some shows are offering some very sharp writing.

This is why it doesn't pay to be anything these days but a Manager or some position in management. Doesn't what you are...plumber, electrician, technician, engineer...you're just another cog in the machine, answering to someone who knows less than you, possesses only people skills and doesn't need to continuously upgrade like you.

You can be the best writer in the world but at the end of the day you're just another slave who's racking his/her brain to come up with something clever to put into the next hot actress' mouth. It sucks eh? You'll never get the fame and glory that the pretty face does.

As the daughter of a teamster shop steward, and a failed labor organizer for a job from a long time ago, I will stand by the writer's for as long as they need to strike to get a decent piece of the pie.

Thank you Mr. Gordon for your well written article on how the writer's strike is a very necessary part of today's entertainment industry. Without the writers, Eva Longoria may look pretty, but she wouldn't have a word to say and how long will the audience for _Desperate Housewives_ be willing to tune in to watch her change costumes?

Without the words none of our favorite shows would exist and even if you think a particular show is stupid, someone has to fill the 30 to 60 minutes of viewing time for the people who like that selfsame show.

Think they're jobs are easy? Try coming up with 22 or 44 minutes of dialogue week after week yourself and see if you could do it. It may not be brain surgery, but in many ways it is probably one of the most difficult jobs you can name and the people who do it barely get noticed. Hell, even if a writer turns in the perfect script, some tweaked out star, director or viewer thinks they can do it better.

Stay tough, Mr. Gordon, many of us little people are with you.

There can (and if the strike extends for long enough, WILL) be an argument made that this sort of thing hurts more than it helps, and that realistically, the amount of work put in by your average writer of, say, a game show is quite small compared to that of, say, a construction worker, the benefits disproportionally large, and the entire strike boils down to infantile bickering of minutia.

It's even my first instinct.

However, regardless of what I feel about what a writer does, or how some really HORRIBLE ones must make more than they're worth (did the writers for Full House get paid at all? I rest my case.) nevertheless, they're being treated unfairly - and that's all this is about, in the end. Producers are making money off someone's work without compensating them for it. How is this even REMOTELY OK with anyone? If you don't like the results of the strike, don't blame the writers, blame the producers. And when you miss that show you like, and you watch a webcast of it, think that if the producers were willing to share just a fraction of what they got for that commercial that ran before it started, this strike wouldn't be happening at all.

An oversimplification, perhaps, but no more so than blaming this entire debacle on petulance.