Five of my friends got laid off today.
Four days into the strike, not a “your last day is Friday,” not a “you have until the end of the day”, a letter from the conglomerate stating “your employment is terminated effective immediately.” Turn in your badge and your keys this minute, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.
My friends knew it was coming, since they all worked in the writers’ office. The logic was simple enough. But nobody thought it’d come quite so soon or so obnoxiously harshly.
I still have a job for now. Working directly for my boss’s production company rather than for a multinational conglomerate has its advantages, but if the strike goes long enough, I’m out on the street too.
Small solace for me, but no solace for my friends let go the exact second the conglomerate figured out who they could can.
This is going to get so very much worse before it gets better.
Update: Ed Bernero from Criminal Minds sent a CM fansite a long but fairly clear explanation of the writers’ side of the argument.
I’m linking here because it’s got the best real-world analogy of residuals I’ve come across, comparing the payments to a contractor who gets half the money for remodeling your kitchen upfront, while getting paid for the rest as the work gets completed.
That was a good presentation of the writers’ side. How anyone can argue that the Companies should be allowed to make money off writers’ work on the Internet without having to pay them is beyond me.
I hope for a speedy resolution, moreso for you and your friends’ livelihoods than my entertainment, of course. But from everything I read and hear, it doesn’t look good. 🙁
The studios’ position is that the internet should be allowed to shake out more before they agree on how much they pay writers.
Which would make sense if the writers were asking for a flat fee, but instead, they’re asking for a percentage. Basically, if the studios make nothing, the writers make nothing. If the studios sell ads, then the writers get a percentage of that ad revenue (writers are proposing 2.5%, studios countered with…0%).
Yeah…this may be a while.