I am not a member of the Writers Guild, but have been sympathetic to their demands. A couple of weeks ago, the Motion Picture Alliance hired two high-priced p.r. gunslingers, so-called “masters of disaster.” Wonders of wonders, the media, whom Paul Haggis rightfully commented, with tongue in cheek, “speak with integrity, they check their sources, they get things right,” are now, with gravity and concern, counseling writers to sign the same deal as the Directors Guild, after citing unnamed writers who are part of a “growing schism” in the guild.
Bah! Humbug! If the studios didn’t stand to lose a precious part of their enormous profits from the network, DVDs, and other new sources, they would have offered a reasonable deal. Directors are not exactly working stiffs. Their up-front take has always been pretty high. As we know, most screenwriters do not make more than $50,000 a year. Comparing directors to writers is like comparing CEOs, extremely high paid employees, to the employees who work for them.
Let’s continue to support the writers.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 25, 2008. Read the original PDF.