Imagine TV truly unscripted

Following is a collection of comments posted on our message boards in response to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike. Join the discussion at latimes.com/hollywoodwriters.

If people think TV writing is bad, wait until they sit through hour two of, “Are You Smarter than Your Garbage Man” and “Dancing with the American Idol Rejects.” The same producers and studios that cried foul when people were downloading content illegally off the internet, now accuse the writers of being greedy for asking for a share of advertising revenue from the same content -- they now offer as free downloads. The studios counted each illegal download as a “lost sale” -- can’t the writers do the same for residuals?

Submitted by: “Matt”

11:54 PM PST, Nov. 4, 2007

A novel idea

I’ve heard this rumor of an old-fashioned entertainment item called a “book.” Does anyone know what one looks like, or where I might find one? It might be an entertaining alternative to Howie Mandel.

Submitted by: “Grammar-Nazi”

11:42 AM PDT, Nov. 2, 2007

Who’s to blame?

Writers are extremely well paid when they are working. The people that are complaining they are underpaid, are confusing underpaid with out of work. I’ve been in the WGA since 1993, and never made less than 1/2 million a year. If you’re not making enough money, blame yourself, not the studios. There is a huge pot of gold for anyone with the talent to do this.

Submitted by: “Bret”

7:40 PM PST, Nov. 8, 2007

Take control

The entertainment unions should pool all of their pension funds and buy the studios. Then they can throw all of the corporate jerks out onto the sidewalk and get down to business writing and producing good product. They might even be able to make some money for their efforts.

Submitted by: “Studio Takeovers”

5:06 PM PST, Nov. 8, 2007

The good fight

Go, Writers Guild! I feel so sad for all the people who will lose their livelihoods for simply being caught in the crosshairs, but no one -- truly, no one goes into the entertainment business with a guarantee of continued employment. Anyone who stands up and fights for their rights is reminding us that we ALL have to stand up at some point and fight for our own. My heart is with those who actually create something from nothing. The most talented producer in the world can’t do that, unless they are also a writer. ;-)

Submitted by: “Lisa in Los Angeles”

12:01 PM PST, Nov. 8, 2007

Pay up

Why is it that songwriters always get a royalty when their song is played on the radio or downloaded on iTunes? Yet the writers of tv and film, do not get such privileges. It is unfair and not equitable to treat writers like galley slaves. You need to pay them each time a DVD is rented, each time a movie or tv show is downloaded on the internet. A songwriter makes .04 cents per download, for a three and a half minute song. You think a writer could get something when people download a 30 minute tv show or a 90 minute film.

Submitted by: “Ignorant Masses”

10:25 AM PST, Nov. 8, 2007

Oh, the boredom

If entertainment is such a key part of our lives that we can’t survive without our usual serving of mindless TV shows, we must be really bored most of the time with our lives... I think this is pretty sad. As for the “underpaid” writers, I think they should realize that their lifestyle is fairly comfortable compared to the rest of the people: they live in a nice part of town, work flexible hours at home, and hang out with celebrities. So I really don’t care if these people go on some silly strike. If the dumb TV shows stop for a while, some people may actually realize that they can do something useful with that time.

Submitted by: “Victor G.”

6:02 p.m. PST, Nov. 7, 2007