Strike talk
Re “The bottom line,” editorial, Jan. 9
There is real pain on only one side of the Writers Guild of America strike, and it is squarely on the writers (plus the peripheral business they are affecting).
You seem confused about why morale on the picket lines seems down. The answer is pretty simple: The writers have already lost, and it will only get worse.
The networks (backed by their very powerful corporate parents) have gone to the vaults and put enough product on the air to keep the viewers’ appetites satisfied as they sell lots of commercial time.
The production of many movies continues without the writers, and box office revenue just set a record in 2007, which will translate into strong profits on the sale of DVDs and other licensed products.
The writers’ leadership has made the mistake of striking an industry instead of a company. The industry has the ability to refuse to negotiate further with the union for as long as it takes to break the strike.
A single company would have to settle or risk losing business to its competitors.
At this point, it will take years for the writers to recoup the money they have lost already, and the problem will get worse every day they refuse to negotiate a deal. That should answer why morale is down.
Jay Slater
Los Angeles
--
Please consider me for the fact-checker job opening at The Times; obviously there’s a vacancy.
How else would you explain the opening of your editorial, “We get the impression, in this third month of the Hollywood writers strike, that morale on the picket lines and in the coffee shops isn’t so hot”?
Really? Just where do you get that impression exactly? Certainly not out on the picket lines themselves.
From where I march, morale is as high as it was on Day 1.
Or maybe it came from our most recent membership meeting a few days before Christmas. Morale was so low that our committee reports were only interrupted by a dozen or two standing ovations.
Unless what you meant by “morale” was the word “gloom.” Then you wouldn’t need a new fact-checker after all.
Steve Billnitzer
Glendale
--
I find it odd that, as the hometown paper, you are discouraging the Writers Guild from taking actions that could bring thousands of Angelenos back to work.
If the parties represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers refuse to negotiate with the guild, it only makes sense for the guild to find independent parties that will.
In addition to the benefits to the local economy, these independent deals could also serve the purpose of making the studios take notice that the guild’s demands are fair and profitable to all involved. It seems reasonable to me.
Michael Solomon
Los Angeles
--
As a non-writer who has worked below the line with a husband who is a below-the-line crew member, in my not so eloquent way, I implore the writers and producers to please start negotiating and make a deal so we will be able to house and feed our children.
Kami Turrou
Los Angeles