[Air-L] writers striking for internet payment?

[Tuszynski, Stephanie]

Donna-

You said the following:

>>the writers do not have a right to these residuals they demand. 

What basis are you using for the argument that the writers do not have the right to these residuals? How is the purchasing or streaming of a piece of their work online (with advertisements) not something they are entitled to be compensated for? Or do you believe the writers should not be paid residuals at all? I'm not seeing how going on strike to try and protect their livelihood and the future of their craft is making them appear "out of touch."  

I'm not sure what you mean by "they haven't had anything to do with it" since we're talking about film and television writers. What were they supposed to have done to legitimate this issue before now? A number of tv writers, including the staffs of "The Office" and "Battlestar Galactica" if I'm remembering correctly, have been obligated by their studios to produce special web content for the past several years (content, by the way, which they weren't paid for). 

And you bring up the DMCA but I'm not clear on why. I don't know off the top of my head what the Guilds had to say about it. And while I certainly share a lot of the hatred for the RIAA and the overbearing attempts at controlling what people do with things they've purchased, I can at least see the logic on the part of the WGA, DGA and SAG if they indeed stayed out of the discussion regarding the DMCA. While they only get paid a pittance for legal digital sales, a pittance is still more than the absolute nothing they get when people pirate material. They would have a vested interest in protecting even the pittance if possible. But because they didn't protest the DCMA, are you somehow equating that with signing away their right to be compensated when their work is sold digitally?
 

>>They dont care about the Web or the Internet or monetizing it in a sustainable way, so their strike is boring. 

That's... quite a massive generalization, I have to say. I find the strike vitally important in regards to what the future will bring in the entertainment industry and the continuing convergence of online and offline media. I think the outcome of this conflict is crucial to more than just a handful of screenwriters. It affects actors and directors and consumers. Whatever you may yourself feel, what I've seen on YouTube has never convinced me that professionally produced material has anything to worry about from amateur challengers (and I even include my own film in that judgment, as I'm well aware of the aesthetic limitations of non-pro work). How the corporations use the work of artists and what they can and can't get away with doing in the digital world is at the heart of this strike, at least for me.

And no, before anyone asks, I'm not a member of the WGA myself. 


Stephanie Tuszynski
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Theatre and Film
University of Toledo