I have avoided posting much about the Writers’ Strike here because there are many people much more qualified to comment than I.  I am not yet a Guild member, and I could never hope to match the sources of information available at United Hollywood, Variety’s Scribe Vibe blog, or even Deadline Hollywood Daily.

But if I can help point even a few people at some of the aspects of the issues that are commonly overlooked, I’d love to do that.  At the moment, the big talk is that the DGA has made its deal, and the expectation is that the WGA should follow.  After all, the studios have made concessions, and therefore the writers should be happy.  What people don’t understand about this is that most of the members of the Directors Guild are below-the-line staff, 1st ADs and such, which means that they aren’t likely to have royalties factored in to their contracts anyway.  As a collective, they are much happier to accept a deal that with decent minimums and smaller or no royalties.  It doesn’t affect the below-the-line directors, and the more powerful movie directors can negotiate their own deals that are better than the minimum contract.  In order to produce a movie, I must pay all my day-to-day workers, including the directorial support staff, a fixed daily amount.  However, I can defer some of my financial risk by paying a writer less than what his intellectual property would otherwise sell for, in exchange for the promise of royalties.  For this reason, writers depend on royalties in a way that other filmmaking staff do not. But you rarely hear that.  Instead, you hear the spin provided by the expensive PR factory used by the studios.  Ain’t they clever.

If the suspicions of many writers are to be believed, this PR engine has been tasked with creating feelings of disunion among the Writers’ Guild.  One interesting response to this phenomenon comes from writer/director Paul Haggis.  His posting at United Hollywood is well worth the read.

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