June 25, 2005: Dept of If You Can't Lick 'Em, Join 'Em...

... or at least have them join you in this case. My union, the Writers Guild of America, is trying to unionize "reality show" writers. (Yes, they have them. How do you think all that footage gets boiled down into forty-four minutes or whatever?). LAVoice has a thorough post on the subject, specifiying why this is important to this Company Town. (link fixed)

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The link needs "fixing," American usage.

Posted by: RBMN at June 25, 2005 11:35 AM

Roger:

I am completely ignorant on these matters but are they writers or are they editors?

Posted by: Kevin P at June 25, 2005 12:14 PM

I don't consider myself an expert in this. I find these kind of shows boring, frankly, and don't watch much. But I do know from other experiences that in film and television the differences between "writing" and "editing" are not clear cut. Screenwriting is in large measure an ordering of events.

Posted by: Roger at June 25, 2005 1:09 PM

Hey, anyone who's watched Beauty and The Geek knows those shows are as fixed as WWF wrestling. But the good news is, if we can unionize them, the rising production costs will chase them all to Canada. That'll teach those imam-hugging hosers!

Posted by: richard mcenroe at June 25, 2005 1:50 PM

And since when do writers get any respect in Hollywood?

Posted by: Kyda Sylvester at June 25, 2005 2:42 PM

Richard:

Proffesional wrestling is Classic Greek drama in comparison to reality T.V.

Posted by: Kevin P at June 25, 2005 2:55 PM

This would be welcome. I've several friends who have worked on reality shows in some capacity and the paychecks are very small. The WGA and AFTRA have been terrible at monitoring changes in the industry. It's very hard to go in after the fact, when everything is so entrenched, but I wish them luck...for the sake of the writers.

And when it's more expensive to make these stupid shows, maybe they will make fewer of them. Maybe.

Posted by: kynna at June 26, 2005 11:07 AM

The Writers Guild is engaged in trying to eliminate the writers on the reality shows, not help them in any way. The writers in the "Guild" are sure they are better than anyone else on the planet and are outraged that people who are not members of their union have writing jobs. It is the wages of the Guild writers that are partly responsible for the "cheap" programming of reality shows. What next? Writers Guild seeks to organize 8th grade term paper writers?

Posted by: Duke at June 27, 2005 6:47 PM

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