WHAT IF YOU WENT ON STRIKE AND NO ONE CARED?

The WGA strike in Hollywood has gone on now for who knows how long and yet it has disappeared from the public consciousness as a noticeable issue. Unfortunately, residuals for extremely well-paid writers is not an issue that means much to Joe public and given that neither tv nor film entertainment have yet to be negatively affected by this, it is doubtful this issue well regain visibility. Given the lead time necessary for productions to ramp up through prep to shooting and post, it is unlikely that there will be an outcry for new product until well into the New Year.

Given the overall quality of the material that normally floods the mass media this may not be a bad thing, I for one would rather spend time at the multiplex revisiting the great films of the past rather than mediocre drek that was rushed into production in order to beat the strike deadline. Television is dominated by reruns and reality and this blip on the radar will only degrade the market shared owed by first-run dramatic programs either over the air or on specialty channels. In attempts to cling to what is rightly a fair share of residuals, the WGA may well be trading future dollars for future work, as less dramatic programming needs less writers who will then collect less in residuals.

Personally I believe unions are one the single biggest detriments to the current North American economy especially in manufacturing, as the force costs up while reducing value with sub-product. The concept of union was created to protect the uneducated illiterate workers from exploitation and dangerous working conditions. It has evolved into a conglomerate which represents the highest paid and often most educated people in the workforce throughout entertainment, manufacturing, government and social services, the people least likely to be exploited. Their leaders use their power for political gain, often leveraging strikes to cause the public annoyance at best (WGA) and quality of life issues at worst (police, government worker i.e. Employment insurance/welfare). To my eyes the union is a thing of the past as serves only to increase the power and money of those who control them. Finally, the idea of a union of near millionaires striking because they aren’t paid enough for their work is laughable at best as the clearest solution is simple: if you don’t think you are paid enough for your “art” don’t sell it.