Small update from Orci on TF2 script and writer's strike

I just want this stupid Writer's Strike to end so we can get new shows. That includes the writers for Transformers 2.

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I'm also conflicted. On one hand, the TF movie was friggin' awesome and I can't WAIT to see what they have in store for No. 2.

On the other hand, the other part of me sees what's on much of TV and in many other movies and just says "Don't bother hurrying back."

Last updated November 10th
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NOBODY has EVER, in my entire life, cared if I get an adequate paycheck. They actually try their hardest to trick me or swindle me into working for free. So why should I care if anybody else gets an adequate paycheck?

Let them get trapped in the minimum wage rut like majority of the population & then see haw badly they wanna strike.

I agree with the original poster, FUCK THEM!

TF2 pushed back?! This bites....

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But that's the whole thing, it's not a 'Stupid Writer's Strike'. This is people not getting paid for all the hard work that they do. It's like working for a year plus on anything, and then getting paid for it. People enjoy it, rave about it, and then get millions of COPIES of it, and you get nothing for those copies. They are completely valid in their course of action.


What bothers me, and effects me directly, is that from what I heard from SliceofScifi.com is that anyone that is in New Media that doesn't strike as well will be blacklisted. Since I'm working on some New Media projects right now, and we're not allowed into the WGA anyway at this point, it gets confusing. Especially in the Podcast areas.

Regardless, I've met Mr. Orci at Botcon, chatted and hung out with him, and he's a stand up guy. These people deserve to get paid for their hard work. When people go onto iTunes and buy a download, they don't get anything. That's a huge market that they get nothing for. I hate to see him, and my fellow writers from the Hollywood sector not getting paid. I know that Scott Sigler, who is BIG in new media to the point that he's crossing into traditional media is directly effected, as he can't release his first Major Motion Picture due to this. I feel bad, but he's taking the knocks for having to wait like the rest of them.


This is also giving them plenty of time to, like he said, sit and scribble ideas down on napkins. True they have to wait the 14 weeks, but still at the end of that they can just go *BAM* here's a pile of ideas, pick what you like and rehash. Who knows, the movie might be all the better for it.

The writers doing "the scabbing" would be black listed. A whole studio? Well that's a bit more on the really unlikely.

Here's the deal with the writer's strike - Way back in the 80s when home video was new, the writers and the studios struck a deal. The writers would take a fraction of their normal royalty (they took .5% or something instead of the usual 1% or 2% or what-have-you) from home video sales until such a time as home video proved to be a viable outlet for sales.

Flash forward to now. The writers are thinking "well, given that everyone and their brother have DVD players and are buying box sets of our work, home video looks pretty dang viable." The studios, of course, don't want to honor that deal. That's the first part of the issue.

The second part is with new media. The studios don't have to pay writers if they're using clips for "promotional purposes." Studios put up entire TV shows online, complete with ad-generated revenue. Writers say "hey, you're making money off our work by showing it online, give us our royalty checks." Studio says "Nope, sorry, that's just an ad for the regular airing. Promotional purposes." The same holds true with things like sales over iTunes, I believe

As far as studios using non-union writers to produce material, there's a couple issues here - first; the writers who are union are generally pretty good; if you bring in a scab, you don't know necessarily what you're getting - it could be one step above fanfic. Second; the writers who are in the union are going to feel (rightfully) screwed that the studio brought in scabs instead of arbitrating. The union writers will then say "screw you, we're not working for you anymore until you apologize or whatever." The studios know this, and don't want to run that risk. Also, the writers who break the strike are going to get crapped on by union writers for the rest of their lives, the dirty scabs. (Although I hear Carson Daly is or was planning to break the strike and was asking pretty much everyone he knew to give him material. I hope most of it was in the form of hate mail.)

-hx, this also matters in a larger sense because the WGA apparently has designs on recruiting two more groups of writers in the near future - reality show "producers," the ones who assemble the finished storylines from the raw chaff, and... oh boy... video game writers. You think people are mad because Daily Show is gone? Wait until there's a delay on Halo 4.

From what I can remember of the incident, when Lucas made the original Star Wars movie, he was given special permission to have an opening sequence without any credits to anybody. However, when Irvin Kershing directed Empire Strikes Back and did the same thing, they fined him and Lucas, and tried to punish Kershing in some manner. Lucas apparently paid the large fine, but came out very bitter about the 'Hollywood system' guilds and pulled out of them entirely.

At least according to the Star Wars: Empire of Dreams documentary, or as I like to call it 'Every Single Person Interviewed Thinks George Lucas is a FREAKING GENIUS Puff piece masquerading as a documentary'.

So nowadays Lucasfilm is the largest indepedent, non-union studio, which may explain the quality of the acting in the SW prequels.

So are you saying no member of the public has ever cared how much you get paid... or are you complaining about people trying to get you to do charity work are tricksters and swindlers?

I know there's a stereotype of Americans tending to be individualist capitalists with little time to care about others in terms of money and profit, but really, if you're a decent sort you should 'care' regardless of how you're doing, especially if an employer is making money off the creative hard work of others without giving them the compensation and credit they are due.

Read my previous post explaining how residuals work.

Also, you can't just say 'Rich bastards! What do they have to strike about!' like Don Murphy did, because it effects all levels of guild members, A-listers to newcomers. The show business is a harsh industry, and not everybody is a millionaire, especially not the 'lowly' writers.

My feelings and thoughts on the writer's strike aside, I'm really glad that Orci gave us an update. What a decent guy.