SYMPATHY FOR THE STRIKE

Let me start by saying, as a union-man, I fully support the WGA in its fight for decent living wages, health care and protection of intellectual rights. The current strike is an important one. The producers and studios are crying foul, claiming financial hardship, and a lack of a, "proper profit model," for paying writers for DVDs and web content... yet the movie studios and the deals the dole out to the producers continues to rise, by the hundreds of millions. The writers deserve a bigger slice of the pie, and it is that simple.

Having said that, let me also say the writers have it pretty good, for the most part. Yes, there are individuals who are genuinely struggling to make ends meet as working writers. But any industry has these cases, and the writers should not view themselves as in any way exempt from the natural order of economics.

But if they're going to make their case, they need to do a much better job. (I mean, they're writers, right?) One example of the train going off the tracks was in today's LA Times. In an attempt to put a human face on the strike, they're telling individual stories of writers, and how they're being affected by the work shutdown. One writer, currently on some horrible Fox show, used to be a writer for The Daily Show in New York. But he had to move to Los Angeles because he couldn't make ends meet on his old salary... of $100,000 a year.

Granted, New York can be expensive, but come mon. That has to be a better example the writers could've offered up; something the rest of the public could have identified enough. Making matters worse, the writer interviewed, said he wanted to dispel the myth that all TV writers made $200,000 a year. So I guess we're supposed to feel sorry for him, as he only made half that amount.