the writers strike affects us all
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By doukou
- the writers strike affects us all
- Created: Jan 28, 2008
- Last updated: Aug 13, 2008
- After episode: 3.22: Through The Looking Glass
- Status: Current
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good day everyone but …not so good for me. Not after discovering that the long awaited season4 will only broadcast 8 freakin episodes instead of a continuous 16-episode run…..as lost writers originally committed to.
i find it downright discgusting and totally plutocratic that a privately funded show has engaged in a public matter including the writters of america. if there is such a body then most sertainly it is government controlled thus being a domestic public organistaion which protects the writers rights. no problem with that.
but abc is privatelly owned if im not mistaken and not the property of the government therefore i fing no logic in writters and generally professionals who are employed in the private sector to strike under the disguise of a public matter. jj cc and ll are paid by their companies to finish a job.
now obviously i dont have full knowledge of how these things work but logic indicates that since youre paid for your job and your integrity and copyright are protected through the contracts you have with your employers and not some government ruling body then you can not go on strike for matters which do no affect you..
so now after 4 5 months or whatever it was we get to see 8 episodes….)how nice..) and the next 8…we dont know when … how fkn convenient… milk some more out while youre at it.
so in essensce it will take them a whole freakin year to show 16 episodes cause im prettu sure if season 4 ends in july then season 5 will start in 2009…and so on and we will reach 2010 or where i think 2011 in order for this whole lost to end.
and dare i ask………is there such an end or explanation that will justify 7 years of wait…… not even the prospect of bedding angleina jolie with jessica alba together is worth 7 years…….(hhmm maybe thats the only thiing worth waiting 7 years for not some fkn show ffs) jj cc dl perhaps its time to take your fans more seriously
i could go on and on but i like th eshow . i like it very much actually. and it has messed with my head. need answers asap! most of your ansrewrs can be used as very safe guides and hats off to most of you who have put the effort. it is you that i ask first: hasnt the show pissed you right the f off?? even in the slightest?
yeah ok mystery i get you…but how certain are you that lost isnt bordering the line of tv mystery against ultra-dollar profiteering??
with these continuous brakes… i have to say… the writers seem to me…that they are more interested in keeping you hooked on for the sake of hooking you on rather than actually doing it to benefit the show and the story they have to say……..
I do find it terribly aggrivating that writers have become more obssessed with money (hence the strike), than the art of their work.
In the end, the viewers suffer.
“now obviously i dont have full knowledge of how these things work”
Truer words have never been spoken.
Here it is in a nutshell: There is no contract so there is no protection. The battle has to do with whether the writers get residuals for their work that is distributed electronically and by other modern ways (other than over the air and on videotape). Residuals make up a large part of a writer’s earnings and they believe they are owed a fair percentage.
So, to say that one side is more “obsessed” with money than the other (Molly…) is just silly. We still have an outside chance at seeing the rest of the fourth season this year — but both sides need to get back to the table now.
I think it would be a stretch to say that most people are not inconvenienced by this strike. Personally, I really wanted more than 8 episodes of “Lost” myself, however, I completely stand behind the writers and their requests, be they right or wrong!
Writers are completely underestimated, and without their creative talents and abilities, there would be NO industry at all. No need for producers, directors, actors, technical support, etc.
The writers are the nucleus of the industry, so I will give them my undying support and loyalty before I join “the whiners club of america”.
For the sake of Season 4 and on… GIVE ‘EM risiduals DAMNIT! Give them whatever they want!
As my boy Mel put it once, “GIMME BACK MY SO… er… LOST!” Something like that…
In just under 2 months I’ve watched and re-watched Seasons 1, 2, and 3. For this to happen at THIS point in my Lost life is tragic… absolutely tragic.
Sorry MasterLocke, if you didn’t know this before you started watching the DVDs, you were not doing your homework. The fact that there were only eight episodes ready to go has been public knowledge since the strike began.
Doukou… you obviously are not in a workers union. While i also wish they would settle their dispute, I fully support the writers in trying to get their fair share. The “industry” is making Billions off them. The strike is their only leverage (and great leverage it is!).
By the way, they are not under contract. The are working without one…. that’s the point.
Chuck… I knew… didn’t know before I started my Lost triathalon though. I recently got into Lost only because my sis had the seasons laying around and I was bored. Now that I have a Lost needle continuously connected to my needing veins I can’t read or study enough sites, blogs, etc. to satisfy the thirst. Family and caring ones are inquiring Intervention as we type.
That said… I support the writers and their actions fully. I just don’t want my journey to come up short after dedicating long days and nights to their product.
Can’t always get what you want though. I’ll cry about it…
I suspect that one of the two things will happen:
(a) the strike will end in the next two or three weeks, and production will ramp up quickly. we will have a short break after the first eight but the next eight will be on before the summer.
or
(b) the strick does not end quickly but ends before the summer. We get a full 24 episode fifth season (8 from the end of the fourth plus the planned 16 for next year) starting in the fall, followed by the final season of 16.
No matter how you cut it, we still have only eight episodes to look forward to and then POOF! Another intermission between seasons. This is exactly why LOST lost (heh) viewers in Season 3.
These breaks in the show are annoying and I don’t think anyone will disagree with that. The writer’s strike lagging on will only make the wait longer and more irritating. I also find it ridiculous that the Guild waited 20 years to strike. They agreed to the pay cut in the first place to see if the home video market would prove profitable. it did. So they waited some more. Then came the DVD market which proved even more profitable. So they waited some more. Then came the internet file-swapping/stealing/watch-whole-wpisodes on ABC.com market which roped in billions. What do you think the Guild did? Yep. They waited.
I’m sorry. You can’t sit around for 20 years doing nothing and then cry that no one gave any royalties.
Hell, when James and Lars of Metallica found out about Napster and the file-stealing phenomenon, did they wait? Nope. They kicked down Napster’s doors and got what they went after: an end to music theft. If those to knuckle heads can do that, then anyone can.
short term setbacks for long term gain: the writers, if taken care of now, will provide us with glorious entertainment for years and years to come…don’t sweat it…
Another big “huh?” to Molly… It is only in the last few years that “new media” (read: Internet) could be used to effectively provide the full content of tv shows and movies to a very wide audience. The studios are asserting that the writers have no right to any share of any money taken in from these means of distribution.
The fact is that there was a contract for the last three years (I believe it was three years) and the appropriate time for the Writers to take action is when they are about to enter into a new agreement. That means the time is now.
Sit around for twenty years doing nothing? The last strike ended nineteen-and-a-half years ago, the writers DID go on strike (over the sale of content on VHS tapes)! They were out for more than 21 weeks! Let’s hope this strike ends much sooner.
Ah, yes Molly, I am sure it is as simple as you state it! Too bad, life isn’t!
So far as I understand it, the writers are neither asking for much nor anything unwarranted. They just want a tiny little piece of the profits from their creative output. The money-hungry networks/studios ain’t prepared to give it (although some of the smaller studios have agreed terms, showing that little by little this war will be won).
Lost is my favourite T.V. programme ever. Eight episodes is going to be a painfully short return. But do I begrudge the Lost creators for this? An industry-wide strike that could change the lives of hundreds of writers that for years have provided me with entertainment? Could I really be that selfish? The answer is no. I support the strike. I hope the writers don’t budge an inch until they get what’s right. No matter how long it takes.
“Hell, when James and Lars of Metallica found out about Napster and the file-stealing phenomenon, did they wait?”
Molly… File-stealing? I think you meant to say file-“sharing”… As a child I used to bite any and all hands reaching for my matchbox Porche 911. Now… I “share” quite a bit. “Sharing” is a great thing… as my ipod will show lol.
On another note… I just finished reading an interview with “Ben” Micheal Emerson who said that since the strike “Everybody felt it like a burst of energy, which could have been nothing if the scripts hadn’t continued to be taut. The stakes got even higher, and we were all saying ‘wow, they are not playing around here,’ they are really going to cram a lot into the next three seasons of work. We’ve been shooting long and hard on season 4, at a pace and urgency I haven’t seen before.”
At least we have that good news…
The union and the networks are talking. I think if they can come to an agreement over the next couple of weeks we will get 16 straight episodes. There was already at least 2 episodes written (9 and 10), I guess when the strike began.They couldn’t be filmed however because the writers still make changes during filming.Any other year the episodes are only filmed a few weeks before they air….have hope people.
And I support the writers strike.The networks are greedy fat cats :)
“hhmm maybe thats the only thiing worth waiting 7 years for not some fkn show ffs”
Then why are you getting so heated about it? :|