2008 Woodie Awards
The writers' strike shouldn't have ended
Counterpoint
Sam Gomez
Issue date: 2/18/08 Section: Opinion
For the last few months, television viewers have been disappointed by a lack of new episodes of their favorite shows due to the infamous writers' strike. Delving into reruns of primetime shows and silly antics on late-night talk shows has been disappointing for all involved.
Thankfully, however, last week the strike ended with the writers finally giving in to pressure to go back to work.
Lasting for months, neither side of the writers' strike was willing to give in. Writers wanted a bigger slice of the online content pie, as well as larger shares of profits for royalties on their intellectual property. Corporate media giants were not willing to give in, and insisted that once the show has been made, the rights of the writers to the produced material are minimal.
First of all, I agree that the strike should never have taken place. Most writers make well within six figures, and larger fees for royalties seem a little greedy. Insisting that every time their show is viewed online they should get a royalty is ridiculous and impractical.
For example, if the writers had their way, every time you watched a show on YouTube, you or somebody else would have to pay the writers of that show a nickel. This would doubtlessly stifle the demand for online videos, which are a major source of traffic for many websites. Also, doing so would be ridiculously impractical.
There are many ways to get around copyrights on the internet. Programs that decode protected media and make illegal copies of media files are a dime a dozen, and are often free. On open-source systems such as Linux, direct access to program code means that any protections the media distributor encodes into the media file can be altered or worked around.
If the writers had their way, this type of modification would have to be made illegal, leading to thousands of dollars needlessly being spent on enforcement and prosecution.
Secondly, I disagree that video, television shows or otherwise, are the intellectual property of the writers who scripted them. This is a matter of opinion. A writer is paid to come up with ideas and scripts for shows, awards shows, and late night talk. They are paid ridiculous salaries for sitting in a dark room playing video games and every now and then writing something down.
Thankfully, however, last week the strike ended with the writers finally giving in to pressure to go back to work.
Lasting for months, neither side of the writers' strike was willing to give in. Writers wanted a bigger slice of the online content pie, as well as larger shares of profits for royalties on their intellectual property. Corporate media giants were not willing to give in, and insisted that once the show has been made, the rights of the writers to the produced material are minimal.
First of all, I agree that the strike should never have taken place. Most writers make well within six figures, and larger fees for royalties seem a little greedy. Insisting that every time their show is viewed online they should get a royalty is ridiculous and impractical.
For example, if the writers had their way, every time you watched a show on YouTube, you or somebody else would have to pay the writers of that show a nickel. This would doubtlessly stifle the demand for online videos, which are a major source of traffic for many websites. Also, doing so would be ridiculously impractical.
There are many ways to get around copyrights on the internet. Programs that decode protected media and make illegal copies of media files are a dime a dozen, and are often free. On open-source systems such as Linux, direct access to program code means that any protections the media distributor encodes into the media file can be altered or worked around.
If the writers had their way, this type of modification would have to be made illegal, leading to thousands of dollars needlessly being spent on enforcement and prosecution.
Secondly, I disagree that video, television shows or otherwise, are the intellectual property of the writers who scripted them. This is a matter of opinion. A writer is paid to come up with ideas and scripts for shows, awards shows, and late night talk. They are paid ridiculous salaries for sitting in a dark room playing video games and every now and then writing something down.
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