Writer's Strike Thread

[DaytimeFan]

I need a drink.

[Vee]

Oh, sweetheart, how new are you? I've been pissing people here off for a long time.

All this time I've been vibrating and no one's let me know! I clearly need better friends. Also, I wasn't aware I ever had a soap opera pilot. And I wouldn't have to do a parody if people would do their job and remove the obvious problem.

[GoldenDogs]

Wow. I need a drink. Hard liquor. And I don't even touch the stuff. But I need a drink now... badly.

Brian

[Vee]

I call bullshit. This one can no longer be for real.

[Toups]

Alright, the past 2 pages have lost focus.

You guys had your fun, let's get back on topic now.

[Ryan]

Toups....do writers get paid for episodes that air on SOAPnet?

[Vee]

I wouldn't have gotten off topic at all if the thread had not gotten derailed with more pleas for Kobe Beef in one's diet. It's disgusting enough to support scabs but to do so with such a shamelessly self-serving bent is really sad and indicates that one is not a friend to any real professional writers. I'd rather the least subtle self-promoter in the world keep its ravings to one unrelated thread instead of hijacking others; that's assuming, of course, that SON won't simply cut it off at the stump given its past behavior and violations. That's asking too much.

As for the topic itself, should I assume they're all still picketing down at Rockefeller today, or not until after the holiday? I meant to go over there.

[dawn9476]

I think they only picket during business hours on business days so I doubt they will picket on Monday since it is a Holiday. And I think they picket a different location every day. I believe yesterday, the only location they were at was News Corp. aka the parent company of Fox.

[dragonflies]

No words at all LOL

Anyways are CBS and NBC hiring scabs for their soaps?

[Chris B]

I don't think it's disgusting in anyway to support scabs considering only soaps will be using them. The things the WGA are fighting for won't really benefit soap writers, but they're the ones asked to suffer. I don't think that's fair, so I applaud even the worst scabs for keeping our soaps on air. Otherwise all these soap writers picketing won't have jobs to come home to! They need to be happy as well.

If the strike lasts six months or a year, do you honestly think these networks will air repeats? I wouldn't count on ANY repeats or for the viewers to be back. Kay Alden mentioned that Y&R lost 2 million viewers during OJ. Being gone for months (and returning with no promotion), I imagine the numbers would be higher today. We also have a booming cable business to contend with.

[Sylph]

I don't think it's disgusting in anyway to support scabs considering only soaps will be using them. The things the WGA are fighting for won't really benefit soap writers, but they're the ones asked to suffer. I don't think that's fair, so I applaud even the worst scabs for keeping our soaps on air. Otherwise all these soap writers picketing won't have jobs to come home to! They need to.

As someone said several pages back - it's exactly about soap opera writers given that soaps will be distributed via internet and so forth... Look that reply up somewhere...

[Chris B]

Three of the CBS soaps are on the net and it's already been said that in general they don't make money off internet airings yet. Certainly not for soaps. Whatever they get is going towards the budgets these shows have. I could see how that would be a concern for primetime with higher internet traffic, but not soaps.

In the end these writers will end up with checks for $5, if that.

[bellcurve]

I don't think it's disgusting in anyway to support scabs considering only soaps will be using them. The things the WGA are fighting for won't really benefit soap writers, but they're the ones asked to suffer. I don't think that's fair, so I applaud even the worst scabs for keeping our soaps on air. Otherwise all these soap writers picketing won't have jobs to come home to! They need to be happy as well.

A lot of these writers have already been threatened by network prexies to have their jobs taken by scabs. Look at what happened with AW in '88...Donna Swajeski and her team of fellow scabbies took jobs from Harding Lemay and some of the other people on that writing team. I'm not saying that Swajeski was a bad HW, in fact, I thought her AW(from what I saw of it on SOAPnet) was pretty great.

But soaps also lost viewers during the strike of '88 as well. Television saw a massive dropoff in viewers during OJ. And this past spring, TV lost lots of viewers thanks to Bush's New Eneregy Plan(rolling the clocks forward about three weeks early).

Regardless of whether there are reruns in daytime or news, or sports, the soaps are gonna lose viewers due to no fault of their own. But Y&R and B&B are at least holding onto their numbers while other soaps are freefalling because of bad writing or poor timeslots.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that in order for daytime to continue with new episodes and not be taken advantage of by greedy networks who want to play sports and Dateline pieces during the day, scabs have to be in place. But it doesn't mean that fans HAVE to support them or even appreciate them. Because we all know that the soaps will be in the same place, if not worse off than before, because of this strike.

The biggest difference between writing for a soap in '88 and writing for a soap in 2008 is the term "network interference." Be careful what you wish for.

[bellcurve]

In the end these writers will end up with checks for $5, if that.

That's dollar menu at Mickey D's for a struggling writer. And with ATWT and GL's budget woes, who's to say that they won't add six 0:30 spots in between acts of ATWT and GL and say..."Oh this is going towards the budget of the show" and pocket the money?

[Ponz]

He said it wouldn't benefit soap writers, not that it wasn't about them. Unlike successful primetime shows, soaps are generally losing money for the networks. Every penny they make from internet airings should be covering production costs, not going to the very writers responsible for their horrendous ratings. If networks and production companies are forced to cough up more to writers, that's another reason for them to cancel soaps altogether.