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Into the Wild: The Possibility of a Writers' Guild Strike
By: Jeffery Guillermo
Screenwriters traditionally follow a basic theory call the Three Act structure, which is found in Aristotle’s analysis of poetry and tragedy, "Poetics." The structure divines that a story must entail a setup (beginning), a confrontation (middle), and a resolution (end). Of course, stories today still have beginnings, middles, and ends. Writers begin stories, and they end them. But unlike screenwriting, the business world is an entirely different game, where theories from 335 B.C. have either become common sense, or have been discarded in light of the ever changing future. Such is the case of the Writer’s Guild of America, who voted by a margin of more than 90% to authorize their leaders to launch a walk-out when their contract expires today.
The business world does not fly solo. It travels with a press that covers it with a close scrutiny. That scrutiny allows it to retain special power over the world it follows, but is handicapped because it is owned by the business world. Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky developed the propaganda model, which points out biases in mass media, and its combination with our profit-motivated economy. The theory states five filters, yet the filter that is most relevant here is the first one. “If the managers fail to pursue actions that favor shareholder returns, institutional investors will be inclined to sell the stock (depressing its price), or to listen sympathetically to outsiders contemplating takeovers” (Herman & Chomsky 11).
The WGA is striking for many reasons. “The screenwriters feel that the writer is being marginalized. Most people will know who the star is, the director is, but most people would not know who the writer is,” says Janet Neipris, Co-Head of Graduate Studies in Dramatic Writing at New York University, and also a WGA Member. Yet, the crucial question is regarding the business model of mass entertainment, more specifically the distribution involving new media. Producers have been unwilling to “expand residual payments to cover the digital world of DVDs as well as TV shows and movies online, as the WGA has demanded.”
Tensions may not be at the same level that the great strike of 1945 had, yet speculation still abounds. “Everyone is in confusion right now, and the business model is in such disarray. If the strike occurs, will it be business as usual? No. Will it be crisis? No. Will talk show people be making jokes about how they have to come up with their own jokes? Yes. Most people don’t notice subtle changes in quality. Television viewing is habitual. People who are Today Show viewers will continue to watch the Today Show. Unless the television screens go black, which will not happen,” says Ted Magder, Associate Professor of Culture, and Communication at NYU.
Many economists are linking this event to the U.S. class gap of 1920’s size proportions, which would reflect directly to the propaganda model’s first filter. If maximizing profit had to result in the disappearance of objectivity in news, executives would be more than willing to give it up. “We’ve moved into a brand new arena. Economically, it has morphed into a new kind of social paradigm that looks like the 19th century, the era of the robber barons. When you have these fabulously wealthy economic minority, and when the masses are basically sliding back into the working class status. Business wants fewer constraints so it can expand more rapidly. In business, one of the ways to maximize profits is to find ways to cut costs. That is why we are starting to have a society that looks like the society of 1897, because back in those days, there was no regulation, and wages were severely depressed. Consequently, there were no unions. The studios and networks are owned by multinational corporations that have geopolitical interests. Their profit margin for their exports is going to be determined by the salaries they have to pay to writers, technicians, actors, etc. So when you give in to one, the contractual precedent has to be extended to all the other unions and guilds,” says Richard Wesley, Head of Dramatic Writing at NYU and a WGA member. This historical link is not unfounded. In fact, the “Gilded Age captain of industry played many roles in society. Besides shaping the business climate, he profoundly influenced – or was believed to have influenced –the way men thought, the cultural life of the nation, and its political institutions” (Brewer 6)
According to Wesley, a “strike is a process that can only happen when the negotiations reach a point when both sides have reached such an impasse that the only way they can redress the situation is through a job action.” Yet, it is not an open and shut case for striking. Magder believes that the strike is “more of a danger to the writers than it is to the producers, because the large production companies have stockpiles of product to weather the storm, and can rewrite the rules afterward.” Also, the strike is “not one of those issues where the public is going to rise up in support of the television writers. There will not be a groundswell of support for these people. They’re just television writers,” says Magder. History does not look kindly on strikes, however. “A New England wool-manufacturer complacently observed that when workers ‘get starved down to it,’ then they will go to work at just what you can afford to pay.’ Such views accompanied the conviction that is, as Jay Gould said, an ‘axiom…that labor is a commodity that will in the long run be governed absolutely by the law of supply and demand’” (David 7)
Yet, there is still incredible support from within the WGA. “The history of the labor movement shows that there has not been any major gain without strikes. The more laborers who strike, the less likely the management will proceed without them,” says Elizabeth Diggs, Associate Professor of Dramatic Writing at NYU and a WGA member. If a strike were to play out later today, there are a variety of events that could occur. A strike could push television viewers into an exodus from television into other interactive mediums, says Wesley. However, it could also a very small reduction in television viewing, because “Americans have a long history of watching repeats on television, and have been very comfortable doing that. People watch it because it is there,” says Magder.
Dramatic writers usually have an idea where their story is going to go. Except now, in the story about their futures, they are not in control of the pen. When the conglomerates hold the pen and the pocketbook, the strikers tend to get the sharp end of the pen.
Herman, Edward and Noam Chomsky. “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.” New York: Pantheon. 1988.
Neipris, Janet. Co-Head of Graduate Studies in Dramatic Writing at New York University. Personal Interview. 10-30-07.
Magder, Ted. Associate Professor of Culture and Communication at New York University. Personal Interview. 10-30-07.
Richard Wesley, Head of Dramatic Writing at New York University. Personal Interview. 10-30-07.
Brewer, Thomas. “The Robber Barons: Saints or Sinners?” Krieger: New York. 1976.
Diggs, Elizabeth. Associate Professor of Dramatic Writing at New York University. Personal Interview. 10-29-07
David, Henry. “The History of the Haymarket Affair: A Study in the American Social-Revolutionary and Labor Movements”. Russell and Russell: New York. 1958.
Public Domain Picture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:US68445.png
Screenwriters traditionally follow a basic theory call the Three Act structure, which is found in Aristotle’s analysis of poetry and tragedy, "Poetics." The structure divines that a story must entail a setup (beginning), a confrontation (middle), and a resolution (end). Of course, stories today still have beginnings, middles, and ends. Writers begin stories, and they end them. But unlike screenwriting, the business world is an entirely different game, where theories from 335 B.C. have either become common sense, or have been discarded in light of the ever changing future. Such is the case of the Writer’s Guild of America, who voted by a margin of more than 90% to authorize their leaders to launch a walk-out when their contract expires today.The business world does not fly solo. It travels with a press that covers it with a close scrutiny. That scrutiny allows it to retain special power over the world it follows, but is handicapped because it is owned by the business world. Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky developed the propaganda model, which points out biases in mass media, and its combination with our profit-motivated economy. The theory states five filters, yet the filter that is most relevant here is the first one. “If the managers fail to pursue actions that favor shareholder returns, institutional investors will be inclined to sell the stock (depressing its price), or to listen sympathetically to outsiders contemplating takeovers” (Herman & Chomsky 11).
The WGA is striking for many reasons. “The screenwriters feel that the writer is being marginalized. Most people will know who the star is, the director is, but most people would not know who the writer is,” says Janet Neipris, Co-Head of Graduate Studies in Dramatic Writing at New York University, and also a WGA Member. Yet, the crucial question is regarding the business model of mass entertainment, more specifically the distribution involving new media. Producers have been unwilling to “expand residual payments to cover the digital world of DVDs as well as TV shows and movies online, as the WGA has demanded.”
Tensions may not be at the same level that the great strike of 1945 had, yet speculation still abounds. “Everyone is in confusion right now, and the business model is in such disarray. If the strike occurs, will it be business as usual? No. Will it be crisis? No. Will talk show people be making jokes about how they have to come up with their own jokes? Yes. Most people don’t notice subtle changes in quality. Television viewing is habitual. People who are Today Show viewers will continue to watch the Today Show. Unless the television screens go black, which will not happen,” says Ted Magder, Associate Professor of Culture, and Communication at NYU.
Many economists are linking this event to the U.S. class gap of 1920’s size proportions, which would reflect directly to the propaganda model’s first filter. If maximizing profit had to result in the disappearance of objectivity in news, executives would be more than willing to give it up. “We’ve moved into a brand new arena. Economically, it has morphed into a new kind of social paradigm that looks like the 19th century, the era of the robber barons. When you have these fabulously wealthy economic minority, and when the masses are basically sliding back into the working class status. Business wants fewer constraints so it can expand more rapidly. In business, one of the ways to maximize profits is to find ways to cut costs. That is why we are starting to have a society that looks like the society of 1897, because back in those days, there was no regulation, and wages were severely depressed. Consequently, there were no unions. The studios and networks are owned by multinational corporations that have geopolitical interests. Their profit margin for their exports is going to be determined by the salaries they have to pay to writers, technicians, actors, etc. So when you give in to one, the contractual precedent has to be extended to all the other unions and guilds,” says Richard Wesley, Head of Dramatic Writing at NYU and a WGA member. This historical link is not unfounded. In fact, the “Gilded Age captain of industry played many roles in society. Besides shaping the business climate, he profoundly influenced – or was believed to have influenced –the way men thought, the cultural life of the nation, and its political institutions” (Brewer 6)
According to Wesley, a “strike is a process that can only happen when the negotiations reach a point when both sides have reached such an impasse that the only way they can redress the situation is through a job action.” Yet, it is not an open and shut case for striking. Magder believes that the strike is “more of a danger to the writers than it is to the producers, because the large production companies have stockpiles of product to weather the storm, and can rewrite the rules afterward.” Also, the strike is “not one of those issues where the public is going to rise up in support of the television writers. There will not be a groundswell of support for these people. They’re just television writers,” says Magder. History does not look kindly on strikes, however. “A New England wool-manufacturer complacently observed that when workers ‘get starved down to it,’ then they will go to work at just what you can afford to pay.’ Such views accompanied the conviction that is, as Jay Gould said, an ‘axiom…that labor is a commodity that will in the long run be governed absolutely by the law of supply and demand’” (David 7)
Yet, there is still incredible support from within the WGA. “The history of the labor movement shows that there has not been any major gain without strikes. The more laborers who strike, the less likely the management will proceed without them,” says Elizabeth Diggs, Associate Professor of Dramatic Writing at NYU and a WGA member. If a strike were to play out later today, there are a variety of events that could occur. A strike could push television viewers into an exodus from television into other interactive mediums, says Wesley. However, it could also a very small reduction in television viewing, because “Americans have a long history of watching repeats on television, and have been very comfortable doing that. People watch it because it is there,” says Magder.
Dramatic writers usually have an idea where their story is going to go. Except now, in the story about their futures, they are not in control of the pen. When the conglomerates hold the pen and the pocketbook, the strikers tend to get the sharp end of the pen.
Works Consulted
Herman, Edward and Noam Chomsky. “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.” New York: Pantheon. 1988.
Neipris, Janet. Co-Head of Graduate Studies in Dramatic Writing at New York University. Personal Interview. 10-30-07.
Magder, Ted. Associate Professor of Culture and Communication at New York University. Personal Interview. 10-30-07.
Richard Wesley, Head of Dramatic Writing at New York University. Personal Interview. 10-30-07.
Brewer, Thomas. “The Robber Barons: Saints or Sinners?” Krieger: New York. 1976.
Diggs, Elizabeth. Associate Professor of Dramatic Writing at New York University. Personal Interview. 10-29-07
David, Henry. “The History of the Haymarket Affair: A Study in the American Social-Revolutionary and Labor Movements”. Russell and Russell: New York. 1958.
Public Domain Picture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:US68445.png
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