March 18th, 2008 Riley
Hope springs eternal doesn’t it?
I am well aware that Women’s Murder Club is on ABC, a network that gave the first lesbian character in a soap opera more kisses from men than women. I am well aware that Women’s Murder Club is based on a series of novels, in which Lindsay Boxer can’t seem to get enough penile injections. I am well aware that prime time TV includes homo boys and girls in numbers far below their estimated proportion in society. I am well aware that this show is never, ever going to go there. These things I know. And yet… when I saw this story it still made me weepy.
You see, as long as our girls are both single, I can hold out hope, I can imagine what they are doing when the cameras aren’t rolling, I can pretend that they are keeping their relationship on the down-low because they want to be each other’s dirty little secret. I can think sexy!
But apparently the powers that be have decided that our favorite Inspector can get it on with a blonde hotel guy just as easily as a brunette FBI guy, and that the lightning in a bottle that is real on-screen chemistry should be avoided at all costs once again.
Shame. I’d already picked out a lovely O’Keefe print for Lindsay and Cindy’s commitment ceremony. Flowers, obviously, not cow skulls.
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January 12th, 2008 Riley
This headline? Absolutely false. But it would be kind of humorous if it were true. I think, if Tom Hanks had actually threatened this, people would be like, “He didn’t eat when he filmed Castaway either. BFD.”
So, he is urging the studios to end the strike so that he can accept his next Oscar… er… because he doesn’t want to see the beautiful ceremony that is the Academy Awards screwed up. Oh yes. How would we all go through the rest of the year without our annual dosage of interpretive dance or montages of dead people?
And, of course, this end to the writers’ strike isn’t going to stop the actors from striking later this spring, but that’s all good, because Tom only needs one night free of union disputes. Oscar night… when he can accept his gold trophy and thank Julia Roberts for being such a consummate performer.
Tom, I want to help you out, so here’s an idea. Maybe you should offer up 5% of your salary. Yes, Tom, a mere 1 million of your usual 20 million per picture could help bring an end to the standoff. So, the studios are greedy. It doesn’t mean you have to be.
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December 11th, 2007 Riley
In L.A., the writers still walk the picket lines and tense talks are on again, off again. Here, I consider becoming a drunk. Whether or not it’s a rumor, I cannot with any accuracy say. I am an outsider, not privy to the inner workings of the Hollywood mind. But, the story goes that, at an event this week in L.A., it was revealed that the Disney Fellowships are on hold until the conclusion of the writers’ strike.
As you probably know, I am on hold waiting for some sort of response from the Disney Fellowship committee. It looks now as if my wait time has just increased. But, maybe that’s a good thing. I could be in wait for my celebratory dance or I could be in wait to find out, again, that my best just isn’t good enough.
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November 28th, 2007 Riley
This question was posed by Team Tripe just yesterday. I don’t know the answer, but God I hope not. I know I shouldn’t want it as much as I do. It’s a surefire way to get take an incredible beating from reality. But I do want it. I really do. The script that I sent in is deserving. The extra writing samples I sent, in the forms of a bio and statement of interest, are worthy too. I know this, because I spent a lot of time on them, and I was actually completely pleased with the results. For me, that is a rare thing.
And, if the writer’s strike is still happening, and I do get it (Please! Please! Please!), will that make me a scab, as Team Tripe discussed. I hope not, because I can’t think ’scab’ without thinking about the scene from Newsies where the scabs are buying their papes to sell and the Newsies are all waiting outside the gates for them, and then Jack Kelly yells “Let’s soak ‘em for Crutchy!”
I don’t want soaked.
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November 17th, 2007 Riley
Is the writers’ strike really working? According to AOL news, several studios have either suspended casts of their shows at half-pay or put them on unpaid hiatus (which is apparently against SAG’s contract). You can see the story here. Now, getting only half of an ungodly sum of money is still getting a lot of money for nothing, which I guess is why Steve Carell felt so comfy not coming into the set after the strike began. I too would like to get paid half of a whole lot to stay home and play Zelda on the Wii. But, the fact is this, some actors are going to lose their jobs from this, some writers are going to lose their jobs from this, some shows are going to be cancelled, and some will just never recover in the ratings.
I am not with the studios by any means. But the fact is, the writers are always getting screwed by the studios, from paltry pay (Why does Tom Cruise make $20 million for a film, while the writer who gives him the blueprint of exactly what to do on screen only makes, maybe, $1 million for the same film?) to meager residual payouts. Basically, they are just like every other employee in America.
Does Ford pay their employees a fair wage? Sure, the pay is better than most. But is it really a fair wage in comparison to their profits. Of course not. In every company in this country, the people at the top make all of the money, while the people in the lower echelon do all of the work for chump change. Hollywood works no differently. It’s a whole lot of shit, but it’s nothing the television audience doesn’t deal with in their own lives.
Take an administrative assistant. Often possesses more knowledge than the boss, like how to change the printer cartridge or use Excel, and usually gets burdened with the majority of the work… for $10 an hour. There’s no time to worry about whether or not the wage is “fair”. Of course it’s not fair! But these people are just a little too busy trying to survive on $10 an hour in a $30 an hour world.
As a writer, I really want to stand with the strikers, but as a person, I can’t help but wonder if all of the people in Hollywood don’t need a bit of a reality check.
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November 8th, 2007 Riley
So, Oprah has removed The Education of Little Tree from her website. As well she should if it no longer belongs there. It doesn’t change the fact that she was once moved by the novel.
So was I.
And maybe all at the hands of a white supremacist.’
Author Sherman Alexie had this to say “‘Little Tree’ is a lovely little book, and I sometimes wonder if it is an act of romantic atonement by a guilt-ridden white supremacist, but ultimately I think it is the racial hypocrisy of a white supremacist.”
Before I found this quote, I’d had the same notion, about it being an act of atonement. After all, Forrest Carter, aka Asa Earl Carter, went to great lengths to hide his past in the later part of his life. Maybe there was no shame. Maybe he was just doing it to sell books. But I don’t want to think that. Not today. Maybe tomorrow I’ll too think that The Education of Little Tree was “racial hypocrisy,” but, today, I would like to think that it was meant as atonement, and that there is such a thing as redemption.
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November 5th, 2007 Riley
Do not mistake me. I am not on the side of the money in this particular showdown. Who am I kidding? I am never on the side of the money. However, there are times when logic niggles at the back of my brain and makes me think things in stark contrast to what I want to believe. At this time of great need, as the writers are striking, and sunny southern California looks bleak with despair, I believe that there is an impasse and the writers may well be shooting themselves in their collective foots. Yes, there is a whole lot of unfairness alive in the city of fake skylines and inflated breasts, but, sadly, there are really good reasons the writers should accept the meager scraps thrown to them and go back to work.
1. Reality TV. This is no big shocker. The writers themselves know exactly how much of a threat is posed by the reality genre. Reality TV = no writers necessary. The studios already know this. Reality is cheaper to produce and brings in bigger viewership numbers than many of the scripted shows. Quit reminding them of this fact!
2. Your hit shows are going to tank. Question… how long do you think the attention span of the American public is? I’m sorry… what was the question? It’s not long. Something that is a hot new show going into the strike may be forgotten about completely coming out of the strike. This is especially true for shows that are unique and different, like Pushing Daisies. So, when you get a compromise that suits you and you are ready to return to the writers’ room, you may find that people have lost interest and you no longer have a job to go back to.
3. The world is chock full of pinch-hitters. All of the writers with the WGA are on strike and can’t steal your job, you say? There are an awful lot of writers out there who are not members of the WGA, I volley back at you. Call them what you will. Wannabes. Amateurs. As writers, I would hope you have some clever turns of phrase much more interesting than these. The fact is, though, that there are a few extremely talented people waiting in the alley who just haven’t figured out how to make their way into the theater. If you leave the stage door open, they will find their way inside, and, since they are not members of the guild, they are free to accept work and get paid. There are also writers making a living in other countries, who are not subject to the same rules as you. What an excellent opportunity for them to sell their works over here.
4. The viewers don’t support you. It’s not right, but it’s the truth. When you strike, the public gets mad. How can they do that? How can they make us watch reruns like that? How can they put poor defenseless actors out of work? They must be snooty, uppity, unkind people. Remember, you are writers. People think this about you anyway. When you strike, viewers just get angry, whereas, when actors strike, the viewers are right there behind them. You should get paid more, lovely on-screen talent. We love you! You make us swoon!
5. The WGA lower echelon will be forced into retail work. What were the two sticking points of this contract again? Oh yeah. DVD residuals and internet downloads, two things that have absolutely no effect at all on a majority of working writers. So you have been working for the past decade on numerous prime time shows, collecting your fairly decent paycheck per job and putting it away into savings and real estate. This is called a stock-pile, a stock-pile of funds and possessions which can keep you quite comfortable for quite some time. Don’t feel bad about that. You earned it. The guy that just sold his first screenplay though, last year to a small production company for the WGA minimum of right around $56,000 and hasn’t sold anything since, he doesn’t have that kind of a stockpile. He paid his dues to the WGA so that he would be protected, but now he can’t sell anything without reprimand. His money is running out and for no reason that helps him in the end. Let the little guy work, before he has to get a job at the GAP.
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November 5th, 2007 Riley
Today’s lesson is on inequality. Let’s talk compensation in Hollywood.
While I have previously stated that the writer’s in Hollywood are well-paid (the ones who are actually working anyway) and I stand by that, I would now like to flip this coin to tails and inspect the other side.
As someone who writes regularly for no pay at all, other than the perk of personal gratification, I do sometimes envy the pay of Hollywood writers. Here is the schedule of WGA minimums that was ineffective prior to the current strike.
WGA rates
So, what do we know from this contract?
A screenplay sold to a WGA signatory is worth a minimum of $56,500 for the writer.
A television show of 30 minutes or less (all sitcoms) earns a writer $15,031.
A television show of 60 minutes or less (all dramas and just about everything else on TV) earns a writer $20,278.
The pay for the TV shows listed here is based on just the teleplay. It does not include coming up with the story. Then, the pay is higher.
Now, as a writer, as of yet unpaid for her genius works, these numbers look damn good. However, here is where the system fails. Badly.
The minimum pay above for the screenplay of $56,500 is for a film with a budget under 5 million dollars. 5 million dollars? And all that they can come up with to pay the writer is a little over 50 grand?
For a film with a budget over 5 million, $106,070 is the minimum pay. Wow, nice chunk of change, unless you consider the fact that this includes films with a 300 million dollar budget. On a film like this, the leading actor, the Tom Cruise, the Will Smith, the Harrison Ford, gets paid 20 million dollars. The writer could make as little as $106,070. So what?, you say. Of course, the actors get paid big money. They bring in the audience. And you are right. Except, of course, for the fact that without the writers, there would be no freakin’ movie. Without the writers, these actors would just stand on screen doing nothing.
For the television shows, same issue. In comparison to the budget, the writers’ pay is, how shall I say?, paltry. When Everybody Loves Raymond went off the air, Ray Romano was making $1.8 million dollars per episode. The writers who toiled away behind the scenes, giving Ray Romano those funny words to say, could have been making as little as $15,031.
Looking at these numbers gives a perfect indication of the writers’ role as serfs in the Hollywood system. Point being? Maybe the WGA is striking for the wrong reasons.
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November 5th, 2007 Riley
So, the writers are striking and I saw Tom Cruise on TV over the weekend saying that he hoped the writers and studios could come to an agreement so that they could all get back to what they really want to do, which, of course, is making films. That’s a cute sound bite and all, but I’m going to take it with a grain of salt, considering the fact that T.C. makes twenty million dollars a film and there is an actors’ strike looming as well. But, man, did getting a superstar actor in front of the cameras to say that all he wanted to do was make movies make the writers look small and petty. Well played, Hollywood, well played.
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November 4th, 2007 Riley
So, J.K. Rowling has gone and done it, completed her first post-Harry Potter offering, the fairy tale book with the above title that was first mentioned in Deathly Hallows. Can’t wait? Better get over it. Six of them were given as gifts within the intimate circle. The remaining one will be auctioned off for charity.
It’s a wonderful thing to be charitable, but just a thought. Giving the proceeds garnered from the millions upon millions of sales that The Tales of Beedle the Bard would surely garner if it were released to the entire public would be considerably more charitable than giving the proceeds from a purchase by one wealthy person. Not to mention, it would be rather charitable to all of those Potter fans desperate for one last frolic in the world of magic.
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