Writer's Strike

Oh, they might say it's about the money but we all really know the Writer's Guild of America is going on strike so they can concentrate on their NaNo novels.

Okay, so, really, the impasse is all about the money. Simply put, the writers want a bigger slice of the revenue from so-called new media. That's things like the internet, online distribution, and cell phones along with the, by now, more traditional DVDs. The relative percentage of a studio's profits those online sales bring in are small at this point. But only going to increase in the future as we transition to an on-demand entertainment world. The real prize are the DVD sales that make up a huge amount of the money content producers bring in. The studios say it's too early and they need to see how they develop before they start dividing up the profits and locking themselves in to an economic model. But the WGA wants to get a bigger slice of the pie now while the getting is good.

Personally, I don't have much of a side to pick in this fight (I tend to support the writers but that's because I'm a capitalism hating flaming liberal who thinks that companies could share a lot more of their profits with their workers but the studios have a point here that things are really in flux in the digital realm. But the WGA has a point that this is the best time to negotiate favorable rates for themselves, so...) beyond that it's going to disrupt my viewing patterns. The late night talk show which went on during the last writer's strike are going to be the first casualties here. That means no Daily Show, no Colbert Report, no Conan, and nothing but a vast wasteland of repeats.