Comments on: Man the Geek Barricades: Hollywood's Digital Strike

By: Striking Out on Creating an Internet Hit | BoomTown | Kara Swisher | AllThingsD

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:23:44 +0000

[...] John Aboud, who is a strike captain for WGA, noted in a comment to my post Monday on the strike, that even with all the money Hollywood has made, that most writers are not well paid (although [...]

By: Kara Swisher

Kara Swisher — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:55:03 +0000

By the way, I did a longer post chastising Zucker for that comment and others, which I posted more fully about here:

http://kara.allthingsd.com/200.....to-lemons/

By: Kara Swisher

Kara Swisher — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:52:24 +0000

John,

I appreciate your info. I will incorporate your thoughts in a post I am doing this week.

By: John Aboud

John Aboud — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 08:10:35 +0000

And as for your characterization of content creators as “largely overpaid,” well, if only that were true! That would be great.

In fact, the median earnings of all members of the Writers Guild is only $5,000.

How can that be? About 48% of members do not earn any money from writing in a given year.

Of those writers who do make some money, one quarter earn less than $37,700 a year.

A recent study concluded only 20% of writers already employed would be employed on a TV series for all of the next five years. Another 20% would not be employed at all in the next 5 years.

Overpaid? Nope. This fight is not for the elite writers who are household names. This is for the average writer who just wants to make a living in what is a thriving and growing industry.

By: John Aboud

John Aboud — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 07:57:54 +0000

Ah, my dear Kara, you left out the most interesting Zucker quote from his interview: "Apple sold millions of dollars worth of hardware off the back of our content, and made a lot of money," Zucker said. "They did not want to share in what they were making off the hardware or allow us to adjust pricing." Now that's a situation that resonates with us writers. When someone makes a lot of money off the back of your content and doesn't want to share with a reasonable and fair formula, well, it stings doesn't it? We're with you, Jeff! Kara, I am a Strike Captain for the WGA, and I encourage all your readers to check out our side of things at United Hollywood, the new blog about our contract fight and why it matters to EVERYONE in the entertainment business. As our contract goes, so go the contracts of all the other guilds and unions. The Teamsters recognize this, and that's why they've chosen to put their own livelihoods on the line to help make this strike as effective and short as possible. The distribution of entertainment over the Internet is not the future, it's NOW. If the producers succeed in gutting our right to compensation for digital reuse and delivery, that is income that's gone forever. And a lot of people's ability to work will be gone forever. Everyone who hopes to make a living in Hollywood is counting on us to get this right and win a fair contract. As the writers go, so goes the rest of the town. Again, that blog is United Hollywood.