The Strike by Hollywood Writers

On November 5, 2007, a planned strike of television, radio and screenplay writers, who work in the US for Eastern and Western branches of the Writers Guild of America, has started. This strike was a reaction on recent policies of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers regarding a new contract which must be signed with the Guilds. Basically, the writers insisted on increasing their shares of incomes coming from total sells of movies and TV series, both on DVDs and in Internet. However, the Alliance refused, that's why more than 12,000 American writers joined the walkout. The Guilds decided to continue striking until the sides of the conflict were able to compromise on all major issues.

Therefore, all the work of the Writers Guilds was terminated, and now this situation seriously affects production of the majority of American TV and radio shows, TV series, etc. It will undoubtedly bring to several millions dollars of losses and to certain negative economic outcomes. A great number of our popular programs, including the shows of Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno, as well as many other shows which are broadcasted in our best TV networks such as NBC, ABC, CBS or Fox, are currently having problems with finding good script writing personnel. Besides, production of popular TV series (including Prison Break, 24, Lost, CSI, Desperate Housewives and others) had to be terminated and postponed.

I support the position of the Writers Guilds because creating a good captivating script is a key element of making high-quality interesting shows or movies, and when the writers are not happy with the compensation they receive, no good TV or cinema products can be made. Therefore, such core democratic value as justice and being fair to other people must be taken into account. Besides, according to the information publicized, the writers have not only financial demands to be met. "The conglomerates always try to paint us as unreasonable and bellicose. Our proposals simply try to ensure that writers keep up with the industry's growth. That's fair and reasonable." (Writers Guild, East, 2007)

References

• Writers Guild of America, East. (2007). The Official Site of the Guild. Retrieved January 4, 2008, from: http://www.wgaeast.org/ .
• Writers Guild of America, West. (2007). The Official Site of the Guild. Retrieved January 4, 2008, from http://www.wga.org/.