Pencils Down

Pencils down. That is the slogan for Hollywood writers right now. The strike has begun. This strike comes after 20 years of blissful working. The last industry wide strike was 1988(Cieply, M, 2007.) The strike began Monday morning with writers and actors picketing.

Why strike? Well it seems in a world where technology is ever changing and at lighting speeds the payments are not. The writers are seeking increased revenues in new areas such as DVD and internet sales. Writers believe that if the studio is making fistfuls of cash selling season three of the Office that they should get some of the pie as well.

The strike will effect not only those involved but anyone who subscribes to cable or satellite television. If writers are not working it is only matter of time before material for television shows run out. If the strike goes on for months the only thing on could be reruns. Here we are the paying customers for certain shows and programs and we could be left with nothing new to watch. Let’s face it we only watch ten or so of the 150 channels we get.

It seems that most shows have stopped production all ready. So now not only are we the viewer being affected but, the guy who changes light bulbs on an hourly wage too. Think about all the people behind the scenes that it takes to make a show work. The people who are good with hammers and screwdrivers are the people going to be hurt by this strike.

I think Arnold Schwarzenegger said it best "I think that's the sad story, because the studio executives are not going to suffer, the union leaders are not going to suffer, the writers that are striking, they are not going to suffer. Those are all people that have money," when speaking about the behind the scenes workers (CBS News, 2007.) For the people involved on both sides with the type of money they make it seems to me, they are crying over spilled milk

Reference

CBS News. (2007, November 10). Pressure mounts to restart writers talks. Retrieved November 12, 2007, from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/10/ap/entertainment/

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Cieply, M. (2007, November 2). Writers say strike to start monday. Retrieved November 12, 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/business/media/02cnd-hollywood.html