Writers' strike rant

[matrixrefugee]

Okay, I'll say this much: I understand *why* they're on strike, or at least the part about them wanting a cut from DVD sales. But for the stuff on the Internet, I know this means we're going to have to pay to download archived episodes of stuff on, say CBS.com as a for-instance. I'm not looking forward to getting hit in the wallet when I want/need to watch an episode of something to catch up on the series. "Moonlight" and especially "Supernatural" are a good examples, since the stories have something of a continuous plotline.

The strike is almost at the three month mark and I wish they'd work something out soon. I can't help thinking of the guys and gals on the camera crews who've been out of work since production shut down on their regular TV show gigs. Have the writers thought about who they would be hurting by their actions? I think if I was in the WGA, I wouldn't be going along with the strike; I've been a minimum wage working stiff for too many years to do something that I know would hurt the guys and gals manning the cameras and rigging the lights and dressing the sets and making the costumes, the "people in the shadows, pulling all the strings and making [the show] possible", as Lambert Wilson called them.

I think these people should be grateful they have a job in which they can utilize their talents; I'd like to see one of them trade places with me, working a thankless retail job just to pay my bills and thus not always having the energy or the self-esteem to write after a long day of chasing other peoples' errant toddlers or wrangling with old ladies about the high price of eggs (though the Active Healing exercises are helping me deal with that). I think some of them may need to down-size their lifestyles: from what I hear, they make more money from a script than I make in a month, even when you factor in my disability check.

I'm sorry, enough is enough. I just want to be able to watch my shows and not get stuck with dangling plotlines. How is Sam Winchester going to break Dean's deal with the demons? Will Coraline's vampirism cure really work? And if they ever get "Shark" back in production, how are they going to handle Jeri Ryan's pregnancy; is there something we don't know about what her character and Sebastian have been up to...?

:: Uses the Morrigan icon because she's that annoyed::

Comments

[nightofcydonia.livejournal.com]

I'm not looking forward to getting hit in the wallet when I want/need to watch an episode of something to catch up on the series. "Moonlight" and especially "Supernatural" are a good examples, since the stories have something of a continuous plotline.

Try YouTube. You'd be amazed at what they've got on there, I've been using it to catch up on missed episodes of Doctor Who (a very long running and rather brillient British sci-fi series). Myspace video is also quite good, although so far I've only watched anime on there so I'm not sure what it's like for American live action stuff.
~Weaver

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

I might bite the bullet and take the MySpace video route; YouTube has started getting aggressive in taking stuff down for "copyright violation": someone posted several episodes of "Death Note", and later in the very same day they'd posted them, said episodes got pulled. Owch!

[nightofcydonia.livejournal.com]

Just so you know, you don't need a MySpace account to watch the videos. I've vowed never to get a MySpace page (mainly because I fail to see the point of the whole thing), but I still used it to watch every single episode of Trinty Blood. Regarding the copyright thing, I think things are a bit more relaxed on this side of the Atlantic, to the point of my having come across a YouTube account for the BBC. Then again, that might be due to the BBC being funded by TV licences, so they get paid regardless of who watches what where. I like to think that this system leads to better shows and said shows actually getting to stick around (I'm proud to say that the BBC is the home of the longest running sci-fi program in existance). If you hadn't mentioned that you need another fandom like a hole in the head, I'd recommend some to you.
~Weaver

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think Japanese copyright laws are similarly easy-going, as long as you aren't trying to claim someone else's copyrighted stuff is yours when it clearly isn't; I hear a *lot* of manga artists, including the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist, got started drawing fan-comics based off other folks' work.

Just for chuckles, I typed uk.youtube.com into my browser's address bar: WOW! Success at finding lots of great things that the American YouTube would have yanked within a day of it being posted.

[nightofcydonia.livejournal.com]

There's different versions of YouTube? Huh, you learn something new every day. The only time I've heard of stuff getting yanked off YouTube were when the original owners complained, which in one case was because someone had managed to get hold of and post a couple of episodes before they were even aired (I still haven't worked out how they managed that). I guess they must just automatically yank anything that's copyrighted over on your side of the pond, which probably means that they put a lot of time and effort into monitering things. I suspect that the laid back state of affairs over here isn't to do with relaxed copyright laws so much as the people in charge realising that it's probably not worth the effort, kinda like how no one really bothers with chasing fanficcers. But I might be wrong about that.
~Weaver

shark

[(Anonymous)]

And if they ever get "Shark" back in production, how are they going to handle Jeri Ryan's pregnancy; is there something we don't know about what her character and Sebastian have been up to...?

don't make me puke!

Re: shark

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

Eh, it was meant to be a joke, albeit not in the best of taste, heh.