> For one, those not covered by the WGA contract don't
> get residuals....
Those not covered by the WGA contract aren't striking, right? :)
> In this way of putting things he unknowing puts on the glasses
> of the corporations in order to see things.
I think you're reading too much into this; I was just responding to the original poster's idea that something *new* is happening, which I don't think is true: the current contract gets residuals, just not what the WGA thinks they should get. How much should they get? Beats me. Some people have have the leverage in different situations to get residuals, and some don't. I've been on both sides of these things in my own work (technology), and I have mixed feelings; sometimes that I really wanted a piece of the action it wound up being worth it; others not so much. And vice-versa.
> Imagine a situation where a novelist writes a book and not only does
> the publisher profit from all subsequent publications of the book but
> the novelist does not get paid for subsequent republishing of the
> book, can't reuse the characters in the book himself, cannot write a
> sequel to the book, and if the book falls out of print can't try to
> republish the book somewhere else.
You mean like how most musicians work? :-)
> So called "intellectual property" is a unique product.
I guess you're pressing for my personal opinion, which you (incorrectly) think I expressed in my earlier message as "Yay! Corporations are great!" ... My personal position is that 99.9% of TV is crap anyway, and I have a TV only really to watch movies, and I don't even really watch that many. If the WGA thinks they can get more money out of Big Media, more power to 'em. I really don't give a hoot one way or the other, and I'm not bothered by the fact that there is a lot "less TV" during the strike; I'm not even particularly bothered that non-union folks are out of work because of it. My lack of a strong opinion one way or another is probably more a reflection of my own cynical approach to the value of intellectual property: most of it is worthless or soon will be.
I feel that the amount of time and effort that has been spent on this issue is out of proportion to it's position in my world. If I thought about it, I could engage you on multiple points of multiple topics in your long, probably well-intentioned and -considered message about all the Issues At Hand. But really, it's a beautiul day out and I'm going to go enjoy it.
Maybe that makes me some kind of Corporate Tool, but really I think it just makes me someone who really doesn't give a flying fuck about TV. The WGA being on strike means as much to me as when the baseball union was on strike; but that doesn't mean that I'm anti-union; and I don't think it means I'm pro-media-consolidation.
/jordan