The Writers' Sad Story

The Nation: Strike May Call Deserved Attention To Essential Yet Struggling Scribes

(The Nation)  This column was written by Barbara Ehrenreich.

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In solidarity with the striking screenwriters, there will be no laugh lines in this column, no stunning metaphors, and not many adjectives. Also, in solidarity with the striking Broadway stagehands, no theatrics, special effects or sing-along refrains.

Yes, I realize the strike could deprive millions of Americans of news as Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, and the rest of them are forced into re-runs. If the strike and the re-runs go on long enough, the same millions of Americans will be condemned to living in the past and writing in Kerry for president in 08. But are re-runs really such a bad thing? After opening night, every Broadway show is a re-run in perpetuity, yet people have been known to fly from Fargo to see Mamma Mia.

And yes, it's a crying shame that so many laugh-worthy news items will go unnoted on the late night talk shows: The discovery of Chinese toys coated with the date rape drug. The news that pot-smoking Swiss teenagers are as academically successful as abstainers and better socially adjusted. Bush's repeated requests for Musharraf to take off his uniform. Could there be a simple explanation for the powerful affinity between these two men?

True, a screenwriters' strike is not as emotionally compelling as a strike by janitors or farmworkers. Screenwriters are often well-paid -- when they are paid. All it takes is for a show to get cancelled or reconceptualized, and they're back on the streets again, hustling for work. I know a couple of them -- smart, funny women who clamber nimbly from one short-lived job to another, struggling to keep up their health insurance and self-respect.

But my selfish hope here is that the screenwriters' action will call attention to the plight of writers in general. Since I started in the freelancing business about thirty years ago, the per-word payment for print articles has remained exactly the same in actual, non-inflation-adjusted, dollars. Three dollars a word was pretty much top of the line, and it hasn't gone up by a penny. More commonly in the old days, I made a dollar a word, requiring me to write three or four 1000-word pieces a month to supply the children with their bagels and pizza. One for Mademoiselle on "The Heartbreak Diet." One for Ms. on "The Bright Side of the Man Shortage." One for Mother Jones on pharmaceutical sales scams, and probably a book review thrown in.

There was a perk, of course -- the occasional free lunch on an editor's expense account. These would occur in up-market restaurants where the price of lunch for two would easily exceed my family's weekly food budget, but I realized it would be gauche to bring a plastic baggie for the rolls. My job was to pitch story ideas over the field greens and tuna tartare, all the while marveling at the wealth that my writing helped generate, which, except for the food on my plate, went largely to someone other than me.

For print writers, things have gone steadily downhill. The number of traditional outlets -- magazines and newspapers -- is shrinking. Ms., for example, publishes only quarterly now, Mother Jones every two months, and Mademoiselle has long since said au revoir. You can blog on the Web of course, but that pays exactly zero. As for benefits: once the National Writers' Union offered health insurance, but Aetna dropped it and then Unicare found writers too sickly to cover. (You can still find health insurance, however, at www.freelancersunion.org.)

So, you may be thinking, who needs writers anyway? The truth is, no one needs any particular writer, just as no one needs any particular auto worker, stagehand, or janitor. But take us all away and TV's funny men will be struck mute, soap opera actors will be reduced to sighing and grunting, CNN anchors will have to fill the whole hour with chit chat about the weather, all greeting cards will be blank. Newspapers will consist of advertisements and movie listings; the Web will collapse into YouTube. A sad, bewildered, silence will come over the land.

Besides, anyone who's willing to stand up to greedy bosses deserves our support. A victory for one group, from Ford workers to stagehands, raises the prospects for everyone else. Who knows? If the screenwriters win, maybe some tiny measure of respect will eventually trickle down even to bloggers. So in further solidarity with striking writers, I'm going to shut up right now.

[vastr-wcon]

The WGA has given TV executives and TV viewers a GREAT opportunity. The best TV shows ever were made during the 50''s, 60''s, 70''s and 80''s. Bring them back. Ernie Kovacs, Steve Allen, Mary Tyler Moore, The *** Van *** Show, Jack Paar''s Tonight, Sid Caesar, The Bob Newhart Show, Johnny Carson''s Tonight, The Wild, Wild West, The Jack Benny Program, That Girl, The Avengers, Carol Burnett, Sonny and Cher, Jackie Gleason, Kraft Television Theater, Studio One, Philco Playhouse, Playhouse 90, Armstrong Television Theater, Rowan & Martin''s Laugh In, The Ed Wynn Show, The Saint, The Rifleman, Knight Rider, The Six Million Dollar Man, Mission Impossible, Superman, and on and on. Nothing created since even comes close (except Seinfeld). Make these classics the new stable for prime time TV on all networks. Bring back the best TV ever produced - and everybody wins, both young and old. After several months of seeing these classics, maybe, just maybe, the standard for acceptable TV will increase from its current toilet-level cr''ap-fest.

[enchantedfey]

And yet you still don''t get it. Those ''great'' shows were WRITTEN by someone. Most of them got even less then someone mopping the floor of those days. Infact those brilliant writers your touting now didn''t recieve a dime after their inital payment of squat and even now the Big Network Moguls are still getting money off those ''great shows''.

So while you''re pining for the glory days of tv, remember this, you can''t have the past with out the future and someone has to write that.

[eggy1620]

"But take us all away and TV''s funny men will be struck mute, soap opera actors will be reduced to sighing and grunting, CNN anchors will have to fill the whole hour with chit chat about the weather, all greeting cards will be blank. Newspapers will consist of advertisements and movie listings; the Web will collapse into YouTube."

And how is that prediction different from before the strike?

[daysing1]

What? No more anti-American, anti-military, anti-christian, anti-catholic, anti-family, profanity-laced, ***-filled, anti-conservative, television shows?

You mean no more programs where the smug, left-wing hero wins over the evil, conservative christian?

You mean no more programs where homosexuality, drugs, promiscuity, greed and avarice are not upheld as models of behavior?

Wow, this writer''s strike is sounding pretty good after all!

[libsluvsuvs]

oh well..liberal entertainment industry is gnawing on each other''s heels. good riddance!

[ee51269]

Wow, keep up that attitude and you WILL end up just like the automakers - a failure of autdated ideas due to being contractually obligated to pay salaries based on things other than performance.

The problem with unions is they limit the pay/salaries of those with exceptional performance who should be making more due, to the fact that those who perform under expectations must also be paid equivalently.

While they served their purpose at one point, today it seems more like failed socialism. Besides, why should the writers be financially rewarded for producing shows with record failure rates? And some wonder why reality tv does so well.

[jpletzke]

Hey Barbara-

You can find health insurance lots of places, not just freelancersunion. Many people will do better if they have a licensed, independent insurance agent at their side. Read free online resources and about my book "Get a Good Deal on Your Health Insurance Without Getting Ripped-Off" at www.BestHealthInsuranceBook.com. You can also look it up at Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com

-Jonathan Pletzke

[bobgee_1999]

I am amazed by people who gripe about the content of television. There was a time I didn''t care much for it myself, which is why I haven''t watched TV in 25 years. Television is NOT a necessity of human life.

That being said, those of you who DO watch TV ought to be supporting the writer''s strike. Writers are the chosen people.