>Winning hearts, minds begins with WGA's own
>By Ray Richmond
>
>Oct 26, 2007
>I know there are big complex issues dividing the Writers Guild of
>America and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers in
>advance of Wednesday's contract deadline that might result in a walkout
>by WGA membership. But before things veer out of control, allow me to
>reduce this to its simplest essence.
>
>If you have no writers, you have no film. Or TV series. Or miniseries.
>You also don't have a "reality" series, the ridiculous notion that those
>aren't at least partially scripted notwithstanding. If producers insist
>on keeping those projects non-WGA, then I'm wondering if they might at
>least agree to sign a stipulation to the effect that no one on the shows
>ever were made to do or say anything based on an instruction read off of
>a piece of paper or computer monitor. Methinks not.
>
>This fight over so-called unscripted programming -- which is no longer a
>simple matter of semantics but quite frankly one of outright deception
>-- is certain to be one of the key stumbling blocks to any agreement.
>It's at the core of the division even more so than anything involving
>shares of the Internet and DVD pie or even any refashioning of how
>residuals get paid.
>
>The AMPTP believes it has an ace up its sleeve this time in the event of
>a WGA strike. It's the ability of the broadcast networks to plug in
>reality TV shows for months and months, even beyond slating what's
>already stockpiled. Producers get a free pass because the WGA has
>allowed the charade of these being purportedly unwritten to roll forth
>without banding against it in unified and forceful fashion. It would
>seem that if the union doesn't hold firm now, it never will.
>
>http://tinyurl.com/2gzdm2
>
>[
>Because reality shows are supposedly unscripted, the performers aren't
>paid like real actors; they're not protected by state laws and Hollywood
>guidelines and union contracts like real actors; and the shows can even
>hire non-union writers to storyboard them on the grounds that the shows
>are "unscripted". That makes the production costs so low that the shows
>can prosper even with lower ratings.
>
>The writers' strike may give fans of reality shows with
>less-than-stellar ratings, like Amazing Race and Kid Nation, cause for
>hope. If the writers' strike persisted, the networks might be forced to
>order additional seasons of these shows in order to fill the gap.
>]