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[Slayven]

Heroes
Eli Stone
Pushing Daises
Desperate Housewives
House
Terminator
24

Among many others all affected, some were ruined.
(these are personal ones I actually cared about)


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_the_2007–08_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike_on_television

Damn did Heroes get hit hard. It's literally flipped a switch on quality

 

[NetMapel]

Oh fuck the fuck off. The last writer's strike ruined my career trajectory in the picture editing side of things and I spent years to get into the sound side of post-production, and am finally hitting something of a stride after a few major setbacks. If writers strike again, fuck them.

Or another way to end the strike as fast as possible would be for every grunts in entertainment to go on strike along with the workers. Production and post production. I don't know about the sound side, but unfortunately the vfx side isn't exactly organized. If we have a union, I'd think it's in all of our best interest to strike together for force a quick resolution in favour of the writers.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Damn did Heroes get hit hard. It's literally flipped a switch on quality

Yup.

And massive plot points just abandoned

Spoiler

in a future that never happened

 

[Zombine]

Guess what film we got out of this mess last time?

Transformers 2

Metal. Transformer. Testacles.

 

[SArcher]

Prison Break got hit hard by the first strike as well.

 

[SCULLIBUNDO]

How does that work out on a per-writer basis? If less films are being made, surely less writers are writing them.

Has to do with the % a writer takes home from the production budget vs the past. Or the amount a writer is paid per draft.

Most writers will tell you to ignore whatever the backend deal is (usually 2.5%) because studio accounting means a writer will never see any of it.

 

[Spider from Mars]

Looking forward to the shitty James Bond reboot.

Quantum is a top Bond film and is much better than Spectre, so if they strike can fix my beloved Jimbo, then bring it on!

 

[shingi70]

Yup.

And massive plot points just abandoned

Spoiler

in a future that never happened

They took the comic inspiration to heart.

 

[Stinkles]

The bad writing happening during a writers strike is often by writers, not hobbyist executives. Including folks who previously wrote good stuff. A magical script can easily be destroyed in direction and editing and acting just as a bad script can be elevated by those things.


A writer strike will be bad for writing, no doubt, but simply listing shows and movies from that period is not the whole story. For example most of the transformers movies were NOT created during the writer strike.

 

[CyclopsRock]

Has to do with the % a writer takes home from the production budget vs the past. Or the amount a writer is paid per draft.

Most writers will tell you to ignore whatever the backend deal is (usually 2.5%) because studio accounting means a writer will never see any of it.

I don't understand how this answers my question though? They're giving raw numbers and saying "Look, it's gone down", but if less films are being made then surely you need less writers. So is the pay that each writer received going down? It may well be, but that number doesn't tell us.

On a separate note, I don't see why a writer would (or should?) get paid a percentage of the production budget. The two seem about as unrelated as it's possible to be whilst still being part of the same project.

 

[Faddy]

Quantum is a top Bond film and is much better than Spectre, so if they strike can fix my beloved Jimbo, then bring it on!

Quantum is arguably the best written Bond movie.


Wasn't the last writers strike about streaming royalties and digital distribution. And everyone thought the writers were idiots for taking a stand over a nascent revenue stream. See South Park: Canada on Strike episode.

Now people make good livings off streaming/video services and the best part of the TV industry is On Demand services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.

 

[Ahasverus]

Maybe they should get bettee at writing too, I've never seen worse written stuff as in these last years.

 

[afternoon delight]

As someone literally applying for staff writing jobs in May, lmao

Edit: and one fucking love to post production people, I too am glad I have pinkies and toes in making as well. Film and TV people, you're a wild and great bunch in all aspects!

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

The bad writing happening during a writers strike is often by writers, not hobbyist executives. Including folks who previously wrote good stuff. A magical script can easily be destroyed in direction and editing and acting just as a bad script can be elevated by those things.


A writer strike will be bad for writing, no doubt, but simply listing shows and movies from that period is not the whole story. For example most of the transformers movies were NOT created during the writer strike.

The stuff I listed was legitimately affected.
Heroes for example had a 24 episode order, 11 episodes were made before the strike.
0 were made for the remainder of that season.
They literally cut 2 or 3 season arcs completely despite setting them up.

That also becomes a ratings issue when a show going badly suddenly ends at the beginning of December and disappears till nearly the following October.

 

[Staccat0]

So you are saying Jessie Pinkman will get to live again???

 

[adamsappel]

Best of luck to the writers.

They're also more directly responsible for the content you're working on existing at all.

Maybe this Oscars will have everyone who wins an award forget to thank the writer who dreamed up the idea as well.

Off topic, but there are a lot of writers in this thread, so...

Any advice from yall on getting into screenwriting?

Write scripts. Send query letters to agents.

Damn it. I just want to write for tv. (My dream would be to get a job on a show like Supernatural, but I doubt I'd finish my degree in time anyhow)

Your film school isn't teaching talent. Nobody cares about your degree, you're just making contacts. A good script is a good script. Have you written any spec scripts? Try writing one for a dead tv show. Try a few different genres. You're not even necessarily trying to get the scripts you write sold, but showing that you can do the work.