While this might be my favorite magazine and it might have my favorite TV writer of all time (Aaron Sorkin) featured, all I wanted to do was read the liner notes on the strike - in long form, from various writers perspectives.
In reading this I noticed the same human perspective we seem to see in local press regarding the strike - but not so much in national pubs … trades even.
It featured a working writer (that makes less than $100K a year) putting his spin on how he’s trying to freelance and scrape money together, while talking with his wife about the upcoming mortgage payment without worrying her and the kids, etc.
It’s a tough story, and well done - but instantly I thought - “hey this could easily be usurped in the media to the thousands of families losing their homes to adjusting mortgages, the 2008 election, the war in Iraq, etc.”
The writers aren’t going to be able to win this war through the media - they’ve got to win it where it counts, studios pocketbooks. If the low production costs of reality TV are able to offset the lost revenue in ad sales, make good’s etc, the studios might be able to hold out, if not - the writers have a real shot. Let’s see if things move forward this week. Here’s to hoping they do.
