Food for thought: Random tidbits, anecdotes and factoids relating to the strike

This isn’t exactly a Zeitgeist posting (for one thing, it’s notably lacking in Stephen Colbert coverage), but I’ve noticed a number of items over the past week or so that struck me, one way or another. I wanted to share them with you.

• The folks over at www.unitedhollywood.com have put together a video blog of WGA activities. Check it out here.
• Seen in a Reuters article earlier in the week: “The union says the total compensation package sought by writers would cost $220 million over three years, a fraction of the $24.4 billion in revenues generated by U.S. DVD sales and rentals last year alone, according to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.” Smart move, studios. If anyone owns any stock in the conglomerates who own the studios, I think this would be worth mentioning at the next shareholder meeting.
• Seen in a comment on Deadline Hollywood Daily:
  

  Whoever gets the final negotations going, don’t let American writers
  become (or should I say remain?) a laughingstock in comparison to
  their European cousins: British writers get 5.6% royalties.

  So don’t settle for point-s#!tty or even 1% residuals, Writers.

  Below is the exact response I got from the Writers Guild of Great Britain
  to my question about what they make off of internet downloads:

  “Thanks very much for your enquiery, the WGGB does receive 5.6% royalties for video and dvd (also called the multi-media royalty). If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to email or call. I hope this has been of some help.

  Regards,
  Erik Pohl
  Admin Assistant
  The Writers Guild of Great Britain
  0207 833 0777
  admin@writersguild.org.uk”

  Comment by Travis Fields — November 7, 2007 @ 9:18 pm

• Seen in a comment left on the TWoP boards:
  

  Regarding the controversy over the WGA salary structure (residuals, etc.), I forget where I read it, but one of the best analogies compared the situation to that of a waiter/waitress when people started to use credit cards in restaurants. The waiter/waitress receives a base salary that is less than minimum wage, but expects to make the rest of her/his income in tips. The restaurant owner (studio) tells the server (writer) they can have anything the patron leaves on the table in cash. People start paying with credit cards, and the owner still tells the server they can have anything the patron leaves on the table in cash. The server points out to the owner that nobody is leaving cash on the table and the owner tells the server they can have anything the patron leaves on the table in cash.

• Want to know exactly whom the WGA is striking against? There’s a comprehensive list posted at the WGAE’s site.
• Tales of the teamsters who are honoring the picket lines:
• From unitedhollywood.com:
  

  On Day 2 many more people used the Madison Gate. At our location, as around the studio, lots of cars passed by, honking their horns in support. More actors came out. Drivers too are showing that they back our effort. Two teamsters refused to enter the lot when they saw our pickets.

  One truck, on Culver, was about to enter a side gate, when he saw the pickets and refused to enter. Guards from the studio were forced to unload his truck on the street. The milk man would not cross our picket lines, so the guards make the trek, back and forth, their arms loaded down with milk. The other truck, I’m told, was in the left turn lane about to enter the Overland lot, when he decided he couldn’t cross the picket line. His response was dramatic: he left his truck idling in the street and walked away.

• Deadline Hollywood Daily also heard about the idling truck (photo at the link): “Also at Sony, a teamster parked his truck in the left-hand turn lane of the Sony main gate and just left it there from about 10 AM to 11:30 AM this morning.”
• Same source: “At CBS on Beverly Boulevard (the Genesee Gate) on the morning shift, Tom Bergeron, the host of Dancing With The Stars, came out to greet picketers and handed out Starbucks gift cards as token of support. Then, a teamster driver for Yellow Transportation pulled his 18-wheeler to a halt and said he would not cross the picket line to deliver to the lot, eliciting cheers from the picketers who gave him their Starbucks gift cards.”