Monday, November 12, 2007

Viva La Resistance

Hollywood writers are on strike and I support them. Writing is an art, and no one is willing to pay for quality art. So few quality painters, writers, and other creative artists make a good living at their craft for most of their early life. A few lucky ones get recognized shortly before they die and have a few comfortable late years.
But mostly they struggle. They don’t get the bizillions of dollars that actors and actresses make for saying lines written for them and showing a little skin. And the ones that make the big money aren’t even creative.
The CEOs in charge of the networks and production companies, even though they deal with it everyday, must just see creativity as a commodity. Art is not something you can just mine out of the ground and affix a price based on demand.
Art takes constant study so repetition and cliché can be avoided. Art is a craft that takes constant honing and there are dry spells. Writers need those extra residuals to survive the dry spells, because not everything put to paper sells or is worth selling.
So I say hold out writers, hold out until you get what’s due you. And America turn off your TVs and stop going to the movies; put the crunch on the deep pockets that deserve it.
They tried to put writers on a leash with Reality TV years ago, and to some degree it worked. We are still suffering with Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader, Kid Nation, and etc. I can’t go on anymore…
I need intelligent humor and intricate plot lines or I will go back to reading books; I mean it.