Saturday, December 8, 2007

The Writers' Strike is Important


Quote of the day:
"I was inspired by the marvelous example of Giacometti, the great sculptor. He always said that his dream was to do a bust so small that it could enter a matchbook, but so heavy that no one could lift it. That's what a good book should be."
--Elie Wiesel, talking about his memoir “Night.”

The Hollywood writers’ strike has gone on for a month, and the world has not stopped. Yet. If the production of “Friday Night Lights” is held up, I am going to be annoyed.

With the level of money so many of these writers make, it’s hard to feel much sympathy. But the strike rests on an important principle, which is that creative control should be in the hands of those with creative talent, not in the hands of those with no creative talent.

The writer and producer Marshall Herskovitz made this point very well in a Los Angeles Times column on November 8th. He says the current problem started when the Federal Communications Commission abolished the financial interest and syndication rules.

These were classic anti-trust regulations that prohibited networks from owning the programs they broadcast. Under these regulations, dozens of independent production companies thrived.

Since the repeal of the regulations, all of these companies have been forced out of business. The four networks essentially have a stranglehold on all production.

Just as in so many other industries, production (and writing) are now consolidated. Most everything we see and hear is coming from four huge and growing companies.

And there is much, much more meddling in the creative side by people who simply don’t know what they’re doing--that’s why they’re managers, accountants or lawyers instead of writers, actors, producers or directors.

This is not a black or white situation. Some managers and executives came up through the creative ranks.

But just like in most businesses, the people in charge came most often from sales. And the operations people came from CPA or business-school backgrounds.

Since when do these people know how to put together a TV show or movie? But now many of them have their red pencils out, marking up scripts.

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