The Dotted Logline

As someone who hopes/plans to be a member of the WGA one day, I’ve been following the negotiations and the strike very closely. And the reaction of the public, which has certainly been mixed. There are plenty of wonderful articles and blogs out there about the issues (United Hollywood is a great place to start), but I thought I’d toss my hat into the ring as well.

There’s a misconception floating around that Hollywood writers all pull in six figure salaries. That seems to be one of the main arguments from people opposed to the strike, but there’s a significant flaw in the logic there; if this were the case, why would the writers put all those big bucks on indefinite hold to essentially nickel and dime the studios?

The fact is that being a working writer doesn’t always mean that you’re working. TV shows get canceled. Freelancers struggle to find gigs. Feature film projects get trapped in development hell. According to WGA reports, 46% of the current guild members in 2005 were considered unemployed. And that’s exactly why residuals are important.

If people don’t have a problem with a novelist or musician earning royalties while working on a new book or recording a new album, why are they so angry at screenwriters for needing residuals while they’re working to get their next project going? Just because television and film are collaborative arts designed to be palatable to the public doesn’t mean that the writing is any less strenuous or valuable. Those nickels and dimes the writers are fighting for can mean the difference between paying the bills and starving. Maybe not for the writers whose names you know, but those big earners are a very small minority.

And that’s the other big misconception about the strike. Writers aren’t fighting for more money. They’re fighting to keep their income from dropping off in the future. Already, there have been shows like Lost that have streamed episodes online as opposed to airing reruns on broadcast television. Writers (and actors) receive residuals for the latter but not for the former, even though both include the entire episode and paid advertisements.

The Internet is the direction the industry is going, and writers don’t want to make the same mistake they did with videotape/DVD: accepting a reduced residual rate (0.3%) on a new, unproven technology. DVD residuals, of course, are the other negotiation sticking point that has received a lot of attention in the media. And although new media is the biggest issue, the numbers related to DVD residuals are pretty painful.

* In 2006, WGA members received $56.6 million in DVD and VHS residuals. The same year, Tom Freston received a $60 million severance package when he resigned as chief of Viacom. That means that a single individual was paid $3.4 million more for leaving his job than 10,000 writers earned for the sale of their work. Figures taken from the L.A. Times.

* Pretty much anyone can go to Amazon.com and sign up for an Associate account to earn referral fees starting at 4%. That means any schmuck (and I include myself here) who can cut and paste a bit of text to a website or blog can earn more than 13 times the amount the actual screenwriter receives for the sale of a DVD. Members can now earn referrals on digital downloads, for which screenwriters currently receive nothing.

The problem is that concerns like respecting the contributions of workers and their ability to put food on the table don’t really factor into the corporate equation. It’s a numbers game, and the important thing is that bigger numbers are better than smaller numbers. Workers are human resources. It’s the age-old problem of the people with the money having a completely different world view than the people who do the work, and it’s exactly why unions and strikes are still relevant.

I wasn’t old enough to really care about the 1988 WGA strike and don’t really know what public opinion was like back then. However, it’s clear that technology has changed things in the last nineteen years. Thanks to the Internet, today’s audience has access to the screenwriters. Writers post to fan sites and forums. They write in personal blogs and show blogs. They connect to fans through MySpace and LiveJournal. They have fans now, fans who will follow them from project to project, who know their names. Fans who care. Fans who are angry (and if anyone is good at being angry, it’s fans.) And fans with a mission are a force to be reckoned with, especially when they get organized.

The first day of the strike, Joss Whedon devotees from the fan site Whedonesque delivered pizzas to the writers picketing Universal, including one with anchovies for Jane Espenson (yes, screenwriters have fans who are devoted enough to care about their favorite pizza topping.) Similar food deliveries from other fandom groups followed. By day four, a website had been launched to coordinate a wide range of fan efforts. It remains to be seen just how big an impact the fans’ actions will have on the strike. In all honesty, I hope negotiations resume before we’re given the opportunity to find out.

And on a personal not, since I’ve been asked this several times, I will not be scabbing. I honestly never even considered it. I have far too much respect for my fellow writers and for my own work. I have no respect for anyone who would scab knowing that it could prolong this strike and cause further hardship for thousands of people aside from the writers themselves. I want to break into the industry by honest means and have an actual career doing what I love. And I want to be paid fairly, which is exactly what the writers of today are fighting for. I can never thank them enough for what they’re doing.

I just got back from a screening of Slither, a fantastically funny horror film starring Firefly/Serenity’s Nathan Fillion. I wasn’t really familiar with James Gunn (the writer/director), but I’m definitely a fan now.

The movie had, in my opinion, perhaps the best balance of comedy and horror I’ve seen in a movie, though it definitely tipped towards the comedy side of the fence. The dialogue was great (almost too good for such a campy film) and everyone’s timing was just dead on. I had been warned about the gore factor beforehand but I didn’t think it was really that bad. In fact, I went in hungry, and left craving steak and marzipan (don’t ask.)

There was also a great little Q&A afterwards with James, Nathan, and Michael Rooker (the heroine’s husband turned alien cannibal squid flesh katamari thingie.) It was very informative. Apparently Gunn’s cat gets a “little girl being molested” look when it has to go to the vet, Nathan spent most of the film doing nothing and does a great impression of a 1920′s film director, and Michael got to manipulate a prosthetic alien vagina with his foot (when the prosthetics weren’t causing him pain… Ouch).

Slither made me think of Shaun Of The Dead, though I felt that overall, it worked better. The latter tried to cram too many genres in, and I found the pathos of Shaun’s mother and best friend dying to be rather depressing. Slither is much more upbeat. When cute little girls convulse horribly and die, it’s funny! Plus, hive-mind alien zombies are so much cooler than regular old boring brain-eating zombies. I never got the zombie thing myself.

I was also reminded of Monster by Christopher Pike (I had every book by Christopher Pike as a kid) due to slight similarities in the plot (small town flesh eating alien possession.) That book always made me crave steak too.

Last night was the LA screening for Can’t Stop The Serenity. This was only the third time I’ve seen Serenity, but it was definitely the best. The first time, opening day, was the same day I moved to LA, and I had been awake for well over 24 hours straight. The second time was at home on DVD, which always involves me multitasking, and thus “listening” more often then “watching.” This time I was really able to connect with it. And of course, being in a theater full of fans who laughed, cheered, and were deadly silent at the right points was as fun as always.

I ended up winning TWO raffle prizes… a SoCalBrowncoats postcard signed by Joss Whedon (sort of a random thing for him to sign, which I find amusing) and a Firefly soundtrack signed by the composer (his “signature” is print rather than cursive, which I also find a little amusing because all my handwriting is printed, though I do sign my name in cursive.) I think that autographs aren’t as cool when they aren’t personal/obtained in person (though the items I won do have some nice memories to go along with them.) There were two movie props and a pass to Flanvention II raffled off, as well as some smaller items.

Can’t Stop The Serenity is estimated to have raised over $38k so far for Equality Now, and many screenings haven’t submitted final totals yet. I’m still amazed by the whole thing. Can you imagine a better birthday present than a demonstration of how you have inspired so many people to try to make a positive difference in the world? Better than chocolate (but not by much.)

The Browncoats are quite a contrast to the Harry Potter fandom “biography” that a friend linked me to today. Quite a long read, but a really interesting look at what happens when a manipulative and apparently rather disturbed individual takes advantage of the volatility in a fandom, using it to propel herself the heights of popularity by creating a number of “sockpuppet” identities to both attack and support her in the various dramas she instigates over the course of several years.

Of course, the fact that any fandom would have subgroups that dislike or even despise each other based entirely on what “ships” each group favors disturbs me just a bit. I’ve never been a shipper myself (Bruce/Selina 4EVA!) because I am willing to accept almost any relationship that is well conceived and explained, canon or not. (Conversely, poorly justified relationships, canon or not, annoy me. Anakin/Padme anyone?) I don’t read a lot of fanfiction anymore (pretty much only fics that friends point out to me as “must reads”) but it always amused me to read fics with conflicting ships in a row.

So what’s the point of this rather long, rambling post? Simply put: as a writer, I would prefer to inspire people to join together and fight the good fight in the real world, rather than tear each other apart over an imaginary one.

So Brickgirl & Oscar has its first pop culture reference today, in the form of a Joss Whedon themed strip. Purely by coincidence (and it really is… I wrote this strip about two months ago), this Friday is Joss’ birthday. And the only reason I know that is because the Browncoats, the legion of fans devoted to Firefly and Serenity have organized a little event called Can’t Stop The Serenity, which consists of charity screenings of Serenity across the USA and the world to raise money for Equality Now, Joss’ favorite charity.

I’ve never been one to really get involved very deeply in any particular fandom. Most likely it’s because most of my experience with hardcore fans has come from attending anime conventions. So to me, fandom equals pasty people not really dressed in tiny scraps of fur and spandex and underaged fangirls making voice actors very uncomfortable by demanding kisses/gropes/marriage proposals/impregnation.

But fans like the Browncoats give me hope. Because just as celebrities can use their place in the public spotlight to further the causes they believe in, groups of fans can do amazing things when they turn their devotion towards real world issues.

For more information on Can’t Stop The Serenity, including a list of screening locations, visit the official website. And to see Joss Whedon’s very moving speech at an Equality Now even in May, click here.

One of the local Barnes & Noble stores has a capacity of seven hundred people. It was already full with a very, very long line outside when I arrived shortly after 11:00 PM for the midnight sale of HP:HBP. I really would have shown up a bit earlier if I’d thought there would be that many people there; it was very hot and the bugs were biting. There were store employees walking around selling water as though it were some sporting event. It was overpriced, but I was very tempted.

It was an evening of lines. A line to get a bracelet signifying that I had preordered. The very long line to get into the store itself. Waiting until the group was called that had my number in it to go get in line for the register (I was #329.) I have to say everything was pretty efficient… the books were all prebagged, and I was out of there by 1:00 AM. And all the freebie goodies were a nice touch, although most of mine will probably be hitting eBay very soon (those rubber bracelets are always way too big for me.)

As for the book itself? My thoughts below…

*SPOILERS*

And so Snape proves that he is the most loyal to Dumbledore of the entire Order. Because who else would have actually been able to kill Dumbledore, even at his own request? (Yes, Harry did forcefeed him that nasty potion in the cave, but I don’t think he would have been able to strike him down in cold blood like Snape did.) I doubt Snape will ever forgive Dumbledore for making him do that, but he did it nonetheless and insured that he is perfectly placed to assist the side of good (i.e. Harry) in the final battle. I only hope that in book 7 (EARLY in book 7), Dumbledore has some means of communicating to Harry that Snape was acting on his orders, or things are going to get very messy when they meet up.

I honestly think that this is the reason that Snape has hated Harry so much throughout the books. Because I believe that this plan was a failsafe set up before Harry even came to Hogwarts. If Snape had been able to prove that Harry was a complete waste of space as he tried to so many times, than he felt that Dumbledore would have known that he wasn’t up for the task of fighting Voldemort and Snape wouldn’t have had to go through Dumbledore’s plan. Conversely, he probably wishes Harry had been able to take care of the job before it came to this.

Actually, I had predicted before I read the book that Dumbledore was going to be in a situation where one of the good guys was going to have to kill him. My first guess was Snape, and my second was Harry, although Snape was much more likely because having to kill Dumbledore would have probably driven Harry completely mad. But it was still shocking. I had also predicted that Snape would be DADA prof, because otherwise Harry wouldn’t have had a class with him, but I was still surprised by that.

I do still want to smack the little boy who opened up his book to the end after purchasing it and screamed “Snape killed Dumbledore!” to the several hundred people waiting in line to buy it.