On Nov 18, 2007 8:01 AM, Robert Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > http://johnaugust.com.nyud.net:8080/archives/2007/why-writers-get-residuals > > My friend Jeff often jokes (half-jokes, I think) that he wishes he got > residuals on spreadsheets he made in 2003. He's articulating a > familiar frustration: Why should screenwriters get paid extra money > years after they finish their work? After all, plumbers don't get > residuals. Neither do teachers, secretaries or auto workers. > > So I want to explain why writers in film and television get residuals, > and why they're at the heart of the ongoing WGA strike.
I think it is largely because of the uncertainty of success in their industry. Nobody knows how much money a show may make in the future. Even those that don't do well in at first sometimes "have legs," as they say, and eventually generate a lot of profit. In other words, it's a choice of how to allocate risk. Writers could ask for more across the board and take no residuals; then the producers would be carrying more of the risk and thus earn more of the reward. But in businesses where a few products do spectacularly well, it is human nature for the top people to take more risk in order to have a shot at "the big score" (a Silicon Valley expression) if it happens. I'm that way myself -- I have consistently taken less up front in order to have a greater share of possible profits -- less salary and more stock options, for example. The greater the income gap between the top players and everybody else in a given industry, the more of this you'll see, I suspect. People see that the probability of success of any single product is small, so they to own a piece of the success of anything to which they contribute. There's another element to the entertainment industry that has a big impact -- distribution has been controlled by a handful of big companies for many decades now. They've never been very shy about using that power to get what they want. New media distribution channels are eroding their power and at some level, everybody knows it, so distribution of profits is likely to be leveled somewhat in parallel. It will be interesting to see. Nick -- Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Messages: 408-904-7198 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
