On Nov 18, 2007, at 8:01 AM, Robert Seeberger 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.
August seems to put a lot of weight on the fact that the writers sell authorship to the studios, including those working in the relatively more stable and relatively more "production-line" environment of TV writing, saying "the same basic machinery applies to adaptations or television shows. Staff writers sign contracts which perform similar legal judo, making their words the company’s words." Turns out that virtually everybody in Silicon Valley signs that same contract: their code is the company's code -- and they don't get royalties on every copy of Powerpoint or every web-hit or every time some kid plays (or even buys) a copy of Need for Speed Pro Street. Those who choose to do "work for hire" -- including television writers on strike now -- have decided to work on the safer end of the risk-reward continuum. Like those of us who studied writing in college and subsequently "sold out" to become writers for corporations -- the most sold-out of us as technical writers like I was -- those writers have made a "safe" choice and will be compensated more meagerly as a result. I don't think that the writers on strike are greedy millionaires, but I do think they are people who made a "safe" choice but still want the big bucks they'd have been in line for if they'd only taken the big risks. In his argument, August also compares royalties and residuals to stock options. More like being granted stock, not options. Dave _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
