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January 13, 2008
Bill Maher on the Writers' Strike: '...There is No Exit Strategy'
Real Time with Bill Maher returned to HBO Friday night sans Maher's talented staff of writers (nominated once again by the WGA for outstanding achievement in a TV Comedy/Variety Series). Following a somewhat contentious panel discussion with Tony Snow, Mark Cuban, Matt Taibbi and Catherine Crier, Maher delivered an emotional critique of the strike, now heading into its 10th week.
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Um, talking about ego, Bill....don't forget the little guys.
No one has said that one cannot question leadership, whether of a union or the presidency. You have a pulpit to speak from, true, but consider the rest of the town. Consider the people worrying about paying their rent while they walk on the picket line.
Unity is a good thing.
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Good point, spoon. You gotta wonder if Maher would say the same thing if he wasn't under contract with HBO... you could see he was a bit shaky trying not to shake the foundations of his corporate-sponsored pulpit. But to his credit, he concluded by stressing the importance of unions "now more than ever" in America.
Unity is one thing, but are WGA members required to refuse royalty checks during the strike? I'm not clear on that point, but I do know that reruns pay too.
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Writers do get residuals for reruns, but I doubt anyone is making a great living off of reruns. Besides, you need to take into account that a residual is not a bonus payment, it is a deferred payment. It is owed money that has already been earned, just a different pay structure than a job where there is a standard salary payment system. Many crew members pull down more than writers. The teamsters, crew and prod people also receive residuals when a project, their work, is rebroadcast, but their cut goes directly into their healthcare and pension fund per individual union contract. The residual rates that the WGA receives when this finally shakes out will directly affect what everyone else receives. Which is why the AMPTP is doing such a number on the WGA in the first place. If you break the first union whose contract comes up, the rest will be easier to deal with.
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So in effect if you asked a writer to refuse a royalty payment, it would be like someone asking you to give back say 1/3 of your total salary for the year- plus you would need to require the crew etc...to give back their residual funding (pension and healthcare) too. It would only be fair.