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Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 700
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 05:12 pm: | 
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Coming to terms with reality
Sun Oct 3, 5:19 AM ET
Dave McNary, STAFF
Critics of reality TV skeins say they are dehumanizing and cruel to their contestants.
But their real victims -- at least in the eyes of the Writers Guild -- may be the Hollywood workforce that churns them out, a group of writers and editors working for reduced pay and without the usual benefits.
Given the brutal economics of the hyper-competitive TV biz, there's little chance that these working conditions will change, and repeated overtures from labor have yet to take hold.
When the Directors Guild of America came to terms Sept. 23 for a new three-year pact, they won a significant gain of $40 million on health-care, but threw up their hands on reality TV.
The Writers Guild hasn't scheduled a resumption of its talks on its new pact, but a key question is: Will they be willing to go to the mat over reality?
It's a dilemma, because if the WGA goes on strike, webheads can shovel a lot of reality fare on TV to satisfy the viewers, then sell DVDs of the most popular series. In other words, the writers would be undermined by the very thing they're fighting.
In June, the scribes turned down the producers' "final" offer (containing $12 million more for healthcare but no gains on DVD or reality) and told its members to keep working under the expired contract in hopes that the DGA could make a better deal.
No such luck, according to some WGA members.
In a clear signal as to how reality is hurting the Guilds, the DGA agreed to free re-use of dramatic series for two months and to a one-year deferral of below-the-line wage hikes in new one-hour series.
"We need to help traditional shows succeed because they've been losing out to reality shows," admits Gil Cates, chief of the DGA's negotiating committee.
As with all things in Hollywood, the reality battle centers around ego and economics. Producers of reality fare don't want to destroy the audience illusion by acknowledging in the credits that their shows are scripted, opting instead to insist that there's no Wizard of Oz-type man behind the curtain.
Though reality fare involves people hammering out 100-page episode outlines, producers won't label those who perform those tasks as writers, opting to use terms like "story producers," "story editors" and "segment producers."
The argument that no writing takes place is nonsense, WGA West president Daniel Petrie Jr. notes. "It's not an accident that two ditsy rich young women in 'The Simple Life' are crossing the country as they try to get by with no money," he asserts. "Those incidents are scripted."
And there's no shortage of people -- mostly young non-WGA members -- willing to hammer out the outlines, come up with means of manipulating the characters, write the teasers and voiceovers and then work non-stop in editing bays with editors to piece hundreds of hours of footage into a seamless 22- or 44-minute show.
"What's going on is that there are no rules and it's difficult defining what you're doing," says a writer/producer who has worked on a half-dozen shows. "So you wind up doing everything on a show and so people accept it because they're young and they don't know any better."
"You wind up being like Holly Hunter on 'Broadcast News' -- bursting into tears, working 17 hours a day and leading a very linear existence," one veteran of nine shows says. "You wake up, shower, go to work, come home and go to bed for five hours."
Each reality show usually has a "story staff" of three to seven; average pay is about half the WGA minimum of $3,376 a week for a primetime network show. There's no job security, bonuses, health insurance, pension contributions or writing credits.
Despite several years of trying, the WGA has fallen flat in efforts to organize the writers of reality shows; it's now covering about 100 fewer TV staff writing slots than it was last season.
"The situation with reality writers is a cause of serious concern," Petrie admits. "Part of the problem is that the outreach process takes a long time; shows pop up very quickly and get finished before we organize them; and the majority of the writers aren't WGA members."
By comparison, the DGA and IATSE have been able to get footholds in reality in recent years.
The DGA's made inroads on "Last Comic Standing," "Fear Factor" and "Celebrity Mole"; IATSE has achieved coverage for below-the-line employees on "Blind Date," "The Swan," "Big Brother," "Next Action Star," "American Idol" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."
Producers insist they're on such tight budgets that they can't afford to pay WGA rates. They point out that few shows have any chance at ancillary revenues from syndication and DVD except for exceptions like "The Simple Life," "Survivor" and "The Apprentice."
Guild coverage would inflate costs in an increasingly competitive reality world.
All this sounds like poor-mouthing to Guild members, who are alarmed over Fox planning to launch a reality channel next year since the programming will consist mostly of reruns that won't be subject to Guild residuals.
"Salaries are not going up," one writer asserts. "When reality exploded two years ago, they were just about taking people off the street but now they can always find more young writers."
The WGA says that it's already covering traditional gameshows such as "Jeopardy!" and talent shows like "Star Search." And it's willing to be flexible.
"We have all kinds of rates and we're not trying to put reality shows into a preconceived pattern," Petrie notes. "We are not trying to make reality's economic model impossible."
One reality producer, who's also a WGA member, believes that the Guild should focus on going after the big reality shows.
"The smaller shows operate on small margins so there's not much to give there," he opines. "They also need to re-define what writing is within the contract terms. And the most important thing for most writers is health care so that should be their top priority."
The WGA West hired labor veteran David Young as director of organizing this summer to replace the departed Gerry Daley but the Guild's success in reality has been limited to one show: HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which is a comedy largely improvised by actors and is not really a reality show. But, like reality shows, it is driven by outlines, rather than scripts.
Petrie notes that "Curb" is the single most requested series by members seeking scripts at the WGA West library. He's also hopeful that the boom is cresting and is just part of a cycle.
But some writers are skeptical.
"Two years ago, I would have said this wasn't going to last, but now I think reality is here to stay," one says. "People enjoy it too much."
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 1555
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 11:45 am: |
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Chris,
In a nation that has a waning appreciation for writing/reading in general, it should be little suprise to any that the regard from scriptwriting - be it for the cinema, TV, cable or theatre - would suffer.
Also, we have a society where seemingly EVERYONE is so self-deluded that they believe that their mundane lives are worth observing. What screenwriter can match the fame-seeking designs of millions of no-talent wannabee 'stars'? |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 701
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 12:10 pm: |
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Abm:
What--no gloating? No expressions of triumph? No "See I toldyasos?" |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 1560
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 01:08 pm: |
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Chris,
Not at all. Why would I applaud one of the (small but true) manifestations of the general degradation of literature?
Quite the contrary. I bemoan the 'passing' of scripted TV. Because have been some profoundly informative/entertaining scripted TV/Cable programs:
All In The Family
Cheers
The Sopranos
The Cosby Show
Oz
I regret seeing those fine programs supplanted by the following slop:
Fear Factor
American Idol
Survivor
Big Brother
The Real World
The only 'reality' TV I enjoy watching is Trump's "The Apprentice" because I think it does provide some modicum of what is required to succeed in business.
But, as long as 'reality' TV producers can coax people into helping them to score rating figures for 10-cents on the dollar they'd otherwise have to pay for more traditional TV/Cable programming, they are going to continue to trot-out one non-talented dope after the next.
And as soon as some MIT genius figure out that whole artificial intelligence trick, even these goofballs will begin to be replaced by androids and cyborgs. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 703
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 01:36 pm: |
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Abm:
You know what I'm talking about. The Comic Book Conference in Lagos. You can't deny that you were behind it. |
Whistlingwoman
Veteran Poster
Username: Whistlingwoman
Post Number: 58
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 01:41 pm: |
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And the rub in all this is that quite a few of these "reality" shows are written (quiet as it's kept) and situations staged in such a way that they get the desired result. |
Michael_t_owens
Newbie Poster
Username: Michael_t_owens
Post Number: 8
Registered: 07-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 03:08 pm: |
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Hey, don't forget "The Golden Girls"! That show had superb writing! |
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