And yet the median pay for a writer in the WGA last year was $5,000.
Here is the one statistic the neither side disputes. 4434 writers were paid an average of $204,000.00 last year. 4434 x $204,000.00 = $904,536,000.00. Nine hundred and a half million dollars.
(The $1.3 Billion number includes residuals paid last year.)
The WGA adds in an enormous number of card carrying, dues paying, $0 earning members to get that median down to $5000. That's easy to do if most of your guild doesn't work. If you were one of that large army who got paid $0 in the last year, are you really a working writer? Having a WGA card is like having a SAG card. Tons of people got them, few make any money. The ones who do make money make a lot of money. That $5000 median is total bullshit.
My disgust with the WGA is this whole UNION! thing. The WGA is not Norma Rae fighting for the rights of the common working man. UNION! indeed. The WGA is more than willing to put the average working joe out in the street as long as they can get even more for themselves. That is the "concept" I don't get SH! The "as long as I get mine, fuck the rest of you" WGA concept.
And there is no talking with Scree, so I won't even try.














I asked why the negotiators for the studios and networks didn't show (a
fact which Variety buried in the 3rd paragraph of its account of the hearing). "MPAA got involved because they rep us before the City Council,
and because it was their area of expertise - economic impact," an insider told me. "The MPAA represents the companies before all levels of
government throughout the world. MPAA also provides economic data and information on the motion picture and television business to the public, on behalf of
our members. But you are right that no individual from MPAA or AMPTP took part in the actual hearing."
The WGA, which showed up in force for the 7:30 AM hearing despite pouring
rain, issued a statement that the AMPTP's "refusal shows a callous disregard for the people of Los Angeles. First these companies walked away from
the bargaining table, and today they chose to ignore the economic hardship their actions have caused. The WGA would like to solve this problem and get
everyone back to work, but that can't be done until the other side comes back to the table."
John Bowman, chairman of the WGA's negotiating committee, testified
with hundreds of Guild members in attendance. (Photos above by Jim Stevenson.) He said the strike is about "fighting to maintain the
livelihoods of Los Angeles' middle-class writers working in the entertainment industry. The typical WGA member makes about $62,000 a year. It's a
strike we believe we were forced into and one that is now being prolonged by the AMPTP."