Strike having impact on film already

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Well, "sufficient" would be a good start.

There's no reason to think that Abrams isn't 100% supportive of the Guild and this strike - he's said or done nothing to suggest that, and the vast majority of creative professionals in that business are supportive of it. Like many writers who also work in some other capacities, Abrams has tried to honor the spirit of the work stoppage as well as the letter of it.

The solidarity on this one - not to mention the extent to which the general public understands and is on the side of the writers - is pretty remarkable.

 

[Borgminister]

Starship Polaris said:

The solidarity on this one - not to mention the extent to which the general public understands and is on the side of the writers - is pretty remarkable.

The public will watch reality shows nonetheless, so...

 

[archeryguy1701]

Devon said:

archeryguy1701 said:
You know, these protests are just getting silly. Correct me if I'm thinking of something else, but doesn't the guild have a protest every year or everyother year?

I've never heard of them having a strike like this every other year. In fact when researching, this appears to be the third strike they've had, including the 1960 & 1988 Strikes. And how is it silly? They are fighting because they aren't getting paid properly for their work.

Eventually, they'll just stop getting paid if this keeps up.

Well when you're on strike it's kinda hard to get paid for not doing anything! Of course they are probably getting residuals for past works.

My apologies... there's some group that seems to go on strike every single year, and I must have switched them around for the writers guild. Wish I could remember who they were, though.

 

[Therin of Andor]

scotthm said:
No, the union is fighting to get increased royalties. I'm sure sufficiency has nothing to do with it.

My point: the WGA and its members believe it's currently insufficient. They're not being greedy; they want sufficient royalties for their work.

 

[Balthier the Great]

Borgminister said:

Starship Polaris said:

The solidarity on this one - not to mention the extent to which the general public understands and is on the side of the writers - is pretty remarkable.

The public will watch reality shows nonetheless, so...

One of the reasons that I think the WGA is going to lose on this one.

1.) Writers Strike
2.) TV execs launch reality shows, game shows and news programs. Probably down to Trek Series VI "Who wants to be a Starship Captain", "Cooking With the Stars", and "America's next top Cab Driver".
3.) The writers cave, 'cause they can't get anything more. The TV execs don't even miss scripted TV, and rather like not having to pay writers and actors.

But getting back to script changes -- what about using something like a tape recorder. Just make the changes on tape, and avoid putting it in writing until the strike is over. It ain't writing if no ink touches paper.

 

[Redfern]

Samuel T. Cogley said:Besides, one or two great lines will not make or break the movie anyway.

In most cases, I'd agree. However, just for "shiggles", what is "Citizen Kane" had not utttered "RoseBud" at the beginning of the film? Something to think about.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Therin of Andor]

BalthierTheGreat said:
Just make the changes on tape, and avoid putting it in writing until the strike is over. It ain't writing if no ink touches paper.

I'm sure you're wrong here. Ink touching paper is a minor part of the writing process. Otherwise striking writers would merely use voice-activated software - or dictaphones and have the manuscripts typed up after the strike ends.

 

[Kegek]

Redfern said:

Samuel T. Cogley said:Besides, one or two great lines will not make or break the movie anyway.

In most cases, I'd agree. However, just for "shiggles", what is "Citizen Kane" had not utttered "RoseBud" at the beginning of the film? Something to think about.

There's a difference between a line added at the last minute and a line like Rosebud, though: The latter is clearly integral to the film's story and a lot of the plot is built around it as a kind of MacGuffin.

A better example would be this:

"Louis, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

The final line from Casablanca. That line isn't in the script, and wasn't added until post-production. It's lines like these that Star Trek is missing out on, not 'Rosebud'.

That's still bad, though.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Bad? In retrospect only. That's a great line from "Casablanca," but what really makes that film great is that you could drop that last line - you could drop any couple of the dozen most famous lines - and the film would still be gripping and brilliant.

We wouldn't know what we had missed; for all we know three or four brilliant lines or ad-libs occurred to the filmmakers when they watched the finished movie.

Memorable dialogue is wonderful, but there are some marvelous scripts with little if any memorable dialogue. "Alien" is very much a director's movie, but the final script is nonetheless great.