Filed under: iPod Family, iTS, Video
Unions want a piece of the iPod pie
Oh, Hollywood, why must you resist the inevitable march of technology?Unions for writers, directors, and actors are getting their panties in a bunch over the downloadable videos available on the iTunes Music Store. ABC says that the creative folks will be compensated as if these downloads were DVD's, while the unions want a more favorable agreement which will pay them more money per episode.
Come on, Hollywood, don't screw this up for all of us.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sean said 3:02PM on 10-18-2005
In the original article, I think the most relevant fact was that the Guild people mentioned they were having lunch when they heard about the ABC/Apple deal. The fact that they were not in on the deals is what caused the inital pantie twirl.
However, I agree with them that the DVD deal is not appropriate - there are no more manufacturing and distribution costs and that was what the deal was structured for.
But, just as iTMS has the potential of stripping power from the Record Labels, the video model has the ability to strip even more power away from the Studios and Networks. Before, they were the sole means of getting your work out. Now, Indy shows and movies can distribute their shows - without FCC or MPAA censors. All that is left is financing.
Something like the next Trey Parker and Matt Stone (Southpark) movie can be sold directly to consumers. And no more cutting puppet sex scenes to appease the blue hairs at the MPAA. No more Disney backing out of Michael Moore's film at the last moment.
It's a long way away from that, but the potential is now there.
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Jack said 3:12PM on 10-18-2005
I respect the Writer's Guild to a point. The fact of the matter is the reason we were--and still are--deluged with all of these reality shows is because of the Writer's Guild threatening to strike and networks/producers saying "Okay, strike! We'll videotape a bunch of people on an Island! Nyeah!"
And you know what? It worked. No reality TV is so prevalent that writers are even having a harder time getting work.
They have a right to be worried, but they should learn from their past mistakes.
PS: FWIW, I got my 60 Gig black video-capable iPod today! Woo hoo! And you know what? I thought the video playback would be passable. Not at all. It's actually A LOT nicer than I expected and the screen is nice and crisp. It's like I have a little multimedia Mac in my pocket now!
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HowdyDoody said 3:58PM on 10-18-2005
They should get paid, I have no problems with that. But they should not get paid more than they do on DVD sales nor should they get paid the same amount as a DVD sale.
Unless the quality improves vastly to include true HD content on iTMS, they deserve much much less than they get from DVD sales. Poor quality content = poor compensation, high quality content = higher compensation.
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D said 4:59PM on 10-18-2005
What the hell does video quality have to do with writing, acting and directing? Does the script get worse when you scale down to 320x240? Does HD make Paris Hilton a good actor?
As for the original post, don't conflate corporate Hollywood's fear of new tech with the concerns of the unions, who just want to see their members get paid. Two seperate issues.
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LD said 6:47PM on 10-18-2005
Yet another reason unions are bad.
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Ian Betteridge said 9:23AM on 10-19-2005
Yeah, damn those unions wanting to get the people who do the creative work on your favourite shows as good a deal as possible! You'd think that they represented people who created the shows or something!
Seriously, I'd back the unions to get the best possible deal for the writers, actors, and other creatives. Which would you rather watch - CSI or yet another reality TV show?
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