Daily Archive

Have some good news in regards to the writers strike…heck, any news.  But unfortunately, the situation is kind of quiet at the moment.  The AMPTP walked out on negotiations, because thy cannot apparently see a reason to grant fair compensation for work done to the writers.

One thing I have noticed in this strike is an undercurrent from people outside of CA is this attitude of who cares/we don’t care about you.  And there seems to be a segment of the population that views California-and Hollywood specifically-as “not really a part of America.”  I cannot imagine someone declaring to any other part of the country (well, maybe New York) “We do not care about you or your problems.”  This group is usually conservative(however, this does not mean all conservative think this way).  I sometimes think these same folks would not bat an eyelash if terrorists nuked L.A.  I mean, good riddance to bad rubbish and all that.

Why is it okay to treat Hollywood as if they are not “real” Americans?  What makes the middle states so “red blooded American” anyhow?  Why is some jackass in Nebraska qualified to declare Hollywood as not good enough.  Why do they not get the same courtesy as the rest of our nation?  Would we tell auto workers we don’t care about them?  Writers ask for fair compensation…that’s all.

I think…no, I am certain most of the crowd that routinely berates Hollywood lives with the delusion that everyone in Hollywood is richer than them, and is just being greedy.  But is an employee of a company in Minnesota or Wisconsin or North Dakota being greedy when they ask for an additional four cents?

I’ve said it before, most writers in Hollywood get by.  They are not living the high life.  They are making $30-40,000, maybe $50-60,000 if they are doing very well.  Actors, grips and all those other people scrape by on near minimum wage themselves.  Only a few actors are making those incredibly huge salaries.  Only a few directors have mansions.  Most of Hollywood is working class joes.  No different from you or I.  Yet, it’s okay to unleash gawd awful amounts of scorn on “Hollywood” (as if it was some monolithic entity-and not individual citizens) that would never be unleashed on “Middle America”.  You know, the supposed “Salt of the Earth” people.  It’s tiring to read people heap this scorn, clearly based on prejudice when you know the facts about a place.  I’ve talked with writers.  I paid attention to the situation.  It’s hard for me to be flip about people being out of work, especially when the economy seems to be as such a precarious point even without a pro-longed strike in a money making industry.