[작가의 파업]에 관련된 글

이들이 승리했다고 말할 수 있을까

작가들의 법적 권리와 경제적 현실을 조금 더 크게 외친 기회였을지는 모르겠다

한국이나 미국이나 작가로서 부와 명예를 누리는 사람은 상위 10%보다 적다

어느 직업이나 냉혹한 서열이 존재하고 노동자로서의 권리를 보장받기는 어렵지만

방송이나 영화를 통해 이름이 널리 알려지는 사람들이기에 진실은 자주 가려진다

한 작품의 제작비를 지불하고 유통과 배급을 독점한 기업들의 입장과 논리는

작가 뿐만 아니라 그 작업에 참여했던 숱한 노동자들의 입장과 논리를 앞서간다

결과물 그 자체로서는 문화적으로나 산업적으로 큰 영향력을 행사하는 분야이기에

작업현장에서 실제 스탭들의 역할이나 수입이 지나치게 부풀려지거나 폄하되기 일쑤다

오랜 고민 끝에 직접행동에 나섰던 많은 작가들과 그들을 지지했던 여러 사람들에게

격려와 위로를 보내면서도 한 켠으로는 여전히 씁쓸함이 남는다

2008년, 한국의 방송계 영화계에서 작가들은 아직 자신들만의 노조를 갖지 못한 채

일하고 있다

* 매거진t의 관련글

* 위키 - 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike

DVD residuals Background

In 1988, the Writers Guild went on strike over the home video market, which was then small and primarily consisted of distribution via video tape. At that time, the entertainment companies argued home video was an "unproven" market, with an expensive delivery channel (manufacturing VHS and Betamax tapes, and to a much smaller extent, Laserdisc). Movies were selling in the range of between $40-$100 per tape, and the Guild accepted a formula in which a writer would receive a small percentage (0.3%) of the first million of reportable gross (and 0.36% after) of each tape sold as a residual. As manufacturing costs for video tapes dropped dramatically and the home video market exploded, writers came to feel they had been shortchanged by this deal.^[17] DVDs debuted in 1996 and rapidly replaced the more-expensive VHS format, becoming the dominant format around 2001. The previous VHS residual formula continued to apply to DVDs.

At present, the home video market is the major source of revenue for the movie studios. In April of 2004, the New York Times reported the companies made $4.8 billion in home video sales versus $1.78 billion at the box office between January and March.

New media

One critical issue for the negotiations is residuals for "new media", or compensation for delivery channels such as Internet downloads, IPTV, streaming, smart phone programming, straight-to-Internet content, and other "on-demand" online distribution methods, along with video on demand on cable and satellite television.^[21]

Background

Currently, the WGA has no arrangement with the companies regarding the use of content online, and two models of Internet distribution are currently being negotiated. The first is "electronic sell-through" (also known as "Internet sales" or "digital sell-through"). In electronic sell-through, the consumer purchases a copy of the program and downloads it to a local storage device for subsequent viewing at their convenience. Examples include movies and television shows purchased through the iTunes Store and Amazon Unbox. In the second model, "streaming video", the consumer watches a program in real time as it is transmitted to their computer but is usually not saved. Current examples of this model include advertising-supported television programs streamed free to the audience, such as those available at nbc.com, abc.com, fox.com, cbs.com, thedailyshow.com, and hulu.com.

In either case, the program may be viewed directly on a computer or on a traditional television via media distribution devices (e.g. TiVo). The convenience of both these technologies lowers the barriers to entry into the digital distribution marketplace making it more accessible to mainstream consumers.

It is widely expected by industry observers that new media will eventually supplant both DVD in the home video market and television in the broadcasting market as the primary means for distribution.^{[22][23][24][25][26][27]} As in the mid-1980s, the companies have argued that new media represents an unproven and untested market and have asked for additional time for study. However, feeling resentment from the 20-year-old home video deal and unwilling to make similar concessions in a so-called "new market" yet again, WGA members have been adamant that whatever deal they make for new media, it cannot resemble the DVD formula.

New media is widely seen by most WGA writers as the central issue for the strike. Writer-director Craig Mazin (Scary Movie 3) has dubbed new media "the One Issue" that matters. ^[28]

This sentiment was further articulated by a self-described "skeptic", writer Howard Gould, at a meeting of the full WGA membership the night before the strike date was announced. He said, to a standing ovation: