More on the writers strike.

Here is a story from Ron Moore, of the new Battlestar Galactica fame (and Trek).

“I had a situation last year on Battlestar Galactica where we were asked by Universal to do webisodes [Note: Moore is referring to The Resistance webisodes which ran before Season 3 premiered], which at that point were very new and ‘Oooh, webisodes! What does that mean?’ It was all very new stuff. And it was very eye opening, because the studio’s position was ‘Oh, we’re not going to pay anybody to do this. You have to do this, because you work on the show. And we’re not going to pay you to write it. We’re not going to pay the director, and we’re not going to pay the actors.’ At which point we said ‘No thanks, we won’t do it.’”

“We got in this long, protracted thing and eventually they agreed to pay everybody involved. But then, as we got deeper into it, they said ‘But we’re not going to put any credits on it. You’re not going to be credited for this work. And we can use it later, in any fashion that we want.’ At which point I said ‘Well, then we’re done and I’m not going to deliver the webisodes to you.’ And they came and they took them out of the editing room anyway — which they have every right to do. They own the material — But it was that experience that really showed me that that’s what this is all about. If there’s not an agreement with the studios about the internet, that specifically says ‘This is covered material, you have to pay us a formula - whatever that formula turns out to be - for use of the material and how it’s all done,’ the studios will simply rape and pillage.”

And from Atrios:

On my CNBC teevee screen:

WHAT ARE THEY FIGHTING FOR?

4,434 Hollywood guild writers worked full-time last year.

Average salary: $204,000

Many earned $1 million or more

Certainly $204,000 isn't chump change (no idea how close it is to the median which is more informative), but it's completely irrelevant to the question of whether the studios should be able to take their work and put it on the internet for free.

But more to the point, the majority of guild members don't work full time.

Thanks for backing management CNBC. Big surprise.

What's more that is just a bit of mathematical cheating. $204,000 salary? Some make more that a million? Hmm. So...those famous people that write scripts, or have deals to sell scripts...how much do they generally make? Wanna bet it is in the millions...Many make more than a million. Many is the key word there, as is the term average. What is the median salary? Let us take out the outliers. What would we be looking at then? What do the majority make?

Granted "many" writers do make off quite well in their business. Does it make it okay to cheat them of some of their rightfully earned cash?

That is the trouble. The execs want the money, and don't want to share. They will make billions off the online property. But they don't want to share the returns with the people who make that possible. That is the real problem. They got offers to deal and negotiate. The writers took getting more for DVD's and focused on the online aspect. No deal. It seems that the writers are expected to just capitulate and genuflect for their bosses.

The online market is messy enough for creative arts. This is a stand for the future. Who controls media and creations? Artists and creators have been screwed over for years and years, from medium to medium, this is a noble fight.

And I hope an understanding is come to soon.