The end is near
After three long months of picketing, the writer's strike may finally be over. Writer's Guild leaders decided to approve a tentative contract with the TV producers and ask its members to vote on its terms.
The union is clearing the way for the entertainment industry to return to work almost immediately.
A new three-year deal with the companies that run Hollywood won't be formalized until a vote of the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America concludes next week. But so far, it seems like a win for the writers.
Or is it?
Principally, the writers can call it a victory. But from a practical perspective, it may not be safe to say the same.
They have been handed rights to at least a piece of the digital "webisode" revenues, which was a huge part of the three-month long battle.
The agreement consists of the executives putting the episodes on the web for viewers to stream. Only after three weeks on the web will the writer's be able to receive a cut of the money.
Traffic on three-week-old episodes will never match the intensity as the traffic on new ones.
If history is any indicator, it's safe to assume the Hollywood executives will never give the writers the full amount of money they actually deserve.
But could the writers have gotten more money if they stuck it out a little bit longer?
Will the future of webisodes and their revenues be worth the effort of these past three months?
It's great that they have been able to take a percentage, but it seems unlikely the change will be significant unless there are changes in the economics of distribution.
These writers have been out of work for three months. Maybe the money is starting to sound tempting. Maybe they were just afraid they couldn't get a better deal.
For now, the money may be a relief, but it's possible that they could end up regretting their decision sometime in the next couple of years.
People still are trying to figure out what this "new media" distribution channel means to the business. People really don't have any idea how much this is worth. The value of it is bound to increase over the next several years, which may lead to another strike before any of us know it.
To set the record straight, anyone who says the strike was a bad idea is wrong.
These past few months have made Americans question the value of their entertainment and its origin.
At least these people stood up for themselves. Even if America had to go without exciting and compelling television for a few months.
