For years, Hollywood scriptwriters have been sidelined to the margins when it came to earning money from the movie industry. Film actors and actresses, director and producers would run away with the bulk of the revenue, leaving the writers to feed on crusts and crumbs. But no more now. Time is rapidly changing.
The call for a strike by the Writers Guild of America for the first time in nearly 20 years comes after decades of underpayment and lack of deserved respect. The job of a writer is a hard one and often attains the degree of manual labour but their desires and demands are rarely heard. A movie or a television show might appear glossy with the stunning looks of the stars but without the words scripted by the writers, there can be no movie or television shows.
The writers in the USA are perfectly aware of this situation and their measure is calculated indeed. The President of the Writers Guild Of America, Patric Verrone, is confident that the Hollywood film industry would have to bow down in the forthcoming strike by the writers and that their demand for higher pay and more respect would be answered soon.
The entertainment industry doesn’t revolve only around theatres. In the last decade or so, the revenue shares from the sale of DVDs and CDs have risen. Online marketing of films and television shows too have witnessed an upsurge since the turn of the century with cellphones, iPod and other gadgets swiftly gaining momentum in contributing to the income.
The Hollywood writers’ demand for a hike in pay is massively justified. They might not be the first persons one congratulate when a movie or a television soap opera succeeds but they are the indispensable piece in the jigsaw that the entertainment industry desperately needs. Now it only remains to be seen whether their noble intensions bears fruit or not.
Image Source: Mynameisearlkress
Source: The Globe and Mail
