Daily Trojan USC.edu

Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Isabella Josefsberg | Daily Trojan On strike | Screenwriters picketed outside Paramount Studios last week. The Writers Guild of a America strike began Nov. 5.

As the Writers Guild of America strike continues into its second week, USC students looking to join the entertainment industry are growing increasingly fearful that job prospects will disappear.

The strike, which began Nov. 5, when talks between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers soured, is expected to bring the production of new TV shows and films to a halt. The WGA is arguing writers should receive a portion of the profits from ancillary markets called residuals, such as DVD sales and clips available on the Internet.

With writers on strike, studios are being forced to lay off staff and shut down production, which will likely lead to TV shows ending their seasons early, costing studios advertising revenue.

Michael Taylor, chair of the Division of Film & Television Production at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, said that the strike would have an "enormous effect on the entire industry and town," because, although a single television show or movie might only have a few writers, those projects usually employ 200 to 300 workers in other capacities. Writers walking off the job causes a ripple effect, causing other employees to lose work, he said.

"The studios have a lot to lose," said Jack Epps, Jr., chair of the School of Cinematic Arts' Division of Writing for Screen and Television. "They just have to get to the table and talk."

The strike is expected to last at least until April and result in a loss of $8 billion to the Los Angeles area, said S. Mark Young, a professor of entertainment business.

Taylor said that production students will have difficulty finding internships and jobs, since production companies will probably shut down work.

"For graduating students going into the industry, it's not exactly all doors open, business as usual," he said.

The School of Cinematic Arts hosted an event Wednesday night to inform students about the strike and its likely effects.

Howard Rodman, former chair of the school's writing division and a representative of the WGA, spoke at the event along with John Furia, another former writing division chair and a formerWGA president. Epps, who is also a representative of the WGA, moderated the session.

Although the AMPTP was invited to send a representative, none attended, leaving an empty chair at the end of the stage.

Rodman told attendees the median salary for WGA West members is $5,000 per year, and that 48 percent of WGA members do not work in any given year.

Because writers work sporadically, most rely on residual payments for income, Furia said.

One of the WGA's main complaints was that the compensation its members receive for material viewed on the Internet is one-sixth of what they would have received from payments for syndication, Todman said.

Students who attended the event said the strike made them concerned about their future as writers.

Jamie Nelson, a senior majoring in writing for film and television who attended the forum, said that while the strike doesn't affect her directly now, it will be a problem if it continues past her graduation.

"If it continues, should I go home to Maryland?" she asked. "Or should I stay here and work on projects or temp? I don't know."

Kalina Maleski, a senior majoring in communication and minoring in cinema-television, said she is also concerned that the strike will inhibit students' abilities to find entertainment industry jobs.

"The strike is putting a damper on my job search at the moment," said Maleski, who will graduate in December. "I wish they would get to the table and try to bargain here."

Nathalia Porras, a junior majoring in writing for film and television, said she knows students whose internships have been put on hold because of the strikes.

Young said there are some options for students seeking entertainment careers amid the ongoing strike. He said they should explore more indirect routes to join the industry, taking consulting jobs with studios before they work directly for them.

He also encouraged students to "think broadly about the industry," and consider careers in non-television and non-film sectors, such as music, gaming and the Internet, to gain entertainment experience.

But the strike could also provide what industry insiders said would be increased opportunities in the industry.

Brooks Wachtel, an Emmy Award-winning writer, said students will also benefit when the strike comes to an end because it will cause a "surge in production" in Hollywood.

"This [strike] is defining what the future is going to be," he said. "[The studios] have to share the income stream with the people that create the product they sell. And we create it…What's at stake is an entire new medium."

Although students said they haven't been asked to break the strike, most said they are against the idea because students lack experience and do not want to risk their careers by breaking the picket line.

Porras said she didn't think the studios believe students have enough experience to replace the professional screenwriters. She said the studios "would rather entrust the writing of their shows to the producers and those that know better."

At Wednesday's event, the speakers advised students they should not replace the striking writers.

Epps told students that "writers have to hang in there together."

Matt Helbacka, a sophomore majoring in cinema-television critical studies, said. "To break the strike is essentially like screwing you out of the future because you can't be in the union once you break the strike - and you need to be union, otherwise there are no gigs."

Industry professionals agreed that students could shut themselves out from future membership in the WGA if they "scab," or break the strike.

"Any student that scabs during the strike would be forever denied entry into the WGA," Wachtel said. He said scabbing is "self defeating" and is like "cutting yourself off at the ankles if you want to have a writing career."

Wachtel said he thinks students who replace screenwriters during the strike are disrespectful, and because they are inexperienced, cannot produce professional-level work.

Maleski said the studios' threats to replace professionals with student writers is "a really nasty domino effect."

Most cinema students interviewed by the Daily Trojan said they are supportive of the WGA's demands that writers get more of the profits obtained from their work. Some students said that they had even gone to the picket lines to show their support.

Kelly Lam, a graduate student of writing for screen and television who attended the event, said that the WGA writers "are fighting for us - when we will be in their positions as writers, we'll be able to reap the benefits of what they are fighting for now."

"It's the age-old problem. People always take their writers for granted in the industry even though they do all the grunt work," Helbacka said.

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