Current mood:

thoughtful

The Writers Strike
I'm sure you all know about the writer's strike as it is a strike that affects Americans moreso than probably any other strike could...because it affects television!!!! And there is nothing America holds more dear than TV and movies!!

Well, maybe sports. But I don't know anything about sports. So, we'll talk TV writers strike here.

I am currently working freelance on a show that will eventually be on TV..somewhere sometime. I usually am at the studio once a week, and a few days ago I came in to find the director and staff writer having an impassioned discussion about how artists are treated in animation and how writers are treated. Typically, artists feel like underdogs..under appreciated and always the first to be laid off. Artists earn no residuals and have always felt the writers are spoiled and over privileged. That's been the general consensus, but then artists seem to sort of gravitate into a "victim" mode as well, which in fairness I have to acknowledge. In many ways artists can be incredibly paranoid and whiny. However, they do often have a point...we are powerless to the winds of change in this precarious business, and work is never guaranteed. I used to sit around chewing my fingernails about if/when we might get laid off, or if a natural disaster or war is going to disrupt the schedule...hours upon hours of teeth gnashing and venting happened daily at lunches over our chronically unstable lot.

And then..there were the writers. Those mysterious and seemingly unscathed people who wrote our stories and expected us to follow every word of it, even following the director into the recording studio to be sure every precious word of dialogue was spoken correctly, nothing left out.

They were also the ones that wrote scripts 7 pages too long, 7 extra pages of work we really didn't need to do, because they could not bear to edit themselves, thus creating many many stressful late nights for storyboard slobs to crank out because in no way were we to trim or edit anything.

And of course, the ones who HATED the idea of an artist wanting to take a stab at writing a script. Throwing up obstacles, making excuses, looking at premise outlines and saying "That's interesting..you know I already came up with this idea before?"..just the right words to let an artist know "You aren't welcome in my realm. You threaten me...so...bug off." And that's the *nice* way of saying it.

And, to be fair, I've known a few very funny and down to earth writers. Some even know how to write a script! Haha. Well, let's say they understand that an 11 minute cartoon script doesn't have to be 25 pages long. Many of us have suspected that some of the writers really wanted to write for Seinfeld or something, so they pad the scripts out with so much talking sometimes you feel you ARE boarding a sitcom.

I could go on and on. And in the past, I have. But now, in 2007, three years after I decided I wanted to take a break from working full time, I find myself able to step back and not really have alot to say about any of this anymore..which is kind of a good feeling.

This brings us back to the conversation at the studio this week. The writer wanted to know what I felt about the strike, etc and I said essentially at this point in my life I just don't want to put the energy into fretting about whether writers are more privileged or if artists are getting ripped off, if I resent the writers, if I think artists should strike to get residuals. Of course that I laughed at...the way things are going in animation now, and the amount of outsourcing that is going on, it is a miracle any artists are even getting TV work anymore. Our cartoonist's union really has no leverage to strike. I can just see what would happen if we decided not to storyboard or design characters anymore..you better believe studio heads would be on the phone to either another country to enlist help or find a boatload of non union scabs to do the work. And they would be able to find hundreds of people eager to take our jobs. So the idea of artists "rebelling" at this point is absurd. You will never see anything like the writer's strike happen with the artists. Partially because I feel artists are a very frightened and insecure lot, and second because we fear being easily replaced, so we just shut up.

Scene from the Disney strike in 1940. I can't imagine this happening today. While our fears are the same, as artists we have so much competition now from overseas studios we are more disposable than ever.

So then ultimately the question came down to what did I think about the strike, as an artist. And my take on it is this: If it is part of the writer's realm to expect residuals, and they feel that the new media has been profitable enough to be brought to attention as a new means of residuals, then..go for it. I can't sneer at the values and objectives of writers because of any past experiences. It would be easy to do that..very easy, but I always like to be fair. And even though artists snarl and rage on about how their lot is being ripped off or not as respected as writers, the fact of the matter is people like me were born to draw. This is where our passion is. Writers were born to write. And I could spend loads of energy railing on about how I think artists should be treated differently, or get residuals, or have a stronger union and not have to face outsourcing and wage cuts, but at this point, after 20 years, it's either scream to the wind, your words wasted and silent, or empower yourself by taking a new direction with your artistic talent.

Starting RedTango was a challenge I put to myself back in 1998. I had a comfortable office at Disney TV at the time, under contract and things were going fine. But even then the stirrings of wanting to do something new were bouncing around in my brain..already at that point I was tired of the constant fears of lay offs and the great unknowns of a business that can treat you so well one moment then toss you out on your ass the next. I wanted to set something new in motion..and not have to wait for someone to say I had another project to go onto..I wanted to MAKE the project happen. No more roadblocks, no more obstacles, no more people telling me no or making excuses. I mean, if I was going to complain, at least I should *do* something about it.

So I found myself breaking away from TV animation a bit, stepping back and getting a new perspective, perhaps a view one could only get after detaching a bit and having some experience under the belt which pointed to "some things never change."

So to sum this whole thing up....I could only tell the writer that I just don't want to put the energy anymore into fretting about who deserves what, who should get this or that, or if writers are treated better than artists, and all the spewing that happens when conversations like this arise. I just feel...detached. Sort of a resolve, maybe. A feeling of not *wanting* to get angry about it. I mean, it's been so long dealing with this stuff...and clearly I wanted more to my life than just sitting in a cubicle being mad about stuff (instead of feeling grateful for having such a great job) I know how the game is played in TV animation land. I learn more each time I take an assignment. I know what my place is, I know what to expect. I know what never changes, I know what might change and how to prepare. The biggest lesson I learned too was never expect the business to give you the bottomless cup of encouragement you need to reassure the endless appetite of your own ego to be validated constantly. Painful blows come along at the same speed as compliments and praise. "The business" as we call it is a fickle, fickle mistress...very much like a relationship that can run so smoothly for a certain time then the wheels fall off.



When the wheels fall off..Disney animator Art Babbitt, shown here during the strike, was one of Disney's highest paid animators. Everything was going very well for him, until he realized other artists were not faring so well..very poorly in fact...and became a key organizer of the strike. Walt Disney was very upset by this, thinking he had built a virtual Xanadu for artists. One day Walt was driving into work during the strike and Babbitt goaded him thru a bullhorn, prompting Disney to race after him in an effort to punch him. Walt felt betrayed and the studio was never the same even after the strike was resolved. I think a great deal of bitterness set in.

In closing:

It's probably impossible for a person that loves what they do to be asked to shut off the emotions and choose their battles more carefully, because people tend to fight for what they love. But I feel different now. I've come to accept the injustices, real or imaged, that come with this field of work. And that's a huge thing to realize. I'll let the writers strike without making any judgment about past experiences. The fact of the matter is, we need writers. These are the people who write our shows. And if an artist resents the fact that writers make more money or get residuals, then do something about it..start your own business or find something to do on the side that will increase your income using your talents..because TV animation is not going to do this for you. Either that or become a writer, if you have the talent and passion to do so. What else can I say. I've watched too many people beat their heads against the wall in a futile effort to make things change or to try to figure out how to "get what they deserve" somehow. Being mad at others isn't going to do it. You've got to carve a new path for yourself and only one person is going to start that ball rolling.