Like any new venture, there are going to be a lot of unknowns. Paying writers a residual may actually help them control initial costs. Using the excuse that they don't know how profitable a venture will be should only be effective on demands for a higher scale.
It's a bullshit excuse in any case because it's not like iTunes (just for example) is some nebulous possibility for the future - there is content for sale online right now. Whether or not it's a successful revenue stream doesn't change the fact consumers and advertisers are paying for online content. Some of that money is owed to the content creators, end of story.
I think they're, ultimately, querying how much money is owed to content creators.
Right, but why not pick a non-zero number now to satisfy the writers' demands? They can always renegotiate later, can't they?
0.001%?
I can't speak from any WGA experience (uh, obviously), but from what I've seen with unions and corporations before, they'll make a non-zero number offer at some point soon, and it'll be absolutely shite.
NYT article on the picket line in NY: [link]
Hee. Someone on my flist was perusing the TV Tropes wiki for How to Kill a Character:
7. Hire Tim Minear.
And, hee:
Quote from the The New York Times:
"To fans of the WB's recently canceled Angel, the writer Tim Minear is known affectionately as the Tim Reaper: the master of the fatal plot twist."
They have a big rat out! I love the big rat. Do they have that other places?
How do rats commute, anyway?
