Oh, Michael Eisner:
Meanwhile, speaking out in opposition of the strike Wednesday, former Disney chief Michael Eisner called the protests "insanity" and "too stupid" while warning writers they were giving up real income in the hopes of securing digital revenue that studios do not yet have.
"For a writer to give up today's money for a nonexistent piece of the future, they are misguided, they should not have gone on the strike," Eisner said at the Dow Jones/Nielsen Media and Money conference in New York. "I've seen stupid strikes, I've seen less stupid strikes, and this strike is just a stupid strike."
How can studios not have digital revenue? Where does the money people pay to iTunes and the money the advertisers pay for those commercials I sit through on NBC.com
go
?
If there's no digital revenue, then why are the studios so reluctant to give it up?
I'm sure Eisner started Vuguru as a charitable venture.
If there's no digital revenue, then why are the studios so reluctant to give it up?
Exactly! 2.5% of nothing is still nothing. You'd think they'd be more than happy to, like, grant their demands and then laugh at the fruitlessness.
I'm sure Eisner started Vuguru as a charitable venture.
I Googled. Haaaa. I wonder if
Prom Queen
will be deemed "promotional." Sorry, writers, you're working for free if it's not on TV!
Hey, I made a chant.
If there's no digital revenue, then why are the studios so reluctant to give it up?
I'm sure Viacom put every episode of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" online as a matter of national service. Pay no attention to the ads.
I totally think there is a current digital revenue stream.
That said, the argument I have been given is that the current costs far outweigh the revenue. So digital streaming is still costing the studios more than they are receiving from Internet advertising. That is why the studios are using the "promotion" term.
I don't buy for a second that that inequity will continue for very long and am not totally sold that it exists now.
And this entire argument holds no weight with me in reference to iTunes.
It's a promotion!!
I do love how DailyShow.com has a direct link to the head writer's NY Daily News editorial, Why I went from punch lines to the picket line. As always, the house that Stewart built remains a class act.
If there's no digital revenue, then why are the studios so reluctant to give it up?
Exactly! 2.5% of nothing is still nothing. You'd think they'd be more than happy to, like, grant their demands and then laugh at the fruitlessness.
Both sides are very familiar with the example of home video. Studios initially tried to make home video illegal, and the WGA didn't predict what a huge revenue source it would become, either. Both sides are viewing digital through that lens. So the studios, no matter how much they protest, don't actually view the request as a percentage of nothing, and for god's sake, the WGA is not striking over the potential to make 2.5% of nothing.
So the studios, no matter how much they protest, don't actually view the request as a percentage of nothing
Then can you make them stop saying it?
