So...
...a lot of strike talk was discussed, and to be honest - much of it was tongue in cheek but SOME of it was really poignant.
Both 839 (Steve Hewett) and the Writers Guild of America were represented... and I thought it was interesting... because everybody there was passionate about the impending writers strike. I tried to corral them to the same table, to see if it would explode into two angry wet cats clawing at each other, but in the end, they were both civil and I couldn't manipulate an "Accidental cage match."
An evening's worth of theories:
1) Regarding a strike: There's movement. I don't think there's going to be a strike on November 1st, because people are talking. I could be wrong. That being said, I stick by my Strike Pool choice.
2) Script writers are acutely aware of the board/director animosity towards us. But they are also - by and large - willing to open conversation with people that they, in general, consider peers who write a different way. It would be nice if certain animation professionals (Rhymes with Shmon Shmay) would stop poisoning young animators minds - the same way the Taliban gets 'em young in Afghanistan.
3) A nice long discussion with the WGA about the fact that as long as TV Animation is considered the bastard child of a bastard child, we know that animation writing will be the first thing surrendered to up the residuals on a box DVD set, or digital downloads. We think, in general, we are a disliked minority within our own union where we are labelled "story revisionist monkey" or some such nonsense, and a disposable subsection of another. Is it any wonder we spend most of our days reading comic books and playing video games?
4) We could use a little bit more diversity in our field.
5) Whatever AGEISM exists in prime time television does not exist in TV animation. The writers ran the gamut, from newbie kids to old school types. There was a lot of history there last night, and it was cool.
That's that for that. It's 1 AM, and I am wiped.
Again: Good to see you all. Post. Reply. All that stuff.
And I'll probably pull another one of these together mid January.
:)
- Steve
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4 comments:
I'll start.
Yeah, there's some animosity between some animation artists and some animation writers.
But I think it's overblown. Earl Kress just ran unopposed as TAG Veep. I just ran unopposed as TAG Biz Rep. Earl's a working animation writer. I'm an ex-animation writer.
If there was some deep-seated, simmering hatred for 'toon scribblers, neither of us would have been elected to office in the first place.
Of course, there's also the faint possibility that nobody runs against us because of general apathy and disinterest, but I like to think it's because of our charm, good looks, and the high esteen in which we're regarded.
There is also our wondrous ability to reach out to all factions and interest groups, but I'm going to sound like I'm bragging. So I'll stop.
I'm a "toon scribbler." Jesus Christ.
or maybe you ran unopposed because artists are too busy keeping up with bad scripts and writers have more spair time
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