We should do this with everyone! Just fire everyone every couple of years to keep these services cheap.

Unironically how it feels to live in some democracies. Never voting people in, just voting them out every few years in perpetuity.

There are places to write that aren't hollywood, you know? Chances are their BATNA is a bit more developed than "go to doordash".

No there aren't really.

Writing for American TV and film is a very unique skill set and virtually everywhere you would work is covered by the union. All productions have been shut down.

The same union covers if you're writing in New York or Atlanta. And they're not going to pick up and go to London or Mumbai.

The backup plan really is DoorDash, Uber, etc.

I mean...sure, you're right about the union, but that doesn't mean that there aren't people who write for TV, movies, ads, novels, fanfic...

...But creative writing in general doesn't tend to pay the bills on a regular basis without the exact types of residuals the studios are actively trying to take away from them. So they're already used to having to pick up side gigs or even have day jobs to make ends meet.

I don't know what you're trying to say. Someone who writes for TV, that is their day job. You can't have a job writing for TV "on the side", that's not a thing.

Writing novels is not a reliable source of income, and fanfic doesn't make money at all.

It's true that TV writers often do have to pick up some kind of work in between seasons, though it depends on the show.

You're right; you can't have a job writing for TV "on the side," because the schedules won't allow it.

But you also can't make a living writing for TV year-round (each gig is on the order of 2-4 months, from what I've read)...unless you earn enough residuals.

So...wait, that would mean that without solid residual schedules, TV writers...just can't make a living??!

And those residuals are exactly what the studios are trying desperately to take away from writers.

Union vover individuals only especially just Americans in this case. Production still can happen in Bollywood and Seoul producing exact thing American writers can while at a fraction of the cost. Union is basically toast if they want to drag this via attrition. I am seeing corporate will win outright to these unions exactly like what Reagan did with traffic air controllers.

It's true, a lot of them even have day jobs.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not?

But in case you're not, writing for TV is a full-time job. It's not something you can do on the side.

> But in case you're not, writing for TV is a full-time job. It's not something you can do on the side.

Having more than one “full-time” job is not unheard of, and its particularly a thing where at least one of them is a precarious and/or poorly paid one.

Not in this case. Writing for TV owns your life while you do it. 16-hour days to meet an episode deadline, spending the whole weekend turning around a first draft script.

If you work in a professional TV writing room, you simply don't have another job on the side. It's not an option.

Then it's a hell of their own making.

For all those hours writers have demonstrably been worse and worse every decade.

If shows take forever to write now, it's because everything is written by committee.

Regular writers are not pulling the crazy hours that Trey Parker and Matt Stone are. And they put out episodes faster than any other show.

I think all of Hollywood is finally falling over. And it's far past time.