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November 13: You Can't Scare Me. I'm Stickin' to the Union.

2007-11-14 · John · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · news analysis

John backs the striking TV and film writers: authors get a royalty on every format, so producers calling ad-supported internet streams 'promotional' to avoid paying residuals is wrong, since content that makes money is just content.

What is said

00:00:00 — Ear infection aside; why John is discussing the writers' strike; authors are paid a royalty on every format; screenwriters' residuals

  • ★ John still has a bit of an ear infection, but viewers pointed out last week that he never really had facial symmetry anyway. (playful) — 00:00:00 · John Green
  • ★★★ John wants to discuss the writers' strike because it affects his TV habits and because he worries about its larger implications for creative work in the US. — 00:00:00 · United States
  • ★★ John explains that for each copy of his book sold, in any format (paperback, CD, tape, audio download or internet-only), the publisher pays him a share of the sale, called a royalty. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ In screenwriting and TV writing the analogous share is called a residual; John says the name differs because the studio technically owns the copyright. — 00:00:39

00:01:08 — Residuals named differently because studios own the copyright; advance reader's copies are given away unpaid as promotion

  • ★★ John is not paid for advance reader's copies of his book, which are given free to librarians, independent booksellers and reviewers to build excitement, and so are promotional tools. — 00:01:08

00:01:38 — Producers call ad-supported online TV 'promotional'; Family Guy on MySpace and Fox; content that makes money isn't promotional; writers want pay in every format

  • ★★★ John reports that producers say writers shouldn't be paid when their TV shows are watched online next to ads, because that is promotional content. — 00:01:38
  • ★★ John's example: whole Family Guy episodes stream with commercials on MySpace; Fox owns both, profits from the ads, yet says it needn't pay the writers because it's promotional. — 00:01:38
  • ★★★ John argues that you can't make money on promotional content: once it earns money it is no longer promotional, just content. — 00:02:07 > «if you do make money on it, it's not promotional anymore. It's just content.»
  • ★★★ Writers want to be paid for their work regardless of format, on TV, a movie screen, MySpace or YouTube, as John is for every format of his books: to be treated like authors. — 00:02:07 · YouTube

00:02:36 — Writers want to be treated like authors; the unknown-revenue argument answered with Brilliance Audio and An Abundance of Katherines

  • ★ John adds that authors are, for the record, treated alright but not that well. (playful) — 00:02:36
  • ★★★ To producers who say unknown internet revenue rules out a residual rate, John replies that his audiobook publisher can't know its MP3 sales either; a percentage works whether four or four million sell. — 00:02:36 · An Abundance of Katherines

00:03:05 — Shared responsibility; appeal to return to the negotiating table; P.S. a Nerdfighterlike video, thanks for Hank's scavenger hunt video, today's clue

  • ★★ Paying the creator a percentage of revenue means everyone shares responsibility for both the failure and the success of what they create. — 00:03:05
  • ★★ John asks the negotiators to go back to the table and make a deal so that he can announce some very exciting news to the Nerdfighters. — 00:03:05 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★ In a P.S., John points to an adorable video in which Nerdfighters and the 'Nerdfighterlike' have outed themselves. — 00:03:05
  • ★★ John thanks Hank for his funny scavenger hunt video, which left many Nerdfighters confused, and says each day's clue can be solved with almost no knowledge of earlier clues. — 00:03:05 · Nerdfighter Scavenger Hunt
  • ★★ John gives today's scavenger hunt clue, warning it is a doozy: a South Dakota place name (heard as 'Winter'; probably Winner, South Dakota). — 00:03:52

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