The verdict is still out

• David Carr assesses the good and the bad of the writer's strike in The New York Times.

It appears to be over, and like most victories of this sort, it's highly Pyhrric:

It is equally true, however, that the strike was bad for writers in the short term. The delays caused by the strike prompted the studios to ask themselves a fundamental question about the need to finance all manner of pilots for a traditional upfront extravaganza followed by a traditional introduction in the fall. That system, fairly unchanged through the years, has historically been lucrative for writers.

Emboldened by the strike, the studios severed existing contracts with writers, successfully turned over more of their prime-time schedules to reality programming and vowed to hold the line on filming new shows for next season.

Some 70 development deals in which writers were essentially paid lucrative stipends to come up with shows that might not ever be broadcast are now gone, and they will not be coming back any time soon.

The events are likely to bring at least a few lean years to the workaday writers. With less spending on pilots, established writers will be in the hunt because they lost their cushy deals on the lot. With increased incursion from all forms of reality programs, finding work that pays the bills, never mind the residuals, is going to be a slog.

Quick link roundup

This year's National Book Award winner: Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke. (Apparently the finalist reading was not without its fireworks.)

Walter Mosely is putting Easy Rawlins to rest.

Steven Pinker is interviewed at Powells.com.

Larry Doyle tells us exactly why the writers are striking. It's not about money, of course.

Also from the New Yorker, a cool poem by Franz Wright called "Visiting the Library in a Strange City."

Another word about the strike

This post at a screenwriter's online forum is a spot-on assessment of the situation, and recommended reading for anyone who thinks the members of the WGA are overpaid crybabies:

As a WGA member living in Los Angeles here is a summary of life:

The poverty line is $25,000
The average rent for a one bedroom apartment is $1200.00
The average price for a one bedroom condo:$400,000
A two-bedroom house: $1,000,000
Sales tax is 8.25%
A gallon of gas this morning - $3.56

Someone mentioned this up thread so here is the actual run of what a Guild minimum feature will probably get you:

$103,000 is the starting price. You get an increment of that up front. I'm being generous and saying you get half up front so it's $51,500.

Agent/legal fees - 10% so you’re at $46,350
State and Federal lands you at $23,175

And then the project folds and you end up getting a penalty fee of about $1000.00.

So, for nine months of work, phone calls and meetings you get $24,175.

Keep in mind the poverty line is $25,000.

I'm on strike for the future of my union, for my health insurance and my pension. Right now, it's sadly not about the writing which I love but about the business of writing which always plays like black comedy.

One more reason to fall in love with Tina Fey

Back to the picket line

• The New York Times reports on the upcoming Writer's Guild strike.

Looks like it'll probably happen. Not being a guild member I don't know the particulars, but I can tell you that residuals for writers are paltry at best, and with various new forms of media distribution booming in popularity, they're going to continue to get screwed unless something decisive is done. I'm not in favor of putting all my friends in LA out of work, but at the same time, I can understand the writers' desire to be compensated at an equal level with other above-the-line talent, and to be viewed as something other than an evil necessity.

The strike would pit union writers, whose position has been eroded by reality television and galloping technological change, against studios and networks that are backed by big corporate owners like General Electric and News Corp., but are also unsure of the future.

The walk-out threatens an instant jolt to television talk shows like “Late Night With David Letterman” and “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” which rely on guild writers to churn out monologues and skits. And if the strike drags on, audiences could see the eventual shutdown of soap operas, TV series and movie productions, as they exhaust their bank of ready scripts.

In the near term, a writers' strike will have an immediate impact on more than 200,000 workers in the movie and TV industry here and the thousands more who produce or sell entertainment elsewhere in the United States and abroad. The dispute may also signal more labor trouble to come, as directors and actors face similar issues when their contracts expire next June.