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Why do so many Americans support the writers' strike?

By pharrell

More than 60 percent of Americans say that they side with the writers in their strike against the Hollywood studies, according to today's Times article. That's a remarkable figure given the general American apathy towards union disputes, an apathy that often verges into distaste, and makes one wonder what lessons there might be for other trade unions. This, after all, is public sympathy for writers who earn an average of $60,000 a year--hardly a magnificent sum in America, but not exactly penury. (Kids, don't believe what your parents tell you about all writers being broke). (The studios claim that the average writer makes $200,000 per year, but that number seems to ignore the fact that a writer may make $250,000 in year one, and then basically nothing in years 2 and 3 while he's working on his next screenplay).

Of course, the writers are aided by the fact that, they're, well, television and movie writers, an articulate crowd, and one likely to get sympathetic treatment from the scriveners toiling away in the bowels of newsrooms. But the Writers Guild has also run an incredibly smart, media-savvy campaign to win the hearts and minds of the nation's couch potatoes, offering up YouTube videos, skits, and other clips to make the case for their demands. Striking writers also look like they're having at least a little fun while on strike, a rarity on picket lines (no doubt made easier by the long list of celebrities paying visits--think Eva Longoria serving pizza), but the writers' sense of fun helps them connect in some semi-conscious way with those who see them on the news: they a bit like lovable, rambunctious kids. Other unions probably can't capture that same joi-de-vivre--toiling 16 hours a day cleaning motel rooms is liable to wear one out in a way jotting down ideas for car chases will not--but hopefully the SEIU and AFL-CIO learn a few lessons about how to run a strike media campaign.

Full post as published by Harrell Blog on November 26, 2007 (boomark / email).