Dave states:

“I don’t ask to be paid for my writing… but I keep doing it.”

“I look in my bank account, and somehow the balance keeps going up. “

Well, I have two kids graduating from college and they would love to know Dave’s secrets for making money but somethings tells me the truth behind his increasing bank account is tied to some old fashion economic practices based upon the idea of “deposits”.

He just isn’t documenting the sources of income in posts like this one – he’s just hinting there’s a paradigm shift at work:

“Creative work won’t be directly paid for in the future.”

The nature of the “indirect payments” are “The Secret” yet to be revealed as Dave continues to document “Winerian Economics”. Frankly, it seems like monetizing reputation, influence and yields from investing… but your guess is as good as mine.

The sentence “How can you share something that doesn’t exist??” is one of the most ludicrous he’s made in a while. People buy shares of ventures that flop all the time and, in the industry, the difference between getting your royalties from gross or net is a contractual one and it varies. Getting a percentage of gross is simply not unheard of. Further, the two sides are posturing in advance of, and during, negotiations, so what they say now is probably not the bare minimum they’ll accept.

The key point here, though, is that getting royalties as a percentage of gross happens all the time in music, film, and TV. Typically it’s reserved for those with clout and bargaining power. The WGA has both of those things.

What it really sounds like, Tom, is that you’ve got a principled stand here, but it doesn’t comport with the reality of the entertainment industry.

Also, nobody ever said that writing code was less creative than writing a sitcom. They’re just different things, going on in different markets, that are only abstractly related to one another.

It’s also ironic that you’re accusing people of arguing with “pure emotion”. Take a few days off and come back and read your insults and vitriol — you’re the most emotional one here right now.

For the record, calling people stupid is sort of a poor rhetorical tactic.

Points on net profits are generally known in the entertainment industry as “sucker points,” because films and television rarely net money, and budgets are designed with this as an intention – everyone who is going to get paid for real gets paid as much as they can on the front end.

Folks:

Winer got around to reading the one page interview with Eisner in the Times magazine a from a couple of weeks ago, in which Eisner calls the writers greedy and stupid for asking for a share of something that they haven’t figured out how to monetize it. Then he interpreted it as relevant to his own life, when it isn’t.

And you say I’m being emotional here. Do you really live in a world where indispensable employees don’t use that leverage to get raises? I think the writers on Everybody Loves Raymond are worth a four-cent raise on the $40 Season One DVD. What a lunatic I must be. Oh my God! That’s a 100 percent raise! A coal miner doesn’t get a 100 percent raise until he contracts black lung! And even then he has to waive his disability benefits!

When I said the issue had nothing to do with net vs. gross, what I meant was that it isn’t the reason the writers walked. The reason they’re putting their livelihoods in jeopardy is because (a) the producers claim all Internet broadcasts of the shows is promotional, which is disingenous bullshit, and (b) the producers think four cents a DVD is all they can afford to pay the writers, which is laughable.

I know people who are suffering actual financial hardship and putting their future at risk because of this strike, and they’re walking the picket because they have to get a cut of Internet profits or they’ll be screwed when all the content is delivered that way, just as they’ve been screwed by such a small cut of video/DVD sales. Your ill-informed condescension about how their position is dishonest is wasted on me. Just admit you’re one of those people who never thinks striking workers are right to walk off a job.

Honestly, this might be the stupidest statement ever typed on the internet. Read my digital lips: The WGA asked for 2.5% of the GROSS PROFITS on new media. Which means they’d get money even if the Studios were losing money. So do you just being stupid or do you not know what net and gross means?

I thought about replying to the rest of your post but honestly it was just too stupid to waste my time on. If you don’t see the point of comparing the writers to “most americans” when they’re saying they’re being treated unfairly than your just a fool.

I’m sorry to be so harsh but this was just the dumbest message I think I’ve ever read. Also, for the record, writers do get a percentage of digital media that is sold for a price (like iTunes purchases) and saying that someone just wants “their fair share of” anything to prove your point is idiotic when the debate surrounds what their “fair share” is.

Like many of his other principles, it’s just his attempt to elevate the way he does things into the way everyone should do them. If Dave crapped on his lawn, he’d call it composting.

The writer’s strike has nothing to do with net profits vs. gross profits. Writers receive nothing on Internet viewing of their shows and only four cents per DVD. They want a share of Internet profits and eight cents a DVD. These seem like reasonable requests to me.

What’s the point of comparing them to software developers or “most Americans”? Are we supposed to resent writers for wanting their fair share of the massive profits that TV shows and movies generate?