You threaten and sue us. You call us pirates and thieves. You do everything in your power to blame the crumbling state of your industry on the internet and new technologies, when it’s your archaic business models and the extortion level pay grades you have implemented that are doing the damage.
It is about time that you loosen your silk tie, put your Armani suit jacket on the back of your chair, and decide how you are going to deal with the REAL pirates… Actors.
That’s right, I said it. You are so worried about 16 year olds downloading the latest episodes of Scrubs and CSI that you are blinded to the consensual rape that you are inflicting upon yourselves. The actors say bend over and you do it. Get some scrote and take back your industry!!
Let’s take a look at some numbers here shall we:
Zach Braff $350,000/ep for Scrubs
William Petersen $600,000/ep for CSI
Desperate Housewives $440,000/ep for Desperate Housewives
James Gandolfini $1,000,000/ep for Sopranos (Season 6)
Now let’s take a look at the average pay for people with REAL jobs:
Doctors $66,000/yr
Police Officers $60,000/yr
Plumbers $45,000/yr
Bus Drivers $40,000/yr
Now, I realize that depending on where you go, these jobs will pay more, but it’s still NOTHING close to what actors make. Hell, the entire support crew for a TV show (Camera, DOP, Editors, Grips, On Set Decorators, PA’s) won’t get paid as much for one season as the lead actor gets for one episode!!
You could easily start re-generating the profits of yesteryear by redoing your business model and creating new contracts with caps for actors. But what happens when the actors won’t go for it? Replace them!!! There is no shortage of actors that will work for MUCH less than the current crop of pirates. When their cash reserve starts dwindling, they will rethink their choice to not take $50,000 an episode. You can create a whole new breed of stars, engrained with the ideal that receiving $50,000 for 5 days of work is the sweetest deal in the world. They won’t have 15 cars, but they won’t have a bus pass either.
Image how much money could be put into new shows and new technology for your company if you did this… Yeah, ponder those numbers for awhile. That crazy Canadian might actually be onto something hey!
So stop you’re whining, stop trying to enforce policy and models created when TV was still Black and White and start doing what’s best for the industry!
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