| Cattivo wrote: |
| I still don't understand why the WGA is allowed to exist, since they're technically white collar employees, not blue collar workers. |
I've had it explained to me more times than I can count and I will still agree with you. There's two main reasons: treatment and benefits. With treatment, the studios will always treat the writer like crap unless you're Joss Whedon or Akiva Iwrotebatman&robin, but it does affect who you can do business with and how much money you are guaranteed to be paid. In terms of copyrights, the WGA registration will not hold up in court, it just means someone has read it (usually - you can register a script through the WGA and not have anyone read it, but it is smarter not to get a WGA registration until someone wants to option it - and safer to also get a US patent).
Benefits is the main reason people join and remain a member. You're not guaranteed the benefits (like dental or health) unless you make a certain amount of money for writing (not collecting royalty checks) per month. So there's a ton of WGA writers that don't even get to have insurance! However, if you qualify for benefits, then you are set, because the benefits are sweet. As one person explained it, you can chalk up anything to the guild; most people have it to pay for botox or lipo.
And Hollywood gets away with these wacky guilds because the DGA, WGA, and SAG are the most prestigious of all clubs in FantasyFun Land. It's L.A. it doesn't have to make sense.
