NPR: Broadway, Hollywood Strikers Share Money Concerns

Broadway, Hollywood Strikers Share Money Concerns

Members of the Broadway stagehands' union picket during the weekend.

Eric Bechtold/Scoopt/Getty Images

The strikes involving Hollywood writers and Broadway stagehands have more in common than just showbiz. The strikers from the two unions share at least one bargaining concern: They want producers to take revenue from nontraditional sources into account in their contracts.

For TV and film writers, this additional revenue is the main reason for their strike. They are fighting for a share of the money generated from their work through new technologies like the Internet and mobile phones. The creation of revenue from sources other than ticket sales is an issue for the stagehands, particularly in terms of determining a production's profitability.

"When you go into a show like Legally Blonde or Young Frankenstein, you walk past a phalanx of souvenir kiosks," NPR contributor Jeff Lunden told me. And it's these revenue streams that the union says should be considered in a show's bottom line. That will help determine, the union argues, what kind of contract producers can afford.

However, producers argue that old rules force them to pay people who do little or no work and doom many productions to financial failure. Right now, Lunden told me, about one in five Broadway shows is profitable, and it can take around two years to get there.

That leads to another concern the stagehands share with TV and film writers — not everyone works all year long. The stagehands' union argues that the work rules in the contract exist to help protect members who don't work 12 months a year.

Lunden reported for Morning Edition today that no new negotiations have been scheduled in the Broadway strike. But the heat on both sides to reach a settlement might be turned up as tourists cancel trips to New York and economic losses start to hit other businesses, like restaurants and hotels.

3:38 PM ET | 11-12-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Capitalism! Ir's all about money. I wonder why NPR doesn't write about meetings and rallies against George Bush. Very Interesting.

Sent by Kapetan Mitsaras/Maniakos | 4:09 PM ET | 11-12-2007

Just a thought, but maybe meetings and rallies against George Bush are becoming too common to be newsworthy. Hollywood and Broadway strikes, however, are fairly unusual.

Sent by John R. Otten | 8:15 PM ET | 11-12-2007

The decline of organized labor is disturbing in it's implications. All large strikes are an important story. Sadly, only when the labor movement finally dies will people realize what they have lost. I heard that the CBS news writers may go out. Is this a potential issue for NPR?

Sent by Gary Schear | 8:40 AM ET | 11-13-2007

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